Keeping Your Word: Unfashionable Virtues in North and South

“[God] gave you strength to do what your conscience told you was right; and I don’t see that we need any higher or holier strength than that; or wisdom either."

- Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

In this episode Rachel and Phoebe discuss North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Often dubbed ‘The Victorian Pride and Prejudice’ it is a wonderful love story but also a story of class struggles, the industrial revolution and religious turmoil. Throughout all these themes is Gaskell’s exploration of the importance of following your conscience, maintaining your principles and speaking and acting honestly. Rachel and Phoebe look at the ways in which each of these ‘unfashionable virtues’ are represented in the novel, and why they still apply to us in the modern day.

After this episode, Risking Enchantment will be taking a break over the summer and will return in September. To get notified when it returns, or to keep up to date with any additional content, sign up to our newsletter at: Sign up for our email list at www.rachelsherlock.com/podcast

 

Hosts: Rachel Sherlock, Phoebe Watson

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Find out more at www.rachelsherlock.com

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Music: Ashton Manor by Kevin MacLeod

 

Works Mentioned:

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux by Thérèse de Lisieux

Illustrated London News by G.K. Chesterton

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

What's Wrong with the World by G.K. Chesterton

"The Inner Ring" by C.S. Lewis

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

 

What We're Enjoying at the Moment

Phoebe: Garden's World

Rachel: From Up on Poppy Hill (film. 2013), Whisper of the Heart (film. 1995)