Comparing The Characters In Jane Austen's 'Mrs. Dalloway'

Improved Essays
Anna Polk-Tyler
English Literature 2321
Dr. Shepard
Fall 2017 Final mss8420@dcccd.edu 1. Jane Eyre (200 words minimum, but more words accepted) It seems that Bronte wanted Jane to understand that she did not need Rochester, but wanted her readers to see that she loved him so deeply that she had to go back to him. When Jane was living with Rochester it, almost seemed that she could have only liked him for his money. I was reassured that was not the case when Jane found out about Bertha. In the years that Jane was away, she never stopped loving Rochester. Jane became a strong, confident woman before she went back to Rochester. This is the main thing that Bronte wanted to portray. Jane had never had it easy in life, and she never truly
…show more content…
Mrs. Dalloway (300 words minimum)
The men in Mrs. Dalloway are so much more complicated than the men in earlier writings. There are three leading men in Mrs. Dalloway, and none of them would be considered a Mr. Darcy type. Men in older writings were sophisticated. All of their problems were superficial. For example, Mr. Darcy is held prisoner by his high status. He seems to like Elizabeth, but his status cannot be ruined by her families low standing. Not one of the characters from Austen’s or Bronte’s novels suffered from PTSD in the way that Septimus does.
Septimus has such a complex issue. He cannot live in the present. He literally lives in his mind and replays the war over and over again. Even an ordinary thing such as a car blowing out brings him back to when his friend died. After all of this, I believe Septimus is truly the best man in this story. His issues are completely different from the next two men, and Septimus seems to have no power over his actions.
The next man is Peter Walsh. Peter seems to be a runner; he runs from his problems. He lives exceptionally childishly and wants things he cannot have. For example, he loves one of the Indian army officer’s wives. The way Peter got married almost immediately after he and Clarissa broke up, shows the emotional intelligence level that he
…show more content…
The poem has strong Victorian undertones. The main one would be the romanticism of love. The author discusses the city as it used to be. He explains the ruins of the city and how no society is left. The author is meeting a woman there. He decides that love is better than any society at all. In September 1, 1939, the author discussed the destruction of society through World War 1. There is no mention of love in this poem. Around this time in World War I the Germans began to invade various countries. I believe in 1939 the Germans invaded Poland. The author begins to see the destruction that this war has on This poem is a modernist poem because of the stream of consciousness the author has. The author flows from one thought to the next, and I can almost feel as if I am in his head. One theme these poems both share is the discussion of the city. In Love Among the Ruins the discussion is a city that used to be great but everyone left due to war. After the war, the city was demolished, and no one was able to return. Similarly, the author thinks about the many cities that will be destroyed after World War I. While the author is not actively in a demolished city, he sits in a dive, and the reader gets to listen to what is going on inside his head. These poems, do share the similar theme of destruction, and cities being ruined, yet they were written in different eras. The Victorian poem romanticizes love; it’s almost as

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    But in this scene, Jane shows that Jane Eyre is a story about a woman who gains an independence and autonomy based on a personal Christian faith. In addition, Helen dies before Jane could vocalize her questions on God, happiness and heaven and Charlotte Brontë presents these unanswered questions so that Jane could develop the above described independence on her own discovery. As a result, Jane fulfills Helen’s promise that “[she] will come to the same region of happiness” (Brontë 69), a happiness that she discovers does not depend on Mr. Rochester or even her location…

    • 1555 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane Eyre: Fight or Flight In Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, love seems to be a strong aspect of Jane’s life. Throughout the tale, we can see Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship building up. From the time Jane first sees him in front of Thornfield to their wedding ceremony. Yet, during that period of time we get to see Mr. Rochester’s true colors and different personas towards Jane.…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Major Works Data Sheet: Do not cut/paste from a website, which is a form of plagiarism. Thoroughly complete each section of this. The more information you input, the better. Title: Emma Biographical information about the author:…

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gender Roles In Jane Eyre

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages

    19th century critics portray Jane Eyre both as a feminist and Chartist manifesto. Through the heroine’s character, Brontë expresses how feminine power and independence are important, and they are seen especially during the moment when Rochester and Jane are married, and she becomes “her own mistress” (Brontë 246). She claims at that moment that she will not depend on him. If we look at the end of the novel, the gender roles are somewhat reversed, by Rochester depending on Jane to be his eyes and his hands. At a time when the simple word feminism was never heard, through Jane’s character Brontë expresses the notion that “women feel just as men do” (Brontë 77), and the fact that women cannot live a life that is forged into “stagnation” and “rigid…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Betrayal In Jane Eyre

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Bronte portrays her theme of the importance of women's’ independence and gender equality by employing betrayal throughout her novel. In particular, Bronte portrays how betrayal propelled the character of Jane Eyre to attempt to find herself and how betrayal affected the character of Bertha Mason. Throughout most the novel, Jane never feels settled into where she stays. In the beginning, Jane feels tormented by her cousins and her aunt in Gateshead.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mr. Darcy, though he doesn’t seem like it, is actually the most stereotypical character of all the whole lot. He follows the tragic hero guidelines like he wrote the manual for it. His entire character can be broken down into a few simple steps; a man sets out on a journey (whether he knows it or not) to overcome a challenge, he begins to overcome a challenge, he suffers a major setback, he perseveres, and finally to put the cherry on the cake of typical romantic stories, he gets the girl. Darcy is unusual in this regard as he is not battling a dragon or saving a kingdom, Mr. Darcy is instead facing his greatest enemy of all, himself.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    There were no hidden messages or alternate meanings for this one. Austen told her the only reason she should ever marry someone was for love. She expressed, “And now, my dear Fanny, having written so much on one side of the question, I shall turn round and entreat you not to commit yourself farther, and not to think of accepting him unless you really do like him. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection” (2). She wanted Fanny to be happy.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zack Curtis Dr. Swenson English 1212: British Literature II April 4, 2016 Split Reality Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, depicts the constant struggle between virtue and desire with a man by the name of Dr. Jekyll, and his counterpart, Mr. Hyde. The story of these two sides of the same coin shed light on the internal battle between right and wrong. While Dr. Jekyll represents the acceptable, lighter side of humanity, Hyde portrays the selfish side with no concern for any consequence of his actions. Dr. Jekyll is the crème of the crop for his time; he is tall, well-educated, respected, and a man of class. He lives a life of luxury in his nice house full of servants.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    (Woolf 15). Here, Woolf expresses her anti-war theme and states that the war was not an illusion at all but rather the catastrophe that caused a change in the once loving tone throughout the world. Additionally, she blames the war for killing romance and struggles to accept the truth that thousands of loved ones are dead. Rossetti’s poem is one of several epigraphs that provide support and validation to Woolf’s work and…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stereotypes In Jane Erye

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the novel Jane Erye by Charlotte Bronte, the main character, Jane Erye, doesn’t always fit the stereotype of the typical victorian women. Throughout the story we can see differences in her actions and personality compared to other women of the story. Jane’s odd behavior lead to major parts of the story. An average women in Jane Erye is treated like they were fragile, weak, and unable to live without a man.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Regency society is a patriarchal society meaning the women were considered to be below men and were therefore expected to be subservient, with their lives mainly led by the male figures in their lives, such as their fathers and husbands. Pride and Prejudice is significant as the main heroine, Elizabeth actually breaks this archetype and makes her own decisions. Elizabeth as a construct defies social convention and this leads to her successful marriage and a possibly more egalitarian relationship than the others within the novel. Jane is the eldest Bennett daughter and therefore is expected to be married first, before her other sisters can become engaged. She is happy to be led by men and is an example of what would be considered the perfect…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rochester takes interest in Jane and Blanche Ingram. Informed about their wedding and overtaken by jealousy, Jane reminds herself that “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” (Brontë 322). Jane realizes that the need for another person in her life to rely on is optional and unnecessary to live contently. Jane hides her feelings for Rochester and lives on exercising independence and her need only for God and her Christian beliefs.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Pride and Prejudice novel was written by Jane Austen during the 18th century in 1813 and is centered around the futures and fortunes of the five daughters of the Bennet family. When this book was written, it was a time and culture when women were treated unequally to men. Therefore, women have little independence and were always at a disadvantage, different from the life style women live today. Pride and Prejudice takes place in a society where a role for women is earned through relationships that are determined by wealth and rank, marriage and social status. Women were to act in a specific way and any deviation from that specific way was harshly criticized.…

    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the many dramatic and thrilling novels in the world, one of the top ones is Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen. Set in England, the novel tells the story of Elizabeth Bennett along with her other four sisters. Everything seems normal for the family up until Mr.Bingley and his good friend Mr.Darcy move into the neighborhood. Mrs.Bennett is desperate for her daughters to marry, so as soon as hears about their new neighbors, she immediately begins to investigate. Bingley quickly gets to know and fall in love with Jane, but Darcy is a bit different.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane, as a protagonist, is extremely assertive and passionate with strong principles. Her refusal to permit society to mould her into traditional roles of femininity, her immense self-respect and zero submission towards those who mistreat her – all of these created a female heroine who threatened to dismantle conventional social norms and breathe desire and ambition into women readers of the novel. Bronte uses Jane’s character to voice her own restlessness and powerlessness, which is relevant to her experience as a writer, as seen in the following passage from the novel, when Jane is wandering through the halls of Thornfield Manor: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their…

    • 1220 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays