Chapter 8 deals with Mr. Irwine's conversation with Dinah. The reader should note that in this situation, as in various others throughout the novel, Hetty and Dinah are specifically contrasted. While Hetty is flirting with Arthur, Dinah is carrying on a serious religious discussion with a clergyman. Hetty's manner is flighty, immature, worldly; Dinah's is grave, womanly, spiritual. When Mr. Irwine tells Dinah that Thias Bede is dead, her immediate reaction is one of pity for Lisbeth and she offers without hesitation to go to the cottage and help the old woman. But when Mrs. Poyser gives Hetty the same news, she feigns concern but is "not deeply affected." Dinah's humanity and generosity seem even more laudable when played off so directly against Hetty's selfish indifference.
The author emphasizes this contrast even more strongly by giving each of the young women a different sort of beauty. She emphasizes the difference by employing opposed patterns of imagery in describing the girls. Dinah's loveliness is frequently mentioned; her face is said to be like a lily, and Lisbeth in several places compares her to an angel. But her beauty has a pure, spiritual quality about it which makes men not lustful, but respectful. When Mr. Irwine asks Dinah if men bother her when she is preaching, she says that although she has spoken before some "very hard and wild" men, they have always treated her with kindness and civility.
Hetty's beauty, on the other hand, is described as being soft and "kittenish"; she appeals to everyone, even other women. There is something very warm and inviting about Hetty's sort of prettiness, something healthy, natural, and earthy.
Throughout the novel, George Eliot toys with the contrast between appearance and reality; things very often are not what they seem. The physical comparison of Dinah and Hetty marks the first major manifestation of the theme. Both girls appear beautiful, but only Dinah is so. Hetty's beauty is superficial; it masks a vain, selfish spirit, while Dinah's physical beauty truly reflects the beauty of her soul. The reader should be attentive to these appearance-reality contrasts in the novel, particularly with respect to Adam and Arthur, and Hetty and Dinah; the contrasts form one of the most significant patterns in Adam Bede.
