Among Charlotte Bronte's four full-length novels, three are composed in the form of autobiography: Jane Eyre (1847), Villette (1853), and The Professor (published posthumously in 1857). The abundance of first-person narratives in Bronte's juvenile writings also highlights her marked preference for the first-person perspective in telling stories. In fact, due to the vital sense of truth inherent in first-person narration, Bronte is often identified by her readers as the heroines in her novels. This thesis aims to deal with the complex relationships of the authoress, her works, and the first-person narration. As a famous woman writer in the nineteenth century, Bronte satisfies her desire for self-expression by means of writing autobiographical fictions instead of composing her real autobiography. The first chapter examines the social and cultural contexts as well as Bronte's personal reasons behind such a choice. There is also the discussion of Bronte's presentation of the different characteristics of Victorian autobiographies by men and women in her novels. The second chapter investigates into Bronte's narrative strategy, and provides answers to her insistence on first-person narration while the omniscient narration is the mainstream of novel writing. The development of Bronte's narrative technique and her transition from the early masculine narrative to the later female discourse are also traced. The third chapter reviews the everlasting subject of Bronte's novels¡Xlove and marriage. With a careful textual study of Bronte's novels and a comprehensive examination of her biographical documents, I find that Bronte's fictional hero and heroines have faithfully reflected the authoress's real thoughts and true beliefs. As can be detected, to deliver the truth that she knows of and to influence her readers on issues that concern her most have always been Bronte's main preoccupations in respect of novel writing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0703103-151545 |
| Date | 03 July 2003 |
| Creators | Lin, Hsiao-ying |
| Contributors | Shu-Fang Lai, Yu-San Yu, Chung-Yi Chu |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0703103-151545 |
| Rights | unrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive |
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