How does Gaskell use setting and location to reveal the character of her heroine, Margaret Hale?

The nett title of her fable North and South, suggests the important role setting and spatial relation play in Gaskells story of Marg aret Hale and her similitudeship with Milton m severely-owner John Thornton. During the cut across of the novel, we bump Margaret settled in three locations Harley route, Helstvirtuoso and Milton. Each of these settings represents a incompatible social stratum and we see Margaret develop in her perception and locating towards each of them.They tout ensemble contri neverthelesse, in some way, to making Margaret the young woman that she is at the end of the novel. The book opens in Harley Street, where we are presented with the role of Edith. Ediths role in the novel is to act as a contrast to Margaret or discover sample. Through her, we mess see what Margarets deportment would pass on been like had she real Lennox. Edith is the model Victorian woman and she fits in perfectly with her Harley Street surroundings, yet Margaret is far mor e independent, strong- chiefed and unconventional.When having her lover describe her future sprightliness in Corfu, the precise parts which made Margaret glow as she listened, Edith affect to shiver and shudder at because anything of a gipsy or make-shift keep was really distasteful to her. Margaret, on the opposite hand appears to be ill at ease with the superficial strengths and concerns of those around her. As she tells her mother I think what you call the makeshift contrivances at upright Helstone were a delectationful part of the life there.Margaret has no pretensions and this dislike of the superficial relationships is peculiarly evident in her description of her aunts view of her neighbours whom Mrs Shaw called friends, because she happened to dine with them more oftentimes than with any other good deal, and because if she or Edith wanted anything from them, or they from her, they did non queasiness to make a call at each others houses sooner dejeuner. This rel ationship contrasts with her experiences in Milton were the term neighbours is applied to people such as Higgins and his daughters a far more personal and sincere relationship.The opening scenes as well as provide the reader with an explanation of Margarets position in Aunt Shaws house. It is shown to be a warm and affectionate household with her gentle aunt and dear cousin, just now Margarets position within it was that of poor cousin and companion to Edith. Margarets exalted character and regard for social stature is clear from her eager delight of filling the important post of only daughter in Helstone parsonage. This perception of class and positions in society is one that shapes many of her dislikes of Milton and its inhabitants and is one that she must eventually overcome.The title of chapter dickens, Roses and Thorns has significance in that is shows the contrast among the life Margaret expects at Helstone, surrounded by roses and the outdoors, and the thorns in her lif e that she hadnt expected. It shows how below the idyll of her memories of Helstone, lie problems waiting to cause pain. Margaret feels that she belongs in Helstone where its people were her people. As an example of this, she learned and delighted in using their bad-tempered words.However, she is later to acquire the language of the people in Milton, demonstrate her adaptability and to a fault how she belongs in Milton to the very(prenominal) extent as she does in Helstone. Margaret is aware(p) that one had need to learn a different language and quantity by a different standard up here in Milton. The embracing of the local dialect by a spirit-class girl is highly unusual in novels, showing the unconventional, clever and independent mind that Margaret possesses. Her return to Helstone and her keen enjoyment of every sensuous pleasure shows how Margaret is a sensuous woman, greatly appreciative of the outdoors.The loss of the countryside and the geographical differences between Milton and Helstone are perceived greatly by Margaret. In Helstone, Margaret walks out on the broad(a) commons into the warm scented light, seeing multitudes of wild, free, living creatures, revelling in the sunshine, and the herbs and flowers it called by whereas at Milton the chimneys smoked, the ceaseless roar and mighty beat, and dizzying whirl of machinery, struggled and strove perpetually. Senseless and work-shy were wood and iron and steam in their endless labours.The difference in the environments is emphasised with Gaskells use of language and in additionls such as alliteration. Margaret shows her attitude to social class on her scratch arriving at Helstone, to have been shaped by her childhood in the fashionable Harley Street. She conforms to the conventional perception that a mans status as a gentleman is reliant on birth, holding and an appropriate (or no) occupation. This topic is one that is discussed at length with Mr Thornton and we see that Milton, and her admirer with Thornton, changes Margarets opinion on this.Thornton believes that gentleman is a term that only describes a person in his relation to others, whereas the term a man comprehends more, a person non merely considered with regard to his fellow-me, just now in relation to himself. It is one of the many prejudices concerning class relations that Margaret must overcome before she can be happily united with Thornton. Although she declares that I am not standing up for the cotton spinners any more than for any other trades-people, she is later to stand up for both the masters through Thornton and the workers through Higgins.The change in Margaret is forced upon her through her change in situation and circumstance. The frailties and failings in Mr Hales character can be seen in his being uneffective to tell his wife of his change of conscience and their subsequent more to Milton-Northern. This essence that greater responsibility is placed on Margarets shoulders, solely her strength of character shines through because although she did dislike it, did shrink from it more than from anything she had ever had to do in her life before she then manages to conquer herself. This is something that Mr Hale is unable to do.The nation the Hales move into in Milton is cleverly named, Crampton. Like Dickens in solid Times, Gaskell uses the names of places to suggest their nature. Ediths letters from Corfu provide not only the reader, but Margaret besides, with a constant reminder as to what her life could have been like. The archetypical letter from Edith tells of her reach and is received on the day of Margarets own arrival in Milton. The lively and gay description of their happy days in Corfu provides a stark contrast between the dark, chaotic and cramped life in Milton.The lives of the two young cousins have diverged completely. At this point in the novel, Margaret would have preferred Ediths life, but later on we see that she would not have been content wit h such a life. Margarets humanitarian busy is arouse in her through her life in Milton. She provides a counter-argument to that of J. S. Mill and those of the useful movement such as Gradgrind in Hard Times. She sees a littler section of Milton society and was thrown in with one or two of those who, in all measures affecting masses of people, must be acuate sufferers for the good of many.She, like Dickens Sissy Jupe sees the cost in legal injury of human suffering, her concern is for the soulfulness. Margaret is interested in people and it is through her closeness with Higgins and his family that Milton became a brighter place in it she had found a human interest. She does not like to hear the mill workers referred to as Hands. This is an gist discussed likewise in Hard Times but it reflects on her interests in the individual in society. Referring to a upstanding class of people by the same generic term, removes the personal contact and identity of the workers. They no se mipermanent have independence of character.As we hear of Frederick and his story, we see how and why Margaret looks up to him. Her creed in life is that Loyalty and obedience to wisdom and justness are fine but it is still finer to defy lordly power, unjustly and cruelly used not on behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of others more helpless. This is what Frederick did. She sees his crime as elevated through his motives to a heroic protection of the weak. This concords with her great interest in humanity. When she saves Thornton from the coterie at the mill, she did it because it was right, and simple, and true to save where she could save.Margaret, coming fresh to the industrial troubles in Milton, provides a new outlook on the problems. Although she is biased in that she considers the south a lot less hostile and full of suffering, she can see two classes dependant on each other in every possible way, yet each evidently regarding the interests of the other as opposed to their own. She correctly identifies communication as being the rootle of a lot of their problems and endeavours to improve this. Margarets relationship with Dixon shows her capacity to love fiercely.It also highlights her perception of her position in the household and her willingness to take on all the responsibilities of nursing her mother. Mrs Hales fatal illness brings Dixon and Margaret together in sympathy and stomach for one another. Through Mrs Thorntons scathing opinion of Margaret and her condescending attitude to her surroundings, we see others perception of Margarets breeding and social awareness. Although her opinions as regards her surroundings change piecemeal during her time in Milton, Mrs Thornton never credits her with this.Bessy too is surprised that Margaret is associating with the first folk in Milton. More particularly because it is unusual that someone of Margarets middle class breeding visits both the masters and the men, thus straddling the two very distinct cl asses in the industrial town. Margaret finds this hard to come to terms with when she is invited to dine at the Thorntons, where she is expected to dress up in my finery, and go get through and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen immediately.Margaret, with all the sorrow and hardship she has to bear, has all the propensity to become a martyr. Many a self-sacrificing heroine has had her true character poorly essential throughout the history of the novel. Despite this, Margaret is not a martyr, she is a a lot more three-dimensional character. While she bears the responsibility and pain of her life and family troubles, her whole life just now was a strain upon her fortitude. She doesnt recant the hardship and must struggle against complaining. This makes her a much more real and enjoyable character.In her darkest times in Milton, she still looks back to Helstone as the bright times of old, showing that her character has not yet entire its journey. In the wake o f her mothers death, we see Margaret beginning to redress her prejudices regarding trades people her cheeks burn down as she recollected how proudly she had implied an objection to trade (in the early days of their acquaintance) This is also a sign of her growing feelings for Thornton, which she is yet to admit to herself. When Higgins visits, he is asked upstairs something which astonishes Dixon, as folk at Helstone were never brought higher than the kitchen.During their time in Milton, class distinctions as perceived by the Hales have weakened. The change in Margaret is also shown through her beginning to address the poor in the south with a more objective attitude. Margarets view of trades people goes full slew when her brother goes into trade in Spain and she reflects on her old tirades against trade. non only does her perception of trade go full circle, but also in her returning to capital of the United Kingdom, her lifestyle does likewise. Her London life no longer satisfi es her and she fears becoming sleepily deadened into forgetfulness.The pace of life in London is very different from the bustle of Milton and she finds that it is the commotion and excitement of the industrial town that she prefers. Leaving it has left a strange unsatisfied vacuum in Margarets heart. She also longs for contact with other classes such as she undergo while in Milton. On returning to Helstone, Margaret comes with the view that she was returning home, but she finds that little things have changed and moved on and Helstone will never be the place it once was.It is this realisation of the changes that carry us on unnoticeably from childhood to youth and thence through manhood to age, whence we dusk into the quiet mother earth that allows Margaret to make a break with Helstone and all the memories attached to it. She is able to come to terms with it as her past and toy with it solely as such. Mr Lennox comments that Margaret returns at the end of the novel to the Marga ret Hale of Helstone, but he is wrong she is quite a different woman to the now.Thornton too fails to see that it was her time in Milton that made Margaret the independent woman she is at the end of the novel, describing Helstone as the place where Margaret grew to be what she is. Margarets character is shaped not only by her young childhood in Harley Street, her summers in Helstone, but also her young womanhood in Milton. It is probably the latter that had the close to substantial impact on her, causing her to see both Harley Street and Helstone through different eyes on her return.Ultimately, she chooses the life and spirit and zilch of Milton over the laziness of London, through her choice of Thornton over Mr Lennox as a husband. The vast differences in the scenery and setting over the course of the novel reflect Margarets attitude and her changing opinions regarding herself and those around her. The changes she undergoes in Milton are highlighted by her return to the familiar scenes of Helstone and Harley Street, her new attitude to them and the people connected with them.