63 pages • 2 hours read
Elizabeth GaskellRuth
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1853A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Volume 1, Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Volume 1, Chapter 1 Summary
The novel opens in a small town in England on a cold night in January. Ruth Hilton, a young woman, works as an apprentice seamstress in a shop owned by a dressmaker named Mrs. Mason. It is very late, but Ruth and the other seamstresses are still hard at work, even though they are exhausted. Mrs. Mason notices that the girls are tired, so she gives them a short break to eat and rest. Ruth looks longingly out the window, reminiscing about happier times.
The seamstresses are working particularly hard to finish their work in time for a fancy ball taking place the following night: many upper-class ladies have ordered new dresses for themselves to wear. Mrs. Mason explains that she will also bring a few girls with her to the ball to be available if anyone needs repairs or alterations while the event is taking place. Mrs. Mason selects Ruth as one of the girls who will go because Ruth is very beautiful, and Mrs. Mason wants to make a good impression on her wealthy customers. Ruth, however, is shocked to be chosen because she thinks that she has not worked as hard as many of the other girls. She even tries to object that it would not be fair for her to go, but Mrs. Mason insists, and as she thinks about the prospect of seeing the ball, Ruth becomes more and more excited. She thinks eagerly about how “I shall really hear a band! And see the inside of that beautiful shire-hall!” (12).
Volume 1, Chapter 2 Summary
As Mrs. Mason and the girls prepare to go to the ball, Mrs. Mason comments on Ruth’s shabby dress, and suggests that she ask her guardian for a newer one. Ruth feels ashamed and explains that her guardian does not like to be asked to send her things.
At the ball, Ruth and the other girls are mostly tucked away in a small room but can peep out and look at the dancers. Ruth is overwhelmed by the beauty and splendor that is so different from her own life: “Inside it was warm, and glowing, and vivid; flowers scented the air, and wreathed the head, and rested on the bosom, as if it were midsummer” (14). Two wealthy guests at the ball—a woman and a man—enter the room where Ruth is stationed. The woman, Miss Duncombe, has torn her dress, and Ruth quickly fixes it. Nonetheless, Miss Duncombe is rude and impatient. Mr. Bellingham notices that Miss Duncombe is being rude to Ruth and that Ruth is very beautiful. He gives Ruth a camellia flower to thank her for fixing the dress. When Ruth goes home from the ball, she thinks about Mr. Bellingham and even dreams about him that night.
The next day, Mrs. Mason is irritable and picks on Ruth in particular. Seeing that Ruth is distressed, the other girls suggest that she be the one to go out and purchase some necessary supplies. While Ruth is out on her shopping trip, she stops to observe a group of children playing near the river. One boy accidentally falls in and begins to be swept away. Ruth hurries to help but is limited in what she can do. Suddenly, a man on horseback rushes into the river and retrieves the boy. When he emerges from the river with the child, Ruth recognizes that it is Mr. Bellingham. Ruth and Mr. Bellingham rush the boy back to the home of his grandmother, Mrs. Brownson. Mrs. Brownson is very poor, and as she and her neighbors rush around to tend to the boy, Mr. Bellingham speaks rudely about the impoverished people and their living conditions.
Mr. Bellingham also becomes more interested in Ruth and comes up with a reason why they could meet again. He entrusts her with some money to ensure that the boy receives medical care and plans to meet her at church on Sunday to take back whatever money might be left. After he leaves, Mrs. Brownson is offended by the rude way he spoke to her, but Ruth defends him. Ruth intends to check in on the boy, but another seamstress, Jenny, becomes very ill, and Ruth must spend all her time nursing her and catching up on work. When Ruth and Mr. Bellingham meet on Sunday, she confesses that she still has all the money. Mr. Bellingham, however, is not very interested in the boy’s fate and instead comes up with a new plan for why he and Ruth will have to meet again. Jenny goes home to convalesce from her illness.
Volume 1, Chapter 3 Summary
The narrator provides more context about Mr. Bellingham: he is 23 years old and an only child raised by a wealthy widowed mother who has over-indulged him and tried to be too controlling. Mrs. Bellingham wants her son to marry Miss Duncombe, but Mr. Bellingham is in no hurry to settle down. He is intrigued by Ruth’s innocence and trusting nature and does not want to alarm her by coming on too strong. After Ruth and Bellingham meet at church on the second Sunday, he does not try to walk her home. Ruth goes back to the shop where she works; she is very sad and lonely because everyone else spends Sundays with their families.
The narrator provides more information about Ruth’s history: Ruth’s mother came from a good family but was orphaned and left in poverty, so she married a farmer who was older than herself. Ruth’s mother and father had a happy marriage, but her mother was always sickly and died suddenly when Ruth was around 12. Her father was not very good at financial management, and when he also died, there was no money left for Ruth to inherit. As an orphan, her new guardian was one of her father’s business associates, and he arranged for Ruth to get a position as an apprentice to Mrs. Mason. Now, at age 15, Ruth has been working for Mrs. Mason for five months and is often lonely and depressed by the hard work.
Mr. Bellingham and Ruth continue to meet at church every Sunday. He gradually persuades her to walk home with him and take a longer route through more secluded areas. Ruth is somewhat hesitant about these walks, but Bellingham reassures her, suggesting that she “consider me as a brother” (34) and encourages her to “tel[l] me everything that happens to you” (35). The two of them talk about their childhoods together, and Ruth speaks longingly about her hometown, where she lived before she lost her parents. Bellingham suggests that they walk there together the following Sunday, and Ruth innocently agrees because she is excited to see her hometown and show it to him.
Volume 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Ruth and Mr. Bellingham go to her hometown and spend a pleasant afternoon walking about and looking at the local sites. Ruth shows him the humble cottage where she grew up, which holds many happy memories for her. An elderly man named Thomas, an old family servant, is there, and Ruth is happy to see him. Bellingham is annoyed to see Ruth engaging with a man he deems to be lower-class, and Thomas can tell that Bellingham is not a good person. Thomas offers Ruth a veiled warning to watch out for herself, but she does not understand what he is referring to and “never imagined that the grim warning related to the handsome young man who awaited her with a countenance beaming with love” (40).
As Ruth and Bellingham are making their way back, they unexpectedly run into Mrs. Mason on the road. Mrs. Mason is dismayed to see Ruth walking alone with a man. She is already annoyed because one of her sons has been misbehaving. She tells Ruth that she can no longer work for her or live in the lodgings with the other apprentices. Ruth is horrified, with no idea what will happen to her. After Mrs. Mason leaves, Ruth weeps and explains the situation to Bellingham. He decides to take advantage of the situation: he tells Ruth that he has to go to London, that he hates to leave her, and that since she now has nowhere to live, she should come with him. Ruth hesitates but finally admits that she loves him and agrees to go with him.
Bellingham takes Ruth to a nearby inn and leaves her there while he goes to get his carriage so that they can travel to London. Left alone, Ruth thinks she would prefer to go back to her hometown and live with old Thomas; she plans to head there but becomes overwhelmed and unsure what to do. When Bellingham returns with the carriage, she tells him she wants to return to her hometown. He soothes her and tells her they can discuss a plan for what to do, but he drives toward London once she is in the carriage with him.
Volume 1, Chapter 5 Summary
The action resumes a few months later, in July, in Wales. Ruth and Mr. Bellingham arrive at an inn where he has stayed before, and he insists on accommodations for them, even though the inn is full. The innkeeper, Mrs. Morgan, immediately deduces that Ruth is not his wife but concludes that “young men will be young men” (50). The weather is rainy during their visit, and while Ruth admires the natural beauty around her, Bellingham is often bored and restless. He becomes annoyed when Ruth is not more entertaining to him.
One day, Ruth goes out for a walk; near a rushing river, she meets a man who has a very small stature due to a physical disability. The man, Mr. Benson, kindly offers his hand to help Ruth cross the river. The two walk and talk for a bit, and Mr. Benson explains that he is an Englishman who visits Wales every year for his annual holiday. Like Ruth, he admires the beauty of the natural scenery. When Ruth returns to the inn, she tells Bellingham about meeting the stranger, and he immediately knows who she means. Bellingham insults Mr. Benson because he assumes that he is not wealthy.
Volume 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Although Ruth does not know it, many of the other guests at the inn have begun to gossip about her and her relationship with Mr. Bellingham. One little boy listens to his mother talking about Ruth and referring to her as “wicked.” Later that day, Ruth runs into the same little boy on the street with his nurse. She stops to fuss over the child, but he hits her face, telling her that she is a bad woman and shouldn’t touch him. The nurse nervously apologizes for the child’s behavior. When Ruth returns to the inn and reunites with Bellingham, she is despondent about what happened but tries to hide her feelings because he is in a good mood for once, and she does not want to spoil it.
Bellingham and Ruth go out for a walk, and he admires her beauty. When they get back, he starts to feel ill, and his condition rapidly worsens, while Ruth becomes more and more anxious. She consults Mrs. Morgan, who agrees to send for the doctor. Ruth continues to nurse Bellingham.
The doctor, Mr. Jones, comes to the inn and tells Mrs. Morgan that Bellingham is seriously ill. He asks about the relationship between Ruth and Bellingham, and Mrs. Morgan explains. She also concedes, “I’m sorry for her, for she’s an innocent, inoffensive young creature” (59). Mr. Jones thinks it is too much for Ruth to assume the responsibility for Bellingham’s care and suggests that they contact his mother. Mrs. Morgan has Mrs. Bellingham’s address, and she and the doctor write to Mrs. Bellingham to inform her that her son is ill.
Volume 1, Chapters 1-6 Analysis
Because she was writing when it was socially unacceptable for women to have sex or bear children outside of wedlock, Elizabeth Gaskell took a significant risk in writing a novel with a “fallen woman” as its protagonist. Therefore Gaskell carefully structures her novel to establish Ruth as a sympathetic and morally virtuous character both before and after her fall. Ruth’s position as an orphan means that she lacks the wisdom and moral guidance that parents might be expected to provide, especially when she is still too young and unsophisticated to understand the motives of those around her fully. Ruth reasons, for example, that “I can thank God for the happiness I have had in this charming spring walk, which dear mamma used to say was a sign when pleasures were innocent and good for us” (33), thereby revealing that she has not learned how to analyze how happiness and pleasure can also be misleading and dangerous. Instead, she merely follows her heart and trusts her instincts.
Ruth’s ostensible guardian shows almost no interest in her, and while Mrs. Mason is quick to cast judgment on Ruth once she thinks that she has misbehaved, she makes no effort beforehand to keep Ruth safe from individuals who might take advantage of her. In fact, Mrs. Mason deliberately exposes Ruth to the situation that leads to her moral downfall because she insists on taking Ruth to the ball. Ruth’s beauty makes her vulnerable to the attention of men like Bellingham, and Mrs. Mason recognizes that beauty but only sees how it can benefit her since it will be “such a credit to the house” (11). The word choice of “credit” puns on ideas of business, sale, and profit: Mrs. Mason is interested in displaying her attractive young apprentices as if they are just one more item for sale but then expects the young women to know how to safeguard themselves. Notably, both Mrs. Mason and Ruth’s guardian occupy economic rather than emotional or familial relationships with Ruth. They fail to protect her because they treat her as a business investment rather than a human being.
As a lonely orphan, Ruth is emotionally vulnerable to anyone who might show affection or warmth to her; Gaskell explains that “Ruth’s loving disposition [was] continually sending forth fibres in search of nutriment” (32), comparing Ruth’s yearning for love to a plant seeking richness in the soil, and using a metaphor that both aligns with Ruth’s stage of life (she is a rapidly growing but still immature adolescent) and the springtime imagery that reflects Ruth’s romantic and sexual awakening. As an impoverished young woman faced with the daunting task of earning an income for herself, Ruth also understandably fantasizes about what a life of greater ease might be like. When Ruth first meets Bellingham at the ball, the setting and imagery parallel the Cinderella trope of a young woman swept off her feet by Prince Charming. The motif of fairy tale tropes continues when Ruth encounters Bellingham a second time entirely by chance, suggesting that there is something fated about their encounter. This time, he fulfills the trope of the noble hero, saving a young child. The moment is significant because it suggests that Ruth falls for a man whom she mistakes for a virtuous and good person, not just someone who is handsome and rich.
Bellingham, however, quickly reveals his true colors through his rude and snobbish behavior after once he rescues the child and when he and Ruth meet Old Thomas. Bellingham shows a snobbish and disdainful dislike for the lower classes, making comments such as “Oh! What a horrid dirty place this is” (21) and “Why does that old man follow us about in that way? It is excessively impertinent of him” (39). These comments develop Bellingham’s character as someone lacking empathy and foreshadow how he will eventually likewise be annoyed by Ruth once she becomes an inconvenience to him. Ruth, however, is naïve, trusting, and only wants to see the best in people, which leads her to ignore and disregard all the warning signs foreshadowing Bellingham’s subsequent selfish behavior.
Bellingham shows his predatory nature when he pressures and then outright tricks Ruth into going to London with him. Ruth has had a nagging sense all along that her interactions with Bellingham were somehow dubious, noting that “I […] feel as if this charming afternoon’s walk were, somehow, not exactly wrong, but yet as if it were not right” (33). Gaskell highlights Ruth’s virtuous instincts by showing her first hesitating to go with Bellingham and then subsequently changing her mind in favor of living a humble life with old Thomas. Nonetheless, Bellingham simply orders the carriage to go to London once she is in it, symbolically reflecting how much more power and agency he has over the course of their relationship.
Although Gaskell does not represent their time spent there, the metropolis of London symbolically functions as a metaphor for sin or moral lapse (playing on the literary and artistic trope of cities as sites associated with vice and decadence, in contrast to the more morally uncorrupted natural world of the countryside). Ruth’s journey to London (and, by implication, the start of a sexual relationship with Bellingham) symbolizes her moral downfall.
The narrative moves quickly from the springtime scene where Ruth gets into the carriage with Bellingham to resume a few months later in a different geographic locale and at a different stage of their relationship. Wales was often considered a more wild, rugged, and primitive space; their residence there allows Bellingham and Ruth to openly live together with relatively few social consequences and conveniently allows Bellingham to keep the relationship clandestine. Bellingham’s spoiled and decadent character has already emerged in terms of how quickly he has grown bored with Ruth; before he seduced her, her innocent and sheltered nature fascinated him, leading him to aspire to “attract and tame her wildness, just as he had often allured and tamed the timid fawns in his mother’s park” (28). The analogy between Ruth and wild fawns suggests that Bellingham sees her as less than human and existing primarily for his amusement; deer kept in a park were often ultimately there to be hunted.
After the seduction, Bellingham is bored by her lack of sophistication and artistry. His mixture of amusement and irritation upon learning that Ruth does not know how to play any card games symbolically reflects the difference in their outlook and morals; Bellingham is worldly and cynical enough to know that his project of seducing Ruth and making her his mistress has been a kind of game, at which he was determined to succeed. Ruth, however, is too sheltered and innocent to play strategically or think ahead to her next move; she doesn’t try to secure money from Bellingham or maintain his interest through seduction or wiles.
While Ruth may not have been initially aware of the consequences of her moral fall, she cannot escape the knowledge that she is now being held to a double standard wherein Bellingham’s role in the relationship is forgiven as a misdemeanor while she is morally vilified. Bellingham’s class and gender privilege mean that people shrug off his illicit relationship, whereas Ruth suffers exaggerated consequences. When Mrs. Morgan explains the relationship to the doctor, she states that “we can’t always look too closely into the ways of young men” (59), showing that she doesn’t cast any moral judgments on Bellingham.
The scene in which the young boy hits Ruth is a moment of illumination for her, revealing “the sense she was just beginning to entertain of the estimation in which she was henceforth to be held” (55) and highlighting that Ruth is starting to realize all that she has lost. Because the little boy lashes out when Ruth approaches his infant sister, the moment foreshadows how Mr. Bradshaw will later claim she is unfit to be around his daughters. The “great blow on the face” (54) also suggests parallels to the idea of being struck with stones (the traditional Biblical punishment for sinful or adulterous women) or the idea of a physical mark of shame that a woman must display on her body. The corruption of a moment when Ruth is innocently admiring a sleeping infant also foreshadows how her own later experience of motherhood will always be tainted by ideas of shame and sinfulness.
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