ABSTRACT
This paper will use the charismatic relationship between the fictional character, Romola, and the historical figure, Girolamo Savonarola, as he appears in George Eliot’s 1863 novel, Romola, 1 to illustrate and enlarge upon previous theoretical understandings of charismatic followership (Winer, Jobe, and Ferrono, 1985). The current work is not an attempt to illuminate the entire novel by means of the application of psychoanalytic principles. Nor is it an attempt to link events in the novel with elements of the actual life of George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans, 1819–1880). It is, rather, an explication of the appeal, power, and influence that Savonarola had on Romola. The novel will be summarized, with the five times Savonarola and Romola are in each other’s presence given the lion’s share of attention.
