Life and works of Elizabeth Gaskell

II.Main part. 2.1. Elizabeth Gaskell biography
In November 1865, when reporting her death, The Athenaeum rated Gaskell as "if not the most popular, with small question, the most powerful and finished female novelist of an epoch singularly rich in female novelists." Today Gaskell is generally considered a lesser figure in English letters remembered chiefly for her minor classics Cranford and Wives and Daughters: An Every-day Story. Gaskell's early fame as a social novelist began with the 1848 publication of Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life, in which she pricked the conscience of industrial England through her depiction and analysis of the working classes. Many critics were hostile to the novel because of its open sympathy for the workers in their relations with the masters, but the high quality of writing and characterization were undeniable, and critics have compared Mary Barton to the work of Friedrich Engels and other contemporaries in terms of its accuracy in social observation. The later publication of North and South, also dealing with the relationship of workers and masters, strengthened Gaskell's status as a leader in social fiction. Gaskell's fiction was deeply influenced by her upbringing and her marriage. The daughter of a Unitarian clergyman who was a civil servant and journalist, Gaskell was brought up after her mother's death by her aunt in Knutsford, a small village that served as the prototype not only for Cranford but also for Hollingford in Wives and Daughters and the settings of numerous short stories and novellas. In 1832 she married William Gaskell, a Unitarian clergyman in Manchester in whose ministry she actively participated and with whom she collaborated to write the poem "Sketches Among the Poor" in 1837.
"Our Society at Cranford," now the first two chapters of Cranford, appeared in Dickens' Household Words on 13 December 1851 and was itself a fictionalized version of an earlier essay "The Last Generation in England." Dickens so liked the original episode that he pressed Gaskell for more; at irregular intervals between January 1852 and May 1853 eight more episodes appeared.
Two controversies marred Gaskell's literary career. In 1853 she shocked and offended many of her readers with Ruth, an exploration of seduction and illegitimacy prompted by anger at moral conventions that condemned a "fallen woman" to ostracism and almost inevitable prostitution — a topic already touched on in the character of Esther in Mary Barton. The strength of the novel lies in its presentation of social conduct within a small Dissenting community when tolerance and rigid morality clash. Although some Element of the "novel with a purpose" is evident, Gaskell's sensitivity in her portrayal of character and, even more, her feel for relationships within small communities and families show a developing sense of direction as a novelist. Although critics praised the soundness of the novel's moral lessons, several members of Gaskell's congregation burned the book and it was banned in many libraries. Even Gaskell admitted that she prohibited the book to her own daughters, but she nevertheless stood by the work.
The second controversy arose following the 1857 publication of The Life of Charlotte Brontë. The biography's initial wave of praise was quickly followed by angry protests from some of the people dealt with. In a few instances legal action was threatened; however, with the help of her husband and George Smith the problems were resolved without recourse to law. The most significant complaint resulted from Gaskell's acceptance of Branwell Brontë's version of his dismissal from his tutoring position (he blamed it on his refusal to be seduced by his employer's wife) and necessitated a public retraction in The Times, withdrawal of the second edition, and a revised third edition, the standard text. Despite the initial complications and restrictions necessitated by conventions of the period (Gaskell did not, for example, deal with Brontë's feelings for Constantin Heger), The Life of Charlotte Brontë has established itself as one of the great biographies; later biographies have modified but not replaced it.
During 1858 and 1859 Gaskell wrote several items, mainly for Dickens, of which two are of particular interest. My Lady Ludlow, a short novel cut in two by a long digressive tale, is reminiscent of Cranford, yet the setting and social breadth anticipates Wives and Daughters. The second work, Lois the Witch, is a somber novella concerning the Salem witch trials which prefigures Gaskell's next work, Sylvia's Lovers, by its interest in morbid psychology. Sylvia's Lovers is a powerful if somewhat melodramatic novel. The first two volumes are full of energy; they sparkle and have humor. The ending, however, shows forced invention rather than true tragedy. Regarded by Gaskell as "the saddest story I ever wrote," Sylvia's Lovers is set during the French Revolution in a remote whaling port with particularly effective insights into character relationships.
Most critics agree that Cousin Phillis is Gaskell's crowning achievement in the short novel. The story is uncomplicated; its virtues are in the manner of its development and telling. Cousin Phillis is also recognized as a fitting prelude for Gaskell's final and most widely acclaimed novel, Wives and Daughters: An Every-Day Story, which ran in Cornhill from August 1864 to January 1866. The final installment was never written, yet the ending was known and the novel as it exists is virtually complete. The plot of the novel is complex, relying far more on a series of relationships between family groups in Hollingford than on dramatic structure. Throughout Wives and Daughters the humorous, ironical, and sometimes satirical view of the characters is developed with a heightened sense of artistic self-confidence and maturity.
Gaskell was hostile to any form of biographical notice of her being written in her lifetime. Only months before her death, she wrote to an applicant for data: "I disapprove so entirely of the plan of writing 'notices' or 'memoirs' of living people, that I must send you on the answer I have already sent to many others; namely an entire refusal to sanction what is to me so objectionable and indelicate a practice, by furnishing a single fact with regard to myself. I do not see why the public have any more to do with me than buy or reject the ware I supply to them" (4 June 1865). After her death the family sustained her objection, refusing to make family letters or biographical data available.
Critical awareness of Gaskell as a social historian is now more than balanced by awareness of her innovativeness and artistic development as a novelist. While scholars continue to debate the precise nature of her talent, they also reaffirm the singular attractiveness of her best works.
The conflict between Mrs. Gaskell’s sympathetic understanding and the strictures of Victorian morality resulted in a mixed reception for her next social novel, Ruth (1853). It offered an alternative to the seduced girl’s traditional progress to prostitution and an early grave.
Among the many friends attracted by Mrs. Gaskell was Charlotte Brontë, who died in 1855 and whose biography Charlotte’s father, Patrick Brontë, urged her to write. The Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857), written with warmhearted admiration, disposed of a mass of firsthand material with unforced narrative skill. It is at once a work of art and a well-documented interpretation of its subject.
Among her later works, Sylvia’s Lovers (1863), dealing with the impact of the Napoleonic Wars upon simple people, is notable. Her last and longest work, Wives and Daughters (1864–66), concerning the interlocking fortunes of two or three country families, is considered by many her finest. It was left unfinished at her death. Charlotte Brontë, married name Mrs. Arthur Bell Nicholls, pseudonym Currer Bell, (born April 21, 1816, Thornton, Yorkshire, England—died March 31, 1855, Haworth, Yorkshire), English novelist noted for Jane Eyre (1847), a strong narrative of a woman in conflict with her natural desires and social condition. The novel gave new truthfulness to Victorian fiction. She later wrote Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853).

Her father was Patrick Brontë (1777–1861), an Anglican clergyman. Irish-born, he had changed his name from the more commonplace Brunty. After serving in several parishes, he moved with his wife, Maria Branwell Brontë, and their six small children to Haworth amid the Yorkshire moors in 1820, having been awarded a rectorship there. Soon after, Mrs. Brontë and the two eldest children (Maria and Elizabeth) died, leaving the father to care for the remaining three girls—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—and a boy, Branwell. Their upbringing was aided by an aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, who left her native Cornwall and took up residence with the family at Haworth.

In 1824 Charlotte and Emily, together with their elder sisters before their deaths, attended Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge, near Kirkby Lonsdale, Lancashire. The fees were low, the food unattractive, and the discipline harsh. Charlotte condemned the school (perhaps exaggeratedly) long years afterward in Jane Eyre, under the thin disguise of Lowood Institution, and its principal, the Reverend William Carus Wilson, has been accepted as the counterpart of Mister Brocklehurst in the novel.
Charlotte and Emily returned home in June 1825, and for more than five years the Brontë children learned and played there, writing and telling romantic tales for one another and inventing imaginative games played out at home or on the desolate moors.
In 1831 Charlotte was sent to Miss Wooler’s school at Roe Head, near Huddersfield, where she stayed a year and made some lasting friendships; her correspondence with one of her friends, Ellen Nussey, continued until her death and has provided much of the current knowledge of her life. In 1832 she went home to teach her sisters but in 1835 returned to Roe Head as a teacher. She wished to improve her family’s position, and that was the only outlet that was offered to her unsatisfied energies. Branwell, moreover, was to start on his career as an artist, and it became necessary to supplement the family resources. The work, with its inevitable restrictions, was uncongenial to Charlotte. She fell into ill health and melancholia and in the summer of 1838 terminated her engagement.
In 1839 Charlotte declined a proposal from the Reverend Henry Nussey, her friend’s brother, and some months later one from another young clergyman. At the same time Charlotte’s ambition to make the practical best of her talents and the need to pay Branwell’s debts urged her to spend some months as governess with the Whites at Upperwood House, Rawdon. Branwell’s talents for writing and painting, his good classical scholarship, and his social charm had engendered high hopes for him, but he was fundamentally unstable, weak-willed, and intemperate. He went from job to job and took refuge in alcohol and opium.
Meanwhile, his sisters had planned to open a school together, which their aunt agreed to finance, and in February 1842 Charlotte and Emily went to Brussels as pupils to improve their qualifications in French and acquire some German. The talent displayed by both brought them to the notice of Constantin Héger, a fine teacher and a man of unusual perception. After a brief trip home upon the death of her aunt, Charlotte returned to Brussels as a pupil-teacher. She stayed there during 1843 but was lonely and depressed. Her friends had left Brussels, and Madame Héger appears to have become jealous of her. The nature of Charlotte’s attachment to Héger and the degree to which she understood herself have been much discussed. His was the most-interesting mind she had yet met, and he had perceived and evoked her latent talents. His strong and eccentric personality appealed both to her sense of humour and to her affections. She offered him an innocent but ardent devotion, but he tried to repress her emotions. The letters she wrote to him after her return may well be called love letters. When, however, he suggested that they were open to misapprehension, she stopped writing and applied herself, in silence, to disciplining her feelings. However Charlotte’s experiences in Brussels are interpreted, they were crucial for her development. She received a strict literary training, became aware of the resources of her own nature, and gathered material that served her, in various shapes, for all her novels.
In 1844 Charlotte attempted to start a school that she had long envisaged in the parsonage itself, as her father’s failing sight precluded his being left alone. Prospectuses were issued, but no pupils were attracted to distant Haworth.
n the autumn of 1845 Charlotte came across some poems by Emily, and that discovery led to the publication of a joint volume of Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1846), or Charlotte, Emily, and Anne; the pseudonyms were assumed to preserve secrecy and avoid the special treatment that they believed reviewers accorded to women. The book was issued at their own expense. It received few reviews and only two copies were sold. Nevertheless, a way had opened to them, and they were already trying to place the three novels they had written. Charlotte failed to place The Professor: A Tale but had, however, nearly finished Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, begun in August 1846 in Manchester, where she was staying with her father, who had gone there for an eye operation. When Smith, Elder and Company, declining The Professor, declared themselves willing to consider a three-volume novel with more action and excitement in it, she completed and submitted it at once. Jane Eyre was accepted, published less than eight weeks later (on October 16, 1847), and had an immediate success, far greater than that of the books that her sisters published the same year.
The months that followed were tragic ones. Branwell died in September 1848, Emily in December, and Anne in May 1849. Charlotte completed Shirley: A Tale in the empty parsonage, and it appeared in October. In the following years Charlotte went three times to London as the guest of her publisher; there she met the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray and sat for her portrait by George Richmond. She stayed in 1851 with the writer Harriet Martineau and also visited her future biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell, in Manchester and entertained her at Haworth. Villette was published in January 1853. Meanwhile, in 1851, she had declined a third offer of marriage, that time from James Taylor, a member of Smith, Elder and Company.
Her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls (1817–1906), an Irishman, was her fourth suitor. It took some months to win her father’s consent, but they were married on June 29, 1854, in Haworth church. They spent their honeymoon in Ireland and then returned to Haworth, where her husband had pledged himself to continue as curate to her father. He did not share his wife’s intellectual life, but she was happy to be loved for herself and to take up her duties as his wife. She began another book, Emma, of which some pages remain. Her pregnancy, however, was accompanied by exhausting sickness, and she died in 1855.
A three-volume edition of her letters, The Letters of Charlotte Brontë, edited by Margaret Smith, was published in 1995–2004.

2.2Life and works of Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was born on September 1810 to her father William Stevenson who was a Unitarian Minister and mother Elizabeth Stevenson. Elizabeth lived with her Aunt Hannah Lumb in Knutsford, Cheshire after the death of her mother in 1811.

Elizabeth got her education traditionally like that of young women basically in Classic arts, writing, manners, and decorum from her aunt while her brother provided the knowledge about stories of the sea and other travel literature. At the age of 11, she went off to boarding school and then in Stratford-upon-Avon. She returned to Chelsea to stay with her father who remarried in 1814 after finishing school.
Elizabeth became the assistant minister at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel by the year 1832. She then married the Unitarian minister of that time William Gaskell and then the new couple moved to Manchester.
Her husband was engaged in the distribution of food and clothes to the poor people at the church in Manchester and Gaskell supported him by teaching in Sunday schools. They had 7 children’s out of which four girls lived only up to adulthood. After the death of his infant son William from scarlet, she chose to start writing to overcome from the grief of her passed away children’s.
Inspired from her son’s death she wrote her first novel “Mary Barton” in 1848 which was published anonymously. That was her first success and it caught attention and praise of Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens. Later she was invited by Dicken to add to his magazine “Household Works” and her contribution led to her next important work “Cranford” that was published in 1853. In next year her another work “North and South ” was published.
After her writings, she caught the attention of many of her friends that included Charlotte Bronte. On his death in 1855, his father Patrick Bronte requested Gaskell to write her the biography and then “The life of Charlotte Bronte “was being published in 1857 with utmost admiration that covered most aspects of his life in the detailed narration.
Resulting from her death in November 1865, Gaskell left her longest work “wives and Daughters” unfinished. Later it was being published in the Cornhill Magazine and it appeared in volume form in 1866.

Elizabeth Gaskell Movies and TV shows

Some of the movies based on writings of Elizabeth Gaskell are

1. 
   Heartstrings in 1923
   
2. 
   The sins of the Father in 1923
   
3. 
   The Followers in 1939
   
4. 
   Your Show Time in 1949
   
5. 
   BBC Sunday-Night in 1951
   

Many of the books written by Gaskell are also converted to TV shows. The list is as below

1. 
   Novel Cranford converted to a series consisting of 7 episodes
   
2. 
   Novel North and South converted to TV mini-series consisting of 4 episodes
   
3. 
   Novel North and South converted to TV mini-series consisting of 4 episodes
   
4. 
   Novel Cousin Philips converted to TV series consisting of 4 episodes
   
5. 
   Novel Wives and Daughters converted to TV mini-series consisting of 6 episodes
   

Elizabeth Gaskell Manchester Museum

Elizabeth Gaskell’s house is known as 84 Plymouth Grove which is now a writer’s house museum in Manchester. This villa was the residence of William and Elizabeth Gaskell from the year 1850 to 1884. The architecture of the house is one of the unique and unusual in Manchester. Due to the association of Gaskell with the house, it was provided with the grant list which protected it from the demolition.
The house was built in a Greek revival style and her friend Charlotte Bronte described it as a large, airy house, cheerful and deprived of Manchester Smoke.
A restoration project started in 2009 recommended by the Manchester Historic Building Trust to see the house again in its state that was left by Gaskell and later to open it for the public. The house is at five minutes distance from another Victorian-era landmark called Victoria Baths.
The first phase of restoration was completed in 2013 which fixed its structural damage, roofs and drains. Also, the building was made watertight with most of its exterior work complete. Later in June 2012, it received a grant allowing it to restore its house interior. The ground floor was restored in Victorian style home. Gaskell’s study and other rooms were restored borrowing many items of furniture from art galleries.
The house was open as a museum to the public in October 2014. It now has many interactive displays, authentic furniture and decors, original artifacts and a garden that consist of plants as mentioned in the writings of Gaskell.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

Mary Barton that was published anonymously in 1848 dealt with the hazardous living conditions of the poor who were living in the industrial towns in Northern England. She herself was the evidence of their life when once she visited the home of a local laborer.
The novel was of great interest and praise for many but it also received criticism for the sympathy of the author to the workers. It also created awareness and provoked widespread discussion on the reading public. It pricked the nations Conscience toward the appealing state of the workers in poverty.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Gaskell wrote a social novel set “North and South “in early Victorian times. The novel uses a central figure from Southern England to present and it reviewed the observation of workers and their mill owners that worked in the city of industrialization.
The novel is set in the fictional town of Milton in North England. The main character Margaret Hale migrates to Industrial North region from Southern England where she tries to adapt the harder lifestyle of North. Later she finds that she is a very strong and brave person after passing through a lot of tragedies.
She was the witness of the harsh world that was made by the Industrial Revolution and also saw the clash between workers and their employers. Margaret then sympathizes with the poor workers whose courage she admired a lot and made some friends among them. She then clashes with the rich cotton mill owner John Thornton who behaves very arrogantly with his workers.
This novel depicts the understanding and complexity of labor owner relation and also the conflicted relation of Margaret and John Thornton.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Gaskells another work Cranford was not a novel basically but it started as a series of short stories that were published by Charles Dickens in his magazine Household Words.
The book didn’t have any plot of the story but it consisted of many funny moments and a charming scene depicting the ability of female friendship. It also represents the rustic domestic environment that existed in an English village during the presence of filth, industry, and poverty in larger cities of England.
Cranford was narrated in a very unusual manner as its world does not have any space for men and marriages were rather treated as a nuisance than a blessing. Few men characters that were appearing in the novel also looked upon with doubt or sarcasm.
The main character of the novel revolves around the life of an unmarried woman Miss Matty who receives guest now and then from the nearby town. Miss Matty lives in Cranford town consisting fully of a widowed or unmarried woman.
They all lived happily and supporting each other even in case of a financial crisis. If ever a man enters the town he disappeared suddenly. Cranford is full of gossip and conspiracy about the ay women spending their time as they don’t have any other task to be done.
Something unusual happened in this remarkable story of Cranford ladies. Miss Matty went bankrupt and she had to live on $127 per annum as her bank goes under. She tried to fight herself against this situation and was supported by other ladies of Cranford and allowed her to maintain her lifestyle.
Later on, marriage found its place in Cranford when Miss Matty’s servant married a charming man and after that couple lives very happily. Another marriage took place between the local surgeon and a lady of the town who lives above his station. Although this couple became the center of discussion among women they lived with utmost content.

Short Summary of other Novels by Elizabeth Gaskell

In 1853 Gaskell published her another piece of writing “Ruth”, which revolves around the poor girl “Ruth “who is also orphan. This social novel deals with the illegitimacy, sin, and mortality as viewed by the people of the Victorian era. It scrutinizes whether a fallen woman can find her place back in the respectable society or not.
In 1863 “Sylvia’s Lovers” another novel was published which came to be known as the saddest story she ever wrote. This novel was exaggerated fiction work and it received many appraisals. This writing was compared with George Eliot writings.

Appraisal

For the people of the 20^th century, Gaskell’s writing appeared to be countrified and a little old fashioned but for today she is ranked one of the most reputed novelists of the Victorian era. She sought the attention of many academics, theorist and readers from the past 30 years who enjoy her good story reading.
As a result of this more writing of Gaskell’s are being published regarding the love for her reading. Gaskell left a rich legacy of literature that included six of her novels, many short stories and some pieces of non-fiction writing along with her first biography of Charlotte Bronte.
Her work portrayed the different characters of Victorian life. Gaskell became the new vibrant voice for the generation of industrial fiction.