North and South

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell debuted in Charles Dickens’s magazine Household Words, appearing in 20 weekly installments between September 1854 and January 1855. The novel was later published in two volumes. Dickens heavily edited the novel and changed the title from Margaret Hale to North and South. In the novel, Gaskell draws on her personal experience of being married to a Unitarian minister, a role that brought her into contact with all levels of society. Like her heroine Margaret, Gaskell was involved in her community and not restricted to domestic duties like many women of her time. North and South is a social novel that presents the contrasts between England’s industrialized north and agrarian south and closely examines the changing class system of 19th-century England.

Plot Summary

Protagonist Margaret Hale is 18 and lives in London with her wealthy Aunt Shaw and cousin, Edith. After Edith’s marriage to Captain Lennox, Margaret returns to Helstone, the quiet town where her father is the village vicar. Shortly after her return, she refuses a marriage proposal from Lennox, her friend and Edith’s brother-in-law. Margaret’s father, Richard Hale, becomes disenchanted with the church, resigns his position as vicar, and announces they must move north to an industrial town called Milton, where he will become a tutor to the uneducated mill owners. News of the move upsets Margaret’s mother, Maria, and Margaret is devastated to leave the quaint pastoral landscape she adores. Margaret’s parents, often indecisive and apathetic, leave Margaret to make all the arrangements for their move. After packing their home and selling many belongings, the Hales, along with Maria’s maid, Dixon, begin their journey north.

Every aspect of Milton shocks the Hales. Smog, created by industrial waste emissions and leached from the smokestacks of the mills, pollutes the air. The constant whir and grind of machinery fill their ears, and the townspeople move about quickly, interacting little with each other. The Hales feel out of place as they try to adjust to the disparate landscape and the peculiar social structure that is at odds with all they know about class and manners.

Margaret and her mother have different reactions to the move. Maria’s health begins to falter soon after the family’s arrival in Milton because she finds the town so unpleasant. She spends most of her days in bed complaining about the foul air and longing for the family’s idyllic pastoral life in Helstone. Margaret becomes intrigued by her new home when she meets her father’s primary pupil, John Thornton. A part of the nouveau riche, Thornton owns Marlborough Mill and holds distinction in Milton and abroad for the success of his factory. Though he is handsome and interesting, Margaret does not view him as a gentleman and disagrees with many of his views about the mill master’s authoritative power over the workers. For his part, Thornton falls instantly in love with Margaret.

Margaret befriends a local mill worker, Nicholas Higgins, and his family. In particular, she becomes close with his youngest daughter, Bessy, who is dying of consumption from inhaling cotton fibers in the mill. Bessy is a religious zealot whose mystical musings charm Margaret but also create in her a deep pathos for the working-class citizens of Milton. Margaret soon learns the workers are planning a strike to protest low wages and unsafe working conditions. She finds herself at a crossroads on both sides of the conflict as she is acquainted with Thornton, the mill owner, but has also developed close relationships with the workers. As the tension mounts over the strike, Margaret’s mother’s health continues to decline.

The buildup to Maria’s death and the factory workers’ strike coincides. Margaret goes to Thornton’s home, which he shares with his mother and sister, Fanny, to borrow a waterbed for Maria. The strikers gather outside the factory gates, led by John Boucher, Higgins’s neighbor, in an angry mob. Thornton, at Margaret’s behest, goes to speak to his workers, but the mob is intent on violence. As violence erupts, Margaret throws her arms around Thornton to shield him from a shoe thrown by one of the worker’s. Her gesture, deemed inappropriate by the community because she is unmarried, prompts Thornton to propose to save her honor. However, Margaret does not return his affections and refuses.

As Maria approaches death, her last wish is to see her son, Frederick, who was exiled to Spain after an attempted mutiny aboard his ship. Though it is risky, Margaret arranges for Frederick to visit Milton, keeping him hidden for fear of his capture and execution. After seeing her son, Maria dies, and Frederick must make a hasty departure for London. Thornton spies Margaret and Frederick embracing, and thinking he is her secret lover, Thornton plunges into a jealous despair. A former acquaintance of Frederick, Leonards, recognizes Frederick and attacks him. In self-defense, Frederick shoves Leonards but accidentally knocks him off the train platform. Leonards later dies, and the police come to question Margaret as a potential witness. She lies, telling them she was not there. Thornton, who is also the town magistrate, becomes aware of her lie but cancels the inquest to protect Margaret and her family from further harm. He disapproves of her moral lapse in lying to the police, but this does not hinder his love for her.

The strike’s end is bitter. There is no resolution between the workers’ union and mill owners. The leader, Boucher, dies by suicide, leaving Higgins with the guilt of his death. Adding to Higgins’s despair, his sister, Bessy, dies.

The remaining members of the Hale family meet different fates. Frederick finds a contented life in Spain and marries a Catholic merchant’s daughter. Richard goes to visit his friend and Margaret’s godfather, Mr. Bell, in Oxford, but he dies in his sleep. Margaret, now an orphan, goes back to Harley Street in London to live with her Aunt Shaw but finds life there boring and unfulfilling. Bell offers to take Margaret back to Helstone for a visit. While there, Margaret discovers her old hometown is no longer the idyllic enclave of her youth, and the visit is more painful than restorative. Soon after their visit to Helstone, Bell dies. In a show of consideration as Margaret’s godfather, he leaves Margaret his inheritance.

The novel closes with a positive resolution to Margaret and Thornton’s fraught courtship. Years after the strike, Thornton’s mill is on the brink of closure due to financial strain and a lack of qualified workers. Fortunately, Thornton has formed a relationship with Higgins, who teaches Thornton how to better care for and manage his workers. A year later, Margaret and Thornton reunite in London. Thornton has learned the truth about Frederick, and Margaret is humbled by Thornton’s change in character. She offers her inheritance to save his mill, and the two finally embrace in mutual respect and love.