North and South (1855 novel)

For other uses, see North and South (disambiguation).

North and South
First edition title page.
Author(s)	Elizabeth Gaskell
Country	England
Language	English
Genre(s)	Industrial novel
Publisher	Chapman & Hall
Publication date	1855
Media type	Print ()
ISBN	ISBN NA

North and South is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell that appeared as a twenty-two-part weekly serial from September 1854 through January 1855 in the magazine Household Words, edited by Charles Dickens (who in those pages had just finished serializing Hard Times), and then with Chapman and Hall as a book, in two volumes, in 1855. Gaskell had originally titled the novel Margaret Hale, but agreed to the publisher's suggestion of the more topically suggestive North and South, alluding to the contrast between the way of life in the industrial north of England and agricultural south.

Besides including scenes of industrial strife, North and South is a courtship-and-marriage story with richly complex elements including class conflict, religious doubts, maternal struggles, and naval mutiny. Gaskell's heroine, Margaret Hale, grows up in a country parish town in the south, but when her father renounces the Church, he uproots his family, and Margaret finds herself facing a new life in the fictional industrial town of Milton. Finding it hard to adjust to the strange customs and mannerisms of the north, Margaret befriends a working-class family and gains first hand knowledge of and sympathy for an industrial family's difficulties. Meanwhile, Margaret is thrown into the acquaintance of John Thornton, her father's Classics pupil and the local factory master. Margaret is shocked to learn that Thornton was once a 'shop-boy', and Margaret's southern prejudices struggle to understand Thornton, who, as a mere manufacturer, should not fit her idea of 'gentleman'. Meanwhile, Thornton finds himself falling for the proud, austere Miss Hale, who, though far poorer than he, holds herself like a lady and is like no northern woman. Thornton and Margaret, even while falling for each other, frequently come into conflict over the conditions of the working class in England. As a twist to the plot, Margaret's brother, Frederick, is a fugitive on exile in Spain, unable to return to England because he is wanted for naval mutiny.

Up to the end of the 18th century in England, power was in the hands of the landowning aristocracy--based in the sprawling landscapes of the south. The industrial revolution in England unsettled the centuries old class structure, placing wealth and power in the hands of manufacturers who mass-produced goods in the rugged landscapes of the north. Vast towns such as Manchester, which Gaskell modeled her fictional "Milton" after, were hastily constructed to house the workers who moved from the semi-feudal countryside to work for wages in the new factories. In this way, the south came to represent the past, aristocratic ways--where landowners inherited their property, gathered rents from farmers and peasants, and upheld a certain obligation for their tenants' welfare. The north, meanwhile, came to represent the future: its leaders were 'self-made' men--like Gaskell's hero, John Thornton-- who accumulated wealth as working, middle-class entrepreneurs. Philanthropy, or charity--giving something for nothing--was in their view a dangerous imbalance to the relation between employers and employees, the exchange of cash for labour.^[1]

The novel has frequently been favourably compared to the similarly-focused Shirley by the better-known novelist and friend of Gaskell, Charlotte Brontë.

When the North and South came out as a book, it included a preface stating that because of restrictions of the magazine format, the author was unable to develop the story as she wished, and that accordingly "various short passages have been inserted, and several new chapters added."

Characters

• Miss Margaret Hale — The protagonist
• Mr. John Thornton — The owner of a local mill, a friend and student of Margaret's father, and Margaret's love interest.
• Nicholas Higgins — An industrial worker whom Margaret befriends. He has two daughters, Bessy and Mary.
• Mrs. Hannah Thornton — Mr. Thornton's mother, who dislikes Margaret
• Fanny Thornton — Younger sister of Mr. John Thornton
• Bessy — Nicholas Higgins's daughter, who suffers from a fatal illness from working the mills
• Mary — Nicholas Higgins's youngest daughter
• Mr. Richard Hale — Margaret's father, a dissenter who leaves his vicarage in Helstone to work as a private tutor in Milton
• Mrs. Maria Hale — Margaret's mother, a woman from a respectable London family.
• Dixon — A servant of the Hales, very loyal and devoted to Mrs. Hale
• Mr. Bell — An old friend of Mr. Hale, god-father to Margaret and her brother
• Mrs. Shaw — Margaret's aunt, Edith's mother, and Mrs. Hale's sister
• Edith — Margaret's cousin, married to Captain Lennox
• Mr. Henry Lennox — A young lawyer, brother of Captain Lennox. Margaret refuses his suits early in the story
• Frederick Hale — Margaret's older brother, a fugitive living in Spain since his involvement in a mutiny while serving in the British Navy
• Leonards — Frederick's fellow sailor who didn't mutiny and wants to hand Frederick in to get a reward

Summary

When because of frustratingly unspecified theological doubts--we assume he becomes a Unitarian, like Gaskell's husband--the Rev. Mr. Hale throws up his living as a Church of England priest, he, his wife, and their daughter Margaret leave the idyllic village of Helstone, in Hampshire, and move to Milton (i.e., Manchester). For most of her youth Margaret, now eighteen or nineteen, has been brought up in London by her wealthy Aunt Shaw, and has rejoined her parents only after the marriage of her vivacious but shallow cousin Edith to Captain Lennox. The captain's brother Henry, a rising barrister, asks for Margaret's hand but, regarding him as friend not lover, she respectfully sends him packing.

Settling in smoky Milton, the Hale women are troubled by urban dirt and commercial go-getting. The "Dissenter" Mr. Hale, who has a very small independence, now works as a tutor. His favourite pupil is the important manufacturer, Mr. Thornton. Staying to tea, Thornton debates with--and really instructs--the naive, "humanistic" Hales about the condition of working class, the strikes, the owners--the realities of the marketplace. Margaret sees Thornton as coarse and unfeeling, but also as admirable in the way he's made his way up from poverty. He sees her as haughty, but also as lovely and intelligent.

Margaret begins to warm up to Milton when she befriends Nicholas Higgins, a factory worker, and his consumptive daughter Bessy, who is about Margaret’s age. She visits the family as often as she can, but her own mother is becoming seriously ill, too. Bessy and Mrs. Hale will soon die.

Although Thornton has tried to get his mother to like and visit the Hales, there is no love lost between them. Mrs. Thornton sees Margaret as even haughtier than her son, toward whom she herself feels exceptionally possessive. When striking workers, now a mob, threaten violence on Thornton and his factory--he has brought in cheap Irish workers to break the strike--Margaret encourages him to go down and appease the mob until soldiers arrive to keep the peace. He does so, but is in great danger. She puts herself between Thornton and the mob, and is struck down by a hurled stone. The soldiers arrive, the rioters disperse. While carrying Margaret indoors, Thornton realizes that he has fallen in love with her.

After his mother convinces him that Margaret cares for him. Thornton asks her to marry; she declines--insisting that she would have intervened to save any man threatened by a mob. It was nothing personal. When Mrs. Thornton learns that her bold Northern son has been rejected by this young Southern "lady," she hates her all the more. When the dying Mrs. Hale asks Mrs. Thornton to look after Margaret, that woman slyly promises only to chastise Margaret if she is about to make a mistake.

Meanwhile, Margaret’s brother Frederick, who is wanted for his part in a justified-but-still-illegal mutiny, secretly visits their dying mother. When Margaret takes him to the train station on his way to London, Thornton sees them and--a long-lasting mistake--supposes Frederick to be Margaret’s lover. To complicate things further, on the train platform a certain no-good called Leonards, who served with Frederick but did not mutiny and who now wants to hand him in to get a reward, sees him and makes to hand him in. Frederick pushes him over the platform a few feet onto the tracks, then jumps into the train. Leonards dies shortly after. When Margaret is questioned by the police about the scuffle on the platform, she lies, saying she wasn’t there. As the magistrate overseeing the investigation into Leonards's death, Thornton knows of Margaret’s lie but, though not understanding what's behind it, covers up for her. In the course of all this, Margaret begins to realize that she loves him.

Bessy dies. Her father Nicholas gets a job with Thornton, who, mainly to avoid seeing Margaret, has stopped his tutorials with Mr. Hale. In the meantime, Mr. Bell, Thornton’s landlord and an old friend from Oxford, comes to visit the Hales in Milton, and Hale repays the visit by going to Bell in Oxford. There, suddenly, he dies. Margaret and Frederick are now orphans.

Aunt Shaw and Captain Lennox are summoned to take Margaret back to London, where she will lead an easy life with Edith and her children. Shortly after a visit with Margaret to Helstone, Bell also dies--it's the last of the story's many fatalities--leaving his considerable property to Margaret.

Thornton meanwhile has suffered grave financial losses: the market fluctuates, and his timing, and luck, have been bad. He comes to London to confer with the lawyer Lennox about his next move. Also, he has found out from Higgins that Margaret had been protecting her brother Frederick, who is now safe back in Spain with his Spanish wife. Margaret didn't have a "lover" after all.

Finally alone together, Thornton and she can admit their love for one another. This is good, it must be said, for his business, which with the influx of her capital can get back on its feet.

Adaptations

Television

The BBC have produced two television serials based on Gaskell's novel. A 1975 version by Midlands playwright David Turner featured Rosalind Shanks as Margaret Hale and Patrick Stewart as John Thornton, while a 2004 adaptation by Sandy Welch of North & South featured Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage respectively in these roles.

Literature

Catherine Winchester has released two adaptations of North and South; a sequel entitled Northern Light in which John and Margaret set up a model village for their workers and What You Wish For, a fantasy in which a modern day woman finds herself trapped in the story.

References

1. ^ Stoneman, Patsy (1994/2002). North and South: Introduction and Notes. Wordsworth Classics. pp. Introduction (I-XVII). 

External links

• North and South at Project Gutenberg
• North and South – complete book in HTML one page for each chapter.
• North and South free ebook in PDF, PDB and LIT formats
• in Mobipocket format
• Read aloud by volunteers in MP3 format (free, public domain)
• North and South, the Musical - a new musical based on E. Gaskell's novel
• Northern Light
• What You Wish For
• Catherine Winchester - Official Website