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

[BishyBarnyBee]

Following the very successful Madame Bovary readalong, we have decided to explore another woman who refused to be bound by contemporary mores.
So shocking at the time, two of Gaskell's friends burnt their copies.

"Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth (1853) was the first mainstream novel to make a fallen woman its eponymous heroine. It is a remarkable story of love, of the sanctuary and tyranny of the family, and of the consequences of lies and deception, one that lays bare Victorian hypocrisy and sexual double-standards. Shocking to contemporary readers, its radical utopian vision of a pure woman faithfully presented predates Hardy's Tess by nearly forty years."

We will aim for two chapters a week - a weekend chapter and a mid week chapter. If I have time, I'll try and do a ChatGPT chapter summary, but anyone else is welcome to jump in if I haven't got there first.

We start 1st Jan, so if you are up for a bit of Victorian passion, guilt, regret and redemption, sign up here!

Yes, I guess Tichard would have been so foreground earlier if he wasn't going to be a plot device. I had been wondering when he would dissipate his way back in!

I think I sort of nodded off in parts (a week of headaches and migraines rather than the book I think) so I got the overall picture but didn’t read too into it, other than wishing Benson prosecuted the shit. He has only ever done good and then this happens.

I have finished - I’ve got to tell you, it’s taking every single fibre of my being not to comment, but looking forward to the discussion.

Are there 3 chapters ish left? So next Sunday?

My copy says 36 chapters and this was 30, so 6 chapters left. I take that as meaning we will finish on 2nd May, does that seem about right?

How are we all feeling about another readalong? I've enjoyed leading my first one, though it has been a bit quiet at times, perhaps because some sections of the book are quite...dull!

We seemed to be leaning towards Dangerous Liaisons, a letter a day. Schmoop chapter summaries are available which is helpful. Do we have enough interest to continue with the Fallen Women theme or is it time for a break/something completely different?

Any thoughts, fellow readers?

Chapter 31

In which Bradshaw turns his face away from his disgraced son until a catastrophic coach accident forces him to show his true feelings.

Mrs Bradshaw makes an early morning call begging Benson not to prosecute Richard. She offers him her life savings and says that if she has to choose between her husband and her son, she chooses her son, for he will have no friends unless she is with him. Benson reassures her he has no intention of prosecuting.

Farquhar visits Bradshaw, who bans him from the house because he will not give up Dick as utterly bad. Bradshaw shakes like a leaf while asserting that he has no feelings for Dick. For Jemima's sake, Farquhar goes after Richard, hoping to find him some honest occupation to save him from temptation.

A few days later he writes that he has found Richard who has been severely injured in a coach crash. Benson breaks the news to Bradshaw, whose pretence at indifference is shattered as he collapses in a swoonlike fit - a broken man, slack-jawed and eyes glazed. The doctor is summoned and prescribes rest, but as he leaves, Bradshaw makes an enormous effort to rise and asks plaintively "He is alive, sir, is he not?"

Benson, almost unable to speak through his tears, answers that Farquhar is with him and he is only hurt. Bradshaw puts his hands together in the clasped attitude of prayer and says "Thank God!".

(An early chapter 31 as we are away so I won't be able to do it over the weekend)

I've been following on and keeping up although I haven't commented. Another read along would be great. The chapter summaries have really helped to clarify what we've read.

Happy to go with the majority for the next book. Thankyou for the work you have put in.

I've read ahead & finished now, so keeping quiet until we get to the end :)

I'm potentially up for another readalong, & happy for it to be Dangerous Liaisons. I'm unlikely to be very active on the thread though as (hopefully, assuming it ever stops raining for more than a day!) I'm heading into my busy time of year at work.

I'm up for another readalong. Dangerous Liaisons sounds good to me!

I’m in.

@StColumbofNavron I think you set up the Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina readalongs? Do you want to do DL or shall I carry on? I'm happy either way but don't want to barge in if this was your thing and I've just taken over. I can't quite remember how it came about that I was doing this one!!

I’d like to try an epistolary novel so I am up for it.

Oh gosh, no I don’t think it was my thing 🤣. Either way, I’m very happy for you or anyone else who wants to.

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.

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

Love the title, though intrigued because I have no idea what it’s about. Can’t wait.

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.

I have just finished this one so will keep quiet until others have caught up. Yes up for another read along. Thank you @BishyBarnyBee

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.

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.

Perfect, Bishy. I'm looking forward to wrapping up Ruth, having a discussion on it and moving on to Dangerous Liaisons.

I'm afraid I read on too quickly with this read-along and I spoiled it for myself a bit.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hi Bishy! I'll be along shortly. I need to catch up a bit. Joining in with you on noooooooo!

Yes, it just needs to stop here!! The saddest thing for me is that Ruth is effectively choosing Bellingham over Leonard at this point