This document provides a detailed summary of the plot of George Eliot's novel Adam Bede in several paragraphs. It follows the main characters Adam Bede, Arthur Donnithorne, Hetty Sorrel, and Dinah Morris in a rural English village in 1799. The summary describes Hetty's secret affair with Arthur, her abandonment by him, and how she gives birth alone and leaves the baby to die. It outlines her arrest and trial for murder, as well as Adam and Arthur's efforts to save her from hanging. The summary concludes with Adam marrying Dinah years later after she accepts her love for him.

1. Bismillah-i-Rrahman-i-Rrahim
In the name of Allah, the most
beneficent, the most merciful

2. Group Members
Mr. Zohaib Abbas
Mrs. Samina Taj
Mrs. Sumavia Adnan
Miss Rabia Amin
Miss Shehnela Iram

3. ADAM BEDE SUMMARY
By Mary Anne

4. George Eliot:
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively "Mary
Anne" or "Marian"), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist,
poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era . She is
the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the
Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch
(1871–72), and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of which are set in provincial England
and known for their realism and psychological insight.

5. Adam Bede Summary
 Adam Bede follows four characters in the rural village of Hayslope
in 1799. It opens with the Bede brothers, Adam and Seth, at work in
a carpentry shop. The other men tease Seth about his Methodism and
the fact that he is in love with Dinah, the Methodist preacher. Dinah
preaches in Hayslope that night and captivates even her skeptical
audience. Seth walks her home and asks her to marry him for the
second time, but she refuses, saying that it will interfere with her
preaching.
 Adam returns home to his mother, who is worried that his father is
not yet home because he has promised to make a coffin for the next
day. Thias Bede used to be an honorable man who taught his sons
carpentry, but he has become a drunk in the last few years. Angry
with his father, Adam stays up the whole night to complete the work
on the coffin. He hears a strange rapping on the door, but nobody is
there.

6. Continue….
 Captain Arthur Donnithorne visits his mentor, the vicar, and tells him about Dinah's
preaching. They travel together to visit the Poyser farm so that the vicar can meet Dinah.
At the Poysers' farm,
 Mrs. Poyser's niece, Dinah, and Mr. Poyser's niece are living with their aunt and uncle.
Captain Arthur Donnithorne, whose aristocratic grandfather is the Poysers' landlord, asks
to see Mrs. Poyser's dairy, while Dinah impresses the vicar by explaining to him why she
feels called to preach. In the dairy, Arthur flirts with Hetty and ascertains that she walks
alone to his estate to learn lace-making from his housekeeper.


7. Continue…..
 In the morning, Adam sets out to the village pub to find his father, but he finds him face-
down, drowned in a stream. The news of the Bedes' misfortune spreads fast around the
village, and Dinah visits Lisbeth Bede to comfort her. Despite the fact that she does not
usually like Methodists--or any young women who she suspects could take her place in her
sons' affections--Lisbeth takes to Dinah. She stays overnight with the Bedes to help Lisbeth.
 Arthur intercepts Hetty in the woods on her way to his estate. He flirts with her and kisses
her. After she goes home, he decides that it is not a good idea to lead her on, and he resolves
not to see her in the future. That night, Hetty dreams of marrying Arthur, becoming a
gentlewoman, and owning beautiful women. Dinah surprises and frightens her by knocking
on her door and saying that if she is ever in trouble, she should come to Dinah.

8. Continue…..
 There is a well-attended burial service in the parish for Thias Bede. Adam visits the
Poysers afterward to continue his well-established courtship of Hetty. Hetty's uncle and
aunt both approve highly of the match, but Adam is frustrated because he cannot tell
whether Hetty loves him or not. After this visit, he attends night-school, where he is
learning mathematics to improve his skill at carpentry. Bartle Massey, the schoolmaster,
tells him that he would be better off to stay a bachelor.
 Arthur's and Hetty's secret affair continues, and he gives her a pair of beautiful earrings
and a locket. At a celebration for Arthur's twenty-first birthday, he announces that he has
appointed Adam Bede the steward for his estate's forest. This appointment will finally
make Adam financially viable enough to ask Hetty to marry him.

9. Continue……
 Walking through the woods a few days later, Adam is reflecting on how happy he is
until he sees Arthur and Hetty kissing. Hetty runs away, and Adam confronts Arthur.
The two get in a fistfight, and Adam knocks Arthur down. He makes Arthur promise to
write a letter to Hetty that will end the affair. Adam personally delivers this letter to
Hetty, who is devastated. The letter says, however, to call on Arthur if she is in any real
trouble. Hetty tries to think of how she can get out of her situation and decides that her
best move would be to marry Adam. Adam thinks that she has learned from her
mistakes. They get engaged.

10. Continue…..
 As the marriage approaches, Hetty grows more and more worried. She gladly accepts
as a pretext to run away her uncle's idea that she should leave to fetch Dinah from
where she is preaching in Snowden. She takes all of her money and follows Arthur to
Windsor where he has been stationed as a soldier. It takes all of her money to arrive
there, and when she is informed that Arthur's troops have been sent to Ireland, she
faints away. She remembers her cousin's invitation to look to her if she is ever in
trouble. Hetty sets off in the opposite direction with the resolution that if she is too
cowardly to commit suicide, she will find Dinah.

11. Continue……
 Hetty's family becomes worried when she does not return after a number of days, and Adam
Bede sets out in search of her. When he arrives in Hayslope, he finds that she has never visited
to collect Dinah at all. Alarmed, he traces her to Stoniton. When he returns back to Hayslope,
the vicar informs him that she has just been arrested for the murder of her own child.
 Adam is convinced that she is innocent until he attends her trial and sees the incontrovertible
proof against her. One of the witnesses is a woman in whose house she delivered the baby.
Another is a workingman who saw her near the spot where she partially buried the baby in a
field before it died of exposure. Hetty is sentenced to execution. Dinah visits her in prison,
persuades her to confess for the first time, and gives her spiritual counseling.

12. Continue…..
 Adam has sent for Arthur, who receives word first that his grandfather has died, so Arthur
returns to Hayslope without knowing what has happened to Hetty. When he hears the
news, he rushes to get a special pardon for her. It is delivered in the nick of time. He rides
up to where Hetty is riding in the death cart accompanied by Dinah with the pardon. Hetty
is re-sentenced to exile rather than death. Adam and Arthur meet again and agree to end
their old argument. Arthur says that he is joining the military, and the two shake hands.

13. Continue…..
 Years later, Adam visits the Poysers as they try to convince Dinah not to leave on her
preaching circuit yet again. She insists that she must go because of personal temptations. When
Adam says that whatever she chooses will be right, she begins to cry. He brings her home to
his mother, who is ill and wanted to see Dinah again. Dinah blushes every time that Adam
talks to her, and Seth and Lisbeth see that she is in love with him. Lisbeth informs her son,
who, after asking his brother's permission, asks her to marry him. She refuses, saying that her
first priority is religion. She leaves for Leeds to preach. After she has been gone for a few
days, Adam follows her to where she is preaching. He meets her on a hill, and she admits that
she has been listening to her heart and what God is trying to tell her--and that it is to marry
him. The two marry, and the epilogue depicts them living happily with their entire family,
including two children.

14. MINOR CHARACTERS OF ADAM BEDE

15. Mr. Martin Poyser
Martin poyser is one of the pillars of the hayslope farming community. In short he’s a
model resident of hayslope. A quiet and thoughtful man, he does not speak fast
enough for his wife, so she often speaks up in his stead. He appreciates his wife’s
skills and business sense. He is a kind man, taking in his niece Hetty, who was an
orphan. He also cares for his old father who lives on the farm. He encourages Adam
Bede, his friend, to come to the farm, hoping he will marry Hetty. When Hetty
commits a crime, he is outraged and vows never to see her again, but he is called to
testify at her trial. He wants to leave the country because of the family’s disgrace, but
Arthur Donnithorne leaves instead so he won’t have to uproot his family. He is
overjoyed when Adam marries Dinah.

16. Mrs. Rachel Poyser
The farmer’s wife at Hall Farm, Mrs. Poyser is one of the more memorable
and colorful characters in her outspoken expressions. She is confident and
efficient in her management practices advising her husband about the farm
they run together. An immaculate housekeeper, she has the best dairy in the
valley. She runs a tight ship and does not like the dreamy nature of Hetty.
She favors Adam Bede as Hetty’s suitor. When Hetty’s crime is found out,
she is less hard on Hetty than her husband. Adam says though she has a
sharp tongue, she is better than her word in time of trouble.

17. Seth Bede
Seth is Adam’s younger brother, a Methodist, in love with Dinah Morris, the preacher.
He is somewhat dreamy and impractical but good natured. He follows his brother as
the leader. Though crushed when Dinah will not accept him for a husband, he
continues to write to her and hope. When he finds out Adam and Dinah are in love, he
is not jealous but happy that Dinah will be near him. He enjoys being an uncle to
Adam’s and Dinah’s children.

18. Bartle Massey
Bartle Massey is the old school teacher who lives in a house on Hayslope Commons. He has a
sharp tongue. He does not like women and speaks against marriage to Adam. He is like a
father to him, advising and educating him. He runs a night-school for the working men in the
town. Massey’s views constrast strongly against those of mr’s. poyser who has a confirmed
belief in the superiority of the female. She thinks that the men of hayslope are slow witted.
She concedes that women are no better, but argues that is because God almighty made women
to match the men. Instead of their different views, there are many points of resemblance
between them. Both have sharp tongue . Both are sound and wish well of their community.

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