Margaret Hale Character Analysis

The main characters using Standard English belong to the middle class, living at ease and tutoring, whilst mill workers characters, from the working class use the dialect. The major characters using Standard English are:

- The Hales:

Miss Margaret Hale: the protagonist

Mr. Hale: Margaret’s father, and Mr. Thornton’s tutor.

Mrs Hale: Margaret’s mother, a woman from a respectable London family.

Frederick Hale: Margaret’s older brother.

- The Thorntons:

Mr. John Thornton: a mill owner at Milton

Mrs. Thornton: Mr. Thornton’s mother

Fanny Thornton: Mr. Thornton’s sister

- Mr. Bell: Mr. Hale’s friend, god father to Margaret and her brother

- Mrs. Shaw: Margaret’s aunt and Edith’s mother.

- Edith: Margaret’s cousin

- Mr. Henry Lennox: a young

She is intelligent, eloquent, educated and with a well-defined personality. Her clerical father gives her education far superior to what was the typical convention of that time that is, just performing skills in playing piano. She is a representative of a young lady of the lesser gentry. Living in Milton, she befriends a mill worker, Mr. Higgins, and his daughter, Bessy. This leads to a change in Margaret speech as a key to Margaret’s adaptation to the place and culture as points Ingham (1996:62) “Margaret 's adaptation to the culture also happens through language”

Mrs Hale, however, reproves her daughter for using such a language. She accuses her of “having picked up a great deal of vulgarity” (Gaskell 238). For example, Margaret suggests ‘redding up’ (tidying) the Bouchers ' house when she talks to Boucher’s small children suggesting “redding up the slatternly room”. (337)

Another example is her use of the word ‘Knobstick’ (strike- breaker) considered as being vulgar by her mother but Margaret finds it expressive. For Mrs. Hale this is the example of the horrible and unacceptable “factory slang” (237) and she wishes for Margaret not to use these words any more. Margaret responds that since she lives in as industrial town, she must use these ‘vulgar words’ when called upon to do

Gaskell 's use of dialect has a wide significance and putting local dialect words into the mouths of middle-class characters enriches the portrait of Darkshire.

Dixon is technically a servant; she is very devoted to Mrs. Hale and considered as a member of the family. Despite her social position, Dixon uses the Standard English and not the dialect because as mentioned by Nash (2007:109): “Dixon believes herself to be near the top of the social scale, and looks down on the Milton workers who visit Margaret and Mr. Hale, though the Hales themselves do not.” Dixon often frustrates Margaret because she oversteps her status of a servant behaving as an equal as when Dixon talks badly about Mr. Hale, Margaret is outraged saying “Dixon! You forget to whom you are speaking…?” (83)

While all the other characters come in contact and accepting the mixing of class, Dixon cannot understand why the Hales accept to receive working class people complaining to Margaret:

Why master and you must always be asking the lower classes up-stairs, since we came to Milton, I cannot understand. Folk at Helstone were never brought higher than the kitchen, and I’ve let one or two of them know before now that they might think it an honour to be even there.