Quotation: “The acute pain which shot up his back forced a short cry from him; and, when bird and beast are hushed into rest and the stillness of night is over all, a high-pitched sound, like the voice of pain, is carried far in the quiet air. Ruth, speeding on in her despair, heard the sharp utterance, and stopped suddenly short. It did what no remonstrance could have done; it called her out of herself. The tender nature was in her still, in that hour when all good angels seemed to have abandoned her. In the old days she could never bear to hear or see bodily suffering in any of God’s meanest creatures, without trying to succour them; and now, in her rush to the awful death of the suicide, she stayed her wild steps, and turned to find from whom that sharp sound of anguish had issued”. (Gaskell, Chpt.8)

Comment: This quote comes from chapter 8 after Ruth realizes that Mr. Bellingham has left her for good. While it isn’t stated explicitly that Ruth is pregnant until a little later in the novel, she is still being ostracized by the community as a “fallen woman”. This passage has a lot of connotations of sinfulness and redemption that I found interesting. Ruth has been led into a committing a variety of sins so far, such as her  living arrangement with Mr. Bellingham, and is about to commit suicide, which is considered a sin in most sects of Christianity. Mr. Benson, in this scene, acts as a means towards redemption, which is heightened by his religious affiliations. As the passage says, Ruth is “called out of herself” and is moved to help Mr. Benson. This act, performed by a character who has gone against the status quo of Victorian society and would very well be villainized, seems to redeem herself and move closer to a “purer” life by helping the minister. 


Questions: I’m curious as to why Gaskell made Mr. Benson a dissenting minister and how that role will play out later in the novel. By moving away from the Church of England, does that make Mr. Benson a “sinner” in the eyes of English society at the time? If so, does his religious standing take away from Ruth’s redemption?