In my thesis I analysed the behaviour and English society in the novel Cranford, using literature on the position of women and relations between women and men. Firstly, I described the time and the setting of the Victorian era. I pointed out the aspect of industrialisation, which had a significant impact on the situation in society, on literature and, consequently, on the writing of novels. At the core, I have focused on the position of women in society, in the home, and I have also analysed the rules of propriety, manners and all the values that were of paramount importance to men and women in the Victorian era. I also highlighted The Great Exhibition, which was a kind of response both to industrialisation and the rapidly changing world, and to the writers of the time, including Elizabeth Gaskell. That was the starting point for describing Elizabeth Gaskell's writing and analysing the particular novel Cranford. In the process of analysing it, I realised how the habits of the ladies in Cranford were at once similar and different to those of lower and middle class women in the actual England of the period. I conclude my thesis with insights into how the novel Cranford was a catalyst for a different life for women at the time, and how it represented women's dreams of a life free from men and of a community free from greed and selfishness.
|
