Summary & Analysis of "Class Antagonism and the Sexual Plot in Mary Barton"

Summary:

The piece of criticism I read is called "Class Antagonism and the Sexual Plot in Mary Barton," written by Deborah Epstein Nord and published in 1995. Nord discusses how two of the major themes of the novel (class antagonism and women's sexuality) at first seem like they don't really interact with each other and exist separately from each other. However, Nord points out how the two work together to bring about the turning point in the book and change Mary's character. She states, "The connection between Barton's fear for his daughter's chastity and his murder of Harry Carson, the man who threatens that chastity, is one of the elements in the novel that fuses the plot of class antagonism with the sexual plot" (571). The two themes come together at this point because Harry represents all the evils of the upper class and has been horrible to the workers, but he also treats women horribly and doesn't care about ruining their innocence, so to speak. Nord argues that John Barton has a double purpose in murdering Harry: obviously because of the economic situation, but also to preserve Mary's chastity. The turning point in the novel, according to Nord, occurs when John murders Harry. She says, "Mary is transformed from the passive subject of discussions of her sexual virtue and proper role to the active agent of her own fate" (572). In other words, all of the issues fueled by the class antagonism build up into the explosion that is the murder, which in turn allows Mary to have agency for the first time, tying back into the sexuality theme.

Analysis:

Even though everything Nord argued about the interplay between class antagonism and sexuality is really interesting, a smaller issue she brings up really caught my attention. Nord talks briefly about the character of Esther, who is one of the most interesting characters in the novel I thought. While readers during Gaskell's lifetime would have been horrified by Esther's character, Gaskell tries to redeem her a little bit. Nord points out, "By playing the card of the dying child, Gaskell reclaims Esther from her status as pariah and situates her within the framework of parental devotion and bereavement that weaves classes together in the novel and binds John Barton and the elder Carson to the author herself" (570). So, even though Esther is a prostitute, we are still supposed to have sympathy for her and see her similarly to Barton and Carson (and even Gaskell) who have lost children themselves. Nord stresses the similarity especially between Esther and Barton and discusses how they both become lost wanderers, outcasts from society, who die and are buried in the same grave. The aspect of Nord's criticism that made me think the most is how she points out how Gaskell must have understood that Esther's identity as a prostitute is clearly a "role created by society, not decreed by nature or by some higher morality" (570). In other words, Esther wasn't the horrible 'fallen woman' the other characters (and probably readers of that time) thought she was; in reality, her circumstances put her in that situation. The opposite of that role is shown when she goes to visit Mary and puts on the 'costume' of a middle class mechanic's wife. Esther is able to switch between roles, which suggests that Gaskell meant for there to be much more to her character than just a lowly prostitute living on the streets. In the end, Esther's character is redeemed somewhat and able to die in her home surrounded by her family, her daily struggles finally put to rest.