# LXX explained — Daniel Deronda

> Chapter companion for Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/daniel_deronda_se/chapters/lxx
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/daniel_deronda_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/daniel_deronda_se/chapters