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Literature criticism of emily dickinson
Feminism theory and application in Emily Dickinson, ‘They Shut Me up in Prose’
The representation of women in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
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Jane Eyre as a Feminist Novel
A feminist is a person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism (belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes). Jane Eyre is clearly a critique of assumptions about both gender and social class. It contains a strong feminist stance; it speaks to deep, timeless human urges and fears, using the principles of literature to chart the mind?s recesses. Thus, Jane Eyre is an epitome of femininity - a young independent individual steadfast in her morals and has strong Christian virtues, dominant, assertive and principled. That itself is no small feat.
Firstly, Jane Eyre is a young woman who faces hardships with great determination. Raised by Mrs. Reed, a cruel aunt, she is sent to Lowood, a bleak charity school run by the tyrannical Mr. Brocklehurst, where she endures a lonely and sad life. ?Human beings must love something, and, in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow.? Jane faces the prospects of a young woman lacking the social advantages of family, money, and beauty, and therefore especially vulnerable to the fascination of admiration and security. Jane endures so much suffering through out the novel - Jane suffers through the cruel treatment of Lowood because her aunt wants to punish her for her rebelliousness, she suffers heartbreak for her attempt to marry her beloved Rochester, and suffers an estrangement from St. John when she chooses to uphold her belief that marriages should be for love and not for convenience. Despite the pain her choices bring her, she manages to maintain her independence in the face of these overwhelming powers over her. And despite the "happy" ending when she is reunited with Mr. Rochester, it is not love but courage that defines her character.
Secondly, Jane Eyre is an independent individual. She completes her schooling, and spends two years teaching, as well. After Miss Temple marries, Jane realizes that she has a great desire to leave Lowood, to see more of the world, and to better her living position. She becomes a governess ? plain and hard-working governess. She believes that "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 br...
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...mediate feelings. Rochester is the first person that has ever truly loved her yet she knows that staying with him would mean compromising herself because she would be Rochester?s mistress rather than his wife. Not only would she lose her self-respect, she would probably lose Rochester?s, too, in the end. Hence, Jane asserts her worth and her ability to love herself regardless of how others treat her. The quote also highlights Jane?s understanding of religion. She sees God as the giver of the laws by which she must live. When she can no longer trust herself to exercise good judgment, she looks to these principles as an objective point of reference.
Throughout the novel, the author raises a question on how a woman in her society can have passion and principle, love and independence. Though Jane Eyre does not so much suggest definitive answers, she is truly an epitome of femininity - a young independent individual steadfast in her morals and has strong Christian virtues, dominant, assertive and principled and the novel, as create the questions with urgency and a depth of imagination that challenge readers not only through comprehending but also its outcome on its audiences? life.
Jane Eyre has been acclaimed as one of the best gothic novels in the Victorian Era. With Bronte’s ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions. Readers are left with rich insight into the life of a strong female lead, Jane, who is obedient, impatient, and passionate as a child, but because of the emotional and physical abuse she endures, becomes brave, patient, and forgiving as an adult. She is a complex character overall but it is only because of the emotional and physical abuse she went through as a child that allowed her to become a dynamic character.
“The Tempest” is a play written by William Shakespeare in early 1600s that has been previewed in different kinds of movies, such as the one made in 2010, directed by Julie Taymor. It is a play containing themes such as; revenge, allusion, retribution, forgiveness, power, love and hatred. When it is compared to the play, there are specific differences seen in the movie, such as; Prospero is reflected as a woman in the movie. The time differences between the play and the movie and how the spirit Ariel is shown as a white man in the movie. The play starts with the story of Prospero, the Duke of Milan. He gets banished from Italy and was cast to sea by his brother Antonio. He has perfected his skills during twelve years of exile on a lonely island. Prospero creates the tempest to make his enemies’ ship to wreck and lead them to the island. Meanwhile, Antonio takes Prospero’s place and starts to make everyone believe he is the duke and makes an agreement with the King of Naples, Alonso. Besides the drama happening in the island, Prospero forgives Alonso and the others.
Although most economists cannot come to agreement on the definition of economics, the preceding quote from l. Robbins, in my opinion, seems to just about sum it up. Since the beginning, when man first had to choose between hunting and sleeping, there was economics. Today economics is in everything we buy, use, and make, from the gas in our cars to the food on our tables, economics plays a vital role with the manufacture, distrubution and consumption of each. To help us better understand the economic trends, certain men have become economist. In this paper I will revisit four of the major economists’ theories. Starting with the theories of Adam Smith, a philosopher well as an economist, to the modern (relatively) day theories of Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize awardee, we will chronologically review the theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and Milton Friedman.
Hawthorne recognizes how structured the Puritan society andis discusses how one’s sins and actions can affect their standing in society. The main element of the novel, Hester’s scarlet letter, greatly attests to how sin alone can change your entire societal position. After receiving her letter, Hester “quote about living outside town” and is ostracized by the small community. Even the children begin to put Hester down, chanting awful things such as “let us fling mud at her”. TNothing about Hester has changed, she still works as a seamstress, the sole reason she moves to the bottom rung of the social ladder is due to her sins in a very religious society. On the opposite side of the spectrum lies Dimmesdale. As the local minister, Dimmesdale wields a lot of power in the town, but he is placed upon a pedestal as a prominent figure because the townspeople believe he is so pure. Even when Dimmesdale confesses that he has sinned, the townspeople only revere him more and believe that they are the ones who have sinned and are unholy. By the end of the book, Dimmesdale has inadvertently gathered enough support because people revere him that many doubted if heDimmesdale had sinned at all or “insert examples of how people think he died”. In a society dominated by religion, ministers, by their very nature, are
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
Hawthorne’s characterization of Dimmesdale serves to exemplify the consequences of conformity on an individual’s rights. There are times when people will create a different persona in order to fulfill their natural desire of fitting in. The feeling of belonging is just that wonderful of an emotion. However, this warmth can not truly be achieved through the artificial means of conformity, but by revealing one’s true and vulnerable personality and having it accepted
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre may be superficially read as simply a sweet romance in which Jane ends up with the man of her dreams after overcoming many obstacles and challenges. But doing so misses the much deeper—richer—messages of Bronte's lasting masterpiece. A more thoughtful reading reveals this novel, especially its heroine Jane, challenging centuries-old gender roles which assume male supremacy, characterizing men as the dominant, more privileged gender, while women are oppressed into inferior and submissive roles. Of course this Victorian novel portrays the expected gender roles of both men and women in 19th century England, but Jane rises out of the patriarchy challenging the social roles assigned her with a personality marked by sass and self-assurance . Ms. Bronte, through Jane, ultimately demonstrates that women can live their lives on equal terms with—or independent of—men.
A positive attitude is, after all, absolutely necessary to achieve success since it influences the outcome of a task more than any other factor (Jacobs 2016). Jane Satrom definitely fits the bill when it comes to having a positive attitude. During her first year as a teacher, Mrs. Satrom recounts having two students who tested her patience and good heart. The two African-American students “accused [her] of being racist” and were constantly going to any possible extent to “get [her] off topic so they [did not] have to work” (J. Satrom, personal communication, September 27, 2016). This was barely the beginning of Mrs. Satrom’s career and she was already facing difficult situations on the job. However, although she “drove home, crying, many a day, over those two” she kept her positive attitude and moved on. This is a prime example of the correct way for someone to handle an obstacle they
Langston then introduces solipsism, which is the false perception that women’s absence from knowledge is inevitable. Women are also left out as subjects of knowledge as a result of men having more access to knowledge, as opposed to women. In fact, men are encouraged to be educated, whereas women’s education is frowned upon. As of a result of these barriers, women also lack confidence. The solution, Langston proposes, is to remove the barriers to knowledge. To do so would mean educating women, including them in the fields they were initially excluded from, and encouraging them to obtain the authority they need to acquire knowledge. Langston acknowledges that women may be left out both as subjects and as objects of knowledge if they are not well informed of their problems as women. In order to gain information, and thereby address their problems, women must communicate with one another. Women can obtain knowledge through the day to day conversations they have amongst themselves. Another issue is the fact that women lack credibility, or intersubjective authority, on account of unequal distributions of social power. This inequality
Jane’s Eyre faces many problems in her short life: her father and mother died when she was young, they left her to a family who views and treats Jane as a burden, and she is a girl desiring individualism in a patriarchic society that eulogizes conformity. But in Mrs. Reed’s last action involving Jane, Mrs. Reed, unintentionally gives Jane the gift of an education—which has given Jane the confidence in her ability to perorate and adapt to many situations. Thus, Jane is now prepared to achieve whatever she wants to achieve—whether it conforms to Victorian conventions or not.
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.
Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter used the dichotomy of public versus private to emphasize one of the novel’s themes: to conform to society or to be tenacious. This dichotomy can be applied to Hester and Dimmesdale’s transgressions. Similarly, Rousseau’s work helped to explain this, and those decisions can be reconciled by the community. A “force” can also be used to keep individual impulses in check.
Moseley goes on to say, “Liberty and love are in some way at war in the lives of all of us.” It is not until Jane reaches personal liberation, that she is capable of loving someone else to a full extent. Throughout Jane Eyre Jane must learn how to gain love without sacrificing herself in the process. Orphaned at an early age, Jane becomes used to a lackluster lifestyle without any true value. It is not until she finds love and comfort in her friends at Lowood that her life begins to turn around. Upon meeting Rochester, Jane’s life was only as plain as she made it. She untwines in a world wind romance, ultimately finding the love she craved without losing her self-value.
As previously mentioned, inferiority perceptions and obstacles for women remain prevalent in the twenty-first century. Although substantial progress has been made with regards to the educational opportunities for women, as well as educating both men and women to view women with equal regard, we have yet to achieve parity among genders. In particular, “Contemporary feminists, such as Catherine MacKinnon, argue that the law and society’s political institutions are based on male assumptions, such that women can never achieve equality within them” (Tannenbaum, 2012, p. 220). Additionally, the recent focus on gender socialization directly relates to Wollstonecraft’s writings. In fact, she may be one of the first philosophers to establish the foundation for studying gender socialization through her assertions from two hundred years ago, “the character of women was artificial, and a consequence of the roles society defines for them” (p. 213a). Tannenbaum’s summary of Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, reads as though it’s from a current Sociology course in gender equality and diversity. “Women are fond of dress and gossip; are helpless, emotional, weak; and act like children, not because it is there nature, but because they are educated or trained this way” (p. 213b). Wollstonecraft’s assertions were revolutionary when taking into account the historical context of her vision. Hence, both genders can benefit from studying her feminist perspective, then contemplating how her vision has evolved over time in society, as well as advocating for its continued
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.