DOCSLIB.ORG

“We Can Devise a Thousand Honest Ways of Making a Livelihood”1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“We Can Devise a Thousand Honest Ways of Making a Livelihood”1 “WE CAN DEVISE A THOUSAND HONEST WAYS OF MAKING A 1 LIVELIHOOD” María José Coperías Aguilar Universitat de València Prompted by a sentence spoken by Agnes Grey's mother in Anne Brontë's title novel, “We can devise a thousand honest ways of making a livelihood”, I try to analyse the situation of middle–class women in the 19th century as regards the possibilities of earning their own living. Whereas in previous centuries middle–class women could carry out a wide range of jobs without jeoparidisng their reputation of their families, a change in the idea of what it meant to be a member of the middle–class, especially the upper middle class, had left women with vey few respectable and appropriate options: to become a writer or a governess. But even these occupations were not free from difficulties and could easily result in criticism and contempt on the part of their peers. INTRODUCTION The Brontë sisters are probably one of the most extraordinary phenomena in the history of British literature taking into account that they were three writers who belonged to the same family and to the same generation, that they all became popular and reputed writers, having sold thousands of copies of their works over the years and that they were women. Of course, the three of them were devoted and gifted writers who had been read to or had themselves read books from their earliest years and who, along with their brother Branwell, had started to write and even to bind their own stories as children2. However, we might understand the phenomenon of these three women writers better if we take into consideration the situation of middle-class women in the 19th century as regards their possibilities of earning their own living. Anne Brontë and her novel Agnes Grey, which deals with the life and experiences of a young governess in the Victorian period, are in our opinion a good example to show what the working opportunities of these women were. 1 Goreau, Angeline, ed. Agnes Grey. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1988. 110. 2 Charlotte and Branwell wrote and bound, in small scale (4.75 to 6.4 centimetres by 3.5 to 5.1 centimetres), their own stories following the example of the popular Blackwood’s Magazine. Emily and Anne also helped them in the invention of many other stories which made up a whole society with its own government, culture, laws and was populated by politicians, military officers, administrators, writers, musicians, etc. (Coperías 1996: 17). ES 25 (2003-04) - pp. 29-40 30 MARÍA JOSÉ COPERÍAS AGUILAR According to the study carried out by Davidoff and Hall in their book Family Fortunes. Men and Women of the English Middle Class. 1780-1850 (19943), at the beginning of the 19th century, the working situation of middle-class women had worsened in the sense that they had lost many opportunities to work outside their homes in comparison with previous periods, both in the countryside and in towns. It seems that in the 18th century any farmer’s or brewer’s wife could ride miles on her own to the market to deal with any necessary business, whereas by the middle of the 19th century women who rode on their own were socially criticised unless they did so for health or leisure reasons (213). The introduction of new techniques or chemicals in farming also drew middle-class women away from the fields. The increase in the production and the new organization of work that the modern farming methods involved made it necessary to hire full-time workers who had few chances to become small independent owners and were therefore forced to remain on the lower levels of society. As a consequence of this, it was thought that young educated women, especially if they were single, should build physical and psychological barriers to prevent contact with these workers. At the same time, the massive presence of men in the fields made it difficult for women to exert authority (203), another reason for giving up their previous responsibilities in the organization of farms. By the turn of the 19th century, a farmer’s wife world was limited to family care, church-going, visits to friends and some philanthropic activities (230). For a long time, especially in the countryside, health care had been in the hands of women who picked or planted herbs which were later used for ointments or other remedies. Some changes in the social habits of the middle classes left women out of this field as well (Davidoff & Hall 1994:230-1). On the one hand, apothecaries took hold of the production of remedies for different illnesses as well as for cosmetic products. On the other, the thriving middle classes now preferred the expensive and prestigious services of doctors and consequently women were relegated to the role of mere caretenders.4 The establishment and consolidation of the textile industry during the 17th and 18th century had given many women, some of them belonging to well off families, the chance to work as spinsters; however, at some point the chances to work in this field decreased and getting married was the only possibility of survival left to many women. That is the reason why the word spinster first referred to the person who spins but later started to be used to refer to unmarried women in a pejorative way (Davidoff & Hall 1994:202). 3 The book was originally written in 1987; however, all our references to the book (year of publication, pages) correspond to the Spanish version. 4 Women were considered to have a natural disposition to take care of ill people, regardless the fact they were young or elderly, children, husbands or fathers (Hughes 1993:35; Davidoff & Hall 1994:268). WE CAN DEVISE A THOUSAND HONEST WAYS OF MAKING LIVELIHOOD 31 There is a contradiction, however, in the fact that the role of women in the family business was often essential, performing different important tasks, as long as this activity was carried out within the home, that is to say, as long as it was not seen by the rest of society. In many senses, women were the supporters of the family, not only taking care of its members, but also giving it dignity and status. This identification of women with the home brought about a situation in which middle-class women could only work outside the house out of necessity. Whereas for men working was a means of self-fulfillment and prosperity, for women it could become a source of shame for herself and her family. In fact, a contemporary journal pointed out that If a lady has to work for her livelihood, it is universally considered to be misfortune, an exception to the ordinary rule. [...] The theory of ‘civilized life’ holds that women of the upper and middle classes are supported either by their fathers or husbands. All our laws are framed strictly in accordance with this hypothesis; and all our social customs adhere to it more strictly still. We make no room in our social framework for any other idea.5 The only occasion when a woman could assume the economic role of a man, and not always completely, was when she became a widow. It has been documented by means of wills, for instance, that some middle-class women (mothers, step-mothers or even aunts) took over the temporary responsibility of the family business until one of the sons came of age (Davidoff & Hall 1994:211). Very often, though, even if completely capable, women would not be allowed to thrive but just to keep the family business in the state in which the husband had left it. By the 19th century, then, the working opportunities middle-class women had got became more and more meagre. In previous centuries, they could be found working in many different positions; apart from the ones we have pointed above, according to Davidoff and Hall (1994:237) there had been women prison warders, tinsmiths, plumbers, butchers or harness makers. By 1850, sewing and teaching were the main activities performed by middle-class women. In García Doncel’s opinion (1988:240), there were only two trades that seemed to comply with the requirements of respectability and appropriateness that would make them perfectly acceptable for middle-class women: writer and teacher; however many of them would end up performing a less valued task, that of a seamstress. Later, we will focus on the difficulties women came up against if they wished to perform these two trades: that of a writer and that of a governess. 5 “The Market for Educated Female Labor” in The English Woman’s Journal, IV/21: 145-6; quoted by both Goreau (1988:40) and Peterson (1980:10). 32 MARÍA JOSÉ COPERÍAS AGUILAR 2. THE WORKING SITUATION OF VICTORIAN MIDDLE-CLASS WOMEN As we have pointed out above, middle- and upper-class women were supposed to be supported by their husbands or fathers; however, there were some circumstances that made this impossible. Around the mid 19th century, in Britain there were some concurrent factors which notably increased the number of single women, especially among the middle class. The 1861 census revealed that there were 1,053 women for every 1,000 men (Hughes 1993: 31), a fact which left some women with no chances at all of getting married. There might be different reasons for this unbalance: to start with, women seem to have lived longer, which consequently made their numbers to grow. Secondly, in the early 19th century, although not directly invaded, Britain had been involved in the Napoleonic wars, where the life of many soldiers had been lost.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Representations, Limitations, and Implications of the “Woman” and Womanhood in Selected Victorian Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit
    Gardner-Webb University Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University MA in English Theses Department of English Language and Literature 2017 “Not as She is” but as She is Expected to Be: Representations, Limitations, and Implications of the “Woman” and Womanhood in Selected Victorian Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit. Amanda Ellen Bridgers Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/english_etd Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Bridgers, Amanda Ellen, "“Not as She is” but as She is Expected to Be: Representations, Limitations, and Implications of the “Woman” and Womanhood in Selected Victorian Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit." (2017). MA in English Theses. 16. https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/english_etd/16 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English Language and Literature at Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University. It has been accepted for inclusion in MA in English Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University. For more information, please see Copyright and Publishing Info. “Not as She is” but as She is Expected to Be: Representations, Limitations, and Implications of the “Woman” and Womanhood in Selected Victorian Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit. by Amanda Bridgers A thesis submitted to the faculty of Gardner-Webb University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English. Boiling Springs, N.C. 2017 ! Bridgers!2! “Not as She is but as She is Expected to Be:’ Representations, Limitations, and Implications of the ‘Woman’ and Womanhood in Selected Victorian Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit.” One face looks out from all his canvases, One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans: We found her hidden just behind those screens, That mirror gave back all her loveliness.
    [Show full text]
  • Everyday Life in Anne Bronte ;• Ki.'1
    w FOUR Everyday Life in Anne Bronte ;• Ki.'1 AMANDA CLAYBAUGH The Brontes' novels are justly famous for their middles. Nelly Dean's narra- tf'.ii tion in the middle of Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights (1847); the Thornfield episode, flanked by Lowood and Marsh End, in the middle of Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre (1847)—both serve as keystones to the novels' elaborate architecture. And so, too, does the diary that makes up the middle of Anne Brontes Tenant ofWildfell Hall (1848). More typically, however, the middles rl!;I of Anne Bronte's novels differ from those of her sisters. While theirs display formal mastery, hers more often offer a space for formal experimentation. In the middle chapters of Agnes Grey (1847), indeed even in the middle of Ten- ant's inset diary, we can see Anne Bronte experimenting to find forms capable of containing everyday life. The everyday is not a topic we associate with the Brontes, who are better known for embracing the extreme, for depicting rioting laborers and tortured birds, delirium tremens and violent assaults, ghosts that haunt the Yorkshire moors, nuns that haunt Belgian schools, and the echoing call of Rochester jU for Jane. But for the Bronte's, at least for Charlotte and Anne Bronte, the ordinary was an important subject as well. Charlotte Bronte was quite explicit about this. In the opening pages of her apprentice novel, The Professor (1846; 1857), she announced her commitment to depicting persons who are "plain and homely" and events that are "not exciting, and above all, not marvelous."1 109 112 PART II, CHAPTER 4 CLAYBAUGH, "EVERYDAY LIFE IN ANNE BRONTE" 113 should have an affinity because work, which she conceives of as the making gentlewoman's right to engage in conversation.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This Chapter Contains Six Elements. They
    CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter contains six elements. They are background of the study, problem statement, objectives of the study, limitation of the study, benefits of the study, and research paper organization. A. Background of the Study There are some ways to express ideas, especially in a literary work. There is a literary work that brings us to the world of dreams and takes us away from reality. It has to be contrasted with a literary work that needs our interpretation. Literature is a personal expression of feeling including experience, idea, motivation, conviction in the concrete description by using language. Novel is a part of prose form beside short story. Most people read novel and short story. A novel expresses some aspects of human‟s love and existence. Novel describes human activities and describes what happened in surrounding, so it is written in long composition. According to Kennedy (1983: 103) novel is generally thought of as containing about forty five thousand words or more. So novel is longer narrative than short story and novella. According to Grant (2001) social classification is a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory centered on models of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle, and lower classes. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and social historians. However, there is no a consensus on the best definition of the term "class" and the term has different contextual meanings. In common parlance, the term "social class" is usually synonymous with "socio-economic class," defined as "people having the same social, economic, or educational status, "the working class", an emerging professional class.
    [Show full text]
  • A Woman of Spirit: Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey As a Story of Spiritual
    A Woman of Spirit: Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey as a Story of Spiritual Development Anna-Maria Syrjämäki University of Tampere School of Modern Languages and Translation Studies English Philology MA Thesis December 2010 Tampereen yliopisto Kieli- ja käännöstieteiden laitos Englantilainen filologia SYRJÄMÄKI, ANNA-MARIA: A Woman of Spirit: Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey as a Story of Spiritual Development Pro gradu -tutkielma, 81 sivua Syksy 2010 Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tarkastellaan kristinuskon roolia Anne Brontën (1820-1849) esikoisromaanissa Agnes Grey (1847). Tutkielmani tarkastelee romaania kuvauksena sen päähenkilön hengellisestä kasvusta. Lähtökohtanani ovat romaanissa tarinan ja kerronnan tasoilla esiintyvät uskonnolliset elementit, jotka antavat romaanille hengellisen omaelämäkerran piirteitä. Tutkimustehtäväni jakautuu kahteen osaan: tarkastelen ensinnäkin sitä miten romaani rakentuu tarinan ja kerronnan tasolla kuvauksena hengellisestä kasvusta, ja toiseksi tarkastelen päähenkilön uskonnollisuuden luonnetta – sen opillisia piirteitä sekä naisnäkökulmaa – suhteessa viktoriaanisen ajan uskonnollisuuteen. Tutkielman alussa luon katsauksen varhaisen viktoriaanisen ajan Englannin uskonnolliseen kenttään, erityisesti evankelisen herätyskristillisyyden piirteisiin ja vaikutukseen. Analyysissäni tarkastelen Agnes Greytä päähenkilön hengellisenä kehityskertomuksena, joka rakentuu klassisen pyhiinvaellustarinan pohjalle. Tämä tarinatyyppi on yleinen viktoriaanisen ajan kirjallisuudessa ja sen suurin innoittaja oli John Bunyanin suosittu
    [Show full text]
  • To Walk Invisible: the Brontë Sisters
    Our Brother’s Keepers: On Writing and Caretaking in the Brontë Household: Review of To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters Shannon Scott (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA) To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters Writer & Director, Sally Wainwright BBC Wales, 2016 (TV film) Universal Pictures 2017 (DVD) ***** In Sally Wainwright’s To Walk Invisible, a two-part series aired on BBC and PBS in 2016, there are no rasping coughs concealed under handkerchiefs, no flashbacks to Cowen Bridge School, no grief over the loss of a sister; instead, there is baking bread, invigorating walks on the moor, and, most importantly, writing. Wainwright dramatises three prolific years in the lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë when they composed their first joint volume of poetry and their first sole-authored novels: The Professor, rejected and abandoned for Jane Eyre (1847), Wuthering Heights (1847), and Agnes Grey (1847), respectively. The young women are shown writing in the parlour surrounded by tidy yet threadbare furniture, at the kitchen table covered in turnips and teacups, composing out loud on the way to town for more paper, or while resting in the flowering heather. For Charlotte, played with a combination of reserve and deep emotion by Finn Atkins, to “walk invisible” refers to their choice to publish under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, but in Wainwright’s production, it also refers to invisibility in the home, as the sisters quietly take care of their aging and nearly-blind father, Reverend Patrick Brontë (Jonathan Price), and deal with the alcoholism and deteriorating mental illness of their brother, Branwell (Adam Nogaitis).
    [Show full text]
  • ENGL 431: the Brontës & Their Afterlives Professor Linda Peterson
    ENGL 431: The Brontës & Their Afterlives Professor Linda Peterson By submitting this essay, I attest that it is my own work, completed in accordance with University regulations. —Helen Knight The Governess Question: Modes of social engagement in Agnes Grey and Jane Eyre by Helen Knight I. Introduction "A new servitude! There is something in that," Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre famously exclaims when contemplating a career in governessing, her escape route from Lowood School.1 Jane's aspirations for a happy life are limited by her material situation of possessing neither wealth nor family. Similarly, Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey begins governessing because of a fall in her family's financial status due to her father's speculative investing. As Mr. Grey acknowledges, Agnes and her sister Mary have limited prospects for marriage and family: "'Them married— poor penniless things!' said he, 'who will take them, I wonder?'"2 In the nineteenth century, governessing was an option for women without other options, and the undesirability of the occupation was largely the result of how governesses were treated by their employers. They received little pay, worked constantly, and often felt humiliated because of their low status. Anne and Charlotte Brontë, both governesses themselves, consider in their novels how governesses' working conditions could be improved. Their modes for advocating for improvement, however, are very different. Anne, in Agnes Grey, extensively describes a governess's typical experiences in order to show employers the errors of their ways and therefore instigate reform. Charlotte, in the character of Jane, depicts how a governess could act as an 1 Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (Oxford: OUP, 2000), p.
    [Show full text]
  • Anne Brontë COMPLETE CLASSICS Agnes Grey UNABRIDGED Read by CLASSIC Rachel Bavidge FICTION
    THE Anne Brontë COMPLETE CLASSICS Agnes Grey UNABRIDGED Read by CLASSIC Rachel Bavidge FICTION NA612812D 1 Chapter 1: The Parsonage 5:06 2 I thought she must have been very happy… 5:02 3 Mary did not lament, but she brooded… 5:11 4 ‘Mary, mamma says I’m to help you…’ 5:47 5 I was silenced for that day… 3:41 6 But some weeks more were yet to be devoted… 5:28 7 Chapter 2: First Lessons in The Art of Instruction 5:50 8 ‘You will find them not very far advanced…’ 5:13 9 This was very shocking; but I hoped… 4:22 10 ‘But what would your mamma say?’ 3:09 11 Chapter 3: A Few More Lessons 5:12 12 The beef was set before him… 4:41 13 Master Tom, not content with refusing… 4:29 14 The task of instruction… 5:01 15 With me, at her age… 5:28 16 When little Fanny came into the schoolroom… 4:56 17 Chapter 4: The Grandmamma 5:09 18 What must I do? 5:40 19 I confess I was somewhat troubled… 5:06 20 I remember one afternoon in spring… 3:32 2 21 After this, Mr. Bloomfield was continually looking… 3:10 22 Chapter 5: The Uncle 3:09 23 Mr. Robson likewise encouraged… 3:19 24 So saying – urged by a sense of duty… 4:14 25 But Mr. Robson and old Mrs. Bloomfield… 5:41 26 Chapter 6: The Parsonage Again 4:54 27 ‘I know I was sulky sometimes…’ 3:37 28 The advertisement was quickly written..
    [Show full text]
  • Master's Thesis
    FACULTY OF ARTS AND EDUCATION MASTER’S THESIS Programme of study: Spring semester, 2016 Master in Literacy Studies Open Author: Gro Mehla ………………………………………… (Author’s signature) Supervisor: Janne Stigen Drangsholt Thesis title: The Cultural Significance of the Governess in Agnes Grey, Jane Eyre and The Turn of the Screw Keywords: No. of pages: 103 + appendices/other: 13 The Victorian Era Governess Patriarchy Stavanger, May 12, 2016 Unwoman Acknowledgements I would like to thank my brilliant supervisor Janne Stigen Drangsholt for her insightful comments, constructive criticism and quick wit throughout the year. I also want to thank my lecturers Brita Strand Rangnes, Jena Habegger-Conti, Aidan Keally Conti, Eric Dean Rasmussen and Ion Drew for making my three years at UIS a truly inspiring period. In addition, I am ever grateful to my fantastic and caring family. You fed me when I forgot to eat, gave me inspiration when I was exhausted, and motivated me by planning exciting post-thesis adventures. Last but not least, I want to thank my supporting friends and colleagues and my encouraging fellow students Ida and Kurt. There would be no thesis without your help. 2 Abstract My thesis explores how Victorian society viewed the women who did not live up to the female ideal created by patriarchy. I base my study on Anne Brontë’s (1820-1849) Agnes Grey (1847), Charlotte Brontë’s (1816-1855) Jane Eyre (1847) and Henry James’ (1843-1916) The Turn of the Screw (1898). I investigate and analyse the governess protagonists in these three novels in order to question the representation of women in Victorian novels.
    [Show full text]
  • The Brontë Family the Moorland Made Famous by the Brontës and Along Packhorse Routes Used by Traders in Days Gone by (YP HAW 914)
    The Brontë Parsonage Programme to celebrate the opening of the old Parsonage, Brontë Society, 1928 (YP 928.23 B78Y). A descriptive catalogue of the objects in the museum of the Brontë Society at Haworth, Brontë Society, 1896 (Y B BRO) Catalogue of the [Brontë] Museum and Library, Brontë Society, 1927 (Y 823 BRO). Brontë Parsonage Museum, 2010 Visitors’ Guide (YP B BRO). Exploring Brontë Country Printed images – We hold a collection of prints of Haworth and the surrounding countryside, including Ponden Hall and Sladen Valley (TY H137). A selection of new and historical vistors’ guides to Haworth and Local and Family History the nearby moors – including 1928’s Haworth and the Brontës: A Visitor's Guide by William Reginald Mitchell (Y HAW 823). Research Guides Walking guides, classic and modern – including Walks in Brontë Country by Alan Lawson, 1938 (Y 914.281 LAW) and Four countryside walks from the Pennine Village of Haworth: Walk amidst The Brontë Family the moorland made famous by the Brontës and along packhorse routes used by traders in days gone by (YP HAW 914). Our Research Guides list some of the most useful, interesting and unique items in Local and Family History at Leeds Central Library. Aspects of life in Haworth – including Brontë Kitchen: Recipes Many others are listed in our online and card catalogues. from Haworth Families by Victoria Wright (Y 641.5 WRI). Contact us for more information: Visit: www.leeds.gov.uk/localandfamilyhistory Email: [email protected] Tel. (0113) 247 8290 For more information call 0113 247 6016 or visit www.leeds.gov.uk/libraries Please note: Items marked * require ID and possibly an appointment to view.
    [Show full text]
  • The Work of Women in the Fiction of the Brontës Susan Zlotnick
    3 “What Do the Women Do?” The Work of Women in the Fiction of the Brontës Susan Zlotnick In the opening moments of The Brontës of Haworth, a 1973 BBC miniseries based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë, the viewer watches the little Brontës arrive in Haworth and toddle up the steps of the parsonage for the first time, as the narrator tragically intones that “the family was keeping an appointment with destiny. In thirty-five years time, all those six children would be dead.” I begin my undergraduate seminar on the Brontë sisters with a short clip from The Brontës of Haworth, with its sad accounting of “the delicate Brontë sisters” who find “death and immortality” in a “remote” Yorkshire village; however, by way of a contrast, I follow it with a You Tube video, the “Brontë Sister Power Dolls” (1998), which stars fashion doll versions of Anne, Emily, and Charlotte. When an “evil publisher,” voiced by a ten-year-old boy, taunts the sisters with “girls can’t write books,” they bombard him with their novels, transform (Transformer-style) into a Brontësaurus, and proceed to destroy an all-male literary club with their “barrier-breaking feminist vision.” Both clips get a laugh, but they also serve a larger purpose. They offer a rudimentary introduction to the interpretative challenges presented by the Brontës: are they, in Terry Eagleton’s memorable phrasing, “three weird sisters deposited on the Yorkshire moors, from some metaphysical outer space” (Eagleton 1975: 3) whose uneventful lives and early deaths stand in stark contrast to the high romance of their novels, or are they the feminist heroines of the English canon, whose novels of female empowerment continue to inspire readers? The story of the Brontës as the ill-fated protagonists of their own lives originates in two early biographical exercises: Charlotte’s “Biographical Notice,” which prefaced A Companion to British Literature: Volume IV: Victorian and Twentieth-Century Literature 1837–2000, First Edition.
    [Show full text]
  • The Brontë Myth Seminar
    LIT3065 The Brontës Module convenor: Dr Amber Regis [email protected] Week 1: The Brontë Myth Seminar: Introductions Workshop: To Walk Invisible (2016) Week 2: Juvenilia and Poetry Seminar: Glass Town, Angria and Gondal Workshop: Poems by Ellis, Acton and Currer Bell (1846) Week 3: Jane Eyre* Seminar: Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) Workshop: Jane Eyre (dir. Robert Stevenson, 1943/1944) Week 4: Wuthering Heights Seminar: Wuthering Heights (1847) Workshop: Wuthering Heights (dir. Anthea Arnold, 2011) Week 5: Agnes Grey Seminar: Agnes Grey (1847) Workshop: Reviewing the Brontës Week 6: Branwell Seminar: Branwell Brontë Workshop: Mrs Gaskell’s Branwell Week 7: The Art of the Brontës Seminar: The Art of the Brontës Workshop: Brontë Portraits EASTER Week 8: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Seminar: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) Workshop: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (BBC Television, dir. Mike Barker, 1996) Week 9: Shirley Seminar: Shirley (1849) Workshop: Shirley (BBC Radio, dir. Tracey Neale, 2014) Week 10: Villette Seminar: Villette (1853) Workshop: Villette (BBC Radio, dir. Tracey Neale, 2009) Week 11: Deaths and Afterlives Seminar: Brontë Deaths Workshop: The Parsonage Museum and Brontë Bicentenaries *NB: Due to Jane Eyre being primary reading on the core module, LIT3101 Romantic and Victorian Prose, we will not be covering the novel directly on LIT3065. We will, instead, consider how the novel has been subject to post-colonial and neo-Victorian re-readings/re-writings, focusing upon Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. Duals students not taking LIT3101 are invited to attend the lectures on Jane Eyre in the Autumn semester.
    [Show full text]
  • The Governess in Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey and Her Relation to Women's Identity in Nineteenth-Century England
    Independence through Education: The Governess in Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey and Her Relation to Women's Identity in Nineteenth-Century England By: Beryl Rose Glick Frishtick Adviser: Professor Tom Simone Department of English University of Vermont Thesis Defense: April 17th, 2013 Contents Preface 2 Chapter 1: The Governess in Nineteenth-Century England 8 Chapter 2: The Governess in Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey 24 Chapter 3: The Governess in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre 39 Conclusion 57 Works Cited and Consulted 61 1 Preface I have always loved Jane Eyre. I first read the novel as a thirteen-year-old seventh- grader, and I knew I had struck gold. I felt for the first time, as Alan Bennett so fittingly wrote in The History Boys, as though a hand had reached out from the page and taken mine. My kinship with the character of Jane was immediate and complete. The only classic literature I had read before middle school was Pride and Prejudice, which I loved more because I knew from societal pressure that I should love it, and some Hemingway novels and short stories that I was certainly too young to understand. Jane Eyre was the first classic I loved for its own sake, and as an English major at the University of Vermont I have continued to chase that feeling. I read Jane Eyre again at Hanover High School, in the best class I ever took, Mr. Galton’s “Classic English Novels.” That was the first time I studied the novel for a class, and while I remember initially resenting Mr.
    [Show full text]