The Influence of Imperialist Ideology on the Dichotomy of Passion and Reason in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

The Influence of Imperialist Ideology on the Dichotomy of Passion and Reason in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre PDF Author: Rhonda Dietrich
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Emotions in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
A prevalent belief during the Victorian age was that the world was divided between inferior beings governed by passion and superior reasoning beings. On the political level, this idea separated inferior passion-driven natives from superior reasoning Europeans. This division contributed to the maintenance and expansion of imperialist rule in distant lands, for it suggested that Europeans had a duty to civilize primitive natives. This view of the binary opposition between the passionate and the rational operated on a cultural level in that women were believed to be dominated by emotions unlike their male counterparts, who were seen as superior to women because of their self-control and rationality. As a result of this view, women were believed to be in need of the mental and physical regulation of doctors and psychiatrists in particular and men in general. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre reflects her society's belief in the dichotomy between the inferior passionate being and the superior reasoning being on both the political and cultural levels. In her portrayal of Bertha Mason, the mad Creole woman, Bronte shows the passionate Bertha to be inferior to the articulate Jane and the self-controlled Mr. Rochester. Through the relationship between Rochester and Bertha, Bronte also points to the need for the rational European to govern the unruly passionate "other." On the cultural level, Bronte highlights and challenges the Victorian idea that due to their emotional nature women ought to be confined to domestic life, through her depiction of Jane Eyre's struggle to ease the societal restrictions placed on women. Bronte also refutes the notion that women are in need of men's domination through Jane's fight against attempts by St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester to control her. Bronte extends the theme of passion versus reason to a personal level through Jane's struggle to govern her emotions through reason when she finds that she must leave Rochester. Hence, Jane Eyre reveals the prevalence of this imperialist notion of the need for domination in Victorian society as well as Bronte's ambivalence toward it.

The Influence of Imperialist Ideology on the Dichotomy of Passion and Reason in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

The Influence of Imperialist Ideology on the Dichotomy of Passion and Reason in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre PDF Author: Rhonda Dietrich
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Emotions in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
A prevalent belief during the Victorian age was that the world was divided between inferior beings governed by passion and superior reasoning beings. On the political level, this idea separated inferior passion-driven natives from superior reasoning Europeans. This division contributed to the maintenance and expansion of imperialist rule in distant lands, for it suggested that Europeans had a duty to civilize primitive natives. This view of the binary opposition between the passionate and the rational operated on a cultural level in that women were believed to be dominated by emotions unlike their male counterparts, who were seen as superior to women because of their self-control and rationality. As a result of this view, women were believed to be in need of the mental and physical regulation of doctors and psychiatrists in particular and men in general. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre reflects her society's belief in the dichotomy between the inferior passionate being and the superior reasoning being on both the political and cultural levels. In her portrayal of Bertha Mason, the mad Creole woman, Bronte shows the passionate Bertha to be inferior to the articulate Jane and the self-controlled Mr. Rochester. Through the relationship between Rochester and Bertha, Bronte also points to the need for the rational European to govern the unruly passionate "other." On the cultural level, Bronte highlights and challenges the Victorian idea that due to their emotional nature women ought to be confined to domestic life, through her depiction of Jane Eyre's struggle to ease the societal restrictions placed on women. Bronte also refutes the notion that women are in need of men's domination through Jane's fight against attempts by St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester to control her. Bronte extends the theme of passion versus reason to a personal level through Jane's struggle to govern her emotions through reason when she finds that she must leave Rochester. Hence, Jane Eyre reveals the prevalence of this imperialist notion of the need for domination in Victorian society as well as Bronte's ambivalence toward it.

Reason and Passion in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

Reason and Passion in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre PDF Author: Horváthné Tulipán Ildikó
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description


Imperialism, Reform and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre

Imperialism, Reform and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre PDF Author: S. Thomas
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 023058375X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
This new study demonstrates the precision of Brontë's historical setting of Jane Eyre . Thomas addresses the historical worlding of Brontë and her characters, mapping relations of genre and gender across the novel's articulation of questions of imperial history and relations, reform, racialization and the making of Englishness.

The Influence of John Milton's Areopagitica on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

The Influence of John Milton's Areopagitica on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre PDF Author: Sarah Jean Schmitt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781392065662
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
Charlotte Bronte utilizes Milton's ideology of virtue in Areopagitica, which emphasizes the importance of being exposed to vice and choosing to dismiss it, to frame the protagonist of Jane Eyre as a virtuous heroine outside of the "angel in the house" discourse. Jane is ultimately presented as a model of the Milton-inspired, new Victorian heroine. Her success comes not despite foreign presences, but is rather defined in contrast to them. In the cultural moment that Bronte comes out from behind the shroud of Currer Bell, this conception of virtue -- in contrast to "excremental whiteness" -- provides a framework in which she may continue to strive to engage in the public sphere without moral censure. The question of whether or not Jane Eyre is a "naughty book" concerns not only critics of nineteenth-century literature, but also anyone engaged with today's debates regarding issues of women, citizenship, or morality.

Sexuality in Charlotte Brontë’s "Jane Eyre"

Sexuality in Charlotte Brontë’s Author: Julia Balogh
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656003866
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,7, University of Trier, language: English, abstract: Wherever you let your eye travel these days you come across sexuality and nakedness. Three beautiful women are nakedly smiling at you from a huge advertising poster for a solarium, in the advert break on TV a woman tears an attractive man’s clothes because she is mesmerized by his new scent, and in the phone book you can even find a voucher which guarantees you a bottle of champagne for free if you book a one hour-service in a certain brothel . Sexuality, and along with it desire and lust are accepted that much that they indeed build the base for a huge manufacturing branch. Of course, this has not always been the case. Sensuality and passion have been fought and punished in earlier times. During the Victorian era for example they have even been seen as dangerous and attacking the mental as well as the physical health. When in 1847 Charlotte Brontë’s successful novel Jane Eyre was published, it caused riot and rage because of how the topic “sexuality” was dealt with. In this paper I am going to explain the Victorian beliefs and notions regarding this topic. Furthermore I am going to reveal the attitude of the characters Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester and Bertha Mason towards sexuality. Before though, I will give a short biography of Charlotte Brontë, to depict how her own attitude differed from the social conventions and expectations of her time.

Female emancipation in Charlotte Bronte's JANE EYRE

Female emancipation in Charlotte Bronte's JANE EYRE PDF Author: Paola Bertolino
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638160033
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Leipzig (FB Anglistics), course: Romance and Realism, language: English, abstract: At a first reading Jane Eyre may appear a conventional love story, where the two lovers have to overcome many obstacles in order to live together in perfect union. Yet the reader may find himself confused by Jane′s rational attitude or by the not very usual happy ending. The book should consequently be read a second time to understand its importance in the context of female emancipation. Through Charlotte Bronte′s fiction the heroines carry out their struggle for self-definition and identity, nevertheless at the same time their language and thought mirror the contradictions of Victorian opinion on femininity. The aim of this writing is to underline this aspect of the novel, pointig out precise references to emancipation contained in the book. Therefore the text will be used as a resource for the following reasoning, since it contains hidden explicit declarations of independence.

Sexuality in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

Sexuality in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre PDF Author: Júlia Balogh
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656004129
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,7, University of Trier, language: English, abstract: Wherever you let your eye travel these days you come across sexuality and nakedness. Three beautiful women are nakedly smiling at you from a huge advertising poster for a solarium, in the advert break on TV a woman tears an attractive man's clothes because she is mesmerized by his new scent, and in the phone book you can even find a voucher which guarantees you a bottle of champagne for free if you book a one hour-service in a certain brothel . Sexuality, and along with it desire and lust are accepted that much that they indeed build the base for a huge manufacturing branch. Of course, this has not always been the case. Sensuality and passion have been fought and punished in earlier times. During the Victorian era for example they have even been seen as dangerous and attacking the mental as well as the physical health. When in 1847 Charlotte Brontë's successful novel Jane Eyre was published, it caused riot and rage because of how the topic "sexuality" was dealt with. In this paper I am going to explain the Victorian beliefs and notions regarding this topic. Furthermore I am going to reveal the attitude of the characters Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester and Bertha Mason towards sexuality. Before though, I will give a short biography of Charlotte Brontë, to depict how her own attitude differed from the social conventions and expectations of her time.

"Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys as a Postcolonial Response to "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte

Author: Malgorzata Swietlik
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640896203
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 37

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,00, University of Koblenz-Landau (Anglistik), course: Colonial and Postcolonial Literatures, language: English, abstract: Wide Sargasso Sea is one of the best-known literary postcolonial replies to the writing of Charlotte Bronte and a brilliant deconstruction of what is known as the author's "worlding" in Jane Eyre. The novel written by Jean Rhys tells the story of Jane Eyre's protagonist, Edward Rochester. The plot takes place in West Indies where Rochester met his first wife, Bertha Antoinette Mason. Wide Sargasso Sea influences the common reading and understanding of the matrix novel, as it rewrites crucial parts of Jane Eyre. The heroine in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette Cosway, is created out of demonic and bestialic Bertha Mason from Jane Eyre. Rhys's great achievement in her re-writing of the Bronte's text is her creation of a double to the madwoman from Jane Eyre. The heroine of Wide Sargasso Sea, the beautiful Antoinette Cosway, heiress of the post-emancipation fortune is created out of the demonc and bestialic Bertha Mason. The author transforms the first Mrs Rochester into an individual figure whose madness is caused by imperialistic and patriarchal oppression The vision of Bertha/Antoinette as an insane offspring from a family plagued by madness is no longer plausible to the reader. In this essay I would like to focus the factors which led to the madness of the protagonist. Although Bertha Mason and Jane Eyre seem to be enemies and contradictory characters in the Victorian novel, many critics find several similarities between the two heroines, their life and finally between Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. Seeing Jane Eyre and Antoinette Cosway as sisters and doubles is very popular with some critics who dealt with the works of Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys. Nevertheless, I would like to focus in this essay on Gayatri Chakravort

The Postcolonial Rewriting of Colonial Stories

The Postcolonial Rewriting of Colonial Stories PDF Author: Christina Münzner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656041261
Category : Postcolonialism in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description


Charlotte Brontë and the Mysteries of Love

Charlotte Brontë and the Mysteries of Love PDF Author: Elizabeth Imlay
Publisher: Parapress Limited
ISBN: 9780952084204
Category : Allegory
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description