Gender In Mary Barton

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Mary Barton, written by Elizabeth Gaskell, contains multiple themes, including: love, class conflict, and drug addiction. But one theme that truly stands out is gender, which encompasses the expectations of women and their virtue. The themes previously stated can be applied to most characters in the Mary Barton, no matter if they are male or female. But this cannot be said about the theme of gender, or to be more specific virtue. A man’s virtue is never questioned within the book unlike a woman’s. Mary Barton and Esther’s ethics are continuously questioned. Mary a beautiful young girl that, although lives a different life from Esther – her aunt – still finds her life aligned with the life Esther is living. Gaskell uses these two characters …show more content…
The problem that arises is that Mary is showing similarities to Esther when making decisions. Instead of giving Jem – her childhood acquaintance that continues to pursue her – the time of day, she associates with a Harry – a man of the upper class that is taken with her looks. This can be compared to Esther who took advantage of her looks and left home to begin a life with an admirer. Although Mary appears to be serious about Harry, that changes when Jem proposes to her. After rejecting him, she realizes she truly loves him and can no longer continue a relationship with Harry. The themes of gender and female virtue do not come through as clearly in the previous example. It is possible for the reader to believe John Barton’s concerns with Harry are because of his distaste and distrust of the upper class. But it is more likely that it is a combination of the …show more content…
It can also be noted that Harry received very little reprimanding for his relationship with Mary. The only person that would be totally opposed is his father as he says on page 137, “I’ll marry you in defiance of the world…in a year or two my father will forgive me.” He even admits that his own mother was a factory worker. This points also shows that men during the Victorian era had more leeway to marry women of a different class than women. It was more Harry’s decision to be with Mary than it was her decision to be with
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