...E.J GNST 200 Term Paper Jane Eyre: Charlotte Brontë One of the most brilliant works of Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre was published in 1847 during a time when women were considered social embellishments, and nothing more than offspring bearers for that matter. She defied these beliefs by doing something no women did in that time, write. This book was revolutionary, especially since the release of Jane Austen’s works, which had a lot more of a happy ending feel that were published a century before. Charlotte Brontë and her sisters Emily and Anne, wrote novels that were much more dark and mysterious. Jane Eyre became one of the most successful novels of its era. This novel is set in the early decades of the nineteenth century, and depicts themes such as social class, religion, and gender relations. The novel is a hybrid of three genres: a romantic novel, a bildungsroman novel, and a gothic novel. Each of these genres are used in Jane Eyre, and rightfully so. They help to tell the story of Jane Eyre’s life in the most mysterious, sometimes supernatural, and retrospective way. I believe that Charlotte Brontë depicted her life through the novel of Jane Eyre, she did this by using her own experiences in life, namely through some key developments from her life translated into Jane Eyre’s life. Jane Eyre and Charlotte Brontë embody each others lives. This is clear through all the similarities between the novel and real life. Some examples of these are: both Jane and Charlotte being...
Words: 1606 - Pages: 7
...has guarded it from frequent intrusion.” Themes The Gothic * “curtains of deep red damask” and “crimson cloth” indicate blood, linking to Mr Reed’s death. * Strange noises and odd furniture such as the mirror that distorts Jane’s image gives an eerie mood, making the reader wary of what is to happen. (links to identity) * Jane imagines how the ghost haunts the room, heightening the sense of horror she feels. The supernatural is a key element in a Gothic novel. * There is an overall sense of foreboding and spookiness that makes the reader empathise with Jane as she is so young. * The lack of realism heightens the sense of the supernatural. * The romantic scene of the rain in the moors sets up the Gothic theme for the rest of the novel. Passion * The purity of her childhood as she endures intense and bitter feelings that arise due to unpleasant life experiences. * She cannot control her temper, and is therefore punished. She is labelled a “picture of passion” as women were expected to remain calm and ladylike. Her anger comes as a shock to everyone at Gateshead, hence her punishment. * Red is the colour of passion, as well as danger and embarrassment. If she cannot learn to control her emotions. She will end up being shunned by society as she does not fit in, and will be considered “mad” and a “savage”. This creates a sense of foreboding as this is a possibility of what could happen to Jane later on in the novel. * This reminds us of Antoinette...
Words: 3325 - Pages: 14
...TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 1. The passage is taken from Volume II, chapter xx of the novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. The bildungsroman begins to focus on the turning point in Jane’s maturity. She will have to make moral decisions and the passage relates her inner forebodings. The novel cannot be truly characterized as gothic however; this chapter appears to have a very gothic tone. This can be seen in the ghostly vision and weather which exhibit supernatural tones, the damaged chestnut tree, and Jane’s restlessness for no apparent reason which she describes as “hypochondriac”. Other gothic elements include Jane’s sense of terror at seeing a vision, wearing and ultimately ruining her wedding veil, the weather, and the symbolic imagery of the Chestnut tree. The passage also represents a significant issue in regards to the morale personae of Mr. Rochester. His untruth at leading Jane to the door of marriage knowing he had an insane wife, whom he could not divorce. One may suppose he should not have offered marriage to Jane. Jane would have to make a moral decision in spite of her deep love for Mr. Rochester and make choices which will affect her life from this time forward on societal and inner morality. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 2. The passage is taken from the novel Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot, page 68. The passage refers to the narrator speaking of Mr. Riley a “gentleman” who was a very educated auctioneer and appraiser. The passage can be analyzed on different perspectives:...
Words: 2381 - Pages: 10
...Summary: This paper discusses the ending of Jane Eyre, discussing whether it is a “good” ending. The paper draws on three criticisms of both the novel and Romantic literature in general to conclude that, yes, it is indeed a good ending because it both fits the prevailing realism of the main character’s worldview, and conforms to the predominant literary trends of the period. A Romantic Ending In An Anti-Romantic Novel: Does Jane Eyre End Well? This paper discusses the ending of Jane Eyre, discussing whether it is a “good” ending. The paper draws on three criticisms of both the novel and Romantic literature in general to conclude that, yes, it is indeed a good ending because it both fits the prevailing realism of the main character’s worldview, and conforms to the predominant literary trends of the period. The climate in which Charlotte Bronte wrote her magnum opus was one that had almost fully recovered from the rationalist excesses of the Enlightenment. The existing climate had replaced ‘scientific’ realism with Romanticism of the Byronic sort, drawing on the ancient ideals of chivalry and the new ideals of individual freedom to craft a literature in which suffering does not end with the last romantic sunset. Ultimately, concepts such as happiness cannot be guaranteed to skeptics like Jane Eyre and “hideous” men like Rochester -- only the divine union of passion can be guaranteed. Yet, for Bronte’s characters, this is sufficient reward and an appropriate...
Words: 1266 - Pages: 6
...Post-colonial Fiction Essay Assignment 2012 Topic: How does Wide Sargasso Sea revise or alter the way one reads Jane Eyre? Your answer should include reference to contrasting narrative techniques employed by the two authors. Jane Eyre, written in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte, and Wide Sargasso Sea, written in 1966 by Jean Rhys, are two different novels, written in different eras and different backgrounds, thus are strongly related. In general terms, Wide Sargasso Sea can be considered to be a modernist revision of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre; it acts as its sequence. “Bertha” in Jane Eyre is “Antoinette” in Wide Sargasso Sea. However, after reading both novels, we perceive them in a completely different way, as the mainly the character of Bertha-Antoinette is dramatically shifted and is given a previously unheard voice. Wide Sargasso Sea acts like a polyphonic novel in contrast with Jane Eyre which functions as a monophonic one. It is a post-colonial modernist narrative, in where we get a post-colonial point of view. It breaks all voices and perspectives together in which Antoinette has the role of a 19th century heroine in colonial Era. In effect, Wide Sargasso Sea challenges the point of view which we perceive from Jane Eyre since there is a different point of view than in Bronte’s novel. Briefly, Rhys' novel is a retelling of Bronte’s novel where Rhys particularly pays attention to the negative effects that the culture of the Caribbean went through, due to the European colonization...
Words: 1262 - Pages: 6
...Jane Eyre The orphaned protagonist of the story. When the novel begins, she is an isolated, powerless ten-year-old living with an aunt and cousins who dislike her. As the novel progresses, she grows in strength. She distinguishes herself at Lowood School because of her hard work and strong intellectual abilities. As a governess at Thornfield, she learns of the pleasures and pains of love through her relationship with Edward Rochester. After being deceived by him, she goes to Marsh End, where she regains her spiritual focus and discovers her own strength when she rejects St. John River's marriage proposal. By novel's end she has become a powerful, independent woman, blissfully married to the man she loves, Rochester. Edward Fairfax Rochester Jane's lover; a dark, passionate, brooding man. A traditional romantic hero, Rochester has lived a troubled wife. Married to an insane Creole woman, Bertha Mason, Rochester sought solace for several years in the arms of mistresses. Finally, he seeks to purify his life and wants Jane Eyre, the innocent governess he has hired to teach his foster daughter, Adèle Varens, to become his wife. The wedding falls through when she learns of the existence of his wife. As penance for his transgressions, he is punished by the loss of an eye and a hand when Bertha sets fire to Thornfield. He finally gains happiness at the novel's end when he is reunited with Jane. Sarah Reed Jane's unpleasant aunt, who raises her until she is ten years old. Despite Jane's...
Words: 3182 - Pages: 13
...Hide the Crazy Woman - The Figure of Bertha in Jane Eyre Introduction Over the time various famous and not so famous literary personalities have suffered from mental breakdowns. Very often writers themselves have written through their own “madness” and produced mad characters as a result. This is particularly true of many of the leading figures in Modernism, who all seem to have had some odd character traits. But even before Modernism the madman/woman was a very popular figure in literature. Just think of Shakespeare’s famous plays, where we encounter lunatics en masse. One of the most famous madwomen in English literature is Bertha, the locked up wife of Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. In this paper I will look at Victorian madness in general and at the figure Bertha more closely. Furthermore I will also look, from a somewhat feminist perspective, at Wide Sargasso Sea, a novel in which Jean Rhys takes up the figure of Bertha again. I shall try to explain this rewriting of a canonical text in a postcolonial context. Historical Madness Early in the Victorian period the madness seems to be lurking in the shadows – especially in gothic fiction, but then madness was very much on everybody’s mind in those days. The Lunatics Act of 1845 required that all counties should have mental asylums, and this led to an enormous increase of mental patients admitted to public care.[1] Before that it was not unusual for husbands to “shut up” their madwomen behind...
Words: 4156 - Pages: 17
...Mitchell, who forbade her to write and prescribed only bed rest and quiet for recovery (Kennedy et al. 424). Her condition only worsened and ultimately resulted in divorce (Kennedy and Gioia 424). Gilman's literary indictment of Dr. Mitchell's ineffective treatment came to life in the story "The Yellow Wallpaper." On the surface, this gothic tale seems only to relate one woman's struggle with mental illness, but because Guilman was a prominent feminist and social thinker she incorporated themes of women's rights and the poor relationships between husbands and wives (Kennedy and Gioia 424). Guilman cleverly manipulates the setting to support her themes and set the eerie mood. Upon first reading "The Yellow Wallpaper," the reader may see the relationship between the narrator and her husband John as caring, but with examination one will find that the narrator is repeatedly belittled and demeaned by her husband. On first arriving at the vacation home John chooses the old attic nursery against his wife's wishes and laughs at her when she complains about the wallpaper (Kennedy et al. 424,425). In Charlotte Bronte's novel }{plain ul Jane Eyre}{plain , Mr. Rodchester uses his attic to keep his insane wife hidden from the rest of the world. John's actions can easily be interpreted with the same malice. The narrator's insistence that John is a caring...
Words: 1033 - Pages: 5
...Frankenstein Science AO2 Unrestrained scientific desire: ‘they penetrate into the recesses of nature and show how she works in her hiding places’ • ‘they ascend into the heavens’ ‘new and almost unlimited powers’ ‘penetrate’ ‘command’ ‘mimic’ • ‘with fervour’ • ‘performed miracles’ • ‘unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation’ • ‘secret’ ‘hidden laws’ • How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge’ Power: ‘as if my soul were grappling with a powerful enemy’ • ‘like a hurricane’ ‘pour a torrent of light’ • ‘pursued’ ‘unremitting ardour’ ‘clung’ ‘dedicated myself’ ‘secret toil’ ‘tremble’ ‘tortured’ • ‘one pursuit’ • ‘tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man’ • ‘I preferred glory’ • ‘until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me- a light so brilliant and wondrous’ Lack of Morality: Transgression against God he mocks the power of the creator ‘torrents of light’ ‘a new species would bless me as its creator and source’ ‘many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me’ • ‘eyes insensible to the charms of nature’ • ‘Labours’ scientist in being able to mimic and usurp traditional creation methods; existence of an immortal soul? • Responsibility for creation image reinforced ‘inarticulate sounds’ Pursuit: ‘deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge’ • ‘Pursuit for discovery and wonder’ attracted to the tree of knowledge ‘eternal light’ back to biblical times, tree of knowledge...
Words: 2241 - Pages: 9
...Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.[2] Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, contemporary reviews for the novel were deeply polarised; it was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality.[3][4] The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as "A fiend of a book – an incredible monster ... The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there."[5] In the second half of the 19th century, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre was considered the best of the Brontë sisters' works, but following later re-evaluation, critics began to argue that Wuthering Heights was superior.[6] The book has inspired adaptations, including film, radio and television dramatisations, a musical by Bernard J. Taylor, a ballet, operas (by Bernard Herrmann, Carlisle Floyd, and Frédéric Chaslin), a role-playing game,[7] and a 1978 song by Kate Bush. Wuthering Heights Title page of the first edition Author Emily Brontë Country United Kingdom Language English Genre Gothic novel Publisher Thomas Cautley Newby...
Words: 6936 - Pages: 28
...OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE • Palaeolithic nomads from mainland Europe; • New inhabitants came from western and possibly north-western Europe (New Stone Age); • in the 2nd millennium BC new inhabitants came from the Low Countries and the middle Rhine (Stonehenge); • Between 800 and 200 BC Celtic peoples moved into Britain from mainland Europe (Iron Age) • first experience of a literate civilisation in 55 B.C. • remoter areas in Scotland retained independence • Ireland, never conquered by Rome, Celtic tradition • The language of the pre-Roman settlers - British (Welsh, Breton); Cornish; Irish and Scottish Gaelic (Celtic dialect) • The Romans up to the fifth century • Britain - a province of the Roman Empire 400 years • the first half of the 5th century the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (N Germany, Jutland) • The initial wave of migration - 449 A. D. • the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) • the Britain of his time comprised four nations English, British (Welsh), Picts, and Scots. • invaders resembling those of the Germans as described by Tacitus in his Germania. • a warrior race • the chieftain, the companions or comitatus. • the Celtic languages were supplanted (e.g. ass, bannock, crag). * Christianity spread from two different directions: * In the 5th century St Patrick converted Ireland, in the 7th century the north of England was converted by Irish monks; * in the south at the end of the 6th century Aethelberht of Kent allowed the monk Augustine...
Words: 9579 - Pages: 39
...http://www.historytoday.com/jerome-de-groot/signposts-historical-fiction These were some of the questions raised at a recent conference at the Institute of Historical Research at which History Today Editor, Paul Lay, hosted a discussion between Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, and the Tudor historian David Loades. Historians often describe themselves as detectives, seeking out a kind of truth among the conflicting evidence of the past. There is, furthermore, a large and growing subgenre of historical crime fiction. From C.J. Sansom to Philip Pullman, from Orhan Pamuk to Walter Mosley, from Ellis Peters to Boris Akunin, novelists have been keen to use the past as a backdrop for their stories of detection and mystery. The most famous historical detective might be Brother William of Baskerville in Umberto Eco’s peerless The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980). Recently we have seen a flowering of historical crime fiction as the subgenre attains maturity and becomes increasingly popular and innovative. Jason Goodwin, Philip Kerr and Susan Hill were all shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers Association Dagger this year (recent historical winners include Arianna Franklin, Jake Arnott and Craig Russell). Clearly the combination of thriller, crime and historical detail is compelling. Anne Perry’s new Inspector Pitt novel, Betrayal at Lisson Grove (out in paperback from Headline this year) is a pacy, twisting thriller. It is 1895 and Pitt is up against a conspiracy...
Words: 5212 - Pages: 21
... |5 | |AS Marking Criteria |6 | |A2 Marking Criteria |7 | |Selecting and Studying Texts |8 | |Approaching Essays – coursework |9 | |Punctuation Guide |11 | |Glossary of Literary Terms |12 | |Reading List |13 | |Independent Learning Project (Year 11 into Year 12) |18 | AQA English Literature B Specification and other resources can be found at: http://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/english/eng_lit_b_materials.php?id=02&prev=02 AS LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE COURSE...
Words: 4760 - Pages: 20
...BRITISH SHORT FICTION IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY This page intentionally left blank British Short Fiction in the Early Nineteenth Century The Rise of the Tale TIM KILLICK Cardiff University, UK © Tim Killick 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Tim Killick has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Killick, Tim British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale 1. Short stories, English – History and criticism 2. English fiction – 19th century – History and criticism 3. Short story 4. Literary form – History – 19th century I. Title 823’.0109 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Killick, Tim. British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale / by Tim Killick. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-6413-0 (alk. paper) 1. Short stories, English—History and criticism. 2. English fiction—19th...
Words: 98420 - Pages: 394
...BRITISH SHORT FICTION IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY This page intentionally left blank British Short Fiction in the Early Nineteenth Century The Rise of the Tale TIM KILLICK Cardiff University, UK © Tim Killick 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Tim Killick has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Killick, Tim British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale 1. Short stories, English – History and criticism 2. English fiction – 19th century – History and criticism 3. Short story 4. Literary form – History – 19th century I. Title 823’.0109 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Killick, Tim. British short fiction in the early nineteenth century : the rise of the tale / by Tim Killick. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-6413-0 (alk. paper) 1. Short stories, English—History and criticism. 2. English fiction—19th...
Words: 98420 - Pages: 394
