This cold miserable scene follows immediately on the gay warmth of the party, giving a striking contrast between the two sides of Godfrey's life. But once the point is made, the effect is softened. Up to now, Godfrey has looked bad because his marriage has never been fully explained. The reason for it is still not given, but a look at his wife makes Godrey's rejection of her seem more reasonable. Eliot withdraws sympathy from Molly by making her degradation her own responsibility and by assigning her only the worst traits of character: "Molly knew that the cause of her dingy rags was not her husband's neglect but the demon Opium to whom she was enslaved." She sets out for Raveloe as "a premeditated act of vengeance," but "her indolence" leads her to linger on the road, and even her "vindictive purpose" cannot keep her moving in the snow. By these means, Eliot keeps in the background a death that could be made heartrending in other circumstances.
By coincidence, Molly arrives at her death just beyond Silas' door at a time when that door stands open. This coincidence is less believable than that by which Dunstan arrived during Silas' absence. Still, it is not beyond possibility, and the action is presented in such a way that the problem is glossed over. The child sees a light and goes to it; the light comes from Silas' door; The reason that the door is open is given, and the problem of the child's being just outside the door in the first place is forgotten.
In any case, not too much weight should be put on the physical details of the incident. The events should be judged not by the way they reflect ordinary experience, but by their cohesiveness and meaning within the total context of the story. In this case, events may be taken both literally and as symbols of human experience. Silas' open door is symbolic of his readiness for human contact. Still, there is a logical reason for it — he has taken to standing at his door looking out on the chance that his gold may be returned. Tonight he is up because he has been told that "he must sit up and hear the old year rung out and the new rung in, because that was good luck." This is Silas' first acceptance of local custom, a further sign of his willingness to re-enter society. It also functions as the physical cause of his unusual excitement which leads to one of his fits.
