“Reason Held Passion by the Throat”
“Reason Held Passion by the Throat”

Summary/Abstract: My paper will compare Charlotte Bronte’s treatment of female identity in Jane Eyre – a work often credited with being the first to externalize the female schizophrenic split so pervasive in the Victorian era – with Darren Aronofsky’s portrayal of the identity drawn in the Black Swan. The latter, while a contemporary work, is grounded in Tchaikovsky’s nineteenth-century ballet. The film proposes a rewriting of the ballet’s underlying story which turns upon the interaction of a white swan and a black one. In a new visceral version, Aronofsky brings the two roles together in a young dancer who searches to reach artistic perfection.

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