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Themes in the bronte sisters novels
Jane eyre pride and prejudice
Jane eyre pride and prejudice
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Similarly, it is made clear that in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff’s personality is being forged following the same fashion. It is in this sense that Emily’s portrayal of Heathcliff is an imitation of Lord Byron’s account of his vampire-Manfred. Heathcliff comes to imitate Manfred when he is described, for example, in one instance of the Brontean text as “dark” as though he”came from the devil” (Emily Bronte: 36) (LISA revue).
It is in this respect that many Gothic analogies exist between Lord Byron’s “Manfred” and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. It is in this respect that Emily Bronte’s literary bent of mind is highly influenced by Byron’s writings.
Lord Byron’s “The Giaour” and Charlotte Bronte’s portrayal of Bertha in Jane Eyre
Many other analogies exist for fulfilling the task of giving a view of the Bronte sisters’ astute appropriation of Byron’s use of the Gothic in the literary creation .Such is the analogy existing between Lord Byron’s and Charlotte Bronte ‘s texts. Like Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte -the eldest of the three Bronte sisters- had also been exposed to Lord Byron’s poetry. In this very part of the paper, I would first place a special focus on Byron’s use of the Gothic in “The Giaour” (1813), which could have certainly affected Charlotte Bronte’s portrayal of Bertha in Jane Eyre. What are the Gothic elements that had been deployed by Byron in his literary production of “The Giaour”?
Byron’s “The Giaour“is remarkably acquainted with the Vampire theme. Following the Giaour’s murder of Hassan, the Ottoman narrator foreshadows how the Giaour, after his demise, is going to be transformed into a vampire and thus contaminate his surroundings by sucking their blood (“The Giaour”).
Similarly, and as revealed by Clift...
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...ldfell Hall
In this section of the research work, I will rely on a very insightful biography entitled A Life of Anne Bronte by Edward Chitham to demonstrate the ongoing literary synergy between Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte. The question of this literary synergy between the three sisters is outstandingly raised by Edward Chitham in this book. He writes thus:”…what was the literary relation between Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Wildfell Hall?” (Chitham:7).
This question is at the hub of this research section. Chitham, in his biographical study, goes on to put under scrutiny the different ways in which Anne, Charlotte and Emily approached and assessed each other’s writings (Chitham:7).
In short, the biographer in his A Life of Anne Bronte makes a comment about the symbiosis characterizing the literary relation between the three Bronte sisters:
In Stephen Dunn’s 2003 poem, “Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Point”, the famous author of Jane Eyre is placed into a modern setting of New Jersey. Although Charlotte Bronte lived in the early middle 1800’s, we find her alive and well in the present day in this poem. The poem connects itself to Bronte’s most popular novel, Jane Eyre in characters analysis and setting while speaking of common themes in the novel. Dunn also uses his poem to give Bronte’s writing purpose in modern day.
I offer by way of introduction to the Gothic literary world an extract taken from Ann. B Tracy’s book The Gothic Novel 1790-1830: Plot Summaries and Index Motifs:
In what follows, my research paper will rely on an article by Kathy Prendergast entitled “Introduction to The Gothic Tradition”. The significance of this article resides in helping to recapitulate the various features of the Gothic tradition. In this article the authoress argues that in order to overturn the Enlightenment and realistic literary mores, many of the eighteenth century novelists had recourse to traditional Romantic conventions in their works of fiction, like the Arthurian legendary tales (Prendergast).
This novel was one of the most radical books of the Victorian Era. It portrayed women as equals to men. It showed that it was possible that men could even be worse than women, through John and Jane. It taught the Victorians never to judge a book by its cover. The novel would not be as successful were it not for Charlotte Brontë’s talent in writing, and were it not for the literary devices employed.
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights share similarities in many aspects, perhaps most plainly seen in the plots: just as Clarissa marries Richard rather than Peter Walsh in order to secure a comfortable life for herself, Catherine chooses Edgar Linton over Heathcliff in an attempt to wrest both herself and Heathcliff from the squalid lifestyle of Wuthering Heights. However, these two novels also overlap in thematic elements in that both are concerned with the opposing forces of civilization or order and chaos or madness. The recurring image of the house is an important symbol used to illustrate both authors’ order versus chaos themes. Though Woolf and Bronte use the house as a symbol in very different ways, the existing similarities create striking resonances between the two novels at certain critical scenes.
Hindley’s obstructive actions, imposed on Heathcliff’s life, expand an internal anger that arouses as Heathcliff’s time at Wuthering Heights draws to a close. The negligent and condemnatory conditions advanced by Hindley transform Heathcliff’s futuristic outcome and supply him with motives to carry out vengeance on multiple personalities involved in the plot. Heathcliff’s troubled social environment renders it difficult to determine the ethical legitimacy behind his decisions, contributing to the moral ambiguity of his
In conclusion to this essay, having examined these 19th century gothic texts, it is fair to say that normative gender behaviour and sexuality pervades them. This element gives the reader a deep insight into the culture context of the time in which these stories are situated. It enables the reader to delve into the darker sides of humanity at that time, that they would not have been able to do otherwise.
This essay has recognised the way in which Bronte's romantic Gothic novel Jane Eyre portrays the supernatural, paranormal happenings and imagery throughout the story. It is important to recognise that her portrayal of Jane as a passionate woman with a strength of feeling which matched that of a man would have been seen as shocking and abnormal to Victorian sensitivity. Whilst Charles Dickens was able to paint a picture of blank facades which hid unsuspecting depths within, it would have been a revelation to Victorian readers to delve into the female psyche and its supernatural representations. (Branflinger and Thesing, 309) Thus Bronte created a masterpiece which has stood the test of time being relevant to the nature and supernatural of the modern world.
Reef, Catherine. The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. New York:
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London, Penguin Books Ltd.: 1996. (Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Michael Mason).
Lodge, Scott. "Fire and Eyre: Charlotte Bronte's War of Earthly Elements." The Brontes: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ian Gregor. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1970. 110-36.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 3rd ed. New York: The Modern Library. Bronte, Charlotte. "
In chapter three, Lockwood opens a window to Catherine Earnshaws childhood through perusing through her books “Catherine’s library was select…scarcely one chapter had escaped a pen-and-ink commentary…scrawled in an unformed childish hand” we can see that her collection of books was limited but nevertheless well used. Two voices also come to the fore one being Lockwood’s and the other the autobiographical elements of Emily Brontë’s voice, ‘pen-and-ink commentary’ and ‘unformed childish’ the pre-modifiers reveal that the Brontë sisters also wrote in the margins of the novels they owned as paper was a scarce material.
Bronte also proves that non-human things can change, such as the manner of Wuthering Heights. The idea that people and objects can transform is shown throughout the novel through many examples. The protagonist of the novel, Heathcliff, was shown to have gone through the biggest transformation. In the beginning of the novel, Heathcliff is an orphan brought home to live with a high-class family. He is described as “a dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk.yet when it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish that nobody could understand” (Bronte page 36).
Bronte's Use of Language and Setting in Wuthering Heights Between pages 15 and 18 there are identifiable ways in which 'Bronte' uses 'language and setting' to establish the characters and create a distinguishable atmosphere. In this essay, themes, genres and styles will be discussed to show how 'Bronte' establishes the characters; there will also be a discussion of the 'gothic' elements which Wuthering Heights contains. Many people would argue that the style of 'Wuthering Heights' is peculiar and complex, the power of Wuthering Heights owes much to its complex narrative structure and to the device of having two conventional people relate a very unconventional tale. Bronte importantly introduces the element of 'the supernatural' into chapter 3 which is an important technique as it grips the reader. Lockwood has come into contact with the ghost of Cathy, who died 18 years before, Some might argue that she is a product of Lockwood's imagination, and it is clear that Bronte has presented these facts in this way so that the reader can make up their own mind on the subject.