Rasselas in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
There are many instances in Jane Eyre where Charlotte Bronte uses or alludes to other literary works. One work in particular, Samuel Johnson’s fable, Rasselas, has important implications for the novel. Rasselas is the book Helen Burns is reading when Jane first encounters her at Lowood. Bronte did not choose this work at random. She was familiar with Johnson’s works, and she relied on the contemporary Victorian reader’s knowledge of it, as she clearly states the title rather than just alluding to it. A knowledge of Johnson’s famous work is especially important in understanding the relationship between Helen and Jane. Many aspects from Rasselas come out through Helen in the novel. Themes in Rasselas are evident throughout Bronte’s novel, and understanding these similarities gives insight into aspects of the novel, especially in regards to such things as Jane’s quest for permanent happiness.
Charlotte Bronte was known to have read Johnson’s works. In 1834, in a letter to Ellen Nussey, a long time friend of hers, Bronte wrote: "You ask me to recommend some books for your perusal…For Biography, read Johnson’s lives of the Poets, Boswell’s life of Johnson…" (Bronte, Letters 1:129-132). In another letter, this time to a man she met on a trip to London, William S. Williams, Bronte wrote in 1849: "Johnson--I think--makes mournful mention somewhere of the pleasure that accrues…when we are ‘solitary, and cannot impart it’" (Bronte, Letters, 2:228). While there is no evidence of Charlotte Bronte having read Johnson’s Rasselas, clearly she was familiar with his works.
Relying on her own knowledge of Samuel Johnson’s works, as well as the knowledge of her Victorian readers, Bronte uses ...
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... in the novel. Bronte was able to use a work of art that obviously influenced her as an influence in the reading of her novel Jane Eyre. While little is known on Bronte’s own views of Rasselas, it is obvious that the usage of it in the novel serves a purpose of showing how each person has decide for themselves what makes them happy.
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1848 . Ed. Beth Newman. Boston: St. Martin’s, 1996.
Bronte, Charlotte. The Letters of Charlotte Bronte: 1829-1847. Ed. Margaret Smith. 2 vols. New York: Oxford UP, 1995-2000.
Gilbert, Sarah M. "Plain Jane’s Progress." Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Boston: St. Martin’s, 1996. 475-501.
Johnson, Samuel. The History of Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia. 1759. Ed. Gwin J. Kolb. Chicago: AHM Publishing, 1962.
Moglen, Helene. Charlotte Bronte: The Self Conceived. New York: Norton 1978.
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CUA is a type of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), which both aim to dissect the incremental expenses and incremental consequences between the options, although CUA will include societal or patient preferences to adjust the outcomes including additional years of life saved. The CUA analysis is appropriately utilized to compare two different drugs or procedures in which the benefits may be different3. When utilizing the CUA technique, the numerator that is used is a cost measure consisting of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) while the denominator used is the quality adjusted life year (QALY). The QALYs as defined above are expressed in terms of life years saved and are weighted to account for quality (QALYs) or disability (DALYs). The QALY represents both survival and quality of life (QoL) benefits connected with the utilization of a healthcare
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Analyse the methods Charlotte Brontë uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novel’s literary content.
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Cults are different from other groups. According to the American Journal of Psychotherapy, two factors distinguish how cults are different from other social groups. First, the ...
Society strives to feel a sense of belonging. We want to be a part of something that shares the same beliefs as us. We spend our time trying to place ourselves in a group to satisfy these needs, whether it is in a hobby club, a group of friends, or religion. Some people go to more extreme measures and find this in what we call a cult. According to Henslin, a cult is a new or different religion whose teachings and practices put it at odds with the dominant culture and religion. (2013:405) Cults are often identified with the ideas of mass murder, deviant behaviors, unusual beliefs, and extremely devoted members. Cults are also highly known for their leaders. The leaders of cults usually are the ones that portray the image for the entire group. Successful cults take a strong-minded and, according to Max Weber, charismatic leader.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J Dunn 3rd ed. 1847. New York: W. W.
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
Cult are generally accepted to be a “small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous”. Everyone is taught to fear cults because they’re “dangerous”. Most members of a cult, however, are not deranged, mindless, mentally handicapped people. Most members of a cult are regular people that are attracted to the organization’s message or “religion”. One religious cut that attracted mainstream society was the People’s Temple. The People’s Temple cult drastically changed over the course of its lifetime, when it started out as a church with good intentions, like providing for the sick and needy. Eventually the cult changed under the leadership of Jim Jones, where he went from a kindhearted man to a drugged-obsessed, power crazy monster that committed heinous, unspeakable acts in his journey for dominance. In his quest for power, he isolated his followers in a prison camp known as Jonestown and took the lives of 918 men, women, and children, before taking his own life.
Kawulich, B. (2005). Participant observation as a data collection method. Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 6(2). Retrieved from http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0502430
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.