Recent Scholar work

More recent Brontë-related papers or dissertations:

(Female) Desire and Romantic Art in Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Séllei , Nóra
Gender Studies (08/2009) (Romania)
Page Range: 10-26

"Constructed for posteriority by Charlotte Brontë as “the baby” of the family (Myth n.d.:11), described by their friend Ellen Nussey as “dear, gentle Anne” (Smith 1993:x), Anne Brontë has always been problematically positioned relative to her sisters. The reasons for this are multiple: first, biographical criticism has made her “meek and mild” (like Blake’s “Lamb”); second, her work has always been evalutated as of lower quality compared to Charlotte’s and Emily’s literary output; thirdly, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall created quite a bit of a stir on publication (see, for example, Smith 1993:ix, or Sullivan [2005:online], who states that “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall attracted negative criticism for its subject matter; it was described as" [...]

To what extent the concepts of “love” and “isolation” can be associated with the setting of the novel “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte
Öner, Pelin (2009) (Turkey)
Extended Essay thesis, TED ANKARA COLLEGE FOUNDATION HIGH SCHOOL.

The purpose of this extended essay is to examine the characters in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”, and question the impact of the setting on the characters’ attitude towards two important themes in the novel - ‘love’ and ‘isolation’. The importance of social values in the 18th and 19th century and the effects of industrialization and capitalism on these values are used by Bronte to illustrate the role of social status and the power of money. Bronte’s usage of these themes along with the setting and her shaping of the characters in the novel according to these values drew me to explore the importance of the setting on the characters decisions. This paper investigates how isolation from social areas and social values affects the actions of characters and to what extent changes in these circumstances can shape one’s decisions about both his/her future life and the lives of other characters.

A God of their own: religion in the poetry of Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti and Constance Naden
Alarabi, Nour
Supervisors: Shattock, J.
Issue Date: 3-Jul-2009
Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester, 2009. Awarded 3 July 2009.
Publisher: University of Leicester

This thesis aims to portray the different ways in which nineteenth-century women poets perceived God and religion, exemplified by the works of Emily Brontë, Christina Rossetti, and Constance Naden. From the 1960s onward, there have been considerable efforts to redefine Victorian women‘s spirituality, and to eliminate the ‘angel of the house‘ image that was attached to them by their male contemporaries. As a result, the works of many Victorian women poets have been revived and re-evaluated. Brontë and Rossetti have been the focus of many individual studies which have explored their religious orientations, mainly by identifying in their works the religious doctrines of the movements with which they were associated. In contrast, Constance Naden‘s status as an atheist scientist and a philosopher has made modern scholars overlook the representation of religion in her poetry. By focussing on the less familiar poems of Brontë (the Gondal poems) and Rossetti (the secular early poems), the thesis will offer a new interpretation of their relationship with God. This will not be based on a consideration of their religious beliefs but on the lack of them in their early works. The chapter on Naden, however, will demonstrate how her scientific training did not stop her from sympathizing with theists, and admiring prophets and mystics. The ultimate aim of the thesis will be to illustrate the individuality of these poets and the uniqueness of their thought. This will be achieved through a close analysis of the poems, with a minimal use of feminist and other literary theories. It will also demonstrate the problematic interpretations that may arise from associating these poets with one religious movement or one school of thought.

Categories: Journals, Scholar