Manifestation of feminism in Jane Eyre
In the following discourse I am intending to discuss and analyze the manifestation of feminism in the work of a brilliant and highly acclaimed British literary author, Charlotte Bronte, one of whose writings offer us a spectacular and authentical insight in the world of nineteenth-century literature.
Charlotte Bronte’s well known novel, Jane Eyre (originally as Jane Eyre: An autobiography), was published under the pen name Currer Bell in 1847. Not surprisingly, it became the most wildly read book in its time, as because of the first person point of view it is fairly easy to sympathize with. After the publication of Jane Eyre, it was a success immediately, not only had the readers adored it, but even critics …show more content…
In 1966, R.B. Martin stated that Jane Eyre was the first major feminist novel, "although there is not a hint in the book of any desire for political, legal, educational, or even intellectual equality between the sexes." (P. J. Steyer ‘98) The reader follows through the story of a free-spirited and clever woman, and her survival in a world, where she has to face an imponderable and frequently spiteful world. The novel itself also contains several Gothic elements, as it has components of both horror and romance. Andrew Smith argued in his book, ‘Gothic Literature’, that ‘how to read Jane Eyre for its Gothic element involves identifying the formal scenes (such as description of Bertha Mason, or Jane’s incarceration in the red-room, for example) which are clearly indebted to the Gothic. However, the novel’s use of the Gothic is more sophisticated than that, because it structures how Jane’s struggle for social and economic visibility is staged within a Gothic drama which challenges certain readerly expectations of a romantic
In the following discourse I am intending to discuss and analyze the manifestation of feminism in the work of a brilliant and highly acclaimed British literary author, Charlotte Bronte, one of whose writings offer us a spectacular and authentical insight in the world of nineteenth-century literature.
Charlotte Bronte’s well known novel, Jane Eyre (originally as Jane Eyre: An autobiography), was published under the pen name Currer Bell in 1847. Not surprisingly, it became the most wildly read book in its time, as because of the first person point of view it is fairly easy to sympathize with. After the publication of Jane Eyre, it was a success immediately, not only had the readers adored it, but even critics …show more content…
In 1966, R.B. Martin stated that Jane Eyre was the first major feminist novel, "although there is not a hint in the book of any desire for political, legal, educational, or even intellectual equality between the sexes." (P. J. Steyer ‘98) The reader follows through the story of a free-spirited and clever woman, and her survival in a world, where she has to face an imponderable and frequently spiteful world. The novel itself also contains several Gothic elements, as it has components of both horror and romance. Andrew Smith argued in his book, ‘Gothic Literature’, that ‘how to read Jane Eyre for its Gothic element involves identifying the formal scenes (such as description of Bertha Mason, or Jane’s incarceration in the red-room, for example) which are clearly indebted to the Gothic. However, the novel’s use of the Gothic is more sophisticated than that, because it structures how Jane’s struggle for social and economic visibility is staged within a Gothic drama which challenges certain readerly expectations of a romantic