I told you from the beginning–as soon as I could– I told you I was afraid of myself." There was a piteous pleading in the low murmur in which Deronda turned his ear only. Her face afflicted him too much. "I felt a hatred in me that was always working like an evil spirit–contriving things. Everything I could do to free myself came into my mind; and it got worse–all things got worse. That is why I asked you to come to me in town. I thought then I would tell you the worst about myself. I tried. But I could not tell everything. George Eliot
About This Quote

Emily Brontë said, “I told you from the beginning that I was afraid of myself." It’s also possible that Emily Brontë is describing her states of mind after several years of feeling tortured by her younger self. She was writing in 1847, but the idea of “a hatred in me that was always working like an evil spirit” is the same kind of inner voice plaguing many people today. The phrase has an almost modern feel to it.

Source: Daniel Deronda

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