British Women in Lady Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters and Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South

Abstract

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters and Elizabeth Gaskell’s forth novel North and South seem not to be the only literary works that tackle the issue of women, but in fact, both authors introduce the real world where British women lived during the 18th and 19th centuries. What Montagu and Gaskell are doing is drawing a real painting about the hell where British women passed the worst times under men’s control and society’s neglect. On the other hand, they show that these oppressed women did not stay silent, but they made their best to advance their status. Throughout Turkish Embassy Letters and North and South, mainly through Lady Montagu and Margaret Hale, as the main characters, the reader can see difficult circumstances in which these two women are obliged to struggle and fight to live a respectful life, without any restrictions; the norms that benefit only men and at the same time oppress women. In this research, both of Lady Montagu and Elizabeth Gaskell are considered as the representatives of British women in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are just two examples of British women who resisted and fought for their rights, to change their status; and in fact they realized more than they expected, of course after harsh struggles.