Symbol and theme : a study of natural imagery in selected novels of Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë
Master Thesis
1994
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
This thesis comprises an in-depth study of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Villette, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wild fell Hall, examining each sister's individual use of nature, and its related symbols and images. This thesis will show how the natural world provides the structural principle on which each of these novels is based, and how the Brontes' use of it reflects and enhances the thematic concerns of their novels. The individuality as writers of each of the sisters is upheld in the thesis, as it examines the novels as separate entities. This is done in order to show that whilst the Bronte sisters all placed an important emphasis on the natural world in their novels, they did so with varying emphasis and intentions. In Wuthering Heights nature is given a place of prime importance, both as provider of symbols and images, and as a tangible realm. Physically, nature is perceived as the moors that surround Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange; symbolically, it is a realm of freedom from the human world of classification and differences. The thesis employs a Lacanian interpretation of the separation of Catherine and Heathcliff, and this illustrates how the natural world, for them, becomes a realm in which they can regain their childhood unity. It is eventually in the spiritual world, the supernatural realm, that they are united, and this realm is seen as an extension of nature. In Jane Eyre and Villette, the landscape over which the protagonists move is read as a reflection of their inner emotional states. It is this Romantic 'emotional reciprocity' that is emphasised in Charlotte's novel, and the thesis illustrates how the symbols and images drawn from the natural world enhance the novels' thematic concerns.
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Bibliography: pages 189-194.
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Reference:
Gillman, K. 1994. Symbol and theme : a study of natural imagery in selected novels of Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë. University of Cape Town.