SOCIAL CLASS IN ELIZABETH GASKELL’S MARY BARTON

Author (s) : Dr. R. Suresh Kumar & C. J.Vishnu Priya, Deepika Nanjappan

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Abstract :
Industrial Revolution in England was the fundamental brick of capitalism that changed the lives of people because of mechanization. While it helped England to become an industrial country and also a great power in the world, the power of capitalism created a huge gap between the middle classes and working classes with the social stratification. Observing the condition of the society, Marx and Engels created their famous claim of class struggle in The Communist Manifesto. By calling working class people proletariat and middle class people bourgeoisie, they emphasized upon the gap between two classes and how to revolt against the capitalistic system by the working class people. This paper ventures to study the class issue in the Victorian society from the perspective of the Marxist literary theory. It analyses how the capitalist society decided the lifestyles of people by categorizing them into classes and with this categorization, working class people led a miserable life. It will also emphasize the process they undergo when they search for their rights. In this respect, Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Mary Barton will be studied together with the links between the novel and The Communist Manifesto.

Keywords : Stratification, Manifesto, emphasized, proletariat.

Conference Date : 17/09/2021

Pages : 254

Paper ID : IESMDT252