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ILLNESS IN "JANE EYRE" AND "WUTHERING HEIGHTS"

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Date Issued:
1985
Summary:
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights are comparable in their symbolic use of physical illness. In both novels, illness symbolizes a basic opposition between a central female character and society. Conversely, excellent health symbolizes that a character is in harmony with society. In Jane Eyre, Jane's illnesses represent her inability to survive as a total outsider. Catherine's illnesses in Wuthering Heights are the opposite, for they represent her inability to be sustained by a conventional life. The illnesses of the central female characters facilitate their escape from unsatisfying situations. The position of Jane Eyre and Catherine Earnshaw as women in male-dominated worlds is central to their discontent and is the reason for their inability to change their lives through less drastic means.
Title: ILLNESS IN "JANE EYRE" AND "WUTHERING HEIGHTS".
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Name(s): DILGEN, REGINA M.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Coyle, William, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1985
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 96 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights are comparable in their symbolic use of physical illness. In both novels, illness symbolizes a basic opposition between a central female character and society. Conversely, excellent health symbolizes that a character is in harmony with society. In Jane Eyre, Jane's illnesses represent her inability to survive as a total outsider. Catherine's illnesses in Wuthering Heights are the opposite, for they represent her inability to be sustained by a conventional life. The illnesses of the central female characters facilitate their escape from unsatisfying situations. The position of Jane Eyre and Catherine Earnshaw as women in male-dominated worlds is central to their discontent and is the reason for their inability to change their lives through less drastic means.
Identifier: 14245 (digitool), FADT14245 (IID), fau:11055 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1985.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Subject(s): Brontë, Charlotte,--1816-1855--Jane Eyre--Criticism and interpretation
Brontë, Emily,--1818-1848--Wuthering Heights--Criticism and interpretation
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14245
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.