Charlotte Bronte and Oscar Wilde: A Comparative Analysis of Their Novels and Influences, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

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CHARLOTTE BRONTË ● is a modern woman with a moral integrity ● she takes inspiration from her own experiences ● 1847→ she published her first novel Jane Eyre Jane Eyre - Jane is an orphan who lives with her relatives - She is sent to a boarding school, where she is unhappy and lonely - she becomes a teacher and she finds a job as a governess to a French girl Adele, who lives with her guardian Mr Rochester - Mr Rochester is a mysterious man who seems troubled, but Jane is attracted to him. - She saves him from a fire and he tells her he is in love with her, he proposes and she agrees - The marriage is interrupted because Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason= mad and lives in ten house locked in the attic - Jane leaves Thornfield Hall - One day she returns to Thornfield to find it burnt down, but mr Rochester is still alive and they finally get married. Stylistic features - First person narrator—> Jane’s point of view - Her way of describing the events in her life is mediated by her feeling and emotional responses - When the novel came out—> shock for some readers because it went against the puritanical tradition (a good woman should not feel the need to explore physical passions). - Jane’s character is conditioned by her childhood experiences —> her education by her heartless aunt and her austere boarding school. - Disquieting atmosphere—> dark and threatening shades as wells as the occurrence of mysterious events—> embodied by the character of Bertha Mason. - Madness= this motive was used as a means of social controls or repression - Bertha and Jane= complementary figures—> Bertha is the repressed side of Jane and they help to create a deeper portrait of female identity. OSCAR WILDE ● He was born in 1854 and grew up in Dublin. ● his most famous work is the novel called “The picture of Dorian Gray” The picture of Dorian Gray The preface of the novel is considered a manifest of the Aesthetic movement and it expresses Wilde’s ideas on art in general: - the artist is a creator of beautiful things - to reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. - the critic can translate his impression of beautiful things into another matter - vice and virtue are the artist materials for art - it is the spectator that art really mirrors - diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital. The story: Basil is an artist, fascinated by the youth and beauty of a young man: Dorian Gray and he decides to portrait him. When Dorian sees the portrait he becomes conscious of his beauty and he understands with horror that the beauty of the portrait will last while he himself will grow old and horrible. Therefore, under the influence of the aesthete Lord Henry (who believes youth to be the supreme value), he wishes to always look young. Dorian and Lord Henry become friends and he begins to live the life of an aesthete. He meets the actress Sybil Vane at the theater and he falls in love with him but Dorian rejects her when she gives up acting because she fascinated him only on stage. Then he notices that an expression of cruelty has appeared on the face of the portrait and decides to return to Sybil, she has killed herself. Dorian starts a life of vice and sunsel gratification, letting his portrait assume the consequences of his corrupt soul. Dorian lets Basil see the portrait and then kills him to prevent him from revealing his secret. As the portrait becomes uglier, Dorian realises the horror of his acts and he decides to destroy the portrait and begin a new life, but in doing it he kills himself. The portrait is magically restored to its original image, while the real Dorian becomes those of an old, disgusting man. Themes: ➔ For Basil and Lord Henry beauty and appearance have become the ultimate values. ➔ Art can no longer be judged on a moral basis but only on an aesthetic one. ➔ Gothic horror: his own life becomes an unchanging and untouchable work of art, while the portrait becomes the mirror of his real inner soul ➔ the split between APPEARANCE AND REALITY forms the central core of the novel ➔ Dorian embodies many aspects of Wilde’s philosophy, in particular his rejection of utilitarian values of industrialised mass society through the cult of art and beauty for its own sake. His Aestheticism had a profound influence on the work of others, including Gabriele D'annunzio What is aestheticism? Aestheticism is an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than other themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts. In other words, this movement was based on the principle that pursuit of beauty and elevation of taste was the main aim of art. Aesthetic writers gave free rein to their imagination and fantasy. The main purpose of their literary works was the pursuit of beauty. THE 20th CENTURY After the death of Victoria, the role of the monarchs had been reduced to a symbolic value and now the political power lay with the government. The liberal government continued the social reform which had begun in the Victorian age ● Old age pensions act: it granted pensions to people over 70 During this period the Labor party became really important, it grew into a separate party representing working- class interests. THE IRISH QUESTION ● The majority of the irish question was Catholic and they wanted a more independent Parliament in Dublin ● North Ireland —> wanted to stay under british rule ● Easter monday in 1916 —> Rebellion staged by a group of republicans in Dublin —> suppressed by the British army