The strong relationship between parentage, social mobility, and maternal relationships is clearly evident in The Hand of Ethelberta, Mary Barton. The latter are influenced and limited by the former. Gaskell & Hardy both present harsh Victorian gender roles in their novels. Mary and Ethelberta can’t move freely within class boundaries, while the latter are restricted by the former. They are also subject to severe repercussions if they violate their social class. Ethelberta must maintain close family ties, while Mary must not try to escape London. Mary is afraid she will lose her social mobility and find herself in a lower place than her family’s.

Motherhood was seen as the ultimate achievement for a woman in Victorian society. Women longed to be mothers all their lives. Abrams explains in her article Ideals Of Womanhood In Victorian Britain that true motherhood required women to be present for their children all the time. Their doting role took over their lives and made it impossible for them to contribute economically to the household or work. Mothers, especially those from lower income families, had to remain within the domestic sphere, which required them to sacrifice, care, and be all-knowing. Victorians believed mothers were the only ones responsible for raising their children. Their husbands and society entrusted them with all aspects of development. The Victorians believed that mothers alone were responsible for their children’s upbringing. They also assumed the responsibility of acting as the mother in Mary Barton’s case. Gaskell intentionally left out Mrs Barton in the story, making Mary an “motherless girl.” Mary herself claims that “… mom died before I turned thirteen. I didn’t know the difference between right and wrong about …”. She blames her mother for her mistakes, but she doesn’t take responsibility for them. She believes that if her mother had lived, she would have given her a better moral compass. John, her dad, was also unable. Mary’s mother was only allowed to care for her children. Mary’s independence and freedom allowed her to move beyond the bounds of her social group, even if she was temporarily detached from the social stigmas. This, however, isn’t what she expected. Because of her naivety, Mary’s “plan” does not work. She is able to use Mary’s beauty as a means of gaining wealth and a higher social standing. However, Jung and Jung argue that Carson’s unstinting acceptance of Mary Barton and Wives and Daughters’ Liminal Feminism in Gaskell is Jung’s essay Liminal Feminism. Mary, a young girl, believed her beauty was enough to make her a lady. Carson was her only hope to improve her position in society. But her reckless courting led her to forget that Jem is also her lover. In her desire to be a lady, she ignores her father and forgets the horrible fate she received for her actions against society. Mary didn’t see that Carson’s loss could have serious consequences for her social standing. Mary’s mother was absent due to her flawed character. Mary is thus displaying the relationship between parental and social mobility. Mary’s father tried to instill his values in Mary, but her mom wasn’t there to force them on her. So, her social status began to decline. Gaskell is not able to show that Mary needs a mother. This is most evident in Sally’s character. Although she was raised by a mother who could have encouraged her to become a virtuous and proper young woman, she is described as “vulgar minded”. She is encouraged by her mother and has the same demeanour she does. This contrasts starkly with Margaret’s character. Margaret is presented as a young, virtuous woman who opposes Mary, but her grandfather raised Margaret without any female figures. Mary may be wrong to blame her mother’s absence for her behavior. She should instead put the blame on her father, who was there during her childhood. John Barton suffered from depression soon after the death of her wife. He increased his Union membership and became a Chartist. Mary was less involved. His beliefs about social inequalities and class are not passed on to Mary. However, Mary learns to love Jem and helps him save his life. Gaskell demonstrates that Victorians believed female virtue was a result of a mother and daughter relationship. However, this doesn’t include daughters who are virtuous but are also influenced by their mothers into being promiscuous or frivolous. Gaskell is a good example of the variety of factors that influence female virtue. Especially considering the impact of class on how promiscuous or sexual a woman can be while still being considered socially acceptable. Despite Mary’s death and Mary’s belief that she did not have a mother figure after her mother died, Gaskell has multiple women who she believes fulfill this role throughout the novel. They each have different levels of influence over her, including Esther Wilson, Jane Wilson, and Jane Wilson. Mary is unable to acknowledge that there were other women she could have had as a mother. Mary dreams of her mother’s death and seeks maternal help instead. Gaskell depicts Mary in a dreamlike state, where she transforms into her childlike self when she dreams. Gaskell does not want to minimize the impact this had upon Mary’s development as an adult, but he does so to make Mary feel more grievous. While these’surrogate mothers’ may have satisfied Mary’s desire for a mother figure, Mary’s biological mom could not be replaced. It is possible that Mary’s inability to establish a relationship with her mother limits her ability to reach social mobility. Hardy’s Ethelberta on the other hand had a relationship that provided a moral basis and a support system for her new identity. She also had a relationship in this regard with her mother. Hardy and Gaskell leave out Ethelberta’s Mother in The Hand of Ethelberta. They present her as having a deeper relationship with her father, through frequent communication and their dialogues. Mrs Chickerel loses her motherly role and becomes dependent like her older children and husband. Hardy highlights this reversal in roles of mother/daughter in her novel to support Ethelberta’s motherly concern and relentless efforts to improve their social standing. Ethelberta believes that it is her duty to educate and care for them, even if this means taking on unnecessary risk. I can’t help the older ones but I can help those younger than me. Mrs Chickerel is said to have “played both the role of mother and wife”, which is more fitting for Ethelberta who, despite being the middle-child, was forced to mature and be selfless in order to care and support her large family. This is a responsibility that her mother couldn’t fulfill due to her declining health. Ethelberta has a very difficult relationship with her family because of the differences between the classes within her family. It’s not only class and social standing that divide families. Education, language and shared experiences only increase tensions. Ethelberta must have multiple income streams to ensure her family’s survival and provision. Ethelberta is driven to think about letting her London home as a way to make monetary gains. She claims she can ignore the risk by letting her house be let. Hardy portrays Ethelberta in a hopeful but naive light. Her family would have to be involved in her act if she wanted to maintain her image. Ethelberta acts as a director and orchestrates the theatrical elements of this wishful thinking. Her family is recruited by Ethelberta to be part of the planning and plotting of her act on class identity. They are more workers than her family. Gaskell uses the colloquial language Ethelberta uses to refer to her family’s internalization of working class culture. It is used as a way to resist the upper and lower classes, including Ethelberta. Lady Petherwin, Hardy’s mother, is another character. She takes Ethelberta in her arms and educates her. Ethelberta quickly became her “daughter-in-law” and lived under her mother’s roof. The condition was that Ethelberta would never openly recognize her relationships. Although it might seem restrictive and harsh, it is obvious to readers that Lady Petherwin made this condition to protect Ethelberta as well as to maintain her position in society. Ethelberta is required to appear as society expects, particularly for her class. Ethelberta can’t be seen with others of lower-class families, much less live with them as she requested and requested. Lady Petherwin had to refuse. It is clear that Ethelberta was dependent on her mother-in law, who was at first and shortly before her death, a surrogate mom towards her. This helped her to be able to participate in social mobility and gave her the tools she needed to be independent. Ethelberta’s parents and family are what weigh her down and keep her from moving up in society and achieving her goals. Hardy demonstrates that Ethelberta has to provide for her family. However, by becoming the’mother’ of her family, Hardy also shows that she must be more emotionally invested in her children’s welfare. This leaves her vulnerable to being exposed to her class and revealed to them. Mary Barton as well as Ethelberta see marriage the most effective and practical way to improve their social position. Mary relies entirely on her male counterparts to increase theirs in order to lift their families out poverty and to provide them with the comforts of modern life. Ethelberta lost her husband prematurely, and Mary discovered that she was truly in love with Jem. Lady Petherwin supported Ethelberta, educated and provided for her. This allowed her to be independent and validated her social standing. Ethelberta managed to make ends meet despite her financial hardships. Her literary work helped her maintain her social and class standing. It was possible because of the mentoring and education she received from her “mama”. Although Victorian society was full of praise for motherhood, it also presumably had the potential to promote motherhood. However, society placed women under total responsibility for their children and restricted their ability to have any form of autonomy or agency in society. This made them vulnerable to failure. Men were forbidden from having any kind of involvement in the children’s education, be it emotional or practical. Men were responsible for supporting their families financially, and most often occupied or occurred in places that were not within the home. Working class families were affected by this tension, which meant that males had to take care of their household financially in order to provide for the family’s needs. John Barton is a single man who spends the majority of his time away from the home. This leaves Mary feeling independent and free in Manchester, while Ethelberta, John’s father, works in London as a butler, and therefore has very little influence over Mary. The relationship between the two of them is maintained only through their frequent correspondences. Hardy uses Mr Chickerel as a comedy character to demonstrate how infiltrated circles of society seem. His private voice allows Hardy to secretly share information with his daughter and make connections with her in ways that other family members cannot. Both Hardy and Gaskell show a strong link between parentage and social class. The chances of female protagonists being able to move up the social ladder are influenced by their family’s class identity. Both the biological family restricts their ability to change classes. Ethelberta and Mary have different experiences. Mary believes her inherited position is safer than’moving.’ This is evident in their novels. Hardy describes Ethelberta’s ability to constantly perform and maintain an image to get the social mobility and advice she seeks. It is vital to note that Ethelberta was presented by Hardy as an anomaly. She is not a normal woman and could sustain a family. Lady Petherwin’s conscious exaggeration of Ethelberta’s character should be avoided.

This is because Mary returns to the realities and her class, while Mary is depicted as a realistic character. In both novels, the authors show the hardships faced by women trying to achieve and maintain social mobility. This can only be made a reality by combining other factors such as education, intelligence, economic support and beauty. One could argue that Mary Barton is the only happy ending. This would be an encouragement to people to keep their jobs and stay within the limits of society.

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Amy Fox is a 28 year old school blogger, who has been writing for over 10 years. She has been a student at the University of Utah for three years and is now a graduate student.