Wuthering Heights Feminism

1817 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Feminism in jane eyre essay

Feminism is the movement advocating social, political, and all other rights of women to be equal to those of men. Feminists have fought an uphill battle against the majority emotion of male superiority. Throughout time, there has been evidence of the evolution of feminism in British Literature. Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters are feminist writers who have helped shape feminist literature during the Romantic and Victorian eras. The importance of women in society has been emphasized through the writings of these authors. The idea of feminism is prevalent in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Emma, although it is a sharp contrast to the male-dominated society of the Romantic and Victorian eras.
First, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights strongly exhibits the feministic idea of the protagonist’s rebellion. Emily Bronte emphasizes Catherine’s rebelling behaviors and the reasons behind this behavior. In Wuthering Heights--the song of rebel, Cai-yun Wu analyzes the rebellions and the influence of Emily Bronte’s personality on this novel. Wu first states, “At the beginning of the 19th century, England was a typical patriarchal society” (3). Emily Bronte chose the 19th century as the setting for Wuthering Heights because this was a time when women were expected to follow the dictates of men. In the novel, Catherine had to rely on her brother, Hindley, for survival and lived under his control. Hindley did not allow Catherine to do anything which as Wu says “... is just the product of the patriarchal society” (3). Hindley was Catherine’s master and she was hurt by this so she would write, “...how little did I dream that Hindley would ever make me cry so!” (20). This led Catherine to rebel against him which according to Wu was “ indeed the ...

... middle of paper ...

...). All things considered, Charlotte Bronte explains in Jane Eyre that in a male dominated society, a woman should always strive for the decency and dignity.
To conclude, the Victorian period was based on the idea that society is controlled by men and that women are subject to the men. Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters emphasize the ideas that women are discriminated against in their novels. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Emma contain strong female protagonists that struggle for independence and equality. However, Catherine, Jane, and Emma rebel against the stereotypical society and grow the feministic movements. Through these novels, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters helped shape feminist literature in the Romantic and Victorian eras. As a conclusion, feminism is represented in the British Literature today due to Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, and Charlotte Bronte.

Show More
Related

  • Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes

    3631 Words  | 8 Pages

    ... than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep.” They also tell her that “to strike a young gentleman, your benefactress's son! Your young master.” The servants respect the Victorian patriarchal society, despite the fact that they are so badly treated through it. Brontë is trying to tell us that this system has been in form for so long, that people are thinking of it as natural, and insists that it should not be so. In Brontë’s opinion, everyone should have equality.

    Read More

  • Analysis From Feminist/Gender Critic Of Book Wicked

    1930 Words  | 4 Pages

    One definition of gender is the membership of a word or grammatical form, or an inflectional form showing membership, in such a class. Gender critics take masculinity and feminism, as well as male and female, and use those theories to analyze writings. In books, or other writings, masculinity and feminism are used in order to describe how a character is seen by other characters. Feminism is the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. It is also a feminine character. After the women’s rights movement, women began to write works and put in their own views and beliefs. This era became known as the feminist writing era. Women felt that by writing their feelings and then getting their works published, that people would see why women should be equal to men.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Wuthering Heights By Alice Ann Munro

    2460 Words  | 5 Pages

    Alice Ann Munro was born on July 10th, 1931 in Wingham, located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Her father, Robert Eric Laidlaw, was a fox and a mink farmer, and later turned to turkey farming. Her mother was a school teacher (The Noble Prize in Literature). Munro attended a government funded school and was viewed as a brilliant and aspiring student, to the point that she was evaluated as a gifted student at an early stage. She started composing fiction while in secondary school and even composed a novel by the time, which she has said was subordinate to Emily Bronte 's well known Wuthering Heights (The Noble Prize in Literature). She won a grant to attend the University of Western Ontario and spent two years there majoring in the English

    Read More

  • Revision of Master Narratives within Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

    2168 Words  | 5 Pages

    Bronte is known as one of the first revolutionary and challenging authoress’ with her text Jane Eyre. The society of her time was male dominated, women were marginally cast aside and treated as trophies for their male counterparts. Their main role in life was to be a mother and a wife, “ Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life……the more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” A quote from a letter Robert Southey wrote to Bronte. A clear sign of the mentality and opposition Bronte was up against. A woman’s “proper duties” of course being to tend and wait on her “master’s” every whim and need. Women during Bronte’s time had no clear voice, none that was of any merit, they were a silent category of society, silenced by their male oppressors. Bronte’s book was in fact written before the first women’s rights movement had happened, yet it puts forward an image of an independent strong character, of a passionate and almost rebellious nature. A character “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her right’s, and venturing creative thoughts.” I put forward that Bronte throughout her text not only revises the themes of male power and oppression, but reconstructs them also. The text is a female bildungsroman of it’s time, sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly tackling the patriarchal view of women.

    Read More

  • The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Gilman And Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    2277 Words  | 5 Pages

    What is Feminism? How does feminism affect the world we live in today? Was feminism always present in history, and if so why was it such a struggle for women to gain the respect they rightly deserve? Many authors are able to express their feelings and passions about this subject within their writing. When reading literary works, one can sense the different feminist stages depending on the timeframe that the writing takes place. Two such works are ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by, Charlotte Gilman and ‘Everyday Use’ by, Alice Walker; the feminist views within each story are very apparent by the era each author lives in. It is evident that a matter of fifty years can change the stance of an author’s writing; in one story the main character is a confident and strong willed young woman looking to voice her feminist views on the world, while the other story’s main character is a woman trying to hold on to her voice in a man’s world which is driving her insane.

    Read More

  • Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer. However, one of Atwood's most successful books, The Handmaid's Tale, stands in stark contrast to the ideas of feminism. In fact, the female characters in the novel are portrayed in such a way that they directly conflict with the idea of women's empowerment.

    Read More

  • Relationship Between Men and Women: Jane Eyre and The Handmaid's Tale

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre entails a social criticism of the oppressive social ideas and practices of nineteenth-century Victorian society. The presentation of male and female relationships emphases men’s domination and perceived superiority over women. Jane Eyre is a reflection of Brontë’s own observation on gender roles of the Victorian era, from the vantage point of her position as governess much like Jane’s. Margaret Atwood’s novel was written during a period of conservative revival in the West partly fueled by a strong, well-organized movement of religious conservatives who criticized ‘the excesses of the sexual revolution.’ Where Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a clear depiction of the subjugation of women by men in nineteenth-century Western culture, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale explores the consequences of a reversal of women’s rights by men. This twentieth-century tradition of dystopian novels is a possible influence, with classics like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 standing prominence. The pessimism associated with novels of this genre—where society is presented as frightening and restrictive—exposes the gender inequality between men and women to be deleterious.

    Read More

  • Comparing Male Dominance in Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma

    3346 Words  | 7 Pages

    While there is no shortage of male opinions concerning the role of females, which usually approve of male dominance, there is a lack of women expressing views on their forced subservience to men. This past subordination is the very reason there were so few females who plainly spoke out against their position, and the search for females expressing the desire for independence necessarily extends to the few historical works by women that do exist. Jane Austen is a well-known female author, and it is natural that her novels would be studied in an attempt to find a covert feminist voice. However, though certain feminist elements may exist, one common theme found throughout the novels Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma, makes it impossible to label these works as completely supporting feminism. The idea that women should not be allowed to have power, should be controlled by men, and that males should use their power to the fullest extent is inescapable. This idea is raised repeatedly throughout these novels.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Patriarchy In Jane Austen's Emma

    1968 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, the idea of patriarchy ruled the many societies all over the world. Particularly in Britain, its “overarching patriarchal model” (Marsh) had “reserved power and privilege for men” (Marsh). Also during this time period feminist literature began to arise and was invaded by, “the complex social, ethical, and economic roots of sexual politics… as testimony to gender bias and the double standard” (“Sexual Politics and Feminist Literature”). In Jane Austen’s writing, readers have been aware of her constant themes of female independence and gender equality. However, many have criticized the author for the fact that many of her “individualistic” female characters have ended up

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Percy Shelley And The Sublime/Beautiful

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre - Challenging Victorian Beliefs

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... were usually about movement up the social ladder or because of the fact that the woman was "worthy of the work, and competent to accomplish it." Love was a factor, which many people negated. Brontë condemned this negation. The patriarchal religious system, Calvinism, instilled a view in its members that men were far superior to women in many respects, including morality. In Victorian society the most 'moral' people seemed to be figures like Brocklehurst, who were in reality hypocrites. They were seen as pious and likely to be the chosen few to enter the gates of Heaven. Brontë conveys Brocklehurst's character as being shallow and he eventually loses his business because of lack of humanity.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre and Feminism

    1805 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre embraces many feminist views in opposition to the Victorian feminine ideal. Charlotte Bronte herself was among the first feminist writers of her time, and wrote this book in order to send the message of feminism to a Victorian-Age Society in which women were looked upon as inferior and repressed by the society in which they lived. This novel embodies the ideology of equality between a man and woman in marriage, as well as in society at large. As a feminist writer, Charlotte Bronte created this novel to support and spread the idea of an independent woman who works for herself, thinks for herself, and acts of her own accord.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    “He is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman 's daughter. So far we are equal” (Austen 51). Jane Austen was an acute observer of the Georgian era society that she lived in, through her observations, she began to notice many flaws, especially in the treatment of women. With her love of writing and social awareness, Austen decided to combine both together to create some of the most famous works of literature. As seen in Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice and others, Austen uses realism, an upper class voice, and an ironic tone to deliver her underlying message of feminism to the gentry of the Georgian era.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre is a Feminist Novel

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jane Eyre is a Feminist Novel.In the novel Jane Eyre, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the tone of Jane Eyre is in fact a feminist novel. This book points out the times of unfairness in the Victorian society between men and women, where the man always comes first and is the master of his wife and always the provider. There are many examples that show feminist acts that usually do not occur in the Victorian era, such as wiith strength and integrity, Jane is able to break free from the role that the rest of the society has put her in, which is uncommon in that time

    Read More

  • Role of Women in Jane Eyre

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Wuthering Heights Feminism

Open Document