A Governess with a Mission: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
A Governess with a Mission: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Author(s): Luminiţa Elena TurcuSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, British Literature
Published by: UNIVERSITATEA »ȘTEFAN CEL MARE« SUCEAVA
Keywords: governess; Charlotte Brontë; Foucault; governmentality; governmentalization normalization; subordination; madness;
Summary/Abstract: The article analyses Charlotte Bronte’s celebrated protagonist from the perspective of Foucault’s notion of governmentality via an investigation of the semantics of the word ‘governess’ and of the status of this professional woman in mid- and late-Victorian England. The aim of the approach is to demonstrate that the governess acts as an instrument of rectification in the novel, working to governmentalize a system that has been chaotic and has taken for granted woman’s subordination.
Journal: Meridian critic
- Issue Year: XXXVII/2021
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 141-151
- Page Count: 11
- Language: English