The Old Nurse's Story

Analyze how Gaskell’s language suggests that she is educating London readers, or a “southern” audience about life in the north of England.

We know that this tale first appeared as part of one of Charles Dickens’s “Christmas Numbers” for his popular periodical Household Words. Given that context, draw on elements in the story to explore how we might see it as a “Christmas story.”

Compare and contrast the female-character pairing of Mrs. Stark and Miss Furnivall with Hester and Dorothy. What do these pairs say about social roles and virtues?

Analyze the ways that Gaskell establishes the supernatural elements of the story in order to make them sufficiently believable.

Consider the two mothers in the story, Rosamond’s mother and Miss Maude. How does Gaskell’s depiction of these two different women help us understand the ideal of middle-class Victorian motherhood?

Throughout the story, male characters hold economic and social power over the women around them. With the exception of old Lord Furnivall’s brutality, the male characters rarely act in ways that forward the action of the story. How does Gaskell use male characters to enhance her readers’ understanding of female influence and power?

Trace the instances of the characters’ contact with music in the story to explore how the 19th-century reader might have understood the arts to contribute to moral training. Your response might raise some of the possible obstacles to the positive impact of the arts on character.

Hester learns the ghostly details of the family narrative from Dorothy. Consider how the tone and structure of Dorothy’s tale within Hester’s tale add richness to the story.