Volume 3,Issue 8
Research on the “Other” Writing in Charlotte Brontë's Novels
When it comes to Charlotte Brontë, many scholars focus their research on her masterpiece Jane Eyre and the female characters in it, as if Charlotte Brontë can only be regarded as a pure feminist writer with Jane Eyre as her representative work. The author holds that research on Charlotte Brontë should appropriately move beyond the single category of “Jane Eyre and feminism” and examine the characterization in her works from a broader perspective. Through an investigation of her three representative works—Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette—it can be found that most of the “Other” characters portrayed in them are negative. This phenomenon reflects the author’s subconscious inferiority and arrogance, a psychology shaped not only by Charlotte’s personal experiences but also by the influence of imperialist narratives in her era.
[1] Brontë C, 2014, Jane Eyre [Wu J, Trans.], People’s Literature Publishing House, Beijing.
[2] Brontë C, 1981, Shirley [Cao Y, Trans.], Shanghai Translation Publishing House, Shanghai.
[3] Brontë C, 2000, Villette [Wu J, et al., Trans.], Shanghai Translation Publishing House, Shanghai.
[4] Gaskell E, 1987, The Life of Charlotte Brontë [Zhu Q, Zhu W, Trans.], Shanghai Translation Publishing House, Shanghai.
[5] Moore G, 2012, The Victorian Novel in Context, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York.
[6] Dussinger J, 2003, Imperialism, Ideology and the Brontës: The Case of Agnes Grey, Wuthering Heights, The Professor, Jane Eyre, and Villette, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
[7] Liu WX, 2022, A Study on Intertextuality in Charlotte Brontë’s Novels, dissertation, Guangzhou University.
[8] Li Y, 2022, An Analysis of Charlotte Brontë’s Novel Narrative Style. Youth Literator, (14): 119–121.
[9] Liu YF, 2020, Criticism and Reconstruction: On Cosmopolitanism in Charlotte Brontë’s Novels. Foreign Language and Literature Research, 6(03): 44–51.
[10] Mu T, 2019, From Jane Eyre to Villette: Charlotte Brontë and Victorian Psychiatry. Foreign Literature Review, (03): 5–21.