Comparing The Old Nurses Story by Elizabeth Gaskell and Lost Hearts by M.R. James

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Comparing The Old Nurses Story by Elizabeth Gaskell and Lost Hearts by M.R. James

'The Old Nurses Story' by Elizabeth Gaskell and 'Lost Hearts' by M.R.

James are both 19th century mystery stories, so naturally they have

similarities due to them both having the same genre but there are some

ways in which the stories differ.

'Lost Hearts' is about a young girl called Rosamond aged about 4 or 5

who is orphaned and so has to go and live with her elderly Aunt, Miss

Furnivall at Furnivall Manor. One evening the nurse left Rosamond with

Miss Furnivall when she went to church. When the nurse returned she

couldn't find her, the nurse followed some footsteps in the snow and

found Rosamond in the arms of a Shepherd frozen in the extremely cold

weather. The nurse takes Rosamond home and asks where she has been.

She told the nurse a girl told her to follow her but the nurse didn't

believe her as she only saw one set of footprints in the snow. The

housekeeper tells the nurse that a long time ago Miss Furnivall and

her sister Maud fell out because they loved the same man. The man

chose Maud and Maud became pregnant, leading to her father throwing

her out in disgrace. Miss Furnivall never did anything to stop her

father as she still had a grudge with Maud as the man had chosen her

sister. Maud and her daughter then came back for revenge. They try to

get Rosamond but Miss Furnivall offers herself instead and therefore

dies to protect Rosamond- an irony as that is what Miss Furnivall

should have done many years ago, she should have protected her sister

and her niece.

A boy called Stephen Elliot is orphaned and so is invited to live with

his eld...

... middle of paper ...

...at was about

to happen to Miss Furnivall this builds up intensity in a cumulative

way. Miss Furnivall's death was quite dramatic she was 'stricken down

by the palsy' a fit of trembling, paralysis, she then put her face to

the wall and muttered an extremely powerful ending 'what is done in

youth can never be undone in age' this is repeated for effectiveness.

The effectiveness of this ending is excellent it almost sums up the

whole story in a few words, it also assures the reader that Miss

Furnivall is truly sorry about her behavior.

Both stories have equal good point and bad points and each story is

original in its narrative and characters. So I conclude this report to

say the idea of the story is the same with revenge been the main focus

but there is a lot of differences that make each story have its on

identity.

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