19thcl

This is a selection of essays from Michaelmas Term. This section will be expanded to include lecture/ tutorial notes and lots of other information. Just one little word of advice - all of these essays are feminist criticisms of the texts, rather than objective analysis. Also there are lots of quotes from critics (I've included all works cited in the bibliography at the end of each essay) so if you use anything check whether or not you need to quote the critic, otherwise it's plagarism - and teachers, for some strange reason, don't tend to like that! I apologise for the fact that none of these are graded but we don't have our essays graded properly at this point in the course, however my tutor hasn't had any complaints so they are all degree standard.

Repression, Rebellion and Rage: The Quest for Self in Jane Eyre and Villette . (Essay). Looks at the attempts of Jane and Lucy to discover and assert their self. Examines the importance of the first person narrative and the reliability of the narrators, the distinction between narrative and participation, the importance of setting, the relationship of the narrators with other characters, the ambiguity of the endings of each novel and questions whether in reading Lucy and Jane's stories we are actually reading Bronte's own quest for self.

Divided Times: The Public and Private Spheres in North and South and Hard Times. (Essay). Looks at the presentation, and ideology , of the public and private spheres in Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South and Charles Dickens's Hard Times. Examines the role of Gradgrind, Bounderby and Thornton in the public sphere, Margaret's public role, the absense of the woman worker, Lousia's impact on the private sphere, female servitude and the importance of Christianity in public/private ideology.

The Struggle with Silence: The Derangment of Browning's Dramatic Monologue. (Essay). Looks at the importance of silence in Browning's dramatic monologue. Examines whether Robert Langbaum's definition of the dramatic monologue as "poetry of sympathy" is appropriate and in the light of this examines the silent interlocutor, the silent woman, the silent self and the silent God in "My Last Duchess", "Porphyria's Lover", "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" and "Johannes Agricola in Meditation".

Conflict or Conspiracy?: George Eliot's Fractured Feminism. (Essay). Looks at whether George Eliot's Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss can be classed as feminist. Examines the character of Dorothea in relation to Brooke, Casaubon and Ladislaw, how Dorothea limits herself, the implications of Rosamond for a feminist interpretation, the empathy between Dorothea and Rosamond, Maggie's need for education, Maggie's rage and death, and the conservative nature of a feminine community.

Liberty and Imprisonment in The Portrait of a Lady. (Essay Plan). Looks at the portrayal of liberty and imprisonment in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady. Examines the constraints of Isabel's character, the role of Lord Wharburton and Casper Goodwood, the role of Gilbert Osmond in Isabel's confinement, Madame Merle and Ralph's contribution, the role of Pansy and the impact of the ending of the novel.

Deconstructing Eve: Christina Rossetti's re-evaluation of the Eve-Myth in "Goblin Market". (Essay). Looks at a close reading of "Goblin Market" to understand Rossetti's compliance with and rejection of the Biblical interpretation of Eve. Examines the links between the poem and the fall of Eve, the result of Laura's fall, Lizzie as Adam, the contrast with Hopkin's "The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe", Lizzie as Christ and the conservative ending.