The Victorian Class- Consciousness As Reflected In Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford

In this article, the Victorian class-consciousness and culture will be analysed with reference to Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford. Victorians are famous for their class-consciousness and conservatism, which make it more difficult for the individuals to change their social class. In other words, social mobility is very difficult and very rare in Victorian England. The aristocracy and the gentility look down upon the bourgeoisie on the assumption that they are uneducated and uncultivated. In the eye of the gentility, the bourgeoisie does not deserve to be shown respect, regardless of their increasing financial power. On the other hand, powerwise, it is an undeniable socio-historical fact that the bourgeoisie is on the rise, whereas the aristocracy is on the decline in the Victorian era (Schultz, 1992: 241, 251; Reader, 1974: 45; McDowall: 1989, 139). Ignoring all these socio-political developments, the English gentility insists on excluding the Merchant class people from their own circles and applying the othering process to the bourgeoisie. Thus, they do not have a welcoming and inclusive attitude towards the bourgeoisie and look down upon them. As an extension of the us and them attitude, not only merchants, but also women are perceived as second class citizens (The Second Sex) in Victorian Britain. Parallel to these, Victorian class-consciousness and strict social norms and manners are depicted realistically in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford. Furthermore, Elizabeth Gaskell questions the Victorian class system, illustrated in detail in Cranford, by adopting a critical attitude towards these issues.