A Study Of Visual Art In Elizabeth Gaskell’s Novels

In recent years,the study of Elizabeth Gaskell(1810-1865)has been attracting more attentions.From the perspective of visual art,this thesis deeply analyses the realistic thoughts and cultural connotations in her novels.The purpose of linking Gaskell’s five novels with the pre-Raphaelite,the British landscape painting and the Dutch painting is to deepen the understanding of realism in her novels and to highlight the importance of the cultural concept about "transition anxiety" in Victorian period in the theme of her works.Combining visuality and text aims to help readers deeply understand the theme of Gaskell’s "industrial novels",expanding the dimension of researching on her novel’s realism,and demonstrating the depth of the artistic feature in her novels.This thesis is composed of four themed parts.The first part links the problem of class contradictions in Mary Barton and Ruth with the social problem of the pre-Raphaelite,aiming at explaining the influence of the fierce class contradictions and gender oppression in Victorian times.The second part centers on the intertextuality between North and South and British landscape painting,which shows the transformation of people’s thoughts in the process of industrialization.The third part analyses the relationship between the character emotions in Sylvia’s Lovers and Wives and Daughters and the morality of Dutch Painting,which exploring the consistency of the moral and social space in social activities between the novel and Dutch Painting.The fourth part highlights the thematical consistency between Gaskell’s novels and British paintings on the expression of "transformation anxiety",and explores the visual art features in Gaskell’s novels concerning the change of cultural conception.Eventually,this thesis points out that the visual art in Gaskell’s novels have the function of deepening readers’ understanding about Victorian social realism.This thesis claims that the mutual interpretation of the novel and painting also reveals Gaskell’s participation in the transformation of Victorian cultural conception.