Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe)
Margaret Hale represents the steady, prosperous idealism of the rural south. She's disgusted with Milton and Mr. Thornton. She misjudges his role in the lives of his workers and assumes that he only thinks in terms of buying and selling. When the workers go on strike, she assumes it is because the masters are unfair and oppressive. She tries to help the strikers by giving them food. She does not initially realize why this might be a problem. She is only prolonging the strike. Through her association with Mr. Thornton, she begins to see how he is different from the others and how he isn't in a position to yield to his workers' demands. She begins to be a mediator between both sides of a very tense social spectrum. By the end, she cannot go back peacefully to the south despite how much she's wished for it. She has seen the real world and it has made her wise. She decides to give Mr. Thornton money to help him run his mill become she has come to believe in industry that much.