Even the epigraph to North and South suggests that Elizabeth Gaskell would like for the whole world to be a little more compassionate. The book's main character, Margaret Hale, would like the same thing, although she's more of a hypocrite than she might first realize.
More specifically, she shows compassion toward the people you'd expect her to—the poor and the needy. But she has no compassion at all for members of England's new middle class, people who have built up their own businesses and who strive to make money. If anything, Margaret is extremely judgmental toward these people, and she doesn't really mature as an adult until she learns to extend compassion to them too.
Questions About Compassion and Forgiveness
- Who gets the most compassion from Margaret Hale in the first half of this book? Why?
- How does Mr. Thornton's sense of compassion change in North and South? Is it for the better or for the worse? Why?
- What major lesson does Margaret need to learn about compassion in this book? What are the final effects of learning this lesson? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
Chew on This
North and South is ultimately the story of Margaret Hale learning to sympathize with bosses as much as she does with workers.
In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell shows us that compassion is the opposite of selfishness.