Misfortunes and Defiance

A master's thesis:

The Misfortunes of Motherhood: How Anne Brontë Exposes 19th Century Legal and Social Injustices to Mothers Through The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Smith, Alexis D.
Mississippi College
2019

Focusing on the misfortunes of mothers in the 19th century, this thesis will expose the legal and social limitations unfairly put on women through the lens of Anne Brontë’s novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Laws concerning marriage in Victorian England were partisan to men, and gave women few rights concerning their own wealth, property, and even children, as evident in court cases from the period. If women could manipulate legal restraints, societal expectations would provide little relief. Arguing against common interpretation that Tenant is a feminist text about Helen Huntingdon’s role as an independent woman, this presentation will show that the novel focuses on what Helen is unable to do as a mother rather than what she is able to do as a woman.

And a paper recently published in India:

The Defying Protagonist in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Poonguzhaly. R, Dr. Tara Tripurasundari
International Journal for Research in Engineering Application & Management (IJREAM) Vol-05, Issue-12, Mar 2020

This research paper aims to focus on the protagonist’s defying nature in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. It also aims to picture the nineteenth century woman nature from various perspectives. It is not a single thought emerging from a single discipline. This paper defines the life of helpless woman all over the world. Brontë (1831-1855) belongs to British literature. She is a nineteenth century novelist. Brontë in her novel Jane Eyre (1847) exposes the urbanity of puritans. During Victorian era feminist ideas spread among the educated middle class women and inequitable laws were repealed. The women’s suffrage movement gained momentum in the last years of the
Victorian era. Women rights were extremely limited in this era. Charlotte Brontë belongs to this era but, she pictures her women character in a strong manner. In Jane Eyre, the protagonist acts as one women army in her life against the men whom she faces in her life. The protagonist and speaker of the novel is Jane Eyre. Jane is an intellectual, truthful, plain-featured young girl forced to encounter with oppression, inequality and hardship. Although she meets with a series of individuals who bully her autonomy, Jane frequently succeeds at asserting herself. She maintains her principles of righteousness, human dignity, and integrity. Her strong belief in gender and social equality challenges the Victorian bias against women and the poor. The main male character in this novel is Rochester. He is unusual, prepared to set aside polite behavior, maintain decorum, and consider of social class in order to relate with Jane frankly and directly. Other male characters are John Reed, Mr. Brockle hurst, St. John Rivers.