North and South (1855 Novel) - Themes - Other Themes - Religious Context

Religious Context

Daughter and wife of a Pastor, Elizabeth Gaskell does not write a religious novel although religion plays an important role in her work. The Unitarians did not take biblical texts literally but symbolically (Tousszint-Thiriet, 2007, in French). They believed neither in original sin nor in the notion of women as more guilty or weaker than men and were more liberal than other communities (e.g., methodists, Anglicans or Dissenters). North and South presents a typical picture of Unitarian tolerance in one evening scene (Matus, 2007): "Margaret the Churchwoman, her father the Dissenter, Higgins the Infidel, knelt down together" (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 28). The Thorntons do not invoke religion the same way the Hales do although Mrs. Thornton may read Matthew Henry’s Comments on the Bible ("Exposition of the Old and New Testaments"). While the reinstitution in 1850 by Pope Pius IX of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in England was generally strongly condemned, Gaskell assumes an open mind about Catholicism and has Frederick Hale converting to his Spanish wife’s Catholic religion (Matus, 2007, p 174).

The scriptures appear in several forms: citations in Chapter VI: (the Book of Job, ii. 13); implicit or explicit references as in the allusion to the "Elder Brother" from the Parable of the Prodigal Son; interpretations as in Margaret’s paraphrasing of the definition of charity ("that spirit which suffereth long and is kind and seeketh not her own") (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 15) from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. But Gaskell warns against misuse: Bessy Higgins reads the Apocalypse to cope with her condition, and gives an interpretation of the parable of Dives and Lazarus, so simplistic that Margaret counters vigorously : "It won’t be division enough, in that awful day, that some of us have been beggars here, and some of us have been rich—we shall not be judged by that poor accident, but by our faithful following of Christ" (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 19). Margaret and John follow a path of conversion that leads to reconciliation, acknowledging their "unworthiness" (Pollard, 1967). Margaret, who has the longest way to go, is first crushed by guilt from her lie and by shame from being debased in Thornton’s eyes (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 39). A page from Saint Francis de Sales encourages her to seek "the way of humility" (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 41) despite Mr. Bell's attempts to minimize and rationalize her lie as instinctively committed under the grip of panic. Thornton, on the brink of ruin, like Job, strives not to be outraged, while his mother rebels against the injustice of his situation: "Not for you, John! God has seen fit to be very hard on you, very." before giving fervent thanks for the "great blessing" his very existence gives her (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 50).