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Views of women in the Victorian era
Female characters in british literature
Views of women in the Victorian era
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At the start of the nineteenth century, religion and science coexisted as one. The idea behind the creation of man and nature was seen as the work of God, thus the issue of religion and science were one in the same. As the Victorian era progressed, there was an emergence of scientific thinkers that began to question the creation and miracles of God, which in turn led to turmoil within the Victorian society. What Victorian society had was a constant clashing of ideals between the emerging science group and the religious believers. People did not care to listen to each other’s beliefs, which led to an overall lack of mutual respect among the groups. It is through Emily Bronte’s The Prisoner. A Fragment that the tensions based on religion can be seen through the male and female characters who represent the clashing groups in Victorian society.
Religious believers in the Victorian society had amazing fervor for the word of God and believed that everything that occurred in life came from the hands of God. A good majority of the works written during the Victorian era expressed a belief that through the endurance of pain and suffering on Earth, the individual will be forever rewarded in Heaven. The Prisoner. A Fragment, by Emily Bronte is a clear demonstration of this belief as a heroic female prisoner demonstrates hope that her creator will save her after she endures her unjust punishment. The speaker in this work is a man visiting the prison, which is located in his father’s castle. He narrates the story looking back on his visit to the prison. He makes the audience aware that he never really cared nor did he pay attention to the lives that were slowly coming to an end in the crypts. He makes a comment to the jailor and is given a re...
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...hinking along with the fall of the Church of England. Emily Bronte, through her male and female characters in A Prisoner. A Fragment ,is demonstrating the struggle and the feuding that took place between the religious and anti-religious groups that began to emerge during this time. Not only does she represent these two groups, she also makes strong comment on women. It is clear that Bronte is breaking the stereotype of the woman by using a strong female character to demonstrate their power, as well as their ability to lead and be heroes in a social, religious, and political movement that was the center of so much controversy during this era.
Works Cited
Christ, Carol T., Catherine Robson, Stephen Greenblatt, and M. H. Abrams. The Prisoner. A Fragment. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. E. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &, 2006. 1315-316. Print.
The Convicts, by Iain Lawrence, is a story of a young boy who faces great odds to complete his quest to help his father. This novel takes many twists and turns through the landscape of London, more specifically in nineteenth century London. However, London is not described in the picturesque view many people have come to know London as. Lawrence shows the uglier more rugged lifestyle of many poor people in London during this time period. Within a society like this in London, swindling, gangs, and prison become common subjects among the lower classes, especially in this novel. Although life was hard for many, the characters in this novel find adventure along the way while aboard ships and through underground sewers.
In John Demo's book, Mr. John Williams the main narrator uses four types of writing and one other last section to tell his story of captivity. The four parts are in chronological order: First the pastoral letter he wrote to those c...
Morris, Norval, and David Rothman. The Oxford History of the Prison. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
The essay begins by drawing forth images of Puritan punishment. He cites two instances of punishment, which were particularly torturous and radical in nature. He then draws a comparison between this inhumane punishment and imprisonment by stating with irony that, “Now we practice a more enlightened, more humane way of disciplining wrong doers: we lock them up in cages.” His use of the word “cages” was an attempt to vilify the enclosurement of human beings and to compare this treatment of human beings, to the caging of other animals. Although his position is clear from the first glance at the title, he poses us with a dilemma, he immediately denounces his acceptance of imprisonment with his use of irony and at the same time he proposes a solution which he has radicalized. This early attempt at discounting imprisonment by comparing it with an extreme form of the punishment he is proposing, simply leaves the reader with a negative feeling towards both forms of punishment rather than bolstering his view.
Through a series of character foils, Bronte expresses her idea of self-sufficiency. development and growth of the human spirit by contrasting passion with reason. The reason is that it is. By my interpretation of the novel, Bronte suggests that in one's lifetime, they will encounter a number of people and experiences that will arouse enough emotion in them to have the power to change their direction. in life.
The author’s purpose is to also allow the audience to understand the way the guards and superintendent felt towards the prisoners. We see this when the superintendent is upset because the execution is running late, and says, “For God’s sake hurry up, Francis.” And “The man ought to have been dead by this time.” This allows the reader to see the disrespect the authority has towards the prisoners.
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.
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.
With so many distortions, many readers may not appreciate Brontë's book. She takes common elements and greatly exaggerates them. She turns love into obsessive passion, contempt into lifelong vindictive hatred, and peaceful death into the equivalent of burning in hell. In doing so, she not only loaded the book with emotions, but vividly illustrated the outcome if one were to possess these emotions.
In the nineteenth century, the role of charity was portrayed differently by many individuals depending on what religion they followed. On one hand, many people felt obligated to help the unfortunate to comply with religious responsibility and to become better individuals. On the other hand, Others, felt that the misfortunes of the poor weren’t their responsibility. The different concepts of charity can be viewed in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, as she reveals to us the various experiences Jane underwent as an orphan. Many of the instances that Bronte mentions in her novel are references to some of the incidents she encountered in her school years. To know why charity was significantly one of Bronte’s main focuses in the novel, we will look at the conceptions that the Anglicans and other Christian groups had of charity in the nineteenth century, as well as a history of Bronte’s familial background.
The characters in the novel get caught up in a frenzy of hate, scandal, and love. Newland Archer is a wealthy societal man who views his wife, May, as the reason for his unhappiness. In addition, Newland Archer get swept into the scandal and falls in love with Ellen, who he sees as a route to independence. Ellen Olenska, the cousin of May, brings a tornado of scandal to New York and becomes the center of criticism in society. In The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Archer and Ellen describe the desire for freedom in order to portray society as an oppressor.
Therefore, it is my belief that the religious setting of this novel in the Puritan society allowed further emphasis of the profound differences between the character’s gender roles, thereby creating deeper contrast and revealing the flaws of the Puritan’s preconceived notions of patriarchal societal norms.
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte is a novel about an orphan girl growing up in a tough condition and how she becomes a mature woman with full of courage. Her life at Gateshead is really difficult, where she feels isolated and lives in fear in her childhood. Her parents are dead when she was little, her dead uncle begged his evil wife, Mrs. Reed, to take care of Jane until she becomes an adult. But Mrs. Reed does not keep her promise, no one treats Jane like their family members even treats her less than a servant. By the end of this essay it will be proven that Jane’s life at Gateshead has shaped her development as a young woman and bildungsroman.
The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ninth Edition. Stephen Greenblatt, eds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 460. Print.