Geographical and Social Exploration as Female Empowerment in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South

Abstract

Elizabeth Gaskell‘s North and South presents an interaction between gender and class in a society marked by the tremendous socio-economic upheavals virtue of the Industrial Revolution. The novel represents contemporary realism and social concern typifying the female development and the hard living conditions of marginalized working-class people. Gaskell devoted important roles for young Margaret Hale, her protagonist, in the public sphere and social participation, while breaking the traditional Victorian domesticity. North and South portrays the pathway of a heroine from daughterhood to womanhood. She is the main character and the central consciousness in which the socialization of women and the psychological misapprehensions are challenged as crucial constituents of patriarchal oppression to women. In order to structure such exploration Gaskell attempts to use the geographical setting. In other words, the characters are assorted by a specific place and each place symbolizes and reveals different aspects of life and society. Through these imagined communities or spaces, the concepts of gender and sexism are revealed in the novel, showing the different ways in which Gaskell transgressed social norms, starting from Judith Butler‘s theories on gender and transgression. In addition, the notions of female identity, empowerment and development are addressed basing on Naila Kabeer‘s Three Dimensional Models. Hence, Gaskell linked between female development and empowerment as well as social issues of class conflict.