Elizabeth Gaskell - Mary Barton

I initially began reading this for my personal statement, without the concept of love in mind. Gaskell sets out in this novel to document the social deprivation of industrial Manchester, a she herself explains in the preface of her novel, 'The more i reflected on this unhappy state of things...the more anxious I became to give some utterance to this agony'. Gaskell is more than a novelist - she is a social commentator as she often reminds us with reflections such as, 'but what I wish to impress is what the working man feels'. This occasional interaction with the reader distances us form the novel's narrative. This can be seen as a devise of Gaskell's in making sure the reader is aware that this is not simply a story - this is a picture of society.


In spite of all of this, 'Mary Barton' is rich in sources for the study of love. Within her social commentary we see many forms of love; paternal, maternal, grand paternal, romantic, unrequited, forbidden and platonic. Furthermore, we see the emergence of the nuclear family which is important in studying how family love and relationships have evolved.

Gaskell fuses her social commentary with her presentation of love in her demonstration of lost love. Gaskell's most emotive devise in communicating the hardship of the Mancunian working class is creating vivid characters in relationships that die, leaving a legacy of heartache. The novel opens with the meeting of two married couples with their children, and almost picturesque scene, away form the city, and gradually we see many of them die.

I will continue to explore more of these forms of love at a later date, focusing predominately on Mary herself, as the protagonist of the novel.