Victorian Era Literature Study
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Added on 2020-04-21
Victorian Era Literature Study
Added on 2020-04-21
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1Name of the Student LiteratureStudyName of the ProfessorLiterature StudyDate of SubmissionA Comparative Study of the Literary Works of Bronte SistersThe following report is a discussion on the study of literature of the Victorian era. Thevaried themes like styles, genres and lifestyles of the Victorian era is well reflected in the literaryworks of the Bronte sisters’. The below report will encompass a comparative study on theliterary works of the two Bronte sisters’- Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte. The two literaryworks that will be debated in the report will be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and WutheringHeights by Emily Bronte. Even though it might appear that both the novels encircle the same genre of literature,there are quite a few distinctive differences in the two novels. The report will highlight both thesimilarities and the dissimilarities that are there in the two novels. The report will compare andcontrast the theme of love, betrayal and revenge in the two novels and will highlight thedifferences in the setting of the plot of the story. Apart from that the report will furnish the majordifferences that are identified in the screen adaptations of the two novel. A Critical Review of Jane Eyre by Charlotte BronteJane Eyre is one of the finest works of Charlotte Bronte who was mainly concerned withthe judgement of her work (Eyre). The chief concern that bothered her was that her writings mustbe judged on the basis of their own merits and not on her gender. This is the reason whyCharlotte Bronte published all her book under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Jane Eyre, the firstnovel published by Charlotte Bronte was vehemently criticized as a Feminist novel because of itromanticism and feminist emotions of the heroine who is the main narrator of the novel(Charlotte). The then Victorian critic GH Lewes called it “a naughty book” due to the strange
Literature Study 2subjective representation in the book. Many critics were of the opinion that Currer Bell must be awoman and hence attacked the book by calling it “coarse” and immoral. The novel was called soas it presented a female character, a heroine who completely contradicts the then contemporarysocietal values who always stands up for the righteousness. Currel Bell was criticized as “moralJacobinism” by the conservative Quarterly Review as they state that the author of the novel istrying to start a revolution. With the gradual success of the novel the pseudonym of the authorwas exposed which allowed the novel to attain a further level of importance in the then societyby driving the public to breach their sexist perception of feminine authorship (Wootton).The novel Jane Eyre composed in a first-person narrative, depicts the life of Jane Eyre, asimple humble girl who grew up to an intelligent lady recovering herself from her traumaticchildhood. In the course of the novel, Bronte showed five stages of Jane’s development- herchildhood that she spent with her tyrannical aunt and cousins; her student life which she hadspent in the Lowood school, her life as a governess at Thornfield Manor, the time that she spentwith her cousins at Marsh’s End and lastly, her last life that shows her return to ThornfieldManor where she married Mr. Rochester (Kroeber). It is believed that the novel Jane Eyre is aportrayal of Charlotte Bronte’s own life and hence Jane Eyre is her autobiography. The novel isin a form of Germanic Bildungsroman that presents a struggle that a girl faces throughout her lifeto build her own identity. While assessing her own work Charlotte Bronte said that hercontemporaries’ works and particularly in the works of Jane Austen there were lack ofemphasize on the human eyes, hands, mouth and feet as Austen emphasized more on the humanheart. According to Bronte, the writings must not contain coldness, unnecessary analysis,detachment and critical distance. In her opinion, the article must encompass the main subject andmust be an inspirational one and not necessarily explain the rational logic behind it. This feature
Literature Study 3is most prominent in the gothic novel of the era and hence the novel is regarded as a gothic novelof the period.The novel written from a first person point of view is entirely told through the eyes of theheroine and is a deliberate attempt of Charlotte Bronte to intensify the plot of the events withpassion, feelings and judgements of the heroine. The novel which is written in a tragic andsubdued form reflects the personal experiences of Bronte in a more generalized way. AlthoughJane Eyre falls under many categories like Romance, Mystery and Gothic Fiction, the novel canbe considered as a classic romantic novel as the novel represented the passionate relationship thatJane had with Mr. Rochester. The novel is called gothic because of its infusion of supernaturalactivities and fantasy throughout the novel (Bernard). The entire novel revolves around an eerieand unnatural atmosphere where we encounter characters like Mr. Rochester, a typical Byronichero, his wife Bertha, a mad woman locked in an attic and other characters whose appearancesare not at all clear.The novel when published under masculine pseudonym received a strong opposition andcriticisms from its contemporary society. Lady Eastlake being conservative opined that if thebook was composed by a woman then “she had long forfeited the society of her own sex”. Therattle views of Jane Eyre as to how women should behave and act in a society suggesting in LadyEastlake’s views is almost overthrowing a social order (Ingham). Jane Eyre is a novel thatchiefly focuses on the better aspects of life of a woman in spite of depicting their plight andstruggles in life compared with the other contemporary novels of the time. The character Jane aspresented in the novel is not a traditional heroine with her charm and charismatic behavior unlikethe other Victorian heroines. Charlotte made her heroine simple and plain who contradicts thewomen of her era. Jane is a character who is not less significant than a male character in terms of
Literature Study 4her maturity and emotional strengths. Gao opines that this depiction of the heroine went againstthe beliefs of the society.One of the significant aspect that Charlotte Bronte has incorporated in her novel is thefascination with health that the Victorians had during the 19th century. This feature of the novel isillustrated through the character of Bertha, the insane wife of Rochester. In the Victorian era attimes health was given much more importance than that of politics, religion and Darwinism. Inthe opinion of Sonja Mayer, the Victorians believed that there was an interdependency of themind and body and it helps in gaining strength. Besides there were people as opined by Mayerwho believed that there is an interrelation between the physical and mental health. Charlotteinfused all these attitudes in the character of Bertha who suffers from mental illness andthreatens her husband to death by putting the house on fire (Franklin). The novel illustrated thesetwo characters who are totally contrasting to each other as Bertha is displayed as a monster to thereaders. This is evident from Rochester’s description of Bertha as a lady with “red balls of eyes”always putting up a “mask” in her face and “bulk” and is called “gone mad” by her ownhusband. The Victorians would interpret this as a lack of mental stability. On the contrary, Janeis mentally strong who struggles throughout her life to become successful even afterencountering various difficulties at each stage of her life. Thus, it can be said that Bronte hasrecognized explicit disparities between Jane and Bertha but at the same time indicated that thereare underpinning matches between these two fanatical forms of womanhood.Comparison and Contradistinction of the Representation of Children in the Two NovelsGenre lifts art when it contributes somewhat valuable to the storyline. It converts pastiche and isrendered hopeless if it only incorporates artistic concern for the spectator. The Bronte sisterswere experts of utilizing this device of genre to enrich their writing while contributing advanced
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