New Year, New Fallen Woman: Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth Readalong

Chapter 36

In which Donne stays true to character to the very end but Bradshaw finds new sympathy for the woman who he had hardened his heart against.

Leonard is so physically and mentally distressed that he is sent the Farquhar's to be cared for by Jemima. Anxiety about him is a sad distraction from the adults' own grief, as they wonder why they, the infirm and worn out, were left, while she was taken in her lovely prime.

On the 3rd day, a fine gentleman asks to speak to Benson. It is a weakened and indecisive Donne, wrapped in furs and wondering whether he has made a mistake in coming in person. Sally shows him Ruth's poor dead body, still as marble and wearing an ineffable look of bright serenity. Sally is unable to contain her grief, which makes Donne uncomfortable. He offers Sally a sovereign for her kindness to Ruth, which she indignantly rejects, lamenting that she was not kind to Ruth, and the world was not kind to Ruth, but now she is gone where the angels will be very tender to her.

Benson recognises Donne and tries to check the feeling that he is responsible for Ruth's death, but then Donne expresses his own regret that she died because of her love for him. Benson listens silently as Donne confirms his suspicions, saying that money is poor compensation for his youthful folly. Benson bites back a curse as Donne says he had offered to marry Ruth and is now offering to provide for the boy.

Benson's voice is icy as he says that those who honoured his mother will take care of Leonard. He says that God has another name for what Donne called youthful folly, and shuts the door in Donne's face.

Donne dismisses Benson as an ill-bred puritanical old fellow and think to himself that he has done his duty. Benson is bitterly disturbed by the interaction and feels anger at meeting Ruth's unknown seducer by her deathbed.

The funeral is calm and simple, the bier borne by some of the poor to whom she had been very kind in her lifetime. Benson has prepared a sermon and the old chapel is full of friends and strangers who have come to mourn Ruth, including the Bradshaw family in deep mourning.

Benson opens his sermon but all he can see before him is Ruth as she had been, stricken low and crouching from sight in the upland field by Llan-dhu, like a woeful hunted creature. Forgetting his sermon, he reads the seventh chapter of revelations which promises that "They which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb...shall serve God in his temple...and he shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The congregation sob as he reads it, though Sally is slightly embarrassed by the lack of a proper sermon and feels the need to explain to Davis that Benson does preach an uncommon fine sermon sometimes.

Bradshaw is now anxious to testify his respect for the woman who, if all had entertained his opinions, would have been driven into hopeless sin. He arranges to meet the stonemason at the grave to measure up for a tombstone. Leonard lies on the new-stirred turf, his face swollen with weeping. He calms himself and offers the simple explanation that his mother is dead. Bradshaw puts his hand on Leonard's shoulder and takes him home. It is the first time for years that he has entered Mr Benson's house, and he comes leading and comforting Ruth's son. For a moment, he cannot speak to his old friend for the sympathy that chokes his voice and fills his eyes with tears.

It is such a deeply Christian book, isn't it? I feel other authors (Dickens, maybe even the Brontes) were able to point out the hypocrisy of the wealthy Christian without laying the sainthood on with a trowel. Though it was an era of Madonna/Whore and not a lot in between, wasn't it?

Think we're moving to commenting on the ending overall here and feck it, I'm posting the final chapter. So sorry to anyone who has the discipline to stick to the original timetable, I just didn't have it in me to wait...

Again with the very occasional and slightly jarring authorial comments - she can't help herself, can she? You're right that it's a massive spoiler.

I feel so sad that another fallen woman has to die - Tess, Emma Bovary and now Ruth. The wages of sin truly were death in those days - for women. Whereas scummy Donne - well, more of him incoming. I've done the final chapter summary, shall I stick it up now or do we think we need a bit of time to digest 35?

I think you might have fallen prey to the same mid-section malaise that affected a lot of us. There is quite a long section where Ruth just repents and becomes pure and it's all a bit dull - we lost a fair few readers then. I think it gets more interesting after 22. Feel free to do a quick plot catch up with the chapter summaries and join us for the end, or read at your own pace and read the thread later.

SPOILER ALERT
Apologies if you haven't finished the book, I've taken a unilateral decision to crack on as so many people have been unable to resist finishing it. If you haven't finished, just don't click on the posts until you have, and I'll try not to give anything crucial away in the first few lines!

Chapter 35

In which an exhausted Ruth nurses Donne back from the brink then succumbs to the fever herself.

Ruth nurses Donne for 3 days and nights and her every sense is strained by the effort of watching over him. On the 3rd night, Davis takes her place and she lays dully with her head in her arms, barely able to remember who or where she is, all consciousness and interest in life having drained away. The night seems endless and she cannot even remember who the troubled patient is. Davis summons her to see that the crisis has passed and Donne will live. As their eyes meet, Donne asks "Where are the water lilies? Where are the lilies in her hair?" Ruth's cheeks are deadly pale and she clutches Davis' arm before collapsing in a dead faint.

Davis carries her to the Benson's, where he reproaches himself that he has killed her. He passes Donne's care on to a rival surgeon, joking that he cannot bring himself to care for a Radical, and marveling at his rival's willingness to believe this self-mockery. Davis devotes all his skill and energy to saving Ruth who, whether from exhaustion or because of her gentle nature, shows no outrage or discord in her delirium. She falls into a sweet, child-like insanity, singing one childish ditty after another and not recognising any of them, even Leonard .

She lingers for 2 days, then open her eyes wide as if she sees a happy vision. She smiles a rapturous smile as she says she sees the Light coming, then falls back, still for evermore.

Leonard has been quiet during her illness but now his wail rings throughout the house, refusing to be comforted: "You will not leave me alone! You are not dead! Mother! Mother!"

But Ruth lies dead.

I hadn't thought of it like that but you are so right!

Any thoughts? Or should I just plough on.

I think we are probably meant to be screaming noooooooooo at this point.

Ruth has emerged unscathed from long weeks of exposure to the fatal disease. She is basking on the chaise-longue while her admirers pay their compliments. There is the prospect of a sunny month at Eagle Crags. Leonard is happy and proud of his mother. Mr Davis has shown it is possible for an illegitimate boy to overcome childhood stigma. All is right in Ruth's world. Surely at this point it is not too much to hope for a happy ending?

But we are not really surprised that she feels she must go to Donne - not from her well-evidenced sense of duty but because, after all he put her through, she does still care for him. I think the most moving parts of the book have been when she is torn between head and heart. Her head knows he is an utterly unprincipled bastard who threw her aside without a moment's regret. Her heart cannot forget the power of the love they shared when they shut the world out and lived for the moment. But now she is not torn at all - she just knows she must go to him. We might despair, but we do understand.

There was also poignancy in Davis telling his mother's story, and in Tom the stable boy, who Bellingham saved so heroically in chapter 2 all those years ago, staying loyal to someone who has never shown a moment's loyalty to anyone but himself.

Chapter 34

In which, having survived the worst of the pestilence and come safely home, Ruth is quietly determined to nurse one last patient - the delirious and raging Mr Donne.

Ruth is being cared for quietly at home when there is a string of visitors. Happiness has brought out the beauty in Jemima, who comes to propose that Ruth should join her and little Rosa at Eagle Crags for a month. Mr Grey, the Rector, brings a formal vote of thanks from the Infirmary Board. After he leaves, Sally berates Faith for her homely dress, ashamed that she is living with Dissenters that don't know how to keep themselves smart, and promising to buy her a neck ribbon next time.

Mr Davis, the principal surgeon, visits the same afternoon to express his thanks and also to ask if Ruth will do him a favour and "give him her boy". He has no child of his own and proposes to take Leonard as an apprentice, with a view to him becoming his future partner and then taking over his practice. Ruth says she must have time to consider, and Davis compliments her character, telling the Bensons how she calmed a delirious patient who was trying to cut his throat with a shard of glass he had broken from a window. .

Davis says he is leaving to visit Mr Donne, who lies ill at the Queens with no-one to help him other than the groom who he saved all those years ago. Ruth is calm and determined as she tells Davis she must nurse Bellingham. Astonished at her use of the wrong name, he recalls hearing that Donne had changed his name for some property. He refuses to let her go until, flushing scarlet, she tells him Donne is Leonard's father.

He in turn confesses that he was illegitimate himself and it was this that made him sympathise with Leonard and wish to adopt him. He asks if she loves Donne and she says that she would not love him if he were well and happy, but cannot help caring for him now he is ill and alone. He warns that Donne may not appreciate her care and she agrees, heavily, that it is very likely. He compares Ruth to his own mother, a poor heart-broken thing, as pretty and delicate a creature as Ruth, who would also have offered tenderness even though it was not wanted. He vows to tell his story to the Bensons. and takes Ruth to Donne.

The stable boy is as afraid of the fever as everyone else but too loyal to leave Donne. He and Davis watch as Ruth goes to the wild, raging figure and uses her soft authority to calm him, laying her cool hands on his fevered brow and hushing his mad talk.

Chapter 33

In which Typhus comes to Eccleston and Ruth volunteers as fever-ward matron, earning the respect and love of the town and leading Leonard to hold his head high once more.

After an unusually gorgeous summer, Typhus, that terrible fever that emanates from the sad haunts of vice and misery, comes creeping over the country like a pestilence. Within a week, medical staff have died and it is impossible to find anyone willing to work in the Infirmary. Ruth tells Benson she has offered herself as matron to the fever-ward and they pray together, trusting that she will be in God's hands. She tells Leonard to be brave and he catches her courage, though as much through ignorance of the imminent danger as through faith.

Each evening Benson goes forth to gain news of Ruth, and night after night he returns with good tidings. When Leonard accompanies him, he overhears the poor people clamouring with tales of Ruth's gentle doings. He is overwhelmed by the love and reverence expressed by the poor and outcast. He stammers that he is her son, and the wild, woe-begone creatures press forward to bless him. From that day forward, he can again walk upright through the streets of Eccleston.

As the virulence of the fever abates and panic subsides, Ruth returns to the Benson household where they care for her tenderly.

I had to check, but it seems Ruth was published in 3 parts, not a chapter at a time as Dickens often did. Which is a good thing, as I think I'd want my money back after this one.

As always, even in the least exciting parts of the book, Gaskell has a good turn of phrase and an eye for detail - I liked Richard's "devil's repentance" and Ruth's wild-animal look. Gaskell has repeatedly written about Ruth being very much in the present, and I think it's meant to reflect a kind of unworldliness and perhaps being in a state of connection to God rather than to society. I quite like the echo (forerunner?) of Buddhism in it.

We also learn that Farquhar is doing unseen good works by secretly putting Dick's portion of income aside for him - another example of doing the right thing rather than being seen to do the right thing.

But really...nothing much happens.

Ok, so my instinct now is to get through these last few chapters fairly promptly so we can have a good discussion about the ending and the book as a whole.

Most posters have been dipping in and out, so I don't think we have anyone who's been religiously reading 2 chapters a week and will be upset at my going rogue - shout out if it causes you a problem though.

I've generally tried to wait for others to comment before adding my 2 penneth, but I'll just chip in any thoughts as I go and please do feel free to comment retrospectively if you log on and we've sped ahead.

Chapter 32

In which...nothing much happens.

Bradshaw chooses willful seclusion until, during Farquhar's absence, he is called back to the office. Farquhar tells him that Richard has made a perfect convalescence but isn't sure Bradshaw has attended to a word until Benson assures him he will have treasured up every expression. Farquhar is somewhat sceptical of Dick's repentance ("if the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be") but feels he may do well enough in under the auspices of the kind, watchful Glasgow office.

Ruth visits Jemima and the baby but avoids other company like a frightened creature. She still will not countenance sending Leonard to school, though Farquhar feels that isolation from his peers has contributed to Dick's lack of character. Benson explains that she "never looks forward, and seldom back. The present is enough for her." The happiest times in the Benson household are when Ruth is home from her caring duties.

About a year later, Farquhar tells Benson he is determined to break through Bradshaw's tacit prohibition of all mention of Richard's name to report that he is doing very well in Glasgow - "Nothing to gratify paternal pride, but certainly nothing to be ashamed of". The following Sunday Bradshaw's now white hair can be seen in his old place in the large pew and Benson feels sure that the old friendly feeling now exists once more between them.

Ah, that's probably a fail on my part then, sorry, it made sense to me!

I haven't read the book but my understanding is that it's about a sophisticated pair quite calculatedly manipulating an innocent for their own amusement.

So it seemed to me a very different premise to our married women falling in love and pursuing affairs (Anna Karenina, Emma Bovary) or our uneducated, impoverished maids being forced to "fall" by a combination of ruthless seducers and dire circumstances (Tess, Ruth).

Jemima Bradshaw recognised that with her father and mother, home and careful friends, she was never likely to be tempted like Ruth - but this seems very much a campaign to tempt someone in a similar position of privilege to Jemima. So if she falls, it will be because she was pushed!!

Does that make any sense at all? I feel like I might have got a bit carried away with the whole fall metaphor thingy.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5050452-did-she-fall-or-was-she-pushed-dangerous-liaisons-readalong-2024?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Ok, I'll post the invitation to join us with Dangerous Liaisons on What We're Reading now.

Nothing much happens in Chapter 31, and I think a few people are keen to get to the end and discuss it. So I'll do 31 and 32 this week, and perhaps speed up a bit for the final 4 chapters. Then start DL on May Day.

Hope that works, I don't get the impression there are people who would mind spoilers, but shout out if I've got that wrong and you want me to stick to 2 chapters a week and finish at the normal rate.