Performance and Performativity in Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford and Ruth

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the aspects of performance and performativity in Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford and Ruth. Gaskell shows through her characters how gender and class intertwine, involving the notions of cultural, social, and economic capital. Although contested concepts, performance and performativity can be significant tools in analyzing how Victorian narratives such as Cranford and Ruth could subvert dominant assumptions about gender and gender roles. The first chapter discusses Elizabeth Gaskell, the concepts of performance and performativity, and Victorian doctrine of separate spheres. The second chapter analyzes how the Cranford ladies in Cranford perform stylized repetition of certain acts to maintain their identity. The third chapter shows performances in Ruth and how the heroine acquires her gender by accreting its behavior, strengthening the understanding of Ruth by using the notion of performativity. The fourth chapter consolidates the main points that performance and performativity help to show: how Cranford challenges the stereotype of a "redundant woman," and Ruth challenges the stereotype of a "fallen woman."