Daniel Deronda · Chapter
LXX explained
Deronda and Mirah are married in a Jewish ceremony, surrounded by friends including the Cohen family and the Meyricks.
What happens
Deronda and Mirah are married in a Jewish ceremony, surrounded by friends including the Cohen family and the Meyricks. Mordecai, though dying, blesses the union and later passes away peacefully with Deronda and Mirah at his side. Gwendolen sends a letter of gratitude and resolve to Deronda on his wedding day.
Themes in this chapter
Jewish Heritage and Nationalism
The wedding is performed according to Jewish rite, and Mordecai's dying words are the Hebrew confession of divine Unity, emphasizing cultural and religious identity.
Sympathy and Moral Growth
Gwendolen's letter shows her moral transformation and gratitude, while Deronda's protectiveness toward Mirah exemplifies sympathetic care.
Characters to notice
- Daniel Deronda
Marries Mirah and watches over her happiness with a sense of blessed protectiveness.
- Mirah Lapidoth
Glows with content as the bride, feeling no doubt or tremor under the bridal veil.
- Mordecai Cohen
Attends the wedding feast with a cherishing benignancy and later dies peacefully, breathing his soul into Deronda.
- Gwendolen Harleth
Sends a letter to Deronda on his wedding day expressing her resolve to become one of the best of women.
- Mrs. Meyrick
Attends the wedding with her three daughters, reconciled to meeting the Jewish pawnbroker.
- Jacob Cohen
Eats beyond his years and contributes whinnying laughs during his father's speech at the wedding.
Key passages
“Among the blessings of love there is hardly one more exquisite than the sense that in uniting the beloved life to ours we can watch over its happiness, bring comfort where hardship was, and over memories of privation and suffering open the sweetest fountains of joy.”
One of the greatest joys of love is the ability to protect and bring happiness to the one we love, turning past suffering into present joy.
Describes Deronda's protective love for Mirah.
“Death is coming to me as the divine kiss which is both parting and reunion—which takes me from your bodily eyes and gives me full presence in your soul.”
Death is like a divine kiss that separates us physically but unites us spiritually forever.
Mordecai's final words to Deronda about death and spiritual continuity.