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What are some of Squire Cass's characteristics in Silas Marner?

Squire Cass is the wealthiest man in Raveloe. He is complacent, indolent, slovenly, neglectful of his sons, and short-tempered. The father of Godfrey and Dunstan, he is inconsistent in his treatment of his sons, vacillating between strictness and indulgence.


In Chapter III, Squire Cass is introduced as the "greatest man in Raveloe." But, he does not deserve the title bestowed upon him, although he is a landlord and collects rents. In Chapter IX he comes to breakfast at his home called Red House. He is described as



...a tall, stout man of sixty, with a face in which the knit brow and rather hard glance seemed contradicted by the slack and feeble mouth. His person showed marks of habitual neglect, his dress was slovenly; and yet there was something in the presence of the old Squire distinguishable from that of the ordinary farmer in the parish...



Squire Cass has a certain authoritativeness to his voice and self-confidence and way of carrying himself that sets him apart from the villagers. Accustomed to "parish homage all his life," the Squire considers himself as higher in social stature and character than the villagers. While he has numerous faults, he never associates with the other gentry so "his opinion was not disturbed by comparison."
In Chapter IX, when his son Godfrey enters the breakfast room one day, the Squire offers no pleasant morning greeting; instead, he sits "indifferently" in his chair and tells his older son to ring the bell for ale as he dismisses Godfrey's business as mostly his own: "There's no hurry in it for anybody but yourselves." But, when Godfrey confesses that he has spent one of the rents, the Squire becomes angry and sends his son to bring up his horse as though he were a servant.


Every New Year's Eve, Squire Cass extends his hospitality to all the society of Raveloe and Tarley. But, the villagers mainly watch the others. When Silas Marner enters the party, Squire Cass asks angrily, "How's this?--what's this?-what do you do coming in this way?" But, then, he sees that Marner has in his possession a very small child, and he informs the party that he has been robbed. 

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