Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully attempts to portray the miserable conditions of the working class in the height of the industrial revolution while utilizing her skills as a writer, thus cautiously avoiding having to alienate her primary audience of upper middle class members of society. Thus, effectively drawing the attention of the reader to the conditions of the working class and ultimately advocating for empathy, understanding and forgiveness through religious teachings and thus, ultimately Gaskell’s attitude towards the working class in her novel Mary Barton, can simply be viewed and analyzed as a complex, oblivious relationship with a sense of mixed feelings of admiration and apprehension in the same context.
Although numerous other, “well-known …show more content…
Aware of the fact that the majority of her readers are upper class well off members of society, Gaskell skillfully disguises her novel as a romance story without ultimately sacrificing the need to describe the dire conditions of the working class. As such, Gaskell states that, “[she] had always felt a deep sympathy with the care-worn men, who looked as if doomed to struggle through their lives in strange alternations between work and want and that her desires for the novel is simply to give utterance to the agony of the working class” (Gaskell 3). Thus, through out the novel, Gaskell’s sympathetic views towards the working class and the need to address these concerns are evident. Most importantly, it is Gaskells ability to create an empathetic view of the working class, describing the daily lives of the characters portraying them ordinary folks capable of love and sorrow. Gaskell introduces Mr. John Barton as a loving father, “tenderly carrying a baby in [his] arms, while his wife of delicate fragile-looking women, limping in her gait, bore another of the same age; little feeble twins” (Gaskell 8). In addition to her elaborate methodical humanistic characterizations of the characters in Mary Barton, Gaskell states that it is essential to recognize, “where public effort can do in the way …show more content…
In one of the most interesting passages of the novel, Gaskell describes John Barton as a, “Chartist, a Communist whom embodies the actions of the uneducated which seemed to be typified in those of Frankenstein” (Gaskell 170). Thus, Gaskell’s attitude towards the working class seem a bit apprehensive as evident in her description of John Barton refereeing to him as both a “Communist and a civil rights activist. This further highlights the dilemma faced by Gaskell as she tries to both advocate for and condemn the actions of the working class at the same time. Justifying the actions and demands of the working class would further legitimacy and ensure that “the events which have so recently occurred among a similar class on the Continent,” that is a revolution by the working class is both immanent and justified. However, on the other hand by labeling John Barton as a “Communist” also undermines both Gaskells argument for a better treatment of the working class as well as the justifications for Barton’s actions
Although numerous other, “well-known …show more content…
Aware of the fact that the majority of her readers are upper class well off members of society, Gaskell skillfully disguises her novel as a romance story without ultimately sacrificing the need to describe the dire conditions of the working class. As such, Gaskell states that, “[she] had always felt a deep sympathy with the care-worn men, who looked as if doomed to struggle through their lives in strange alternations between work and want and that her desires for the novel is simply to give utterance to the agony of the working class” (Gaskell 3). Thus, through out the novel, Gaskell’s sympathetic views towards the working class and the need to address these concerns are evident. Most importantly, it is Gaskells ability to create an empathetic view of the working class, describing the daily lives of the characters portraying them ordinary folks capable of love and sorrow. Gaskell introduces Mr. John Barton as a loving father, “tenderly carrying a baby in [his] arms, while his wife of delicate fragile-looking women, limping in her gait, bore another of the same age; little feeble twins” (Gaskell 8). In addition to her elaborate methodical humanistic characterizations of the characters in Mary Barton, Gaskell states that it is essential to recognize, “where public effort can do in the way …show more content…
In one of the most interesting passages of the novel, Gaskell describes John Barton as a, “Chartist, a Communist whom embodies the actions of the uneducated which seemed to be typified in those of Frankenstein” (Gaskell 170). Thus, Gaskell’s attitude towards the working class seem a bit apprehensive as evident in her description of John Barton refereeing to him as both a “Communist and a civil rights activist. This further highlights the dilemma faced by Gaskell as she tries to both advocate for and condemn the actions of the working class at the same time. Justifying the actions and demands of the working class would further legitimacy and ensure that “the events which have so recently occurred among a similar class on the Continent,” that is a revolution by the working class is both immanent and justified. However, on the other hand by labeling John Barton as a “Communist” also undermines both Gaskells argument for a better treatment of the working class as well as the justifications for Barton’s actions