North and South (Gaskell, 1855)
From Commonplace Book
General
- prefatory note interesting on her perceived constraint by serialized publication in Household Words and subsequent expansion in volume form
- 17 desc of M as "so far from regularly beautiful" makes her a sister of Bronte heroines
- 33 Mr Hale leaving Church ministry -- note v good
- 39 Margaret seems justified in her perception of moving in a fortnight to be quite fast -- when the hell did anything in a Victorian novel happen that quickly?!
- 66 repeated theme of Margaret's parents being overly reliant on her "genius for management" (60)
- 76 she "told her mother that she was no longer Peggy the laundry-maid, but MH the lady": class tied to praxis, different activities, even when the same person performs them
- but MH argued there's something essentially ladylike in her through it all
Theme Tracking
Reading/Writing
- 20 "the well-bound little-read English Classics" in the Helstone parsonage library
- 23 "proper old Italian binding" on an ed of Dante's paradiso
- 34 Mr Hale quoting a 17c dissenter to justify leaving ministry
- 79 Thornton looking round the Hales' drawing room for the first time: "...and books, not cared for on account of their binding solely, lay on one table, as if recently put down."
Shakespeare references
- 5 compares Edith to Titania Midsummer Dream
- 7 course of true love running smooth
