THE GOTHIC TALES OF ELIZABETH GASKELL

THE GOTHIC TALES OF ELIZABETH GASKELL

Chilling Victorian Stories of Betrayal and Redemption

19th century English writer Elizabeth Gaskell wrote some of the most popular ghost stories of her time; thrilling and macabre, but always with a message in store.

There’s something about a good Gothic tale that suits the autumn months particularly well. And while few would expect Gothic fun from a 19th century novelist specializing in "social problem" novels, Elizabeth Gaskell did in fact write some very effective spooky fiction. Textured, atmospheric, and subtly moralistic, these stories are just the thing for a long, rainy evening.

Elizabeth Gaskell the Author

Elizabeth Gaskell, née Stevenson, was born in 1810 in London. Her father sent her away after her mother’s death, and she divided her time between various family members. In 1832 she married William Gaskell, a Unitarian minister, and settled with him in Manchester.

Gaskell did most of her writing at a rented cottage in Plymouth Grove. It was here that she penned her best-known novels, among them Cranford (1851), a relaxed record of a country town, and North and South (1855), a more serious work detailing the day-to-day struggles of industrial workers in the North. It was also at Plymouth Grove that she entertained fellow writers Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë, whose biography she wrote.

Gaskell would die in 1865, leaving behind six novels, several novellas, and numerous stories. Her works would be acclaimed for their keenly observant narrators, as well as for the quiet courage and conviction with which Gaskell imbued her protagonists. This sense of moral integrity marks Gaskell’s Gothic tales, many of which were published in Charles Dickens’ weekly magazine, Household Words.

"The Old Nurse’s Story"

As the title suggests, in this tale a nurse recalls a series of incidents that confronted her and her former charge. This charge, Miss Rosamond, is left an orphan after the death of both parents; and so Hester, the nurse, follows her to Furnivall Manor, where an old relative lives. It is an old and thoroughly spooky place; what’s more, Hester is sure that she hears someone playing the organ at night, even though the instrument is quite broken. One day, Rosamond goes missing, only to be found nearly dead from cold out in the snow. She claims that a little girl led her outside, where a lady met her, and lulled her to sleep. And Miss Furnivall, the decaying mistress of the house, seems tortured by guilt at the news…

By far Gaskell’s most popular story, this work raises questions as to whether an evil action can ever truly be forgiven.

"The Grey Woman"

A visitor to a German household discovers a portrait of a beautiful girl, and, upon enquiring as to its subject, is presented with a letter written by that lady, Anna Scherer. This letter details her rash marriage and the subsequent tyranny of her French husband, M. de la Tourelle, who keeps her more or less sequestered in one room of his chateau.

When Anna inadvertently witnesses her husband bring in a corpse in the dead of night, and so discovers that he is at the head of a violent gang, she and her servant must make an escape so harrowing that Anna will be left forever changed.

"The Doom of the Griffiths"

This tale concerns a curse cast by a legendary figure in Welsh culture. The object of the curse was a friend who had betrayed him, Rhys ap Gryffyd; and the curse entails that for nine generations, his line would live in destitution, until finally a son would kill his father.

The curse holds fast right up until the eighth generation, when a Griffith son turns out right-headed and sober, and reasonably wealthy. This son, Robert, comes to have his own son, Owen, who would be the one fated to kill him - only their relationship is oddly sunny. It is when Owen marries happily that things begin to turn sour…

Rapturous hope and inevitable sorrow are forever competing in this story of betrayal and destiny.

"The Grey Woman"

"The Doom of the Griffiths"

Further Reading