An analysis of the main moral themes and their treatment in the fiction of Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell.

This thesis sets out to examine the main moral themes in the fiction of Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell. A brief introduction establishing the scope of the thesis and defining the term 'moral' is followed by a section in which Mrs. Gaskell 's viewpoint is examined and her main moral emphases outlined. These emphases all arise from her concern for right relations between people, whether as individuals or as social classes. Mrs. Gaskell 's understanding of God, his manifestations in the moral order, her use of Biblical material and her beliefs about man are studied in the remainder of this section. The greater part of the thesis is devoted to the moral themes themselves and is divided into four sections, dealing respectively with Mrs. Gaskell's plea for understanding and forgiveness, punishment of wrongdoing, moral education, and virtue.