Silas Marner is set in Northern England, primarily in two small villages. At the beginning of the book, Lantern Yard is a small and tightly-knit community with a communal devotion to the Christian faith. By the end, it has become a bustling industrial hub, almost unrecognizable to the protagonist. This change is due to the Industrial Revolution, a wave of mechanization, scientific advancement, and the beginning of mass production. Industrialization changed both urban and rural life in England permanently in the 1830s and beyond.
Raveloe, the second of these villages and where the bulk of the novel takes place, is based on the town of Bulkington in Warwickshire, England, a place Eliot herself knew well. Although it's not as developed as Lantern Yard, Raveloe is another vision of an idealized rural community in "the rich central plain of what we are pleased to call Merry England." Eliot describes it this way to emphasize its quaintness and unchanging nature; Raveloe is "a well where the old echoes lingered" and where superstition abounds. Unlike Lantern Yard, It is described as being only minimally influenced by the outside world, "never reached" by "public opinion." It is hemmed-in with hedgerows and populated by practical, hard-working folks and jolly, lackadaisical "chiefs" who govern things in a "rollicking" way. Eliot paints a balmy vision of Old England here, which is heightened by the dramatic scenery of the Northern landscape that surrounds it. Raveloe feels very untouched by any kind of modernization.
This idealized pastoral setting reflects Eliot's influence by the Romantics, who often described country life as being unspoiled and country scenes as beautiful, majestic, and important. Eliot blends this with her own characteristic incorporation of allegorical, Christian imagery and language. The novel's setting is deeply affected by its association with Christianity, as both of its village communities revolve around the practice of the inhabitants' religious lives. The Church—both the building and the congregations it forms—looms large in this story, whether or not characters are under its roof.
As with many of Eliot's other "social novels" (books which focus on political or social issues through the realistic depictions of everyday life), a lot of the action of Silas Marner takes place in the interiors of houses and in gathering-places like squares and pubs. The small, intimate interiors of cottages like Silas Marner's home are contrasted with the rich and ornate rooms in the Red House. Although some dwellings are much more comfortable and pleasant than others, this novel doesn't equate having money with happiness. Rather, the book shows that some of the most meaningful and joyful interactions and the most lasting bonds are formed around the hearths of small and humble places. This is an important part of Eliot's larger commentary on human nature and the problems of inequality in England. Whether in dark cottages or airy mansions, poor characters are shown to possess interior lives just as nuanced as rich ones.
