摘 要

伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔是英国维多利亚时期颇有声望的女作家之一。她擅于观察与细节描写，对于社会不同阶层、不同方面的生活反映出的社会问题有着与众不同而又深刻的理解。但在漫长的英国文学史中，她的作品在很长一段时期以内没有受到重视。随着西方女性主义的兴起以及人们对文学的社会意义的日益关注，关于盖斯凯尔夫人的研究得到复兴。《北方与南方》是其创作生涯中最后一部反映社会问题的工业题材的作品。

本论文旨在通过细致而全面地探讨导致玛格丽特成长的多种因素，深入解读玛格丽特的成长，即她从一个从受父权制压迫的女性转变为独立、成熟、能干的女性。《北方与南方》的女主角玛格丽特的成长表明了她女性意识的觉醒，也表明了小说作家盖斯凯尔夫人对改善英国维多利亚时期女性社会地位的追求。

关键词：伊丽莎白·盖斯凯尔；《北方与南方》；玛格丽特；成长；女性意识

Contents

1. Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration --------------------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.1 The changes of Margaret-------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.1.1 The change of Margaret’s manners: from being submissive to being active------4

2.1.2 The change of Margaret’s sphere of activities: from family to society-------------5

2.2 The growth of Margaret reflected in her changes --------------------------------------6

2.2.1 Margaret’s independence-----------------------------------------------------------------6

2.2.2 Margaret’s maturity-----------------------------------------------------------------------7

2.2.3 Margaret’s capability---------------------------------------------------------------------7

2.3 The reasons for Margaret’s growth--------------------------------------------------------8

2.3.1 Influences of surrounding people-------------------------------------------------------8

2.3.1.1 Her father Mr. Hale---------------------------------------------------------------------8

2.3.1.2 Her mother Mrs. Hale------------------------------------------------------------------9

2.3.1.3 The hero John Thornton----------------------------------------------------------------9

2.3.2 Influences of social environment------------------------------------------------------10

2.3.2.1 Adolescence in the idyllic but patriarchal South----------------------------------10

2.3.2.2 Adulthood in the complicated but industrialized North--------------------------11

3. Conclusion -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

Works Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13

Bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

On Margaret’s Growth in North and South

1. Introduction

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), usually referred to as Mrs. Gaskell, was a British novelist, biographer and short story writer and also one of the controversial but extraordinary novelists of the Victorian era in the 19th century. She was once famous for her Gothic novels. Later, the critics praised her industrial novels. She enjoyed the equal popularity with the Bronte sisters and George Eliot. Together with Charles Dickens and William M. Thackeray, she is hailed as a groundbreaking critical realist writer of the 19th century. Liang Yuchun, a famous essayist in China, also thought highly of her and hailed her as “the first one who described the life of the poor honestly.”

Mrs. Gaskell, formerly known as Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, was born on September 29, 1810 in Chelsea, London. Her father, William Stevenson, was a Unitarian from Berwick-upon-Tweed but eventually nominated as the keeper of the Treasury Records. Only she and her brother John were the living children of her father and his first wife, Elizabeth Holland Stevenson. She was the youngest of eight children in the family, but unfortunately her mother died when she was only one. Since then, she has been kept by her aunt who lived in Knutsford, and the customs of this remote town have become materials of her creation in the future. She was influenced by her father’s literary cultivation at an early age, and was also influenced by the religious beliefs of her father and aunt. At the age of 22, she married William Gaskell, the minister of Manchester where she finally settled. She was desperately sad when her only son unfortunately died in 1844. In order to overcome the pain, she began to write with the encouragement of her husband.