Masculine and Feminine Traits in North and South, Essay Example

Criticism of North and South novel has often been attuned to questions of sexuality and gender. However, the attention of most scholars has been exclusively on the conflict of sexuality, the representation of sexual inequality and gender roles, as well as various forms of patriarchal oppression. However, the author settles concerns about the advancement of the social position of women and her framework of sexual difference is critical to the ideological division of labor among sexes. It can be summed up that sexual difference in the novel is a domain of ideological cooperation, as well as an area of conflict, competition, and compromise. In this exposition, the objective is to show how heroine maintains her gender role and at the same time transgress it, supporting the line of thought that Gaskell challenges the presently women-limiting gender norms and supports social change. It is premised that gendered symbolic oppositions are not symmetrical and lend to hierarchies of domination.

Latest critics have concentrated on how the author of North and South challenges the sexual orientation norms either through the transgression of spheres or depiction of active women and passive men. Conversely, this article concentrates on the depiction of Margaret Hale and Mr. Thornton. Gaskell steers a central between the conventional Victorian lady and the extreme of the supposed “fallen women.” The author’s heroine exemplifies both the traditional ladylike ideals of benevolence and nurturing while disobeying the Victorian gender roles through her generally manly characteristics of autonomy and action (Gaskel 13). Due to the complex treatment of these problems by Gaskell, the attention on sexual conflict has not been capable of moving past a mixed account, tracing her challenges to traditional sexist ideology, as well as her concessions to it. Most readers have connected Gaskell’s ambivalent handling of sexual conflict to her uncertainty about social change. Conversely, her isolation of the theme as the primary object of gender-based critiques has deflected attention from the fundamental and highly rigid ideation of sexual difference.

In the conventional Victorian family, the guardians were a natural authority, especially the father who settled on the decisions and was accountable for the family. Conversely, in North and South Margaret’s folks failed in this regard. Subsequently, by necessity Margaret assumes numerous responsibilities that would ordinarily belong to the head of the house. The fizzled parental responsibilities are clear when Mr. Hale chooses to surrender his position as a priest and move to Milton. At the time, Margaret not only needs to inform her mother about the situation but also takes care of it. The uncertain nature of the authority of the Church and its employers is quite visible and it reflects in Margaret’s life as well. Margaret makes decisions for many people and in this way assumes the responsibility and role of the “man of the house” through acceptance untraditional women roles, which that eventually put her in a position of power.

One of Gaskell’s approaches to improving Margaret’s powerful, feminist side is by comparing her with her feeble father. A case of such portrayal is when Margaret’s father reveals about his move, where he is portrayed as apprehensive and befuddled and devoid of the courage to communicate without Margaret’s coaxing. The father is entirely feminized and the storyteller treats him practically as a child to indicate how bothersome powerlessness and shortcomings cut across both genders. Mr. Hale is not only a means of upgrading Margaret’s capacities but also an approach to demonstrate an alternative to the tyrannical man and rethink the Victorian gender roles.

Other characters who serves as a foil to the heroine is Mrs. Hale and Mr. Milton. In many ways, they are an embodiment of the ideal man and woman in Victoria. Mrs. Hale is complaining about his life in Helstone and claims that the densely forested neighborhood has an adverse effect on her health (16-17). Notwithstanding her grumblings, she is less than pleased when Margaret narrates to her father’s recent decision to move to Milton. Gaskell’s irony infers criticism of the fragile ideal of Victorian women. Later, Margaret demonstrates despise for such beliefs, challenging that she is not the same as the traditional Victorian women. The education of the nineteenth-century women in womanliness focused on making them desire frail and beautiful. Through comparing the powerless and sick mother with her resilient daughter, Gaskell scorns the Victorian ideal of beautiful and frail women while enhancing her depiction of the self-control and strengths of Margaret.

Margaret’s moral and physical bravery puts both her notoriety and herself in threat. Regardless, her strong sense of wrong and right compels her to act when required, frequently because of men’s inaction. Gaskell advances her courageous heroine acts over the inactivity of her brother and father.  The male passivity is the inverse of the Victorian standard for men and is one more means for upgrading the heroine and her abilities. Characters, both male and female, regularly go about as foils, a method Gaskell uses to feature Margaret’s quality and strength of character. Based on her courage, Margaret participates in the public sphere, challenging the division of gender spheres. Generally, albeit a portion of Margaret’s transgression of norms is compelled upon her, she succeeds in the manly domain.

Work Cited

Gaskell, Elizabeth C, and CNPe Reading. North and South. , 2018.