Learning how to be a woman in the world

Margaret Hale’s case in North and South

Abstract

North and South, the novel published by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1855, deals with Margaret Hale’s formation as an autonomous woman in the narrow world of Victorian Northern England. The present work follows the protagonist’s trajectory, analyzing elements traditionally aligned with experiences perceived as male or female, and the ways they articulate within Margaret’s growth. Gaskell’s work seems to point to the need for multiple kinds of learning, springing from both traditional and alternative sources, in order for women to act with autonomy within the possible space of patriarchal social structures.