Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

"Common as railroads are now in all places as a means of transit, and especially in Manchester, Mary had never been on one before; and she felt bewildered by the hurry, the noise of people, and bells, and horns; the whiz and the scream of the arriving trains.

The very journey itself seemed to her a matter of wonder. She had a back seat, and looked towards the factory-chimneys, and the cloud of smoke which hovers over Manchester, with a feeling akin to the "Heimweh." She was losing sight of the familiar objects of her childhood for the first time; and unpleasant as those objects are to most, she yearned after them with some of the same sentiment which gives pathos to the thoughts of the emigrant."

In this quote of Elizabeth Gaskell’s “Mary Barton”, Mary is travelling alone for the first time. With all of the rush of the new, Mary is fascinated by all of the things around her. This experience is quite different than her usual, and this is a taboo excursion for a women to be taking. Through this, the reader can sense that Mary may be turning into the “fallen woman” troupe that Gaskell keeps revisiting throughout her novel. Mary is finally travelling, and alone nonetheless. As well as she is losing sight of familiar objects around her, not only meaning the literal sights surrounding her on the day to day, but the thoughts and emotions she feels on the day to day. Her independence is growing with each day, as she is entirely. Since this was seen as something to look down upon during this time, the “fallen woman” stereotype starts to fall on Mary as well. This is a large commentary from Gaskell as she is stating that any woman who conveyed independence was seen as a fallen women.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

He flung her, trembling, sickening, fainting, from him, and strode away. She fell with a feeble scream against the lamp-post, and lay there in her weakness, unable to rise. A policeman came up in time to see the close of these occurrences, and concluding from Esther's unsteady, reeling fall, that she was tipsy, he took her in her half-unconscious state to the lock-ups for the night. The superintendent of that abode of vice and misery was roused from his dozing watch through the dark hours, by half-delirious wails and moaning’s, which he reported as arising from intoxication. If he had listened, he would have heard these words, repeated in various forms, but always in the same anxious, muttering way.

"He would not listen to me; what can I do? He would not listen to me, and I wanted to warn him! Oh, what shall I do to save Mary's child? What shall I do? How can I keep her from being such a one as I am; such a wretched, loathsome creature! She was listening just as I listened, and loving just as I loved, and the end will be just like my end. How shall I save her? She won't hearken to warning, or heed it more than I did; and who loves her well enough to watch over her as she should be watched? God keep her from harm! And yet I won't pray for her; sinner that I am! Can my prayers be heard? No! they'll only do harm. How shall I save her? He would not listen to me."

In this passage of Elizabeth Gaskell's "Mary Barton", Esther expresses her hatred and shame for her situation. Through the language Gaskell uses, the reader is truly able to feel the anguish which she feels. Words such as "loathsome creature", "wretched", and "sinner", expresses the amount of anger she has towards herself, the amount of exaggeration Gaskell uses for what is actually only truly seen as taboo, shows what the author is thinking. In which, Gaskell expresses her feelings towards “the fallen woman”. The liberal idea of women doing as they please and working for themselves, is so taboo that society sees Esther as this terrible human being when she is simply being a human being. The amount of victim blaming Esther is putting on herself due to the overwhelming society pressures, is expressed in the passage above. Although, the fact that Esther is expressing that she doesn’t want anyone to end up just like her, could be taken in two ways. One being a conservative reading and the other a liberal, Esther could not want anyone to end up just as she for she does not want anyone to feel the discrimination and sexism she is surrounded by at all times or, Esther could not want anyone to experience this as well because she truly feels as if she is in the wrong, that she is doing something wrong. In conclusion, the author leaves room for ambiguity, yet Gaskell seems to be expressing her feeling towards the wrongful conviction of “fallen woman” through Esther.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

"That's the worst of factory work, for girls. They can earn so much when work is plenty, that they can maintain themselves any how. My Mary shall never work in a factory, that I'm determined on. You see Esther spent her money in dress, thinking to set off her pretty face; and got to come home so late at night, that at last I told her my mind: my misses thinks I spoke crossly, but I meant right, for I loved Esther, if it was only for Mary's sake. Says I, 'Esther, I see what you'll end at with your artificial, and your fly-away veils, and stopping out when honest women are in their beds; you'll be a street-walker, Esther, and then, don't you go to think I'll have you darken my door, though my wife is your sister.' So says she, 'Don't trouble yourself, John. I'll pack up and be off now, for I'll never stay to hear myself called as you call me.' She flushed up like a turkey-cock, and I thought fire would come out of her eyes; but when she saw Mary cry (for Mary can't abide words in a house), she went and kissed her, and said she was not so bad as I thought her. So we talked more friendly, for, as I said, I liked the lass well enough, and her pretty looks, and her cheery ways. But she said (and at the time I thought there was sense in what she said) we should be much better friends if she went into lodgings, and only came to see us now and then."

"Then you still were friendly. Folks said you'd cast her off, and said you'd never speak to her again."

(Gaskell, pg. 9)

Through Elizabeth Gaskell's use of sarcasm, she shows the true misogyny that is riddled in Barton's mind. In this excerpt of text Barton is speaking of his conversation with Esther before she had left. The man states that he was simply frank with her, and was nothing short of kind. Although, Gaskell shines through with exaggeration, "My Mary shall never work in a factory, that I'm determined on. You see Esther spent her money in dress, thinking to set off her pretty face; and got to come home so late at night, that at last I told her my mind". Gaskell compares the two sisters through Barton to show his feelings towards Esther in a "kind" way. By saying that Mary would never do such a thing for she is Barton's, and Esther could end up a street-walker by simply being a woman who is in charge of herself and makes her own money, truly exemplifies the man's feelings towards women in general. Barton expresses his dislike for Esther and strong women by saying how distasteful it is to be a woman who does as she pleases instead of one who simply sits still and looks pretty. The sarcasm comes through when Barton states how he truly loves Esther and that is why he is telling her how wrong she is living her life this way, and at the end with "Then you still were friendly.". None of what Barton stated was any of his business, nor was it kind or said from a kind place. Therefore, Barton seems to be a misogynist and Gaskell shows this through comparison, irony and sarcasm. 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

"Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived.

I passed the night wretchedly. Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness. Mingled with this horror, I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete!"

(Shelley, pg. 58-59)

Through Shelley's use of allusion and extreme exaggeration, the reader gets a rich sense of Frankenstein's lack of responsibility. In this excerpt the reader is told what Frankenstein has made, and how he feels about this creature that he has brought to life. This creature that he spent the better part of two years on, once fully created is his own personal hell and is now horrendous in his eyes. Shelley uses allusion to describe how this is his hell, "it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived". This is Shelley alluding to Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy" in which he describes several layers of hell all called the inferno. Shelley is also making Frankenstein exaggerate his extreme horror, he states how hideous this creature is and how disappointed he is about this creature. Frankenstein is once again not disappointed in himself, only furthering the assumption of his selfishness the reader already had. With this excerpt, Mary Shelley uses both allusion and exaggeration to simply further the readers idea of Frankenstein's "all for self" attitude.