That Hyacinth is unfitted for serious study is shown through descriptions of how she spends her free time, reading romances from circulating libraries, at the time deemed dangerous influences on the susceptible minds of young ladies:

 little indulgences, that were innocent enough in themselves, but which [her] former life had caused her to look upon as sins to be concealed: the dirty dog’s-eared delightful novel from the Ashcombe circulating library, the leaves of which she turned over with a pair of scissors; the lounging-chair which she had for use at her own home, straight and upright as she sate now in Lady Cumnor’s presence; the dainty morsel, savoury and small, to which she treated herself for her own solitary supper,—

While her snobbery–the wish to avoid contaminating her hands with dirt from those well- worn pages and enjoying dainty morsel even when alone, creates humour, Gaskell also shows the loneliness of a woman whose education has not been adequate preparation for an independent life.

The book titles too indicate different thematic trajectories. W&D suggests a focus on women’s lives and marriage prospects, although these can never be divorced from social context. Middlemarch suggests localities and therefore a broader social framework.  Elizabeth was interested in women’s choice of husbands, possibly because she was the mother of four marriageable daughters, although two never married. Hyacinth highlights the problems of being a woman with no husband:

is not natural. Marriage is the natural thing; then the husband has all that kind of dirty work to do, and his wife sits in the drawing-room like a lady. I did, when poor Kirkpatrick was alive. Heigho! it’s a sad thing to be a widow.”

Gaskell is clearly suggesting that many women see marriage as an escape from work, poverty or spinsterhood. Ironically, in Middlemarch Dorothea marries to escape idleness and uselessness.

Both novelists reveal how women are socially programmed to attract men, a power that diminishes with age. Lady Harriet notes, that some of the masters at Cumnor Towers, ‘admired our very pretty governess, and there was a kind of respectable veiled flirtation going on’. Hyacinth, like Rosamond, is aware of this power and uses it to her advantage. Once she hears that Dr. Gibson is looking for a wife to provide his daughter Molly with female guidance, she, despite her poverty, makes a conscious effort to impress:

She was very pretty and graceful; and that goes a great way towards carrying off shabby clothes; and it was her taste more than any depth of feeling, that had made her persevere in wearing all the delicate tints…which, with a certain admixture of black, constitute half-mourning. This style of becoming dress she was supposed to wear in memory of Mr. Kirkpatrick; in reality because it was both lady-like and economical. Her beautiful hair was of that rich auburn that hardly ever turns gray; and partly out of consciousness of its beauty, and partly because the washing of caps is expensive, she did not wear anything on her head; her… colouring was rather more brilliant than delicate, and varied less with every passing emotion. She could no longer blush; and at eighteen she had been very proud of her blushes.…Ch9

These comprehensive domestic details provide the means through which we read Hyacinth’s character. Words like persevere and supposed suggest artifice, while the focus on good taste and becoming outfits suggest vanity and emotional shallowness. However, any implied criticism is undercut by the fact that such choices were matters of economic expedience, partly, though only partly, the reason for her not wearing a widow’s cap, other reasons are left for readers to decide. Oscillating between justification and criticism is typical of Gaskell’s style and it creates a complexity in her writing that is often overlooked by critics. The sentence ‘At 40: ‘She could no longer blush; and at eighteen she had been very proud of her blushes’, underlines a woman’s reliance on physical attraction which fades with time.

Both Hyacinth and Rosamond choose husband for social advancement although both are to some degree disappointed. Initially Hyacinth:

married a Mr. Kirkpatrick; he was only a curate, poor fellow; but he was of a very good family, and if three of his relations had died without children I should have been a baronet’s wife. But Providence did not see fit to permit it; and we must always resign ourselves to what is decreed.

Social status and respectability are crucial as Hyacinth, even before her first marriage, was enjoying an elevated lifestyle with the Cumnors. Dr Gibson had status and respectability; his patients include the Cumnors and the Hamleys, and he:

had lived carefully, and had a few thousands well invested; besides which, his professional income was good, and increasing rather than diminishing every year.

Rosamond too hopes to elevate her status and respectability by marriage to a doctor.

Neither Gaskell nor Eliot like snobbery and Hyacinth becomes a target for Gaskell’s humour usually portrayed through conversations showing opposing viewpoints: the pragmatic Dr Gibson and his silly wife or the unpretentious Molly and her affected stepmother. This conversation about lunch is very visual. Molly states:

“Papa doesn’t care what he has, if it’s only ready. He would take bread-and-cheese, if cook would only send it in instead of dinner.”
     “Bread-and-cheese! Does Mr. Gibson eat cheese?”
     “Yes; he’s very fond of it,” said Molly, innocently…
     “Oh! but, my dear, we must change all that. I shouldn’t like to think of your father eating cheese; it’s such a strong-smelling, coarse kind of thing. We must get him a cook who can toss him up an omelette, or something elegant. Cheese is only fit for the kitchen.”

We can imagine the facial expressions, a serious Hyacinth and disbelieving Molly: Gaskell’s methods are to show not tell. Do we see such visual details in Eliot?

Mrs Gibson’s snobbery is further illustrated when her daughter marries and moves to Sussex Place a desirable London address, Mrs Gibson is mortified that she has not achieved better, where better includes her own carriage to separate her from the town’s hoy polloy. We might expect some similar sentiments from Rosamond. This snobbery is symptomatic of misguided education and society’s emphasis on physical beauty. Hyacinth writes:

Without vanity, I believe I was as pretty as she is…I mean; I had not her dark eyelashes, but then my nose was straighter. And now look at the difference! I have to live in a little country town with three servants, and no carriage; and she with her inferior good looks will live in Sussex Place, and keep a man and a brougham…in this generation there are so many more rich young men than there were when I was a girl”

Hyacinth has never been without vanity, neither has Rosamond, although Gaskell’s presentation is more humorous than Eliot’s. But both women have a power over men. Even when Dr. Gibson asserts his authority in this exchange after Cynthia’s engagement to Roger Hamley, Dr Gibson admits the futility of anger:

“I only wish it were Molly’s good fortune to meet with such another.”
     “I will try for her; I will indeed,” said Mrs. Gibson, relieved by his change of tone.
     “No, don’t. That’s one thing I forbid. I’ll have no ‘trying’ for Molly.”
     “Well, don’t be angry, dear! Do you know I was quite afraid you were going to lose your temper at one time.”
     “It would have been of no use!” said he, gloomily,

 Dr Gibson can ignore his wife’s stupidity whereas the younger Lydgate is less able to show resignation, instead displaying frustration and brooding anger. Dr Gibson has acquired a cynicism which comes with age. Yet, Jane Austen’s Mrs Bennet is also brought to mind here. Hyacinth understands that daughters need husbands and ‘good’ marriages are desirable. Gaskell uses humour to defuse tension which continues to build in Middlemarch. There is little humour in Eliot’s presentation of Rosamond who is much younger than Hyacinth and very different from Cynthia, despite their similar age.

Gaskell’s ability to show not tell is key to many of these scenes. We understand the character of Cynthia’s new fiancé, Mr Henderson and Hyacinth Gibson from this exchange. Mr Henderson is: ‘so handsome and well-bred, and gets all his gloves from Houbigant!”- revealing how she judges character through shopping habits, these small domestic details  reveal so much. Hyacinth’s lack of rational judgement is underlined by Dr Gibson’s ironic reply: “I think him perfection,”… “I don’t wonder she preferred him to Roger Hamley. Such scents! such gloves!’ Irony is the doctor’s constant response to his wife’s shallowness. He only shows anger when she is caught eavesdropping on his conversation with a patient; a prospective betrayal of confidence.  Humour takes the edge off Gaskell’s criticism whereas Eliot offers a more turbulent, potentially tragic picture.

Cynthia is a wonderful creation, far more savvy than either her mother or Rosamond. She is never self-deluded and decides for herself that Roger would be an unsuitable husband:

 I have a fine instinct for reading the thoughts of others when they refer to me. I almost hate the idea of Roger judging me by his own standard, which wasn’t made for me, and graciously forgiving me at last.”

It is this self-knowledge that sets her apart from her mother and Rosamond.  She even confesses her true nature to her prospective husband who has none of Lydgate’s idealism:

I never set up for what I am not, and I know I’m not constant. I’ve told Mr. Henderson so—” She stopped, blushing and smiling at the recollection.
     “You have! and what did he say?”
     “That he liked me just as I was; so you see he’s fairly warned.

We never see how this marriage progresses but we expect Cynthia will triumph, although in her own way, so does Rosemond. But Cynthia is more complex and more likeable than Rosamond, she is Gaskell’s triumph. In her editor’s opinion: ‘one of the most difficult characters which have ever been attempted’. Andrew Davis says:  What I think is so remarkable is that Gaskell treats her with such insight and sympathy. One can readily imagine how George Eliot would deal with such a character -poor Cynthia would get a fearful drubbing. Newsletter 29

Cynthia too had insight and asks a very pertinent question  about nature or nurture?:

Oh, how good you are, Molly! I wonder, if I had been brought up like you, whether I should have been as good.

This question has fascinated writers from Mary Wollstonecraft onwards; we are not given an answer!