外国文学史

英美文学

主讲人：赵静蓉 副教授

Charlotte Brontë and her Jane Eyre

Charlotte,

1816-1855

Emily,

1818-1848

Anne,

1820-1849

A brief biography They were born in Yorkshire. In 1820 Mr. Brontë

moved his family to Haworth, a remote and gloomy village on the Yorkshire moors. During the following years at Haworth, they had a great deal of freedom to explore the surrounding countryside.

All the Brontë scribbled poetry secretly. In 1846 they published their first and only poetry Poems by the authors named Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (the pseudonyms they choose preserved their own initials). However, their poetry proved failure which led all three to begin work on novels.

Brontë’s country

Haworth

Brontë sisters’ novels Charlotte: Jane Eyre (1847,by Currer Bell) Shirley (1849, by Currer Bell, 《雪莉》 ) Villette (1853 ，《维莱特》 ) The Professor: A Tale (1857, her first written but last

published ，《男教师》 ) Emily: Wuthering Heights (1847) Anne: Agnes Grey (1847) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848 ，《怀德菲尔庄园的

房客》 )

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre, taking the form of autobiographies written by authoritative and reliable narrators tells a story of a child’s development and maturation.

Its popularity and success owns much to its exceptional emotional power. Deep inside Jane we discover Charlotte’s soul.

Autobiographical elements 1. Helen Burns’ s death recalls the death of

Charlotte’s sisters at Cowan Bridge. 2. It is a work of critical realism as well as the

first and one of the most popular works of the working middle- class women.

3. Jane’s experience originates from Charlotte’s own experience. It is the first governess novel in the history of English literature.

Jane Eyre’s development

There are five distinct stages of development, each linked to a particular place: Jane’s childhood at Gateshead, her education at the Lowood School, her time as Adele’s governess at Thornfield, her time with the Rivers family at Moor House, and her reunion with and marriage to Rochester at Ferndean.

How is Jane? (1) Jane is an orphan who grows up lonely

without nobody caring for her. Jane is a small, plain and poor governess of

Victorian era instead of the rich, gentle, frail, beauties of the conventional heroine.

Jane only has an intense feeling, a ready sympathy and a strong sense of equality and independence.

How is Jane? (2) Most importantly, Jane dares to love her

master and marries him openly in defiance of the social convention and prejudices. It makes her as an entirely new woman in the era of Victorian.

Jane is a spirited and intelligent woman to accept her appointed place in society with unusual frankness and with a passionate sense of the dignity and needs of her sex.

Some questions 1. What do you think Mr. Rochester? Why

does he fall in love with Jane? What intrinsic qualities of Jane attract him? Is his former life happy? Why?

2. Is John River cruel? Does he really love Jane? Why does he choose Jane as his partner to India?

3. What had Jane always been pursuing in her whole life? How does the author express Jane’s feelings?

Writing Style in Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is written in the first person (“I”)

which functions as follows: 1. indicates the characteristic of autobiography. 2. be favorable to reveal intense, fierce and

sharp feelings directly and powerfully. 3. provides a full and complete thoughts of the

whole event and the other characters from the angle of vision of the narrator.

4. makes the work consistent and tends to give authority and credibility to the narrative.

The use of verb, adjective and adverb reinforces the strength of emotions. It makes the sentence more intense and reflects the sharp anguish and inner struggles of the characters. While reading, we can’t help temporarily identifying ourselves with the characters. It proves especially in Jane’s declaration.

The following are two examples selected from chapter 23, Jane Eyre:

“ 要离开桑菲尔德，我感到忧伤，因为我爱桑菲尔德；我爱它，因为我在这里过了一段充实而愉快的生活，尽管是短暂的。我没有被人踩在脚下。我没有被吓倒。我没有跟一些头脑迟钝的人一起遭到埋没，而且没有被排斥在同聪明、能干和崇高的人交往的圈子之外。我曾经面对面地与我所敬重所喜爱的人，与一个有独到见解、充满活力而开朗的心灵促膝谈心。我已经对您有所了解，罗切斯特先生，要我非得从您这里永远走开，我感到恐惧和痛苦。我看到我非走不可，就仿佛看到我非死不可一样。”

——第 23 章，戴侃译。

I grieve to leave Thornfield:  I love Thornfield: I love it, because I have lived in it a full and delightful life, momentarily at least. I have not been trampled on. I have not been petrified. I have not been buried with inferior minds, and excluded from every glimpse of communion with what is bright and energetic and high.  I have talked, face to face, with what I reverence, with what I delight in, with an original, a vigorous, an expanded mind.  I have known you, Mr. Rochester; and it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you for ever.  I see the necessity of departure; and it is like looking on the necessity of death."

“ 我告诉您我一定要走，”我有些恼火地反驳说。“您以为我能留下来做一个对您毫无意思的人吗？您以为我只是台自动机器，一台没有感情的机器吗？您以为我能容忍别人把我那一小口面包从嘴里抢走，把我那一滴赖以活命的水从杯子里泼掉吗？您以为我既然又穷又贱，长得又不美，个子又小，我就没有灵魂，没有心肝了吗？您想错了！我的灵魂跟您的一样高尚，心也跟您的一样充实！要是上帝能赐给我一点美和许多的财富，我也会让您难以离开我，就像我现在难以离开您一样。我现在并不是从世俗习惯、甚至也不是从凡人的躯体出发对您讲这番话，这是我的灵魂在跟您的灵魂对话，仿佛我们俩穿过了坟墓，一起站在上帝的脚下。彼此平等——因为我们就是平等的呀！”

‘I tell you I must go!’ I retorted, roused to something like passion. ‘Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?-a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? 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. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my sprit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal----as we are! ’

The writing style of Jane Eyre 1. the rich nature images which help establish

the characters’ lives and build their personalities. 2. the framework of fair tale such as Cinderella (a

heroine who is ill- treated by her stepmother but gets married to a prince later).

3. various rhetorical devices and writing skills such as hint, simile, metaphor, metonymy, symbol and so on.

Thornfield: thorn （荆棘，使人生气或苦恼的事物）＋ field. It is a image in Bible which alludes to Jane’s suffering from the unfair life and resisting the temptation from the outside world.

Love is a religion in Jane Eyre.

Themes

1. conflicts and struggles 2. love versus autonomy 3. gender relations 4. social class 5. religion

Conflicts and struggles in Jane Eyre The outer conflicts between Jane and others: Appearance, status, wealth, education and so on The inner struggles in Jane: Reason and emotion Reality and imagination Her dependent position and her desire for

independence Her actual inferiority and spiritual superiority