Emotional Perception of the Characters from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - Book Report/Review Example

Emotional perception of the characters from "North and South" by Elizabeth Gaskell Nowadays, the 19th century novels are being re-considered and re-evaluated from contemporary reader's position, which allows avoiding prejudiced attitude towards characters and even achieve a sort of emotional discourse between the reader and the protagonist. Furthermore, modern values allow the reader understand characters more profoundly, so that he/she even begins to live their lives and imagine him/herself in the setting the characters are prone to. "Gaskell's fourth novel, North and South,was also a social consciousness work, although less alarming than the first two. Here she tries to present a more balanced picture of the perspectives of the mill owners and the laborers in Manchester. She also creates another strong heroine through which Gaskell represents her own variant of female empowerment: strength through femininity" (Uglow, 1993, p.169). Margaret Hale, the main character, through whose eyes the novel dynamics is observed, has progressive and forward-looking convictions concerning the women's question: gender equality and marriage issues. Her peculiar femininity, interweaving with inner strength and willpower, create an unforgettable impression of radical humanist, seeking to improve the lives of those surrounding her. Her complex character is very touching at the same time: Margaret's self-imposed values seem unnatural at a first glance: in spite of her young age, the girl is very prod, mature and sometimes arrogant. It is even possible to say that Margaret is an anachronic, who should have been born at least one hundred years later, as it is at first hard to imagine her in the Victorian context of female inferiority and submission. As one can see, Margaret is observant and curious: she has profound knowledge in literature, arts and music, but is also involved (either directly or indirectly) into learning the discipline, which is now identified as sociology - through experience, however. Margaret's philosophy is life in consonant to the modern individualism in daily routines: "No! I call mine a very comprehensive taste; I like all people whose occupations have to do with land; I like soldiers and sailors, and the three learned professions, as they call them. I'm sure you don't want me to admire butchers and bakers, and candlestick-makers, do you, mamma" (Gaskell, 2001, Vol.1 Ch.4). The conversation between Margaret and her mother introduces the girl as a non-conformist, who puts existing values concerning cross-gender relationship under her ice-cold criticism. In this sense, female reader would typically empathize with her, as Margaret's idea of setting up selection criteria in terms of cross-gender relationship seems revolutionary. The Hales create the impression of small and friendly group, in which both parents participate in the child upbringing. For instance, after the dialogue with her mother, Margaret begins to discuss her sketches with 'papa', a bit authoritarian man, who always keeps in mind the application of pedagogic principles (ibid). Surprisingly, Margaret, dissimilarly to other 'Victorian' ladies, doesn't find communication with males embarrassing or awkward and freely speaks to her friend Henry Lennox. Such 'gender neutrality' raises several questions in the reader's mind: how would society regard such form of cross-gender friendship How is Margaret feeling when behaving with Lennox as with her bosom pal In fact, the protagonist's behavior might seem a form a flirt, but when the reader dives deeply into their conversation and imagines him/herself as an observer (or even as a character), he/she can assume that Margaret uses no 'attraction techniques' and mesmerizes Lennox with conceptual freedom and independence. The protagonist's openness and sincerity also become obvious from the first pages: "Nothing is so delicious as to set one's teeth into the crisp, juicy fruit, warm and scented by the sun" (Gaskell, 2001, Ch.3). Margaret therefore confesses to the fact that she has quite a sweet tooth, and thus has certain food preferences, neglected at that time, but emphasizes nowadays, when two interlocutors need to learn more about each other. The reader therefore easily imagines the girl eating frits 'democratically', without cutting them into halves or quarters, - and chatting meanwhile - such picture attracts because of its liveliness and peculiar youth manifest. Margaret, in the reader's opinion, appears first as a true-born child of nature, whose native 'ecosystem' is the countryside, therefore, being forced to move to the industrial city, the girl feels despair and anticipates her homesickness: "she felt inclined to sit down in a stupor of despair. The heavy smoky air hung about her bedroom, which occupied the long narrow projection at the back of the house" (ibid, Ch.8). The author describes the situation so realistically, that the reader literally experiences the feeling of being imprisoned in the large mechanic monster. Furthermore, the girl notices that this dirty city is full of life, which especially fontaineers on the poorest outskirts. Her most amazing capacity is the ability to analyze and generalize information as well as extrapolate it onto her own life (or social life in broader meaning): "And this imagination of power, this practical realisation of a gigantic thought, came out of one man's brain in our good town. That very man has it within him to mount step by step" (ibid, Ch.10). This means, Margaret's imagination works in the right direction and seeks improvement, perfection - the young lady herself is extremely curious in her never-ending search for understanding the nature of things. Such existential position to great extent correlates with young reader's outlook, so the reader gradually re-discovers and re-generalizes various phenomena - in particular, those related to social dynamics. Notwithstanding Margaret's self-identity (the girl belongs to the so-called middle class, which is traditionally viewed as snobbish social circle), she is willing to help every poor person she meets. For instance, her attitude towards Bessy, a girl suffering from lung disease, who has spent years working at factory, is extremely compassionate so that it is hard to recognize and distinguish in her the abovementioned characters traits. The protagonist's personality seems to switch to her another hypostasis - caring, thoughtful and compassionate: "The sharpness in her eye turned to a wistful longing as she met Margaret's soft and friendly gaze []Margaret held her in her arms, and put the weary head to rest upon her bosom. She lifted the thin soft hair from off the temples, and bathed them with water" (ibid, Ch. 11). Reading this episode, one can come to conclusion that no-one is really insured from becoming socially vulnerable, and exposed to various adversities, but the true marvel is the fact of existence of the persons like Margaret , who can comfort and support not only with word, but with her deeds as well: becoming familiar with the conditions in which the majority of manufacture 'blue collars' live, the young lady assumes that the existing distribution of material resources is unjust, so it is necessary to work hard and change it. In this sense, the reader can applaud the protagonist's decision to avoid visiting parties and official events due to the blossom of poverty in the nearby neighbourhood. Furthermore, Margaret is quite a conscientious young lady, who blames herself even for her uncommitted misdeeds - from contemporary reader's position, she should have perceived less moralistically her relationship with Thornton and following comparison between Lennox and Thornton. On the other hand, the situation is understandable: she lost the best friend once, when Henry Lennox offered her marriage and family life, whereas she regarded him as a friend; thus, facing similar situation with Thornton, she naturally begins to compare her relationships between the two young men: " In Lennox's case, he seemed for a moment to have slid over the boundary between friendship and love; and the instant afterwards, to regret it nearly as much as she did, although for different reasons. In Mr. Thornton's case, as far as Margaret knew, there was no intervening stage of friendship" (ibid, Ch.25). The reader accompanies the young lady in her conscience flow, but in this case it is possible to reduce all doubts and presume that if Margaret throws her courage and determination to protect Thornton from the striker's stone (exposing her health and life), her love to the young man is genuine, not an artificial product of typically social need for marriage which emerges in females of different ages. The reader has contradictory feelings concerning the protagonist's deed: on the one hand, it is possible to begin feeling a little envious at Margaret's willpower and spiritual strength; on the other hand, the reader would necessarily wonder, question him/herself if he/she would have acted in the similar way if there was such a considerable threat to his/her beloved one (Uglow, 1993). This strong conviction doesn't disappear even after Margaret's refusal, as it is already clear that the young lady views her mission as serving society, whereas family life is regarded as a barrier to 'social work'. Another important character that should be addressed in the essay is young Mr. Thornton, yet he is depicted through the prism of Margaret's attitude. Gaskell introduces the character as a honest and sincere young man, who is able to develop radical approach to social injustice. For instance, when his father tells him that he should re-dress for a cup of tea with people of inferior social class, Thornton answers that he regards the Hales and ladies and gentleman (ibid, Ch.9). His sincere immaturity incites sympathy in the reader, and his natural grace, which, however, shows almost no signs of arrogance, create the impression of a true gentleman. Furthermore, when Thornton's perception of his duties mill owner's responsibilities becomes clear, the reader feels the young man's life position is unstable or unformed: "we have a wide commercial character to maintain, which makes us into the great pioneers of civilization" (ibid, Ch. 15), which means, this person attempts to find a consensus between commercial interest and humanity: on the one hand, he doesn't wish to regard his workers as "puppets of dough" (ibid), but his social skills have already been learned and transformed into 'business' self-identity. Nevertheless, the young Mr. Thornton speaks to Margaret from the depth of his heart and seriously attends to the girl, primarily through his emotions, so that the reader tries to foretell either fate or doom put upon the couple by the author. Thornton's character incites profound reflection, especially after Margaret's refusal: the reader really wishes to help him understand the reasons for his sweetheart's self-reliance and excessive self-sufficiency - if was possible to have a constructive discourse with the character, the reader would have clarified them to Thornton in terms of Margaret's inner world, articulated in the novel. To sum up, it needs to be noted that authors often feels their characters' power over themselves and therefore lose control over plot line. In "North and South" Gaskell describes Margaret not merely as imaginary character, but as an embodiment of human qualities, which are useful to learn and develop (Pryke, 1990). Furthermore, the author herself learns on Margaret's example, either deliberately or unconsciously, whereas the reader's attention literally dissolves in the novel given the realism of its characters, and both cognitively and emotionally co-evolves parallel to the protagonist. Works cited Gaskell, E. (2001). North South. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/ecgns10.txt Pryke, J. (1990) .The Treatment of Political Economy in North and South. Gaskell Society Journal, 4: 28-39 Uglow, J. (1993) Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories, London: Faber & Faber Read More