Books with title Ruth

Fans of social realism will appreciate the surprisingly nuanced and multi-faceted perspective on Victorian era morals and mores offered in Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell's sweeping novel Ruth. The story follows the fortune of Ruth, an orphan who is tricked into an intimate relationship with an aristocrat who later abandons her when she is pregnant with his child. Ruth, distraught, struggles with the sFans of social realism will appreciate the surprisingly nuanced and multi-faceted perspective on Victorian era morals and mores offered in Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell's sweeping novel Ruth. The story follows the fortune of Ruth, an orphan who is tricked into an intimate relationship with an aristocrat who later abandons her when she is pregnant with his child. Ruth, distraught, struggles with the social strictures that paint her as an irredeemable sinner. Can she and her child survive? Read Ruth to find out.ocial strictures that paint her as an irredeemable sinner. Can she and her child survive? Read Ruth to find out.

Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell... Ruth is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in three volumes in 1853. Ruth is a young orphan girl working in a respectable sweatshop for the overworked Mrs Mason. She is selected to go to a ball to repair torn dresses. At the ball she meets the aristocratic Henry Bellingham, a rake figure who is instantly attracted to her. They meet again by chance and form a secret friendship; on an outing together they are spotted by Mrs Mason who, fearing for her shop's reputation, dismisses Ruth. Alone in the world, Ruth is whisked away by Bellingham to London where it is implied she becomes a fallen woman. They go on holiday to Wales together and there on a country walk Ruth meets the disabled and kind Mr Benson. Bellingham falls sick with fever and the hotel calls for his mother who arrives and is disgusted by her son's having lived in sin with Ruth. Bellingham is persuaded by his mother to abandon Ruth in Wales, leaving her some money. A distraught Ruth attempts suicide but is spotted by Mr Benson who helps comfort her. When he learns of her past and that she is alone he brings her back to his home town, where he is a Dissenting minister, to stay with him and his formidable but kind sister Faith. When they learn that Ruth is pregnant they decide to lie to the town and claim that she is a widow called Mrs Denbigh, to protect her from a society which would otherwise shun her.

Ruth is a surprisingly compassionate portrayal of a fallen woman in Victorian times. Ruth Hilton is an young orphaned seamstress who is seduced and then abandoned by gentleman Henry Bellingham. Ruth, pregnant and alone, is taken in by a minister and his sister. They conceal her single status under the pretense of widowhood in order to protect her child from the social stigma of illegitimacy. Ruth goes on to gain a respectable position in society as a governess, which is threatened by the return of Bellingham and the revelation of her secret.

CHAPTER I The Dressmaker's Apprentice at Work There is an assize-town in one of the eastern counties which was much distinguished by the Tudor sovereigns, and, in consequence of their favour and protection, attained a degree of importance that surprises the modern traveller. A hundred years ago its appearance was that of picturesque grandeur. The old houses, which were the temporary residences of such of the county-families as contented themselves with the gaieties of a provincial town, crowded the streets and gave them the irregular but noble appearance yet to be seen in the cities of Belgium. The sides of the streets had a quaint richness, from the effect of the gables, and the stacks of chimneys which cut against the blue sky above; while, if the eye fell lower down, the attention was arrested by all kinds of projections in the shape of balcony and oriel; and it was amusing to see the infinite variety of windows that had been crammed into the walls long before Mr Pitt's days of taxation. The streets below suffered from all these projections and advanced stories above; they were dark, and ill-paved with large, round, jolting pebbles, and with no side-path protected by kerb-stones; there were no lamp-posts for long winter nights; and no regard was paid to the wants of the middle class, who neither drove about in coaches of their own, nor were carried by their own men in their own sedans into the very halls of their friends. The professional men and their wives, the shopkeepers and their spouses, and all such people, walked about at considerable peril both night and day. The broad unwieldy carriages hemmed them up against the houses in the narrow streets. The inhospitable houses projected their flights of steps almost into the carriage-way, forcing pedestrians again into the danger they had avoided for twenty or thirty paces.

Classics for Your Collection:goo.gl/U80LCr---------Ruth is Elizabeth Gaskell’s second novel and deals with the "theme of the fallen woman in the mid-Victorian era". The story of the long-suffering heroine, Ruth Hilton, is almost entirely based on a real life case that Gaskell herself encountered and helped resolve during her many charitable works as the wife of a Unitarian minister in Manchester.Orphaned at a very young age, the strikingly beautiful, gentle-spirited Ruth Hilton ends up as an apprentice at a dressmaker’s shop. (A precarious situation that Victorian readers readily believed exposed women to moral temptation.) The innocent and lonely Ruth falls prey to the attentions of Henry Bellingham, a wealthy and worldly man who is swept away by Ruth’s naiveté. They leave for London and Wales, where she lives with Bellingham as a "kept woman." Bellingham falls ill. His morally strict mother is summoned and horrified to learn of her son living in sin. She removes Ruth from her son's life and insists that her son abandon Ruth. He acquiesces, leaves some money, and never looks back.Completely distraught, Ruth attempts suicide, but is saved, and taken in, by the kind and disfigured Thurston Benson, a dissenting minister, and his equally sympathetic sister, Faith. They learn Ruth is "with child." Faith suggests circulating a lie that Ruth is a widow called Mrs. Denbigh to protect her from a society that would surely ostracize her. Thurston, though going against his moral grain, eventually agrees to Faith’s plan.Ruth gives birth to a beautiful boy named Leonard. In the next six years, ever mindful of her sinful past and the sacrifices made by the Bensons, Ruth strives hard for spiritual strengthening and devotes herself entirely to raising her boy in the utmost manner. Ruth matures into a steady figure that draws the attention of Mr. Bradshaw, the town’s richest businessman, who is full of self-consequence and prides himself in being a morally upright man.He is taken by Ruth’s Madonna-like demeanor and decides to hire her as the model companion and governess for his daughters. Unfortunately, fate catches up with Ruth when Mr. Bradshaw decides to enter politics by supporting a certain "Mr. Donne" in the upcoming elections. When Ruth meets him for the first time, Mr. Donne turns out to be the feckless lover that abandoned her six years ago. As events start to unfold, and the lie begins to unravel, the safe haven that Ruth has built around her and her son comes crashing down, with morally disturbing consequences.Scroll Up and Get Your Copy!Timeless Classics for Your BookshelfClassic Books for Your Inspiration and EntertainmentVisit Us at:goo.gl/U80LCr

"If you want to whip me, uncle, you may do it. I don't much mind." Put in this form, it was impossible to carry out his intentions; and so Mr. Benson told the lad he might go-that he would speak to him another time. Leonard went away, more subdued in spirit than if he had been whipped. Sally lingered for a moment. She stopped to add: "I think it's for them without sin to throw stones at a poor child, and cut up good laburnum branches to whip him. I only do as my betters do, when I call Leonard's mother Mrs. Denbigh." The moment she had said this she was sorry; it was an ungenerous advantage after the enemy had acknowledged himself defeated. Mr. Benson dropped his head upon his hands, and hid his face, and sighed deeply. -Chapter XIX: "After Five Years" As interest in 19th-century English literature by women has been reinvigorated by a resurgence in popularity of the works of Jane Austen, readers are rediscovering a writer whose fiction, once widely beloved, fell by the wayside. British novelist ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL (1810-1865)-whose books were sometimes initially credited to, simply, "Mrs. Gaskell"-is now recognized as having created some of the most complex and progressive depictions of women in the literature of the age, and is today justly celebrated for her precocious use of the regional dialect and slang of England's industrial North. Ruth-Gaskell's third novel, first published in three volumes in 1853-is notable as one of the rare instances in the fiction of the era of a positive portrayal of unwed motherhood and for its thematic condemnation of the social stigma of illegitimacy. The tale of a young woman seduced and abandoned by her lover, then taken in and protected by a kindly minister and his sister, it is remarkably progressive for the period. Friend and literary companion to the likes of Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë-the latter of whom Gaskell wrote an acclaimed 1857 biography-Gaskell is today being restored to her rightful place alongside them. This charming replica volume is an excellent opportunity for 21st-century fans of British literature to embrace one of its most unjustly forgotten authors.

RUTH (1853) by Elizabeth Gaskell is a compassionate story of a young woman seduced by a gentleman. Ruth Hilton is a gently tragic Victorian heroine, the fallen woman who redeems herself by a life of charity, after she is taken in by a pastor and his family and given the veneer of respectability. But it is Ruth's own inner strength of heart, deeds, and moral standing that ultimately reaffirm her.

The playscript, based on Elizabeth Gaskell's powerful novel, movingly tells the story of what it was to be a single woman with an unplanned pregnancy in the 19th century. It is supported by exensive resources, including background information and a variety of activities. The book includes a playscript based on Elizabeth Gaskell's 19th-century novel, showing the experiences of a single woman faced with an unplanned pregnancy. The play is accompanied by detailed resources, which include information on unplanned pregnancies then and now, the life and times of Elizabeth Gaskell and staging the play. There are also written, spoken and drama activities.