著者

木村 正子

出版者

一般財団法人日本英文学会

雑誌

英文学研究. 支部統合号 (ISSN:18837115)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, pp.313-319, 2012-01-20

---

This paper examines the issue of a fallen woman in Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth, exploring the reasons why the heroine Ruth Hilton should die even after repenting. In Victorian literary convention, fallen women were treated as objects of moral scorn and their story of transgression and plight was offered as a warning to unmarried women readers who were themselves expected to be "angels in the house." Gaskell did not consider all fallen women as depraved. She poses the question: Is a woman's "fall" a problem of individual morals or a social issue intertwined with the Victorian double standard? While Gaskell's Ruth casts a light on the socially ill treatment of fallen women, the novel ends with Ruth's abrupt death, leading critics to argue that Gaskell could not go beyond the bounds of the Victorian norms. This may be partly true, but in Gaskell's mind as long as Ruth's repentance is complete, she does not die a sinner. As a character, Ruth is an anomaly in. the Victorian world because she feels both repression and passion, the latter of which should not belong to an "angelic" woman. This deviancy has a productive side for Ruth to have a chance of speaking out and to liberate herself from the manacles of patriarchy. Instead she is forbidden to have her place in the Victorian society. Her death is both punishment and reward. This is Gaskell's argument against the idealistic woman model, the "angel in the house" which denies woman's individuality and a personal history.