In the mid-19th century, two titans of English literature – Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot – set out to explore the tension between personal yearning and family duty. But while their novels shared a common rural landscape, the women themselves couldn’t have been more different.

George Eliot was private and intellectual, while Elizabeth was outgoing, gossipy and deeply shocked by the scandal of her fellow writer’s personal life.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s The Moorland Cottage introduced the quiet grief of Mrs Browne and her children, Edward and Maggie. This 1850 novella looked at family dynamics and social expectations. George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss follows siblings Tom and Maggie Tulliver at their family’s rural mill. Their close but troubled bond is tested by financial struggles, forbidden friendships and personal desires.

How do these two novelists explore the tension between personal longing and family loyalty in rural Victorian society?

Dr Sherry Ashworth and Professor Ruth Livesey compare and contrast George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell and their literary works.

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