英美文学第 16 讲： Charlotte Bronte

主讲教师：任爱红 讲师

内容简介• 夏洛蒂 · 勃朗特的生平与创作• 创作思想与主题• 《简爱》

The Bronte Sisters

I. Charlotte Brontë and her works

• 'A little, plain, provincial, sickly-looking old maid', George Lewes described to George Eliot.

• Novels:

The Professor 《教授》 Jane Eyre     《简爱》 Shirley     《雪莉》 Villette     《维莱特》

2. Jane Eyre ： plot, characters and structure

• Jane Eyre• Mrs. Reed （ Gateshead Hall ）• Helen, Mr. Brocklehurst （ Lowood ）• Mr. Rochester （ Thornfield ）• Bertha Mason• St. John Rivers （ Moor House ）• （ Ferndean ）

Jane Eyre

Edward Rochester Adéle

Mrs Fairfax

St John Rivers

Lady Ingram

couple

housekeeper

daughter of Mr.

Rochester's French mistress

teacher

elder male cousin

wooer

Mr. Brocklehurst

the school's

financial manager

Mrs. Reed

aunt

• Jane EyreJane Eyre is a first-person narrative of the title character, a small, plain-faced, intelligent and honest English orphan.

• The novel goes through five distinct stages:• ①①Jane's childhood at Gateshead, where she is abused

by her aunt and cousins; • ②②Her education at Lowood School, where she

acquires friends and role models but also suffers privations 贫困 ;

• ③③Her time as the governess of Thornfield Manor 庄园 , where she falls in love with her employer, Edward Rochester;

• ④④ Her time with the Rivers family at Marsh‘s End (or Moor House) and Morton, where her cold clergyman----cousin St John Rivers proposes to her;

⑤⑤ Her reunion with and marriage to her beloved Rochester at his house of Ferndean.

Partly autobiographical, the novel abounds with social criticism and gothic （哥特式的） elements.

Character of Jane Eyre :

• Jane Eyre ， an orphan child with a fiery spirit and a longing to love and be loved ， a poor ， plain ， little governess who dares to love her master ， a man superior to her in many ways ， and even is brave enough to declare to the man her love for him ， cuts a completely new woman image. In the novel Charlotte characterizes Jane Eyre as a ， kind-hearted, noble-minded woman who pursues a genuine kind of love.

• Jane Eyre represents those middle-class working women who are struggling for recognition of their basic rights and equality as a human being. The vivid description of her intense feelings and her thought and inner conflicts brings her to the heart of the audience.

Jane Eyre: An Image of A New Woman

• "I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself." ---Charlotte

• Stereotype of women: "submissive, dependent, beautiful, but ignorant"

• Jane: a heroine who possessed the antithesis of these traits. – Plain but intelligent – Rebellious and strong-willed– Poor but with human dignity– Triumphant over male power – Self-confident and Independent

Selected reading

• Do you think because I am poor,obscure,plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?---You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you--- and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty,and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you…

• 难道就因为我一贫如洗、默默无闻、长相平庸、个子瘦小，就没有灵魂，没有心肠了？——你错了 !—— 我的心灵跟你一样丰富，我的心胸跟你一样充实！要是上帝赐予我一点姿色和充足的财富，我会使你同我现在一样难分难舍，我不是根据习俗、常规，甚至也不是血肉之躯同你说话，而是我的灵魂同你的灵魂在对话，就仿佛我们两人穿过坟墓，站在上帝脚下，彼此平等——本

• 来就如此！

Features

• First-person point of view

• Rejection of the conventional beautiful heroine.

• Gothic features

• Feminist message

Significance of Jane Eyre

• Ahead of her time in the area of realism: explorations of emotional repression and the feminine psyche.

• 1st Governess novel

• The earliest major feminist novel – Spoke out strongly against the injustices suffered by

women. – Realized modern womanhood: a need for

independence along with a need for love.

小结小结• Charlotte Bronte’s life and works

• Jane Eyre: character, theme, significance

How do you understand the character of Jane Eyre ?

习题习题

谢谢！！再见！！