An Interpretation Of The Literary Ethics Of Mrs. Gaskell's Novels

Mrs.Gaskell,whose full name is Elizabeth Claghorn Stevenson,is a very important writer in the Victorian era in Britain.She comes upon the stage of the writing circle and becomes one of the famous writers because of her social Reality novels.Because the political and social issues that she reveals in her novels are more than all realities that professional politicians,statemen and moralists uncovered together,she is entitled by Marx as one of prominent novelists.In the first instance,people pay the most of their attention on her social reality novels when they do research on her works.Of course,that is because this type of novels dominates all of her works.For than on,more and more different angles of view are applied to studying her novels abroad and at home.At the same time,the research in the aspect of the literary ethnics has also been improved and perfected continuously.In the Victorian era,a quantity of writers reflect the real ethical situation of society in their masterpieces.These masterpieces present directly how people from all kinds of classes live their lives when they are in the period of transitional society.However,different from the other writers of her times,Mrs.Gaskell is less a person who helps the people that are in ethical dilemmas to find their way out than a person who criticizes the characters in her novels as a critic.In this dissertation,the author will interpret Mrs.Gaskell's long novels from three different perspectives.To begin with,combining her works and historical materials,the author will show readers the special social situation under the ethical transition.As for the next part,the author will make a specific analysis on her works and meanwhile,expound the ethical dilemmas that the particular characters are facing with under the special ethical situation.At last,in the last part,the author will analyze what is the solution that Mrs.Gaskell proposes when her characters are facing these ethical dilemmas—it is the characters' own ethical choice or it is Mrs.Gaskell's own moral criticism.In her works,characters don't live their lives along their original destination,but head for their twisted ending abruptly.In such way,Mrs.Gaskell can express her own expectations in her works.In addition,she will intervene in her works forcibly and express her lament for those characters who are to be going astray.More often than not,she will portray some perfect characters to give expression her own best wishes of what kind of society is her ideal one.Then,she will describe directly what people should do when they are doing with the ethical dilemmas.Of course,such arrangements of the endings in her works do definitely cripple her criticism on the social reality issues to some degree.Besides,these wishful endings also debase the authenticity of her works,which make her works become means of her wishful expectations as well.As a result,her works can't dominate the literature circle of her time,also now.Because the literature circle is always rising here and subsiding there.However,what we can't deny is that we can't judge Mrs.Gaskell with a modern perspective,as she is the representative of her time.Anyway,the writers' thoughts should be analyzed under the specific historical situation,especially for Mrs.Gaskell,whose thoughts are symbols of ambivalent minds in the period of ethical transition.By analyzing these three parts,it can be concluded that in the history of literature,Mrs.Gaskell's works can not become dominant ones even if her works are of value.