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 towards a history, writing, and identity particular to women.

In the following essay, Homans claims that Mary Barton and "Lizzie Leigh" are both enactments of a dialogue between mother and daughter, a dialogue that hinges on the transmission of the written word.

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.

In the following excerpt, Uglow explores the fifteen year period (1850-1865) during which Gaskell associated herself with Charles Dickens and wrote most of her short fiction.

In the following essay, Rogers contends that Gaskell's short story "Cousin Phillis" describes the predicament of the well-educated woman in Victorian Britain; his analysis also focuses upon the significance of the title character's name.

In the following excerpt, Lansbury presents an overview of Gaskell's short stories.

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.

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

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 through role reversal, the behavior of domestic servants, and the description of the "inhuman possibilities of authority. "

In the following essay, Martin discusses the role of the supernatural in Gaskell's novels and shorter works.

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 the following introduction to Gaskell's collected letters, Chappie and Pollard discuss the significance of the letters as reflections and commentaries on her experience and writing.

In the essay that follows, Mitchell discusses Gaskell's Ruth as a novel that attempts to respond to the problem of prostitution, in part by criticizing the presupposition that "fallen women" should be ostracized from society and by suggesting that the general public has a certain responsibility for this problem.

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.

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 tendencies.

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.

In the following essay, Brodetsky surveys Gaskell's work as a writer of short stories and novellas.

In the following excerpt, Stoneman investigates the means by which Gaskell blurs traditional gender roles across class divisions and criticizes patriarchal authority in her short fiction.

In the following excerpt, Levine analyzes the narrative of Gaskell's novella Cousin Phillis, placing the work within the Victorian realistic tradition.

In the following assessment, the anonymous critic praises The Moorland Cottage for its "wholesome moral."

In the following review of Mrs. Gaskell's Tales of Mystery and Horror, Tomalin suggests that the twentieth-century impulse to classify Gaskell as a "mystery" or "horror" writer is misleading.

Here, Ferris faults Gaskell's ability to portray the nonrational motivations which give rise to fantasy, mystery, and the Gothic.

Below, the anonymous critic favorably reviews Cousin Phillis.