Litté 1/

T h e m e s in J a n e E yre

Source: notes de cours CAPES/Agreg Nancy 2

! Feminism ! Jane’s independence of mind and rebelliousness: • she stands up to Mr Rochester & he likes her for that( independent mind rewarded). • She also stands up to Mr Blocklehurst, Saint John Rivers, Mrs Reed. • At the end, she is financially independent --> she inherited a fortune from her uncle in Madeira. ! Education: a strand of feminism: ! Accomplishments: how should young women be brought up? The accomplishments for a young woman meant: • music • embroidery • languages (French & Italian, but no German for Germany was associated with Romanticism and naughty ideas). • Drawing, dancing, singing. " Hannah More’s “Structures on Female Education” (1799): for her traditional structures had to be reformed, women sd receive a more intellectually diverse education. Gt influence. ! Governesses: ! The theme became a sort of fetish leitmotiv after JE. ! Why are governesses an issue? The way in which women became governesses # only women cut out of their families’ wealth became

governesses. Governess was the only acceptable job for a woman, but it was only respectable to a certain extent, because governesses were women unable to marry. " Governesses as “lost women.” ! Attitude of contempt cf discussion of governesses when the Ingram party is at Thornfield. ! The Gothic: ! Features of gothic: # mystery # fear # a little bit of gore # frustrated love stories --> passion # idea of the double of the other self (Frankenstein, Mary Shelley.) # the setting: castles (preferably semi-ruined) gloomy with dark secrets ! Gothic is the cultural corollary to individualism; it was encouraged at the time of the gothic novel. ! However, JE is not an entirely gothic novel, there is still a more rationally representation of the real, there is always a rational to explain seemingly supernatural phenomena. ! The sublime is part of the gothic: ! Psce of nature: the awesome (meant frightful) beauty of nature. ! Landscape that shocks the viewer with its immensity. ! In JE, many storms, aggressive weather. " Theory of Edmund Burke, The Beautiful and the Sublime (1760s).

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beautiful: picture of a pleasant harvest scene for example: benevolent nature. sublime: something beautiful that recalls the insignificance of individual human lives in the immensity of time and space.

Charlotte Brontë grew up in Yorkshire ==> plenty of elements of inspiration. Idea of wild countryside, unorganized by man, beautiful in spite of its hostility. ! The mad woman in the attic (feminism) ! Bertha is emblematic of the raging woman locked in a room and of blatant women’s anger. ! Social issues: ! Interest in the general orga of sty (representation of the Ingrams) ! The fascination with what children are, how to educate them. Discovery of children in their own right (cf older Jane analyzing younger Jane). ! Bildungsroman: ! It was the period of these kinds of novels: # Great Expectations; David Copperfield, Dickens # Wilhelm Meister, Goethe. ! JE is not a complete bildeungsroman, because there is an ellipsis of a part of her younger years, so it is not a full story of how her mind was formed. ! But a spiritual quest: Jane is a travelling spirit, she was often forced to move on. Toponymy of the names of places: • Gateshead: possible reference to Pilgrim’s Progress: Jane opens the • •

gate and embark upon a spiritual journey. Lowood: a low place she has to go through. Whitcross: white-cross: religiously connotated.

! Physicality and spirituality: ! Helen Burns as an ephemeral, fleeting presence. ! Name Eyre: errance, heir (destiny programmed in Jane), air (Jane as an ethereal creature). ! Jane is a supernatural creature for Rochester: he calls her a bird (119), and elf. ! Abandon of decorum: ! Decorum in the 18th century was the art of portraying noble subjects. ! Reaction of one critic in Sharpes London Magazine: “Such a strange novel. Imagine a novel with a little swarthy governess for heroin and a middle-aged ruffian (brute) for hero.”