Character Clues
Character Analysis
Physical Appearances
We learn that Margaret has a wide mouth… and then we learn that she isn't afraid to speak her mind. We first hear about Mr. Thornton's thick build… and then we know that he has a sturdy and stubborn personality. When it comes to the characters of North and South, what you see is, in effect, what you get.
It takes only a quick glance at Bessy Higgins for Margaret to know that the girl is very sick and probably not long for this world. It's also impossible for someone to look at Bessy and not know that she's angelic, because she looks kind of like a freaking angel. And this goes on. In fact, it's pretty much impossible to find a physical description in this novel that doesn't translate directly into that character's personality.
Direct Characterization
Gaskell likes to use all kinds of different subtle ways of showing us what a character is like, but she doesn't shy away from directly telling us what a character is like when she finds it necessary.
When describing Edith Shaw, for example, Gaskell writes, "[A]lthough she was a spoiled child, she was too careless and idle to have a very strong will of her own, and gave way when she found that her mother had absolutely ordered those extra delicacies of the season" (1.3).
There's no subtlety here. Gaskell just throws down and tells us, "Yeah, here's this girl's whole deal." 'Nuff said. Do some snooping and you'll find moments like this for most of the other characters.
Why did Gaskell do this? Was it because she thought that readers wouldn't pick up the nuances of character-building? Naw. It was because North and South was first published in a literary journal as a serial, which meant that readers were waiting for a period of time to find out what happened next. Much like TV shows need to have a "previously on…" montage before each new episode, North and South needed to refresh the reader on what these characters were like. Direct characterization was sometimes the easiest way to do that.
Family Life
Margaret is the rock of her family. She has to be, after all, since neither of her parents is capable of stepping up and doing what needs to be done. Any time there's a crisis, it's like Margaret's parents become totally paralyzed by fear or indecision. It's not all bad, though, since this situation makes Margaret a stronger person.
Her parents also have a nasty habit of making her carry the bad news. Moving to Milton? Go tell your mom. Dying mama? Don't tell your father. This must be exhausting. No wonder Margaret can be a bit testy.
On the other end of the spectrum John Thornton is totally coddled by his mommy. They're close—almost a little too close for comfort. His mom basically considers John her most valuable possession, and this family dynamic definitely makes it hard for John to meet young women. Let's just say that Mrs. Thornton isn't all that interested in sharing her son's attention. Besides, who could ever be good enough for Mama Thornton's precious boy?
Social Status
Throughout the novel, characters judge one another most on their social status. Coming from the south, Margaret Hale judges people based on their education and their compassion toward others. Northerner Mr. Thornton, on the other hand, judges people on how much money they make and how much responsibility they take for their own circumstances in life. North and South, man. It's like they're two different worlds.
Social status also defines goodness in the minds of these characters. Margaret won't marry John because she thinks she's better than him, even though she is poor and he has tons of money. John's mother, on the other hand, doesn't want her son getting pulled into a marriage with a poor woman… because being poor means she's not good enough. These different definitions of goodness drive much of the conflict, and action, in North and South.
Speech and Dialogue
Speech doesn't seem like a really big tool of characterization in this book until Margaret meets people from England's working class. Bessy Higgins, for one, addresses her by saying, "If yo'd ha' come to our house when yo' said yo' would, I could maybe ha' told you. But father says yo're just like th' rest on 'em" (1.11.25).
This kind of working class dialect might be tough to understand at first, but it's a really effective way for Elizabeth Gaskell to show the divide between England's middle class and working class. Margaret can't truly understand the lives of the working class because she can't even understand their dialect.
Thoughts and Opinions
The events of North and South are set off by the opinions of Mr. Hale, since his views on the church are what cause him to move his family to the north of England. Another one of the ways that opinions drive characterization in North and South can be seen in the debate that Margaret Hale and John Thornton have over an employer's responsibility to his employees.
For Margaret, an employer is obligated to answer to his workers and to provide the best possible life for them. For John, an employer can do whatever he wants with his business because he has earned power through perseverance and hard work. In Thornton's mind, poor people have no one but themselves to blame for being poor.
As the novel continues, John moderates his views and takes greater measures to improve the lives of his workers. Margaret moderates her harsh opinion of John's moral fiber. It's these changes of opinion that get Margaret and John to a place where they're ready to tie the knot.