North and South Lesson Plan

Margaret shows confidence and assertiveness when she rejects Henry Lennox’s proposal of marriage, but later states that she is “guilty and ashamed of having grown so much into a woman as to be thought of in marriage.” What does this emotional reaction show about Victorian notions of female sexuality?

In an earlier chapter, the reader learns that Margaret is eighteen years old, certainly old enough (by contemporary standards) to be thought of sexually and romantically. For Victorian readers, however, Margaret’s sexual innocence, expressed in her shock and guilt, would have established her as an appropriate middle-class heroine--one who is “untainted” by sexual knowledge....