Elizabeth Gaskell Summary

Biography EssayA recent review of Mrs. Gaskell's critical reputation divided her critics into three camps. One group, now fading, still treats her mainly as the author of Cranford (1853). A second em... Read more

A recent review of Mrs. Gaskell's critical reputation divided her critics into three camps. One group, now fading, still treats her mainly as the author of Cranford (1853). A second emphasizes her "so... Read more

For some critics Elizabeth Gaskell was a conventional, middle-class Victorian wife and mother who accepted the values of her world and who also happened to write books--a feminine dove among literary ... Read more

In the following assessment, the anonymous critic praises The Moorland Cottage for its "wholesome moral." There is little risk in predicting that this Christmas book will divide public f... Read more

In the following excerpt, Spencer argues that Gaskell's later works, "Curious, If True" and Cousin Phillis, illustrate the melding of her social conscience with her escapist tende... Read more

In the following excerpt, Rogers contends that Phillis's male education in Cousin Phillis is not liberating, as other critics have argued, but prescriptive and ultimately damaging. For Elizabet... Read more

In the following excerpt, Ganz studies Gaskell's use of humor in two of her short works, "Mr. Harrison 's Confessions" and My Lady Ludlow. "Mr. Harrison's Con... Read more

Here, Ferris faults Gaskell's ability to portray the nonrational motivations which give rise to fantasy, mystery, and the Gothic. This collection of six Gaskell stories [Mrs. Gaskell's T... Read more

In the following essay, Weiss maintains that the short tales within Gaskell's larger fiction work out "the anxieties and ambiguities inherent in the role of the female artist." In... Read more

In the following essay, Brodetsky surveys Gaskell's work as a writer of short stories and novellas. An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. Shakespeare: Richard II During the whole per... Read more

In the following essay, Schor contends that Sylvia's Lovers is a plotting of desire—especially female desire, which "works its own narrative transformations " and gestures ... Read more

In the essay that follows, Helms considers the manner in which Gaskell comes to understand herself in relation to Charlotte Brontë and thus combines the genres of biography and autobiography. T... Read more

In the essay that follows, Gallagher studies the influence of Gaskell's Unitarian understanding of moral freedom and responsibility on the writing of Mary Barton. As in the Religion of Causati... Read more

In the following essay, Stoneman argues that Gaskell's writing, rather than reflecting the bifurcation of society along class and gender lines, tends to blur the sharpness of these distinctions... Read more

In the following essay, Pettitt uses “Cousin Phillis” to probe Elizabeth Gaskell's views of science and contemporary scientific culture. Gaskell completed her novel Sylvia'... Read more