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Eliot employs contrasts throughout the novel - from the heavy handed (light/dark, blonde/brunette, rich/poor, Jew/Gentile, artistic/ordinary, etc.) to the more subtle (the 2 families of women only - good catch Bookpossum - that didn't hit me, how working class families make a living, etc.) and often deliciously inverts our expectations or stereotypes.
And the narrative is a constant examination/evaluation of appearance versus depths -- physical beauty versus kindness or self worth, gambling versus the life of the mind, results of physical versus mental occupation, etc.
N.B. Gwendolyn is the spelling in the Standard Ebooks edition.
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