English Lit A05 Quotes

She had long...

She had long forfeited the society of her own sex - lady Eastlake, Sally Shuttleworth

Brontë establishes explicit...

Brontë establishes explicit contrasts between Jane and Bertha, but she also suggests that there are underpinning parallels between these two passionate forms of womanhood - Sally Shuttleworth

No one wants to be called a...

No one wants to be called a 'blue-stocking', the name given to women who had devoted themselves too enthusiastically to intellectual pursuits. Blue-stockings were considered unfeminine and off-putting in the way that they attempted to usurp men's 'natural' intellectual superiority - Kathryn Hughes

Some doctors reported...

Some doctors reported that too much study actually had a damaging effect on the ovaries, turning attractive young women into dried-up prunes - Kathryn Hughes

Charlotte Brontë clearly expected...

Charlotte Brontë clearly expected her readers to be on the side of her defiant child as she stands up to adult tyranny - Sally Shuttleworth

Jane is far removed...

Jane is far removed from the conventional model of the Victorian child who should be 'seen and not heard' - Sally Shuttleworth

An awareness of fantasy is...

An awareness of fantasy is, therefore, essential to an understanding of both Jane Eyre and the imagination that shaped it, adding another dimension to a novel that is grounded so firmly in reality - Carol Atherton

Few novelists of the period were...

Few novelists of the period were as fascinated as Charlotte Brontë by the power of fantasy or aware of its complicated relationship to everyday life - John Bowen

She violently rebels against...

She violently rebels against the injustice of her particular fate, but equally strongly seeks to persuade us that it is typical and representative - John Bowen

Jane does move from silence to...

Jane does move from silence to speech, thus providing a model of feminist resistance and liberation. And she directly involves the reader in that liberators process, providing a model of feminist criticism as a collaborative heroics, of the feminist critic as the ideal listener for which the text longs - Carla Kaplan

Jane's seemingly private desire...

Jane's seemingly private desire, every bit as much as her rebellious public ones, "speaks the language of revolution" - Carla Kaplan

With the childhood declaration...

With the childhood declaration, "Speak I must" Jane resolves to narrate her own story - Carla Kaplan

She understands that marriage...

She understands that marriage is women's best route to financial security and social respect - Kathryn Sutherland

Often her plots move forward by means of...

Often her plots move forward by means of overheard conversations [...] Rumour places a large part in transmitting news, and in her small, enclosed communities, everyone is a gossip - Kathryn Sutherland

Realism is a literary device...

Realism is a literary device rejecting escapism and extravagance to produce a lifelike illusion and not a direct translation of reality - Kathryn Sutherland

The manoeuvring by which...

The manoeuvring by which a man presents himself to a woman (and her parents) as a possible husband comes before any signs of love - John Mullan

Happiness in marriage...

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance - John Mullan quoting Pride and Prejudice

Austen's novels, while alive to...

Austen's novels, while alive to the pressures of family expectations, unreservedly endorse the aim of marrying for love - John Mullan

Fathers often try...

Fathers often try to command their sons and daughters whom to marry - John Mullan

Man has the advantage of...

Man has the advantage of choice, women only the power of refusal - John Mullan quoting Northanger Abbey