elizabeth gaskell wives and daughters summary

Her voice was so soft, her accent so pleasant, that it struck him as particularly agreeable after the broad country accents he was perpetually hearing. Gibson had taken more time to consider the matter, he would have run for the hills, but Clare knows how to charm men: Gibson’s servants being completely out-of-control, and so a new wife will come in handy when it comes to running the household. Of course there’s a secondary issue of Dr. Gibson who decides to remarry in order to provide Molly with a mother. She’s the only child of the hard-working Dr. This wonderful novel follows the life of Molly Gibson. Kirkpatrick was shortly to become her stepmother. Kirkpatrick when she gobbles up the supper sent for Molly and then promptly forgets that the ill little girl is left in her charge. This early scene gives us a glimpse of Mrs.

Kirkpatrick the occasional charity invitation, she also has her uses, and so she’s put in charge of Molly. Her child, Cynthia, is somewhat in the way, and so she’s shipped off to school in France. Kirkpatrick now runs a school and lives for chance invitations to the grand house of her former employer. Her husband died, and left with a small child, Mrs. Clare Kirkpatrick, a former governess who married and left the family’s employment. Molly is stranded and taken to rest in a bedroom. She’s on a visit to Cumnor Towers, the home of Lord and Lady Cumnor for the once-a-year festival for the peasants to oohh and ahhh while the nobility condescend to share space. Young Molly Gibson is the only daughter of the widower Dr. Yet why does it seem that superficial shallow people always seem to latch on, limpet-like, to those who have scrupulous morality? Elizabeth Gaskell’s unfinished novel, Wives and Daughters, examines the roles of women in society, the complex nature of parenting and exactly why highly moral people should avoid superficial spouses (relations and friends).

Elizabeth gaskell wives and daughters summary