"Freedom in working": Representations of working women in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton, Ruth, and North and South

Abstract

In my M.A. thesis, I explore Elizabeth Gaskell's representations of women workers in her three novels, Mary Barton, Ruth, and North and South through the context of Victorian domestic ideology and social class. I argue that Elizabeth Gaskell supported and challenged the accepted gender roles for women. Through a close reading of her novels and short stories, I analyzed the reasons behind her conflicting and ambiguous portrayals of working women. I argue that while Gaskell clearly advocated domestic work as the "natural" work for women, her views on wage-earning labor varied; however she suggests that women, regardless of class, could find fulfillment through serving others, whether in the home or outside the home. In my thesis, I examine her depictions of women working in domestic service, needlework, and factory work and analyze the positive and negative effects of these occupations upon the characters in these three novels. I divided my thesis into five chapters: Class ideology in the Victorian Era, "Three Eras of Libbie Marsh," Domestic Servants, Needleworkers, and Factory Women.

As a result of my research, I conclude that Gaskell does not offer a clear solution for the problem of working wives and mothers. As a middle-class working woman, mother and Manchester resident, Gaskell personally understood the problem faced by all working women: how to balance non-domestic work with family duties. Although Gaskell does not offer a clear solution to this problem in her fiction, she does show understanding and sympathy for working women who could afford not afford the luxury of staying home and doing the "natural work" of wife and mother as most middle-class women could.

Date of Award	2009
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Richard Sylvia (Supervisor)