Reverend Hall resigns his post at Helstone and moves his family to the fictional town of Milton, aka Manchester, a major industrial center. Gaskell herself lived in Manchester and knew intimately the strengths and struggles it faced due to rapid industrialization. It is believed that Gaskell chose the name "Milton" as a fictional stand-in for Manchester, because she wanted to convey the cultural aspect of the city as important to her as its industry. (CG)
Victorian Literature and Culture, EN 352, Skidmore College Dashboard
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_-_Queen_Victoria_(1819-1901)_-_RCIN_401213_-_Royal_Collection.jpg "Queen Victoria")
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”—so writes Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities (1859), succinctly capturing the dualities of the Victorian age (1837-1901). In this course, we will explore dualities and contradictions of the Victorian era through fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and the visual arts. We might think of the Victorians as sin-obsessed, dignified, proper, prudish, and tight-laced, but these same Victorians lived in an age of urban squalor, disease, rampant deprivations, prostitution, and child labor. This era of production and consumption witnessed rapid expansion of the British Empire; growth in literacy and industrialization; and the glory of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first ever World’s Fair. Alongside these achievements came epidemics (typhoid took the life of Prince Albert in 1861); the Crimean War crisis and conflicts in India, Africa, China, and the West Indies; religious doubt; and the greed of imperialism, which underpins Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847). We will encounter the angel in the house and her fallen sister in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market (1862); Queen Victoria and Prince Albert alongside their poorest subjects in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1851); a clash between agrarian southern England and the industrial north in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1855); the divided human being in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886); and a scrooge transformed into a charitable man in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843). Course work includes 4 briefs, an exhibition on the Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education (COVE), and a final 8–10-page paper.
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Individual Entries
Here is where Frederick Hale takes refuge.
To avoid court martial in England in Gaskell's North and South (1855), naval officer Frederick Hale takes refuge in Cadiz. He was part in a mutiny against a cruel British naval officer before the novel opens. After staying briefly in South America, he moves to Cadiz, Spain and takes a job with a Mr. Barbour, a British merchant, and he falls in love with his Anglo-Spanish daughter, Dolores. Margaret writes to Frederick without Rev. Hale's knowledge to tell her brother their mother is dying; Frederick returns with great peril to his life. The family keeps his visit a secret, but complications at the time of his departure cause problems for Margaret. Later we learn that Frederick marries Dolores and converts to Catholocism to do so. Today, tourists flock to Cadiz for the beautiful beaches, history, and fabulous weather. (CG)
Margaret Hale's brother takes refuge here after being caught in a mutiny against a cruel officer in the British navy.
In North and South, Margaret Hale's older brother named Frederick takes refuge in Cadiz after living briefly in South America following a mutiny on a British naval ship. Frederick joins in the mutiny while serving under a very brual officer in the British navy. In Cadiz, Fred finds work for a Mr. Barbour, a British merchant, and becomes engaged to his Anglo-Spanish daughter Dolores. Frederick comes to Milton at Margaret's request to pay his respects to his dying mother. He risks his safety to do so. Today tourists appreciate Cadiz for its beautiful beaches, rich history, and sunny skies.
Freserick Hale takes refuge in Cadiz in North and South, returning to England to see his dying mother and taking a great risk for his life. (CG)