course seven

8/13/2019 Course Seven

1/4

COURSE SEVEN. The Masterful Realism of the Three Mid-Victorian Feminine Writers

A. The Narratological Aspect of Victorian Masterful Realism

The three masterful Victorian women-noelists! "eor#e Eliot! Charlotte and Emil$%ronte! are considered masterful writers for three reasons. Firstl$! &ecause of the wa$

they transform'what in the (reious installment on Victorian realism was referred to as)outward circumstances or commonplaces of the 19thcentury into inward thoughts,i.e. thou#hts stemmin# from the conscience and fate of their (rota#onists. Secondl$! theyarticulatesuch thou#hts em&odied in fictional (eo(le according to functional realisticplots. Thirdl$! the realistic (lots and characters depend to a demonstrably great etentupon symbolic settings or en!ironments.This lecture will demonstrate the (atterns of interde(endence of the three factorsmentioned 'the realistic characters and (lots and the s$m&olic settin#s)! which areres(onsi&le for the (ossi&ilit$ of e*(lainin# rationall$ and (lausi&l$ the meanin# andform #ien to life &$ the or#anic wholes re(resented &$ each of the &oo+s anal$sed.

". The #planation of Victorian Realism as a Modern $iterary %onception &et in anArchetypal 'rame

The masterful ,criture of the three Victorian noelists #ies a feminine sha(e to twoelements in Matthew rnolds literar$ conce(tion/ the idea that literature constitutes acriticism of life a deepened understanding of life since literature offers humanity an enhanced

interpretive power. This re(resents a realistic! rational conce(tion a&out literature asenhancin# the +nowled#e! lucidit$ and critical s(irit of man! &$ emanci(atin# (eo(le whoread from stale, received ideas. 0n this classicall$ modern1conce(tion! literature (erformsthe same role as science! in so far as it wields 2manifests3 a kind of descriptive accuracythatobviously transfers into the realm of f iction the empirical assumptions connected to the positivistic

practices of science. 0nli&eratin# man from (re4udices! realistic literature ma+es room 'inthe reader, (ust as in the fictional protagonists with whom he is in!ited to identify in

the course of the straight narrati!e) forthe modern liberal beliefs2prompted by the ideal ofharmonious, perfectible, rational and just social living. The literar$ access to the li&eral &eliefis (roided! 4ust as in science! where h$(otheses are erified &$ e*(erimental (ractices.0n theVictorian realistic 'or sermonic) fiction! a +ind of fiction which teaches the #ood&$ offerin# (ara&les of eil! the 4ust ideals and truths are arried at &$ fictionall$or#ani5in# the confrontation of #ood characters with &ad characters! in aderse! tr$in#circumstances. This form of confrontation can &e understood in two wa$s. First! as thecounter(art of science! (ositiel$ descri&ed! we hae to do with a confrontation of #oodwith eil in the #eneral form of the 'inaus(icious! (otentiall$ eil) momentar$ se(arationor alienation of the indiiduals from the #ood! irtuous communit$ the$ &elon# to 'thismomentar$ se(aration and final a(otheotic reunion was descri&ed in the late 1678s &$

9ose(h :illis Miller! in his &oo+ ;The Form of Victorian Fiction


2/4

literar$ te*t conforms)! has as its final (oint the ha(($! definitie reinte#ration of themomentaril$ alienated indiiduals into their communit$. On the other hand! this leads tothe second #eneral (oint to &e made a&out Victorian realistic fiction. The unfla##in# 2f@r@e*ce(Aie3 reinte#ration of the indiidual into the communit$ 'i.e. the d,noument) recallsthe #eneral form of comed$! which stresses the last moment of an initiatic 4ourne$/ the

archet$(al trium(h and return of the monom$thical hero after the moment of se(arationfrom the communit$= it also resem&les the retrieal of the lost shee( in the (ara&le ofChrist seen as a she(herd. With this we enter the realm of m$th-criticism which see+s foranthro(olo#ical archet$(es in literature. 0t is in iew of this! that we will find a (attern ofinte#ration of the s$m&olic settin#s and stories into a more ca(acious frame of meanin#than the one (roided &$ the (ositie! scientific intentions of realism! for demonstratin#how the characters! (lots and settin#s are articulated into si#nif$in# wholes. Since it isBuite eas$ to define the master$ of the feminine writers literar$ wholes! tal+in# in(rinci(le! and usin# the instruments of structuralist! archet$(al or semiotic criticism! wecan state that with the longer fictions published after the middle of the Victorian Age, i.e., for thenovels Jane Eyre, Wuthering eightsand !iddlemarch that appeared respectively in "#$%,"#$# and "#%"&', realism comes into its own and to terms with himself( or, it becomes by ') th

century structuralist standards, tightly knit, well structured.

%. The )eneral 'orm of the Three 'eminine No!elistic Tours de Force*Three

Masterpieces+Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights andMiddlemarch

To descri&e in (rinci(le the su&stance of all the Victorian (athetic stories ' stories&ein# called! in the sin#ular!fabula&$ the structuralist critic Vi+tor Sh+los+$! a leadin#mem&er of the ?8thcentur$ school of Russian formalism= stories are &ein# (rocessed innoels so as to transform them into meanin#ful literar$ (lots or! in the sin#ular! inRussian!sjuzet) we hae centered u(on the confrontation between strength andweakness as the stimulus (or the incipient story) developed in the feminine Victoriannovels; this confrontation in principle is turned, in the plot, into an actualdemonstration

of the reciprocal transformation of interiority into strong, exemplary exteriority. 0t is fair toconsider that the ca(acit$ to ma+e (ersonal contact with the e*teriorit$ of the other's) is asufficientl$ #eneral human (ro&lem 'and for Victorian women an een more acute(ro&lem) for it to sere as a sufficientl$ uniersal as(ect of humanit$ 'which is! therefore!worth dealin# with realisticall$! &ecause it re(resents a #eneral condition of humane*istence and &ecause science see+s #eneral laws and it see+s to understande(istemolo#icall$! or scientificall$ the conditions of (ossi&ilit$ for all thin#s). On theother hand! the confrontation of wea+ness into stren#th and the a((ro(riation ofwea+ness &$ stren#th! which leads to the inter#ration D re#eneration of the world! (ermitsre#ardin# human societ$ as an ultimate s(iritual communit$ 'ma+in# it sufficientl$re(resentatie! #eneral or een uniersal in archet$(al or m$thical terms). ee(in# inmind the archet$(al 'or s(iritual) association! the inter(retations of the noels (ro(osed

in what follows will offer analo#ies of the modernm realistic conce(tion of literature witholder literar$ forms! such as m$ths and fair$tales 'which will &e ino+ed as theunderscore for the #reatest literar$ master(ieces of realism)D.Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heightsand Middlemarch

*n Jane Eyre, through the device of the intimate first&person narrative of interiority, an e+ternallyinsignificant because ill&favoured person, an orphan girl, is followed, in stages, during her internal


3/4

growth, which amounts to ever stronger manifestations of interiority. he narrative of mutualintegration of the interior -Janes soul, mind and spirit/ with the e+terior -Janes social milieu/ iseffected by a corresponding progress in internal -spiritual/ power and e+ternal -social/ power. hefirst manifestation of interiority, not unlikeable for the reader, is an outburst of interiority. Janesinternal individual strength acts as obstinacyat first. he ne+t stage in the manifestation of herinteriority consists in her ac0uisition ofsharper and sharper virtue. Eventually -but in fact in thestory gradually and increasingly/ Janes interiority is validatedin the plotas moral charisma orlegitimate power& power over the other inhabitants of the publicspace. At the heart of the plot ofJane Eyreis an epiphany of purified power, obtained by the purification in the internal, spiritualorder as a pre&condition for the subse0uent purification in the e+ternal, social space. 1yfastidious, careful design, individual e+perience is presented first, then successfully transmittedas a form of initiation and growth. his is formally achieved by the implied authors2building ofprovisional wholes to be demonstrably and didactically broken only in order to build superior,wider wholes, wholes capable of yielding ever stronger meanings. *nternal and e+ternalprogress as illustrated by the plot is symbolically -i.e., poetically and so, discontinously, lyrically /presented as a staged 3ourney whose formativestages correspond to some intiatic steps4stages .hus, first at 5ateshead and 6owood, Jane Eyres soul is made and perfected as within asanctuary, from whence she emerges strengthened in all her human faculties. *n 5ateshead,where she is kept, as it were, outside the house-hold/, at the gate, she develops her imaginationin loneliness and she is pushed to the limits of her identity in fear, terror of death and of herself.

-As a little girl of ten she is held culpable for every trace of her individuality by the fairy&tale likestep&aunt, she is daily tortured by her step&cousins, then she is e+ceptionally tormented in thegothic story dungeon of the savagely red 7ed 7oom. 8ear and revolt mark or maim her, threatento break her self in a kind of ritual death. hen in 6owood she is restored and brought back intothe fold of shared humanity with4by elen 1urns who burns with godly lovingkindness and by!iss emple, whose name itself points to the sacramental effects of Janes stay at 6owood. 9e+t,the newly ac0uired, serene, powerful and optimistic because spiritualised personality of the younggoverness at hornfield all will be further sub3ected to the fire&test of temptation in thesymbolically ambiguous paradise4hell of the wealthy mansion, whose significance appears to bethe field that seems peaceful only to work as an e+cruciating -:hristian/ crown of thorns. 8orJane, hornfield is, socially speaking, a potential pleasure dome , to paraphrase :oleridgesphrase at the beginning of ;ubla ;han. ere she finds pleasure in complete fulfilment as agovernness with power over the young -Ades in time and gives thanks to the voices of her conscience awoken inthe night&time that she has to leave unoccupied the position of legitimate power over thehousehold as its mistress. he reader will not be given time to doubt the heroine and wonder ifshe will e+ceed the mark, like Adam when prompted by Eve who set her eyes on and gave herear to the serpent. -ere the gender roles are reversed, of course, with the male as the weaker ofthe pair?/. 9o, Jane does not yield to the e+ternal temptation of deserved, but impossible e+ternal

power. *nstead, on realising what kind of mistress she could only become with 7ochester alreadymarried to a former wife, Jane chooses to flee not fall. @he runs for her life through a self&imposed wilderness beyond the Eden that she does not lose by falling. he social wilderness sheis courageous enough to confront will not crush her but reward her. Another set of founding,archetypal stories of the old world are echoed at this point in the story( and their purpose is to

The term ;im(lied author< was introduced &$ Wa$ne %ooth! in The Rhetoric of Fiction,to desi#nate the

author of one (articular &oo+ written &$ a name in the histor$ of literature. Thus! for e*am(le! there are as

man$ Charlotte %rGntes as im(lied authors as there are &oo+s authored &$ her 'H or I im(lied authors

Charlotte %ronte see the &io&lio#ra(h$ at the end of the Contributions of the British..)


4/4

provide an e+ternal, social counterpart to the internal adventure in the heroines powerful soul.8irst, like !oses and the chosen Jewish people, the trying e+odus undertaken by Jane will becrowned by eventual triumph in :anaan, the land of milk and honey. ere the :anaan is called!oor ouse. *t will make for Jane the best household that she had ever lodged in, being bothgenteel and peaceful, and even more, providing a brotherly and sisterly family much moregenuine than the 7eed family of cousins Jane had had according to ordinary ties of blood orkinship at 5ateshead. @econdly, Jane can be seen to flee from hornfield all as if pursued bythe Erinies, the furies of 5reek tragedy. nly, these are not her own furies, but rather the sharedfuries of the rabid titans enchained together at hornfield allB 1ertha !ason and Edward7ochester. 1ecause hornfield had actually been a household secretely ruled by disaster andfiery, secret rage in Jane Eyres absence. -*t would also be literally consumed by its fire afterJanes departure from & the hornfield Cell/. 1y contrast to fieryhornfield, !oor ouse willremain dominated by iceonce the warm&hearted feminine figures of !ary and Diana 7iversleave it to become, 3ust like Jane Eyre earlier, governesses in a big town of the south. he causeof this formerly harmonious households free>ing will be the apostolic parish priest @t. John7ivers, Janes new suitor. Just like many a martyr in he 6ives of @aints, Jane will be sub3ectedto the test of ice, after having been sub3ected to that of fire. *n resisting @t. John 7iversmissionary appeals to her for becoming his companion in a brotherly marriage devoid of love,Jane Eyres apotheosis is both internal and e+ternal B as a strong soul, Jane discriminatesbetween what may be good in its own terms -a missionarys career/ but not good for her own

nature -becoming a mans wife without love/( she does not mistake the e+ternally good for theinternally good, and this is her greater strength, as a round feminine character, than @t. Johnsstrength, a stock priestly character. 7eady to leave behind her e+ternal fulfilment as @t. John7ivers mate bound for Australia & 3ust as she had been ready to leave behind internal self&fulfilment alongside with the e+ternal, social one as mistress at hornfield, Jane Eyres power willbe momentarily impaired, it would seem, only to emerge even stronger in the end. hedemonstrative structural amplification of Janes circle of identity will be again effected by firstbreaking it radically. he rites of passage se0uence of cyclical break&ups will end by thedesirable clima+ of the renewed encounter with Edward 7ochester crowned by marriage at8erndean. ere the dean, 7ochester, venerable and shadowy as the fern among the flowers, willbe met like a blind 6ear or edipus elevated to the status of an e+ternal hero, having been in histurn purged by the fire and the sparagmosor ritual maiming, according to the best rules ofromance. he mating of the royal pair of lovers and powerful beings will be effected now, at last,

at the end of the 3ourney which had been an ordinary trip through life for 7ochester until hed metJane whom life had already singled out for becoming engaged in a 0uest&3ourney. Jane, theinward rebel turned saint thanks to the e+ternal circumstances, several times over in the novel -asmany times as there are stages to her 3ourney after her going a&head once completely out of thegate at 5ateshead/ will thus apotheotically end up by appropriating & in marriage & the e+ternal,social, conventional realm, after her final marriage in strength with this realms reclaimed fiendturned angel himself & as a result of his own shedding of weakness in favour of spiritual, moral,religious strength and rectitude. *n spiritualised terms, the vertical, intimately internal dimensionreclaims, internali>es, appropriates the hori>ontal, social or public dimension. *n this way,Victorian social reality and its values find themselves hallowed by Janes progress, in Janesname, by Janes apotheotic marriage. his finally proves that the title of this novel was meant asmore than an inde+ for its centering merely on Janes internal and e+ternal adventures in theVictorian social environment( it aimed further, in a sermonic gesture, at indicating the ritual

transfiguration of lived e+perience under the impact of spiritual belief.

course seven

Documents