A Study of Women in Literature: The Brontes
The Brontёs were three sisters - Charlotte, Emily, and Anne - who wrote both novels and poetry. The sisters wrote during the Victorian Era, and their literature has recognizable, Victorian feminist themes. Charlotte was the eldest sister and was born in 1816, followed by Emily who was born in 1818, and Anne, who was born in 1820. Their father served as a clergyman, and the sisters attended various schools in addition to being taught at home. During their lives, they all served as governesses and teachers, which allowed them to continue to write. They first published a volume of poetry in 1846 under the pseudonyms: Currer Bell (Charlotte), Ellis Bell (Emily), and Acton Bell (Anne). In 1847, Charlotte published Jane Eyre and Anne published Agnes Grey; Emily published Wuthering Heights in 1848. Jane Eyre became a bestseller in the year it was published while Wuthering Heights did not sell well. These three books, especially Charlotte’s and Emily’s, have become English classics, and prove that even with the Era’s restrictions placed upon them, women were still capable of writing (BBC, 2014).
Jane Eyre has become recognized as a feminist text because of the way in which Charlotte portrays her heroine, Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre serves a governess for Mr. Rochester, and finally comes to marry him at the end of the book once she can be on equal grounds with him. To Steyer (1998), this shows that Brontё wanted to make an argument that both sexes were equal in heart and mind, which represented a Victorian feminist idea. Wuthering Heights was a harder novel to sell to the audience for which Emily wrote, since its main female characters represented such a departure from the “traditional woman.” However, it is through the characters that a novel takes on a feminist feeling, as the article “A Feminist Theory of the Gothic and Wuthering Heights” (2009) states, “Middle-class women who wanted to write were hampered by the conventional image of ladies as submissive, pious, gentle, loving, serene, domestic angels...” (para. 7). In order to oust this idea, women like Emily had to develop new heroines. Agnes Grey, while not as widely studied in schools, represents some of the same ideas. Agnes Grey is seen by Kaushik (2012) as a story about female development, since the novel’s main character overcomes financial hardship in order to become a governess and succeed on her own. As Kaushik (2012) writes, “It is as if she wants to prove something to her family and the female community in particular, in showing how her independence is reflective of her self-awareness” (para. 8). The works of all three sisters reflect a desire for female independence because their characters break away from the societal norms that governed a moral, just woman. Morality was the governing force of Victorian Era England; however, this morality is juxtaposed by the relative tolerance of prostitution during the time.
Jane Eyre has become recognized as a feminist text because of the way in which Charlotte portrays her heroine, Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre serves a governess for Mr. Rochester, and finally comes to marry him at the end of the book once she can be on equal grounds with him. To Steyer (1998), this shows that Brontё wanted to make an argument that both sexes were equal in heart and mind, which represented a Victorian feminist idea. Wuthering Heights was a harder novel to sell to the audience for which Emily wrote, since its main female characters represented such a departure from the “traditional woman.” However, it is through the characters that a novel takes on a feminist feeling, as the article “A Feminist Theory of the Gothic and Wuthering Heights” (2009) states, “Middle-class women who wanted to write were hampered by the conventional image of ladies as submissive, pious, gentle, loving, serene, domestic angels...” (para. 7). In order to oust this idea, women like Emily had to develop new heroines. Agnes Grey, while not as widely studied in schools, represents some of the same ideas. Agnes Grey is seen by Kaushik (2012) as a story about female development, since the novel’s main character overcomes financial hardship in order to become a governess and succeed on her own. As Kaushik (2012) writes, “It is as if she wants to prove something to her family and the female community in particular, in showing how her independence is reflective of her self-awareness” (para. 8). The works of all three sisters reflect a desire for female independence because their characters break away from the societal norms that governed a moral, just woman. Morality was the governing force of Victorian Era England; however, this morality is juxtaposed by the relative tolerance of prostitution during the time.