The Moonstone: Dual Narratives, Social Implications, and Symbolism

By investigating the gender roles of the Victorian Era in Jane Eyre and looking at the more modern presentation of gender roles in The Eyre Affair, a clear understanding of these author’s intentions to expose the gender issues can be seen. Jane Eyre is a classic novel in which orphan Jane opposes societal expectations by becoming an intelligent,

A querying of normative gender behaviour and sexuality pervades the 19th century gothic fiction text. What does this reveal about the cultural context within the tale exists?

The two Gothic works, Christina Rossetti’s “The Goblin Market” and Bram Stoker’s Dracula paint a vivid depiction of Victorian gender norms, exemplifying the prevalent idea of fallen women through their female outcasts: Laura and Lucy Westenra. Fallen women was a term used in the 19th century Britain to describe women who have lost her innocence and chastity, or those who seek independence from male-dominance. The male-centred Victorian society regarded these unconventional women as suspects of the society [Fallen Woman]. Both “The Goblin Market” and Dracula follow the transgression Laura and Lucy, both initially pure and innocent, into these fallen women. Laura, in Rossetti’s poem became an outcast of Victorian society when she ate the fruits offered by the goblin men, as with Lucy in Stoker’s novel, who

The novel in which Jane Eyre stars in can be seen criticizing many aspects of those times such as the role and nature of women, child negligence and social hardships for those in a lesser class. Jane Eyre’s alienation from society allows for a greater reveal of the story’s culture, values, and assumptions. It’s presented through the use of gender, class and character conflicts throughout the story. On multiple occasions, Jane is judged for the presented factors reflecting the type of society Jane lives in and what the times were like at that time.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen gives unique insight into the values and social structure of Austen’s world. These insights are expounded on and deepened by Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen. Jane Austen Critiques the Regency Era’s views on marriage, condemning the social norms of marrying for status and social security rather than for love. Letters to Alice evaluates the role of women in Weldon’s 1980’s context, criticising the social expectation of ‘The Angel of the House,’ which was the expectation of women in the early to mid-20th century.

To most, Pride and Prejudice is a work of romance and social satire; an apex in wit and dialogue. There are no spectres at Pemberley nor is there an insatiable tyrant or haunted castle at Derbyshire. However, there is a sense of fear amongst many of the characters. The houses are often large and hiding a painful secret. And love, at least between a few, transcends the boundary into the supernatural; or at least has elements thereof. Contrary to its popular, and overly common, definition and perception, I will argue that Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (hereon referred to as P&P) is an established piece of Gothic fiction, as it

From the outside, Mary Rogers’ status as a working, unmarried woman that is sexually active pins her against the sexual, economic, and social behavior norms of females in the nineteenth century. A description Mary Rogers death depicts an aspect that is “hidden and unknown”, which has more than one meaning to it. At first glance, we might assume that

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

A woman in the Victorian era was good for few things – marriage being of the upmost importance. When married, a woman needed to pure of sexual experiences and desires, for only men had sexual needs to be fulfilled. If a woman were “ruined,” or not a virgin, she was unmarriageable. Few outlets were available unmarried women to survive, and many of them turned to prostitution. We shall see the image of a ruined woman presented by Christina Rossetti in “The Goblin Market,” and find the conflicting images of a prostitute in D. G. Rossetti’s “Jenny” and Thomas Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid.”

Though set in entirely dissimilar countries at different points in history, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’ and Hannah Kent’s ‘Burial Rites’ possess significant comparisons. Both for instance, are fictionalized historical novels following the tribulations of a female protagonist convicted of murder and both have been widely acclaimed for their incredible literary style which merges classic poetry, epigraphs, folklore and historical articles with fiction. The most striking parallel between each novel that can be drawn, however, is the way in which authors masterfully craft the stories of untrustworthy, cunning and deceptive criminals to elicit sympathy from their audiences. Readers of the novel and secondary characters alike are gradually pulled into sympathising with ambiguous and untrustworthy female leads, Grace Marks (Alias Grace) and Agnes Magnusdottir (Burial Rites). Despite the heavy suspicions of others and a lack of evidence to support their claims of innocence, these characters present artfully manipulated features of their defence stories to provoke empathy, sympathy and trust from those within the novel, and those reading it.

The gothic vampire classic Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, is one of the most well known novels of the nineteenth century. The story focuses on a vampire named Dracula who travels to England in search of new blood, but who eventually is found out and driven away by a group of newly minted vampire hunters. A major social change that was going on during the late nineteenth century, around the time of that this novel was being written, was the changing roles of women in British society which constituted as the “New Woman” movement and the novel seems to explore and worry about this subject extensively. These women wanted to be freed both politically and sexually, but much of the general population at the time found it unsettling (Dixon,

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey establishes the inner feeling of a woman based on her own personal experience which provides a vivid glance into her perspective. Correspondingly, it reinstates Gothic novels as an reflection marginalized by the experiences of women living in the upper class. For contemporary modern day, Northanger Abbey functions as a warning, depicting the danger of amorous and sexual exploitation from the opportunistic characters within a social environment. These dangers are a realistic theme even in today's society marking potential threat for women. Mostly importantly, it serves as a device that's depicts the social separation between the companionship of woman and the inhuman acknowledgement of women as objects, which fosters the necessarily development for both men and

“Jane Eyre” is a book centred around female duality. In a time when females were still expected to fulfill their “womanly duties,” Charlotte Bronte wrote a novel dealing with a woman’s view on morality & sexuality, passion & sensibility, and conformity & insanity, among other themes. This motif of duality plays a strong part in the dynamism that makes up the book, and is not limited to the themes, but is also used to relate many of the characters to the titular Jane. In “The Mystery at Thornfield,” Valerie Beattie makes claims that the character Bertha Mason’s insanity is a representation of rebellion toward the limitations of Victorian women. Not only is

The novel demonstrates both popular and familiar gender roles in the 19th century. Catherine Earnshaw, breaks through the stereotypes, and has a mesh of both feminine and masculine qualities. In the Victorian Era, men are seemed as superior to women. Her gender roles are beyond the social norm, as well as her husband Edgar, who is portrayed as more feminine. Catherine holds many masculine qualities such as being adventurous, extroverted, and determined.