"The Representation of Female Characters in Victorian Literature: A Study of Jane Eyre, Emma, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles"
Keywords:
Victorian Literature, Female Characters, Representation, Gender Roles, Social NormsAbstract
the depiction of female protagonists in three classic Victorian novels: "Jane Eyre," "Emma," and "Tess of the d'Urbervilles," all written by Charlotte Bront, Jane Austen, and Thomas Hardy, respectively. The Victorian era, with its strict social conventions and gender roles, provides a fascinating backdrop against which to examine the many ways in which women were portrayed in books published at the time. This analysis compares and contrasts the three main female protagonists, Jane Eyre, Emma Woodhouse, and Tess Durbeyfield, focusing on their individuality, social positions, and hardships. Different aspects of Victorian femininity are represented here, from the strong-willed and self-reliant Jane to the sympathetic but mistaken Emma and the tragically weighed-down Tess. Created these characters after carefully analysing the text to show how Victorian-era women were restricted by social norms.
References
Brontë, Charlotte. "Jane Eyre." Edited by Richard J. Dunn. Norton Critical Edition, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Austen, Jane. "Emma." Edited by Fiona Stafford. Oxford World's Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Hardy, Thomas. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles." Edited by Tim Dolin. Penguin Classics, Penguin Books, 2003.
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Knoepflmacher, U. C., and G. B. Tennyson, editors. "The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination." Yale University Press, 1979.
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