Discourse on chapter 19 of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Discuss Chapter nineteen of North and South demonstrates how Margaret brings together the worlds of both masters and men and comment on how the passage illustrates the issues she faces in doing so. Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South" is one of the most intricate industrial novels of the Victorian age. In this particular passage the two worlds of masters and men have their differences vividly portrayed, as the advocate Margaret brings them together. The passage …

…be caring for the interests of their lesser, making this idea an almost divine charge to the masters. Gaskall has artfully weaved together concerns of political economy, religious conscience, obedience to authority, and women's social roles here. All these spheres interact and comment upon each other, so that questions of industrial action take their place in a more general exploration of individual freedom and social authority between Margaret the bystander and the worlds she watches.