Ruth (Penguin Classics)

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By building Ruth’s character into an allegorical martyr, Gaskell presents her argument against this common injustice entirely on principle. Ruth condemns herself more than a reader would and lives as a perpetual penitent, despite the fact that she is largely irreproachable. Gaskell forces the reader to face the reality of how Ruth is victimised and, by extension, how this was true for thousands of women at the time. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Gaskell, Elizabeth. Ruth. 1853. Oxford University Press, 1998. The girl meets the aristocrat Henry Bellingham and her life changes from a humble and honest worker to a fallen woman, a lost, unseemly and compromised woman, who sometime later will give birth to a son illegitimate, due to the relationship with Bellingham according to the society. On 30 August 1832 Elizabeth married Unitarian minister William Gaskell, in Knutsford. They spent their honeymoon in North Wales, staying with her uncle, Samuel Holland, at Plas-yn-Penrhyn near Porthmadog. [10] The Gaskells then settled in Manchester, where William was the minister at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel and longest-serving Chair of the Portico Library. Manchester's industrial surroundings and books borrowed from the library influenced Elizabeth's writing in the industrial genre. Their first daughter was stillborn in 1833. Their other children were Marianne (1834), Margaret Emily, known as Meta (1837), Florence Elizabeth (1842), and Julia Bradford (1846). Marianne and Meta boarded at the private school conducted by Rachel Martineau, sister of Harriet, a close friend of Elizabeth. [11] Florence married Charles Crompton, a barrister and Liberal politician, in 1863. [3] A friend of mine noted that Elizabeth Gaskell's novels are so different from each other. I have read North and South, Cranford, Wives and Daughters, and now Ruth, and I agree. I knew Elizabeth Gaskell was a religious person, but I did not expect from her previous novels that Ruth the novel would be so deeply religious. In fact, I think reading this novel would be a challenge in some ways for a reader who did not have some familiarity with the Bible and with the Christian faith. Since I finished the novel a couple days ago, the characters and questions the novel raises have been rolling around in my brain, and I'm eager to try to put words to them.

Sussman, Matthew (March 2022). " "Austen, Gaskell, and the Politics of Domestic Fiction" ". Modern Language Quarterly. 83 (1): 1–26. doi: 10.1215/00267929-9475004 . Retrieved 5 June 2023. And, after all, what was your sin, Ruth? Falling in love with a man who was a coward and a liar? Trust me, THAT was not your fault. There are, however, a wide array of subsidiary characters. They add depth to the story. Through them one sees events through different angles. There are characters that are kind and wise. Others are ordinary. Others amusing. Their presence lightens the story. What some say are at times extremely funny. Listen to this. Faith is speaking to her brother, Thurston, a good, kind dissenting minister. We watch as one little lie gets bigger and bigger. As explanation and excuse Faith tells us this: Nancy S. Weyant (2007), "Chronology", in Jill L. Matus (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Gaskell, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-60926-5Another interesting thing is to see the various jobs Ruth has in her life; she is a seamstress, a governess, and a nurse. At one point, she loses her job and Jemima wonders how Ruth will support her son. I've said it before and I'll say it again: anyone who thinks the working woman or single mother is a modern phenomenon has never read 19th century novels or nonfiction. Besides, my other favourite character was Mr Benson, he had all the right ideas of true Christianity even when his whole parish made the decision to leave his congregation because of Ruth. He stood by her as a true Christian would. Sharps, John Geoffrey. Mrs. Gaskell’s Observation and Invention: A Study of Her Non-Biographic Works. Fontwell, UK: Linden, 1970. Later on, Mr Bellingham meets Ruth coincidentally and proposes for marriage but she rejects him. Mr Bradshaw learns that Ruth is a fallen woman and has an illegitimate child, banishes her from his home. Gaskell also brings to attention the double standard for men and women regarding their sexual experiences. Additionally, she surrounds Ruth with lively, strong and opinionated women, some happily and deliberately single. These other female characters give Gaskell a means both to show a more active and forthright character than Ruth can be, and to explore how women specifically condemn other women, fearful of being tainted by association.

NNNThe introduction emphasizes the importance of Gaskell’s Unitarianism and her education in her writing (while noting her position “amongst the most interesting of the Victorian novelists of second-rank”). Also discusses the major novels, short stories, and miscellaneous writings and letters. Some careful literary analysis supported by biographical detail and publishing context. The Transformative Power of the Arts in Victorian and Edwardian Culture and Society / 58 e Congrès de la SAES, atelier de la SFEVE, Utopia(s) and Revolution(s) Is it not time to change some of our ways of thinking and acting? I declare before God, that if I believe in any one human truth, it is this—that to every woman who, like Ruth, has sinned, should be given a chance of self-redemption—and that such a chance should be given in no supercilious or contemptuous manner, but in the spirit of the holy Christ.” She delighted in the exercise of her intellectual powers, and liked the idea of the infinite amount of which she was ignorant; for it was a grand pleasure to learn—to crave, and be satisfied.The novel ends with Mr Bradshaw finding a weeping Leonard at his mother's grave, whom he leads home to Mr Benson, and reforming his friendship with Mr Benson realising that as a member of the society that ostracised Ruth, he is also responsible for her death. Matus, Jill L., ed. (2007). The Cambridge companion to Elizabeth Gaskell (repr.ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521846769. , p. 9. Elizabeth Gaskell". www.westminster-abbey.org. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011 . Retrieved 9 December 2017.

After leaving school at the age of 16, Elizabeth travelled to London to spend time with her Holland cousins. [9] She also spent some time in Newcastle upon Tyne (with the Rev William Turner's family) and from there made the journey to Edinburgh. Her stepmother's brother was the miniature artist William John Thomson, who in 1832 painted a portrait of Elizabeth Gaskell in Manchester (see top right). A bust was sculpted by David Dunbar at the same time. [9] Married life and writing career [ edit ] Elizabeth Gaskell: 1851 portrait by George Richmond NNNIncisive and elegant, placing the novels in sociohistorical context. Notes two separate trends in Gaskell criticism—discussing her both as social-problem novelist and as a woman writer—but sees them as inextricably linked, particularly through her handling of the problem of authority. Close readings of major works, plus chapter outlining critical history. I do think I have a talent for fiction. It is so pleasant to invent and make the incidents dovetail together, and after all if we are to lie, we might as well do it thoroughly or else it is of no use. A bungling lie may be worse than useless, and Thurston, it may be very wrong, but I believe I may enjoy not being fettered by truth.”Ruth is one of several 19th-century British and American novels that cast a "fallen woman" with an illegitimate child in the role of heroine. It may be compared to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter (1850), published just a few years earlier, and in many respects it anticipates Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891). Ruth, like Tess, is a working-class girl who is distinguished from her peers by both unusual sensitivity and sexual ignorance. But Gaskell's treatment of her heroine differs somewhat from Hardy's in that she emphasises Ruth's guilt, regret, and struggle to expiate her sin, while Hardy is less inclined to view Tess as a sinner. [3] See also [ edit ] Sure, I still have issue with seeing Ruth as a sinner at all, and the religious stuff doesn’t really work for me, but at least there’s a glimmer of understanding in 1853 that a young woman should not be condemned for a mistake made when she was 15 (even Ruth, trying in some small way to defend herself when she’s found out and castigated, says sadly “I was so young”). While I’m finishing this letter, a tear rolls down my face, not because your story has had neither a happy ending nor a sad ending, but because, as a sentimental person that I am, I really enjoyed being part of your life during these last few weeks. I’m not going to forget you, my dear friend; your story has touched me, and I certainly have to admit that you’ll dwell in my heart forever. Ruth Hilton is an orphaned young seamstress who catches the eye of a gentleman, Henry Bellingham, who is captivated by her simplicity and beauty. When she loses her job and home, he offers her comfort and shelter, only to cruelly desert her soon after. Nearly dead with grief and shame, Ruth is offered the chance of a new life among people who give her love and respect, even though they are at first unaware of her secret - an illegitimate child. When Henry enters her life again, however, Ruth must make the impossible choice between social acceptance and personal pride. In writing Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell daringly confronted prevailing views about sin and illegitimacy with her compassionate and honest portrait of a 'fallen woman'. Read more Details Each character has a different personality, and each seems to me to be true to who they are. What they do and what they say fit. Ruth, poor Ruth, she is so meek and so alone in the world, and so the mistakes she makes seem understandable and yeah, forgivable. Her tears well up, again and again. No matter what you think of her, what she does makes sense given her predicament, her situation and her temperament. That she falls for Henry is understandable. The love she feels for her son may seem excessive but he is ALL she has! Each and every one of the characters make sense to me. Furthermore, as one event follows another, characters morph, they are molded by the events that occur. I was convinced that this was in fact how things could very well happen. There are good things that happen and there are bad things. Some people change and some people don’t, and this is exactly how life really is.

This caused some controversy at the time, however tame it may seem to us and there was some burning of it. Gaskell herself wrote:Unlike some of the other readers, I did not love the character of Ruth. A lot of people say that Victorian heroines are always too good to be true, and I can see that point, but Ruth seriously is too good... in my opinion, too good to be very attached to as a reader. The narrator and Mr. Benson keep saying she has faults, but her faults seem to be that she is too proud to accept gifts or handouts and that she is overprotective of her son. These are the kinds of faults that you give when you're asked on your job interview what your shortcomings are -- they are, in a sense, strengths disguised as faults. Ruth settles into life with Mr. Benson, Faith and their longtime housekeeper, Sally. At first both Faith and Sally are more judgmental and warier of Ruth than Mr. Benson is (he’s a fairly saintly character). But Ruth’s sweetness and innate goodness wins them over. Excluding reference to Gaskell's Ghost Stories, Abrams, M.H., et al. (eds), "Elizabeth Gaskell, 1810–1865". The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Major Authors: The Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century, 7th ed., Vol.B. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. ISBN 0-393-97304-2. DDC 820.8—dc21. LC PR1109.N6. All of this scholarly and critical activity leaves its trace in the new edition. The first four volumes are devoted to Gaskell’s stories, journalism and novellas, each piece authoritatively introduced with information about its editorial history, sources and connections with other work. The six major works – the five novels and The Life of Charlotte Brontë, each with its own editor – are based on consistent source editions and are accompanied by notes on textual revisions; all have substantive introductions.