An Interpretation Of Mrs. Gaskell's Ruth From The Perspective Of Feminist Ethics

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) is a British realist writer in the 19th century. Gaskell, together with her contemporary writers such as Dickens, Thackeray and Gorge Eliot, was eulogized by Marx as"outstanding British novelists"who exposed more political and social facts than all the politicians, political critics and moral experts did. Compared with her contemporary writers, Gaskell has received relatively less critical attention; however, she has been well remembered for her novels in which she dealt with various subjects with purifying purposes.As the second novel of Gaskell, Ruth mirrored vividly and profoundly the Victorian social ethical problems. The story tells that the poor girl dressmaker Ruth was seduced and then abandoned by the profligate son of rich parents Bellingham and reveals the contemporary unfair social ethics: man, unconventional and unrestrained, dallied with women, but bore nothing shameful about his fame and benefit; while woman, on the contrary, became the victim, suffering the public blame and scorn. Once published, Ruth suffered a lot of attacks not only because a fallen woman was taken as the heroine but also because the writer put emphasis on Ruth's innocence and purity. The publication of Ruth enabled Mrs. Gaskell to become the first novelist who takes the fallen woman as a heroine, which is about forty years earlier than Hardy's choosing a fallen woman Tess as the heroine in his novel Tess of The D'urbervilles.This thesis attempts to interpret Ruth from the perspective of feminist ethics in order to find out and analyze the feminist ethics embodied in the novel and expose Mrs. Gaskell's feminist ethics: she is against the extreme feminist model proposed by feminists; from women's unique maternal emotions, she tries to establish a feminist ethics which is based on reason and advocates compassion and care. This moral practice which exercises care and avoids hurt was a way for Victorian women to assert their influence in their limited activity sphere and from this we can also observe Mrs. Gaskell's kind intention to purify the society and to awaken the public sympathy towards fallen women like Ruth.The thesis consists of five parts: introduction, the main contents (from chapter 1 to chapter 3) and conclusion. Introduction is about Gaskell's life and literary creation, the theme of Ruth and the innovation and significance of the thesis. The first chapter of this thesis is mainly about the ethical literary criticism, the feminist ethics theory, including its social background, the main branches, especially those main theories and concepts applied in this thesis. Chapter Two is the most important part of this thesis, focusing on the analysis of Ruth as a fallen woman, Ruth as a pure woman in Gaskell's eyes and as a fighter against the society as well as the compassion, love and care between the main characters in the novel. Chapter Three explores the causal sources from which Mrs. Gaskell's ethical thoughts originated, including the contemporary social feminist movements, the social literary movement and her individual growing environment.Based on the above, the thesis comes to a conclusion that Gaskell's ethical thoughts were embodied in Ruth, and through this novel, she wanted to awaken the public concern for the fallen women, and thus purify the contemporary society and establish the social ethics which treats men and women equally.