North And South By Elizabeth Gaskell Essay

<br>In conclusion, a few things should be stipulated when thinking about possible sexist overtones toward men and women in 19th century novels. First, to say this does not undermine the obvious and quite definite struggle of women to obtain social and economic equality. Women have always been seen in society as somewhat below men, which is the epitome of sexism. However, it can also be said that men's roles and views were simplified to such an extent as to show some semblance of sexism. This can be seen in either Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre.

In her article “Isabella Whitney and the Female Legacy” (1991), Wendy Wall examines the effect that early female writers had on breaking gender barriers in 16th century England. Wall specifically focuses on the impact of Isabella Whitney’s writings during a period during which women still struggled to achieve independence and power in a dominating patriarchal system. In this article, Wall credits Whitney for overcoming the many obstacles women faced in their attempts to become published writers, and truly creating a legacy for women throughout history with her efforts.

Jane Austen is widely considered to be amongst the best authors of her time. Her works are often seen as feminist in nature, and although written in a conservative society, show many progressive themes, mainly concerning the roles of women. Although she does not directly critique these societal norms, Austen’s use of irony and humor are skillfully used to criticise the sexism that she viewed in early 19th century England. Three of Austen’s works stand out when looking for feminist literature, those being Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park.

The Victorian Age of writing has many unique characteristics and topics associated with it. One topic written about heavily during this time period is the role of the women in life. Many writers had differing views on the role of the women and their literary work showed this. Two notable works from the Victorian Age about the issue of the women’s role include “Aurora Leigh” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and “The Women of England” by Sarah Stickney Ellis. Browning’s work presents the English Utilitarian role for women and Ellis’s work’s purpose is to “cultivate what she called “the heart” rather than the intellectual faculties of her pupils [women]” (The Norton Anthology 1610).

Elizabeth Gaskell was one of the most important and established figures in Victorian British literature. She was often criticized for her role in helping out the poor in the industrial city of Manchester. Her novels often incorporated both the traditional aristocratic image of society in London and the rising middle and working class. In her novels, Gaskell implements her satiric writing style to tell stories about both the social stigma of class and wealth, and the ignorant idealism of aristocratic societies that refuse to believe in

Margaret Fuller and Fanny Fern were notable patrons to the feminist movement during their times. With their controversial compositions, they reached a variety of audiences and managed to initiate significant conversations that contributed to the fight for the equality of the sexes. While they both made a change in the world and broke many gender boundaries, one’s works were slightly more thought-provoking and impactful than the other’s writing during the 19th century. On the contrary, one of the writers’ works would have had a larger impact than the other’s in today’s

An author writes a feminist novel to defend the feminist ideas and goals. Kate O’Connor states that's “Elaine Showalter pioneered gynocriticism with her book A Literature of Their Own (1977)” (O'Connor 1). This gave women who were authors a chance to express the feminist idea into their books to try to make a better change for women in their time and society. One such author is Jane Austen. Jane austen is known for many of her novels like Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. However, her novel Pride and Prejudice was her most popular and well known novel. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice shows how in the Regency period socially, economically, and physically women were shown weaker than men which illustrates this novel as a feminist

Prior the 19th Century, men dominated the literary writings of the day, while women published few influential works. However, in the 19th Century, women began to publish their works more freely, even if anonymously, and included some real masterpieces, such as Francis Burney’s Evelina and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. While some at the time may have considered such books to be just another frivolous read, in reality, these works actually proved to be an enlightening window of the era. They portray the life,

Although we see many shifts taking place in Britain between the Romantic and Victorian periods, such as the abolishment of slavery, the discoveries by astronomers and biologists, “as well as this being at the highest point of development as a world power” (1017). Throughout the Romantic and Victorian periods of British history, we also witness the emergence of an inner consciousness of women, which denounced those accepted by society at the time. This is illustrated through observing the parallels and contrasts within the writings of Harriet Martineau and Dorothy Wordsworth. The inner reflections of these women writers not only rejects the “Angel in the House” ideal placed upon women, which is found in “The Paragon” by , but also contradicts those illustrated in “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover.” One can also see that the new emerging consciousness of women was a reflection of the social unrest during these time periods.

Synopsis of Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth This is a classic book that focuses on domesticity in the 18th

The political differences that were kin to the geographical locations between the North and the South strongly dictate the representation of the role a woman held within Victorian society. The calm country setting of the South created an obedient and domestic representation of women, while the hardships of urbanization in the North forced women to take on a more masculine role –where working is more typical and accepted –thus demonstrating the role of women in the North as more independent than women of the South, but still obedient to men. The female heroine of North and South, Margaret Hale, exemplifies the traditional role of a Victorian woman as demonstrated by Ellis’ The Daughters of England, where the “proper sphere” of women is within the “private and domestic life” and not the political or public world which is the sphere belonging to men (103). However, Margaret only demonstrates these expected Victorian womanly constraints when she is living in the South in Helstone. Once Margaret transgresses the geographical and physical boundaries of the South into the North (Milton), she breaks free from her expected gender role as the ‘quiet and obedient’ woman that the Victorian era stressed so heavily as ideal, and becomes part of the political and public sphere that is dominated by men. Once in the North, Margaret Hale is forced to adapt to Milton’s social standards which has her embodying a more masculine role in order to claim agency. Through Margaret’s constant

Elizabeth Gaskell was the most established female figure in Victorian British Literature. By the time she blossomed into a literary career, she was thirty-eight years old. Most of her novels centered on the plight of the working people in England struggling to survive and dealing with the social stigma of class and wealth. Even though she received harsh criticism from critics for having sympathy for the poor, it didn’t deter her from a successful writing career, nor deny her talent as a writer. In her last work Wives and Daughters; Gaskell implements her satire writing style to examine social issues in England. In August of 1864, Cornhill Magazine published her first novel called, Wives and Daughters.

Women have made a lot of progress since the 1800s, and are still working hard towards equality today. Elizabeth Gaskell was an English novelist and short story writer from the 1800s. Gaskell became depressed when her only son, William, died at the age of one. Her husband told her to write as a way to relieve her grief. As a result of this, the novel “Mary Barton” was produced. Through her writing, Elizabeth Gaskell gave the women of that time period a voice. Gaskell uses the form of the typical Victorian romance novel raise awareness on important social issues, such as industry, the role of women, and the differences between behaviors in different settings. She was well aware of the price women had to pay for breaking societal gender roles. If women challenged the norms it was perceived as female madness and was punished. Perhaps, the reason it was frowned upon because there was a fear of the powerful women. Powerful women stood up for social rights and attempted to create a new image for themselves. The fear also came because these women were unpredictable and capable of causing disorder in society. For her, there was no better way to drive home a critique of authority than to do so through her writings. Despite many successes in empowering women, numerous issues still exist in all areas of life, ranging from the cultural, political to the economic.

When Joanne Rowling was planning her book publishing, it was suggested to her that she take on the pen name J.K. Rowling, in order to make sure boys weren’t turned off from reading her books (J.K. Rowling). Later on in her career, she chose the name Robert Galbraith for a different series of books. When letting her publisher know it wasn’t Robert who wrote the book, but that it was she, he was astonished that a women wrote the book he just finished (About – Roger Galbraith). These are recent events in our history, and incidents like this are the reason feminist theory in literary criticism exists. Feminist literary criticism is defined as, “literary analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory and/or feminist politics” (Napikoski).

Pride and Prejudice a ‘romance novel’ based on a backdrop of 18th century England, may not seem like an ideal choice for a feminist novel but when viewed from the perspective in which it was set, several observations can be made which makes a strong case for Jane Austen to be named as one of the first few empowered female authors of her time.