some prime ministers
under George III from 1760 to 1820
some famous whigs and/or double-faceted étiquettes:
William Pitt the Youngest often referred to as a Tory but preferred to be named and called ‘independant whig’
Lord Grenville was a whig.
Spencer Perceval who was be assassinated was also a whig
from 1820 to 1901, amongst the most notable prime ministers were:
Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington , ‘the Iron Duke’ was a leading military figure.
Viscount Melbourne was a noted whig.
Sir Robert Peel who oversaw the formation of the conservative party out of the Tory
created the concept of the police…hence the nickname ‘bobbies’
Maîtres, maîtresses et maîtrise Jane Eyre
Masters, mistresses and governess ( maîtresses double entendre word ) and mastery
A typically “Victorian” setting and perspective
apart from Pre-Raphaelites + Classical painters who concentrated more on “out of space and time” scenes
and more rarely on photographic aspects of the society of their own times
most of the paintings represent The governess, the Jilted, the Tryst, the Outcast, the Mistress
and mix the categories The fallen mistress
mixture of meanings in the word master( biblical undertones: Lord and Master, John 13:13)
“…for hers was an age of the demure” John Fowles FLW… Are we getting this very picture?
1-The social link functions as a tapestry with set places for the various threads and colours
first meeting between Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester: he remains the master and she the "unknown" lady(woman) he introduces himself from the very start whereas her part is there to help him getting back on his horse Jane has no official place and seems to be the centre of the hubbub going around to make sure that there is no mixing between the categories, each caste is supposed to stay in its own box Ingram Blanche is the next to perfect "item" to Rochester's union (should be) Jane is the perfect governess to Rochester's daughter who is herself a mark of a hidden picture behind the picture Mrs Rochester (the skeleton-in-the-cupboard character, joke may be inappropriate?) stands as a fallen mistress who eventually got mad through her wedding (despite Rochester's genetic definition) (inverted picture) reification of the status of mistresses : marriage precipitated her "fall"
hardships to be endured with a purpose?
2- The painting is more that of an impressionist with tints mingling here and there
than the set and traditional -cum-ideal Victorian painting
Mirror-like links and intertwining of social castes and emotional landscapes
meatphorical aspect of the "fall": a premonition of a borderline relationship tinged with feelings
and lack of on Rochester's part (the horse is out of his own control)
Rochester's Byronic arrival as a hero in need of help is the starting point of the "upper hand"
Jane will eventually get on her " master" and "lord"
the frontier gets blurred = emotions appear
religious thoughts and emotional links are mingled: ecstatic feelings for the lord and master alike
confessions and attempt at transparency of feelings even if it is disguised
3- Is there a beneficiary to this network of relationships? Who acquires the “mastery”?
the mastery is for the narrator-cum-writer who has beguiled us-readers- in thinking mistresses and governesses in terms of frailty
‘Frailty, thy name shall not be woman”… is the Shakespearian counterpart written by Brontë’s quill
totally different painting from the “stereotyped” Victorian photograph of the times
Rochester -matser and lord- is driven by obscure force: the secret, the hidden, the disguise
Officially a master… who eventually is half blind (love blind?) acquires no mastery of anything
broken social facade
mastery rhymes with a demonstration, that of acquiring one’s place (not one given by society)
but a self-made one through events and experiences that give meaning to them
a basic eulogy of freedom
Jane Eyre dans Jane Eyre n’applique-t-elle pas
les propos de Tzvetan Todorov?
“Une conception étriquée de la littérature, qui la coupe du monde dans lequel on vit, s’est imposée dans l’enseignement, dans la critique et même chez nombre d’écrivains. Le lecteur, lui, cherche dans les oeuvres de quoi donner sens à son existence.
Et c’est lui qui a raison.”
La littérature en péril
The status of books in Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre and books in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Dual aspect of books
-books as guides and mentors, companions and friends
part of her identity
part and parcel of her inner self as opposed to the outer one
the inner space : that of the line or path she decided to follow, part of the destiny she wants for herself
implies the idea of liberty but also life “within”
helping the narrator in giving her a composure: during the feast given by Mr Rochester
a social stance in a world in which she does not fit
the “duty” aspect of the governess: the social étiquette( the governess is recognizable by the fact that
she is dressed in a more sober and unattractive manner than the “ladies” of the good society of the times
books stand as a “vindication” of her status
(not unlikely the Brontës may have read Mary Wollstonecraft’s
book)
help her with her duties as a governess as well as the drawings done for others and being done by others
under her command
– books as escapism or the Madame Bovary syndrome
existential aides in times of turmoil :
– with Helen at school: drawing on a sketch book is a way of liaising and soothing the hardships of the rules
-a space for liberty and belonging to a different social sphere
implying dreamland of fantasies with all their dangers and pitfalls
as an orphan, books have been a refuge for her
the first book she might have been introduced to was the Bible
through the readings at her aunt’s house
and later on at school
books with a constraint and a moral
– last but not least: Jane Eyre’s message is a narcissistic one : “the best book is the book I am writing”
it outstrips and excells the book of books (namely the Bible) the word is mine ‘See Reader, how cute and intelligent!’ style
I am over the mass of my times: I will be published and read, I the writer, I the cretaor
I stand as the truth , that of the disguised writer under the quill of a governess to give my contemporaries
and all the generations of readers my piece of mind on
man without the kindness attached to mankind
still expecting my own recognition
(hence the act of auto-biographical writing)
further reading (with a fee) on GradeSaver
notes and texts by students
- Jane Eyre: The Independent and Successful Woman Of the Nineteenth Century
- Mystery and Suspense
- In Search of Permanence
- Jane’s Art and Story
- Beauty and the Representation of Authenticity: Women in Jane Eyre
- In Defense of an Ending: St. John and the Role of Destiny in Jane Eyre
- A Life On a Page
- Jane Eyre’s Flight From Flight
- Standing Alone: Isolation and Narration in Villette and Jane Eyre
- The Struggles of the Heroines in Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre
- Women in Literature: Examining Oppression Versus Independence in Henry V and Jane Eyre
- Fire: Destruction and Creation
- Treatment of the Independant Female in The Portrait of a Lady and Jane Eyre
- Jane Eyre: An Uncommon Heroine
- The Unenslaved Self: Feminist Enlightenment in Jane Eyre
- The Impossibility of Standing Alone: Jean Rhys’s “Wide Sargasso Sea” in the Context of Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”
- A Psychoanalytic Criticism of Emma, Jane Eyre, and Tess of the D’Urbervilles
- Class Structure and Morality in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
- Devices Used In Jane Eyre and Aurora Leigh to Represent Female Subjugation
- Surrogate Mother Figures in Jane Eyre
- The Burden of Feminism in Jane Eyre
- Examining Femininity in “Wide Sargasso Sea”
- The Woman at the Door: The Gypsy Scene in Jane Eyre
- Signifiance of Setting in Jane Eyre
The decade in review adapted from Marie-Madeleine Cloup-Speer
A decade in review
On September 11th 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists _________(destroy)
the Twin Towers in New York City, _________ (kill) more than 3000
people and _________ (prompt) the American government and its
allies ___________ (launch) a global “war on terror” that
____________________ (still / go on) today.
In November 2008 the Americans _________ (elect) Barack Obama
44th President of the United States. Ever since, the first black
president of the world?s most powerful nation ___________ (be)
under intense pressure. He ______________ (promise) to put an
end to the war in Iraq, give all Americans medical coverage and
promote strong environmental laws.
__________ (he /succeed)?
The European currency _______
____ (become) the only French
currency on January 1st 2002. Today 16 EU countries __________
(make) the switch. Eight more __________________ (do) it by 2014.
The United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden ________ (be) the only
EU countries left with a national currency
Today the Euro _______ (be) the 2nd most used currency in the
world after the dollar.
December 26th 2004: gigantic waves sometimes more than 10
meters high ________ (bring) destruction to the coasts of Indonesia,
Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia, _______ (kill) more than
220 000 people and _________ (cause) more than a million
_________ (lose) their home and possessions. Because the
Tsunami _______ (hit) in places where many tourists ______
_______________ (vacation) over the Christmas holidays, it
__________ (become) an unprecedented global event.
The financial crisis _____ (hit) the stock markets in August 2007,
________ (cause) the banking system __________ (collapse) all
over the world. The global economic crisis that __________ (follow)
________ (not / be) over yet.
Michael Jackson _______ (die) unexpectedly on June 25th 2009.
Millions all over the world __________ (mourn) the “King of Pop”, an
artist who _________ (sell) more than 750,000,000 records over his
career.
American President George W. Bush ___________ (announce) the
invasion of Irak in March 2003. The war ____________ (not / end)
with the arrest of Saddam Hussein and the fall of his regime . Today
the Americans and their allies _____________ (still /fight) a war that
__________ (cost) more than 100 000 lives.
According to a United Nations survey, the population of the world
________ (reach) 6 billion in 2000. Ten years later, there _______
(be) 6.7 billion of us. There _______ (be /“possibly”) 9 billion in 2050.
In the last decade demography ____________ (become) a major
concern, along with global warming, migrations, growing inequalities
and food shortages.
Although the first Harry Potter book ___________ (published) in
1997, success _________ (hit) really big in 2001, when the film
adaptation ___________ (release).
420,000,000 copies of the novels _______________(sell) all over the
world, translated into 67 languages.
After the Bible, Mao?s “Little Red Book” and the Koran, it _________
(be/“possibly”) the 4th best selling book of all times!
The first iPod _________ (launch) by Apple in 2001. Since then,
more than 220, 000, 000 iPods _________________ (sell) all over
the world, __________ (make) it the most popular digital audio
player on the market. Since the invention of the iPod and its
alternatives, it ______________ (become) normal to carry around
thousands of songs and hours of video. Only 10 years ago, it _____
(be) unthinkable!
Homework: Your turn now!
Think about 3 events from the 2000-2010 decade that you think were important.
Write about them (30 to 50 words each), and illustrate them with a picture.
