THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON IN THE FICTION OF ELIZABETH GASKELL Tatsuhiro OHNO A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Master of Letters Department of English Literature College of Arts and Law Graduate School University of Birmingham September 2018 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ii ABSTRACT The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse Elizabeth Gaskell’s three prodigal short stories—“Lizzie Leigh” (1850), “The Crooked Branch” (1859), and “Crowley Castle” (1863)—with reference to her major works in terms of the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son representing the principal Christian creed of the Plan of Sal- vation. The investigation into the three short stories in addition to her major works discloses the following three main features. First, the recurrent appearance of the Prodigal Son motif—committing sin, repentance, and forgiveness—in her characters’ lives and actions. Second, Gaskell’s change of depicting the prodigal by gradually refraining from inserting hints for its salvation—there are many hints in the first short story, almost none in the second, and few in the third. This change signifies the increase of her tendency to trust the reader’s imagination and discre- tion on her implication of the possibility of the prodigals’ salvation. Third, her constant depictions of the parents’ unfathomable compassion for the prodigal which implies there is no change in her faith in the Christian teaching of love for the suffered, or God’s love for His children. This scriptural reading might be ap- plicable to any type of literature as its fundamental function is to depict the com- plexities of human life which proceeds in accordance with the Plan of Salvation if the doctrine is true. iii iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family, especially to my father for his financial support, without whose sacrifice and encouragement its completion would have been difficult. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere gratitude goes to my three supervisors. First, to Dr James MUSSELL, by whom I was given a chance to do research at the University of Birmingham and to study the Digital Humanities approach to the interpretation of literature. Sec- ond, to Dr Nicholas GROOM, from whom I learned the Digital Humanities tech- nologies for textual analysis. Last but not least, to Prof John HOLMES, whose conscientious supervision, including careful reading of my drafts, helpful advice at feedback meetings, and succinct summaries of our discussions on GRS2 Review forms, made me feel like imitating his method in my own supervision of students. vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................... xi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. xv INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 Objectives, Methods, and Chapter Plan ..................................................................................... 1 The Parable of the Prodigal Son ................................................................................................ 7 The Plan of Salvation ................................................................................................................. 9 Unitarian Ambivalance ............................................................................................................ 14 Selection of the Three Tales .................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 1 THE PATTERN OF THE PRODIGAL ............................................. 31 1.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 31 1.2. Sin, Repentance, and Forgiveness .................................................................................... 31 1.3. The Prodigals in Novels ................................................................................................... 40 1.3.1. Esther in Mary Barton .............................................................................................. 40 1.3.2. Peter in Cranford .......................................................................................................46 1.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 2 “LIZZIE LEIGH”: DIVINE COMPASSION ..................................... 53 2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 53 2.2. Anne Leigh’s Christian Compassion ................................................................................. 74 2.3. Will Leigh’s Goodness ...................................................................................................... 81 2.4. Susan Palmer’s Goodness .................................................................................................83 2.5. Lizzie Leigh’s Goodness .................................................................................................... 85 2.6. Mr Palmer’s Goodness ...................................................................................................... 89 2.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 91 CHAPTER 3 “THE CROOKED BRANCH”: GOOD VS EVIL ............................... 97 3.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 97 3.2. Nathan Huntroyd’s Christianity ....................................................................................... 98 3.2.1. Nathan’s Indulgence ..................................................................................................98 3.2.2. Nathan’s Integrity ................................................................................................... 103 3.3. Hester Huntroyd’s Christianity ...................................................................................... 110 3.3.1. Hester’s Piety ............................................................................................................112 3.3.2. Hester’s Motherly Love ............................................................................................113 3.4. Bessy Rose’s Goodness .................................................................................................... 119 3.5. Benjamin Huntroyd’s Sins .............................................................................................. 125 3.5.1. “Honour Thy Father and Thy Mother.” .................................................................... 126 3.5.2. “Thou Shalt Not Covet”; “Thou Shalt Not Steal” ..................................................... 135 3.5.3. Satan vs God ............................................................................................................ 142 3.6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 146 CHAPTER 4 “CROWLEY CASTLE”: REPENTANT UNREWARDED? .............. 153 4.1. Chronology as Introduction ............................................................................................ 153 4.2. Salvation of Characters ................................................................................................... 156 4.2.1. Theresa .................................................................................................................... 156 ix 4.2.2. Victorine .................................................................................................................. 168 4.2.3. Duke .........................................................................................................................174 4.2.4. Bessy ....................................................................................................................... 180 4.2.5. Sir Mark .................................................................................................................. 184 4.3. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 189 CONCLUSION LITERATURE AS THEOLOGY ................................................. 193 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................