The xix century critical realism
In the XIX century British imperialism was on the rise. The socio-economic contradictions were most severe. Gradually the working class became aware of their strength. The movement for the worker's political rights known as Chartism1 broke out. It was an immensely complex age. This is how the English communist critic, Ralph Fox, characterized it: "This was the period of the workhouses, the Hungry Forties, the Chartist strikes .. It was the period of the worship oi money and success."
Most writers of the XIX century were critical realists. They showed a realistic picture of their contemporary England. In their works they reflected the class division of society, the exploitation of the poor by the rich, social injustice and the struggle of workers against oppression. Karl Marx called Charles Dickens ['tjailz 'dikinz], William Makepeace Thackeray ['wiljam 'meikpi:s 'бжкэп],Elizabeth Gaskell [i'Iiz9ba9 'gasskal] and Charlotte Bronte ['Ja:bt 'brsnti]"the glorious school" of English novelists whose descriptions revealed to the world more political and social truths than did all the politicians, publicists and moralists added together. Here belong, of course, many other writers, George Eliot [Мзэ^з 'eljst], and Emily Bronte, for instance. All these novelists portrayed every-day life, with a little man for the central character.
1 a movement for the People's Charter — a petition produced in 1837. It demanded to give political power to the working people and end capitalist exploitation.
CHARLES DICKENS
(1812—1870)
In most ways Charles Dickens ['dikinz] was the greatest novelist that England produced in the XIX century. He was born in Portsmouth ['po:tsma9] where his father, John Dickens, was a clerk in the Navy Pay office. After a short period in London John Dickens was transferred to Chatham ['tjffitam]. Years later Charles Dickens, already a famous writer, returned to live to Chatham where he had spent the happiest years of his boyhood. John Dickens again moved to London when Charles was nine. The boy did not go to school there. He went to work in a blacking warehouse: his father was in debt and the family was large. Soon John Dickens was arrested and sent to the debtors' prison. His wife and the younger children joined him there. The twelve-year-old Charles had to feed himself. He went to school only after his father had been released from prison.
In 1827 he became an office boy in a solicitor's firm and filled up the gaps in his education by reading at the British Museum. The eager, bright and sensitive youth found the law dull, but he absorbed much of its atmosphere and background which he later on depicted in his novels.
John Dickens, pensioned off by the Admirality, learned shorthand and became a parliamentary reporter. His son Charles followed suit. The young man was soon recognized to be one of the best reporters in the whole country. He was invited to join several papers. The young reporter's power of observation and memory were phenomenal and provided him with material for his fiction.
In 1835 Charles Dickens published a collection of stories and sketches of London life entitled "Sketches by Boz"1. The work was warmly received.
Dickens first caught his readers by making them laugh. In "Posthumous2 Papers of the Pickwick Club" (1836—1837) he seems to see things in an amusing and exaggerated way. The author describes one adventure after another. The plot is loose based on a succession of events. He draws character after character rejoicing in the language he puts in their mouths. The world of Pickwick is the world of fairy-tales in which the miseries of the real world are sterilized by humour. Long before the last number of the paper with "Pickwick Papers" came out England was Pickwick-mad. Dickens became famous all over the world,
His next novel "The Adventures of Oliver Twist" (1838) was a different work. Fairy-land had become a terrible dream. There
1 Dickcns's pen name; a nursery name of a brother
2 happening after death
was laughter but very different in aim and kind from that of "Pickwick Papers". Now Dickens was satirical and sarcastic.
With "Nicholas Nickleby" ['nikalas 'niklbi] (1839) Dickens showed his talent for the melodramatic. Dickens appeared not only as an entertainer, but also as a great novelist. His success cut across all social classes. Reading him people discovered what they thought and felt of the great social problems which confronted them. They called him "the master of our sunniest smiles and our most unselfish tears". The book deals with the problem of education of children in English private schools for poor children. The scenes of the children's life were so realistic and true to life that a school reform was carried out in England after the publication of the book,
"The Old Curiosity Shop" (1841) and Dickens's first historical novel "Barnaby Rudge" ['Ьа:пэЫ 'n\d3] (1841) were published before his visit to America. After his return from America Dickens wro.te "American Notes" (1842) and "Martin Chuzzlewit ['tjAzlwit] (1843—1844) which created a sensation in America. They were social satires of the American way of life.
Between 1843 and 1848 Dickens published his "Christmas Books" ("A Christmas Carol" ['krismas 'kaeral], "The Chimes", "The Cricket on the Hearth" [ha:8]). In 1846 he visited Switzerland and Italy. There he began "Dombey and Son",['dombi] (1848). "David Copperfield" ['deivid'kopafiild] (1850) and "Bleak House" (1853) were followed by "Hard Times" in 1854. While in all his works Dickens attacks the social conditions of his time, in "Hard Times" he gives this theme a special emphasis. He shows capitalist exploitation, the contradictions between workers and manufacturers as well as the beginning of the struggle between the proletariat and the capitalists. Dickens is against bad and cruel capitalists but he is not against the capitalist system as such, he is for reconciliation between the two classes. The second theme of the novel is the system of education. The "theory of fact", the wrong way of bringing up and educating children ruin their life.
The portrayal of the debtors' prison in "Little Dorrit" (1857) makes the reader realise that society itself is only another and much larger prison.
With "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859) Dickens returned to the historical novel and laid his theme in the French Revolution.
He completed his other two novels "Great Expectations" (1861) and "Our Mutual Friend" (1864—1865) before his death and left unfinished the manuscript of "The Mystery of'Edwin Drood".
From 1858 to 1868 Dickens gave dramatic readings of his novels in England and America. They were profitable and he was a brilliant reader of his novels but he overworked and died at the age of fifty-eight. The writer had hoped to be buried in the quiet local graveyard, but he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
6 988 81
Thousands of people streamed past his grave for several days. England deeply mourned for her greatest novelist.
"David Copjjerfield" (1850).Dicken's autobiographical novel "David Copperfield" tells of David's fate. David is the hero of the novel and the narrator. The best chapters of the book are those describing the boy's unhappy childhood. He is an orphan and is cruelly treated by his stepfather. After his mother's death David has to earn his own living until he reaches his rough and strange-looking aunt Betsy Trotwood. She takes care of her nephew. David receives a good education and becomes a lawyer and a writer.
The novel offers a realistic picture of the total English bourgeois society in the middle of the XIX century. Its author attacks oppression of all kinds and raises his voice in defence of the poof. He shows that only the lower classes are capable of real love and devotion. The bourgeoisie and the aristocracy are spoiled by money. The other problems of the book are those of education and marriage in capitalist society. Dickens's humour, optimism and sympathy for the common people made the book one of his most popular novels. "Of all my books," he wrote, "I like this the best."
True, this work is more cheerful and romantic than other of his later novels, although it also shows the hopelessness of the fate of the poor people. Hardships and misfortune reach them everywhere. He paints life as it is. Cruelty exists side by side with goodness, misery — with happiness, repulsive people mix with noble ones. Life is hard, but beautiful. Nobility is rewarded and wickedness is punished in the long run.
Like Defoe Dickens not only entertains his readers, but also teaches them, encourages the oppressed and sympathizes with the unhappy. His realism arouses love for man, and there is something warm about the world he created.
Dickens is famous for his unforgettable characters. He has left a gallery of portraits. Many of them are drawn by applying hyperbole. Each speaks his own language, each acts in his own surroundings, each has one feature, the leading one among the others, many of them have label-names and all are shown in action. Dickens's heroes are either entirely good or entirely wicked. By this contrast he makes them more expressive. No one can forget Mr. Pickwick and his faithful Sam "Waller, the devoted Pegotty, the disgusting hypocrite Uriah [jua'raiaj Heep, the angel-like Agnes Wickfield. Their creator is the physician of mind, who can penetrate a human soul to its very depth.
"Dombey andSon" (1848). Dickens enjoyed life, but he hated the social system into which he had been born. As he grew older , his mood became darker. The criticism of his age became bitterer. The main subject of his later novels is money and the things that go with money — power, position and so on. In* "Dombey and Son" the symbol of money-power is Mr. Dombey himself, to whose pride of position as the British merchant everything must be sacrificed —
affection, wife, children and love. He thinks he can buy everything, even an aristocratic young woman for his second wife. "The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbows gave them promise of fair weather; winds blew for or against their enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the centre." Yet Mr. Dombey is near-sighted. He does not see this system is on the decline. The merchant class is losing power. The future belongs to another type of man of property. Mr. Dombey goes bankrupt: he is punished for his pride. Bankruptcy causes a great change in him. He becomes good.
Dickens fails to remain realistic to the end. Mr. Dombey — a loving grandfather does not seem a character true to life. It is Dickens's petty bourgeois sentimentality that finds expression in the happy endings of almost all of his novels. He criticises capitalist society from the point of view of middle-class humanism, he wants to improve the world by means of reforms. The novelist does not solve the social problems though he introduces them masterfully.
"Oliver Twist" (1838) is Dickens's first social novel. It pictures the life of the workhouses, the London slums, poverty and crime there.
The hero of the novel is Oliver Twist, a miserable, poor and unhappy child. His mother dies in childbirth. The boy grows up in a workhouse where eight of every ten children.die of hunger and cold. His life is not any better when he is taken as an apprentice by a coffin-maker. Oliver is to go in front of funeral processions as he has pretty and sad looks. He cannot bear this life. One morning the unhappy child runs away. On his way to London he meets the "Artful Dodger"1, a boy with little, sharp and ugly eyes. He gives Oliver a good meal and promises to take him to a good gentleman who will give him shelter and food. The "Dodger'1 leads him to a room, black with age and dirt. There are four boys and an old dirty Jew sitting round the table. They are glad to see Oliver. The poor child does not know they are thieves and the Jew, Old Fagin ['feigin], their master and teacher. When he is taught to steal he thinks it is a game. Once the boys take Oliver out "to work". They rob Mr. Brownlow of his handkerchief. Oliver is only watching, but he is caught and beaten. Mr. Brownlow takes the poor boy home with him, because his face reminds him of some other familiar face. One day Oliver is sent to a bookseller with some books and a five-pound note. The boy does not return, he is kidnapped by a girl from Fagin's gang, Nancy. Oliver understands the good old gentleman has now reason
a clever, dishonest man
to believe that Oliver is dishonest and a thief. He begs Fagin to let him go, but in vain.
Bill Sikes, a professional burglar, plans to rob Mrs. Maylie's house. He makes Oliver open the door for him as he is so small that he can get through the kitchen window. Oliver alarms the house and is wounded. When Mrs. Maylie and her niece .Rose find the boy, he tells them his sad story. He wants to apologize to Mr, Brownlow but he has already left England. After a happy spell at Mrs. Maylie's Oliver is frightened by Fagin and a stranger, Monks. Nancy tells Rose that Monks has asked Fagin to make Oliver a thief. Nancy's "treachery" becomes known to Bill Sikes, and he kills her. The police are after him, and the murderer kills himself while trying to escape. Fagin's gang are arrested. Fagin is sentenced to death.
The real name of Monks is Edward Leeford. Oliver is his younger half-brother, whom he has deprived of. his fortune and whose life he wants to ruin. Their father's will was that the younger brother would get half of his property only in case he was an honest man. Otherwise all the money would belong to Edward. That's why Edward wanted to make Oliver a thief. Now he is discovered. He leaves England and dies in America. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow, his father's former friend.
Through Oliver's character Dickens wanted to show that people could not be spoiled if they were born good and honest. There would be no misery, no crimes and no poverty if all Brownlows adopted all Olivers. Dickens hoped to change the world by means of charity.
An Extract from "Oliver Twist"
"I, lady!" replied the girl. "I am the infamous creature you have heard of, that lives among the thieves, and that never from the first moment I can recollect my eyes and senses opening on London streets have known any better life, or kinder words than they have given me, so help me God! Do not mind shrinking openly from me, lady. I am younger than you would think, to look at me, but I am well used to it. The poorest women fall back, as I make my way along the crowded pavement."
"What dreadful things are these!" said Rose, involuntarily falling from her strange companion.
"Thank Heaven upon your knees, dear lady," cried the girl, "that you had friends to care for and keep you in your childhood, and that you were never in the midst of cold and hunger, and riot1 and drunkenness, and — and — something worse than all — as I have been from my cradle. I may use the word, for the alley and the gutter were mine, as they will be my deathbed."
1 noisy behaviour
"I pity you!" said Rose, in a broken voice. "It wrings my heart to hear you!"
"Heaven bless you for your goodness!" rejoined the girl. "If you knew what I am sometimes, you would pity me, indeed. But I have stolen away from those who would surely murder me, if they knew I had been here, to tell you what I have overheard. Do you know a man named Monks?" ..
"I never heard the name," said Rose.
"Then he goes by -some other amongst us," rejoined the girl, "which I more than thought before. Some time ago, and soon after Oliver was put into your house on the night of the robbery, I — suspecting this man — listened to a conversation held between him and Fagin in the dark. I found out, from what I heard, that Monks — the man I asked you about, you know — " "Yes," said Rose, "I understand."
"—That Monks," pursued1 the girl, "had seen him accidentally with tw.o of our boys on the day we first lost him, and had known him directly to be the same child that he was watchmg for, though I couldn't make out why. A bargain was struck2 with Fagin, that if Oliver was got back he should have a certain sum; and he was to have more for making him a thief, which this Monks wanted for some purpose of his own."
"For what purpose?" asked Rose.
"He caught sight of my shadow on the wall as I listened, in the hope of finding out," said the girl; "and there are not many people besides me that could have got out of their way in time to escape discovery. But I did; and I saw him no more till last night." "And what occurred then?"
"I'll tell you, lady. Last night he came again. Again they went up stairs, and I, wrapping myself up so that my shadow should not betray me, again listened at the door. The first words I heard Monks say were these: 'So the only proofs of the boy's identity lie at the bottom of the river, and the old hag3 that received them from the mother is rotting in her coffin/ They laughed, and talked of his success in doing this; and Monks, talking on about the boy, and getting very wild, said that though he had got the young devil's money safely now, he'd rather have had it the other way; for, what a game it would have been to have brought down the boast of the father's will, by driving him through every jail in town, and then hauling4 him up for some capital felony5 which Fagin could easily manage, after having made a good profit of him besides."
1 continued
a to strike a bargain ['beugin] — to make an agreement
3 a witch; an ugly old woman
4 pulling with force
5 very serious crime (e. g. murder, robbery)
"What is all this!" said Rose.
"The truth, lady, though it comes from my lips," replied the
girl, "Then, he said, with oaths common enough in my ears, but
strange to yours, that if he could gratify his hatred by taking the
boy's life without bringing his own neck in danger, he would; but,
as he couldn't, he'd be upon the watch to meet him at every turn
in life; and if he took advantage of his birth and history, he.might
harm him yet." m
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
(1811 — 1863)
The second greatest novelist whom the English-speaking world recognised as a man of genius in the XIX century was W. M. Thackeray ['Ssekeri], Dickens and Thackeray were such near contemporaries that their work was often compared, but in'educa-tion and social status they were widely separated.
W. M. Thackeray was born in the family of an English civil servant in India. When his father died the boy, aged five, was sent to England where he attended the famous Charterhouse ['tfa:-tahaus] School. Thackeray was disgusted with the educational system there, with the corporal punishment and cramming. He was also disappointed in Cambridge University and left it without taking a degree.
Thackeray began writing satirical verses and drawing caricatures at school. At Cambridge he edited a students' leaflet Snob which criticised the University. His favourite writers were D. Defoe, J. Swift and H. Fielding. He travelled much, visited Italy, France and Germany and studied the life and customs of these countries. He wrote satirical and humorous stories and poems which he sent to London magazines. He himself often illustrated his works as he had to earn his own living: he lost his fortune at the age of twenty-two.
The first book which attracted attention was "The Book of Snobs" (1847), followed by his novels "Vanity Fair" (1847—1848), "Pendennis" [pen'denis] (1850), "The History of Henry Esmond" ['ezmond] (1852), "The Newcomes" (1853—1855), "The Virginians" [va'd3inj9nz] (1857—-1859). Like Dickens Thackeray also delivered two courses of lectures in London and in America. He overworked himself and died suddenly at the age of fifty-two.
W. M. Thackeray is known as an essayist and a novelist. His essays "The English Humorists" and "The Four Georges" are remarkable for their exquisite style, gentle humour and keen literary criticism,
"The Book of Snobs" (1847).Here Thackeray gives a satirical description of the ruling classes of England: the aristocracy, the
landed nobility, the bourgeoisie and military officers. "First the world was made: then as a matter of course, Snobs," writes Thackeray. "Snobbishness is like death., beating with equal foot at poor men's doors and kicking at the gates of Emperors."
What is a Snob? "He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob," answers Thackeray. A snob is a person who has exaggerated respect for social position and wealth, he is ashamed of socially inferior connections. He is despotic to his inferiors and servile to his superiors.
It seems to the author of the book that all English society is "sneaking and bowing and cringing on the one hand, or bullying and scorning on the other, from the lowest to the highest".
Such is English society as seen by W. M. Thackeray. The writer's stress is laid on social inequality and its moral results. He is against British imperialism, defends oppressed Ireland, criticises the monarchy and the bourgeoisie and shows his dislike in scorching satire.
"Vanity Fair" (1848). Charlotte Bronte wrote that there was a man in her days whose words were not framed to tickle delicate ears, who spoke the truth. Chernishevsky said that of all European writers of that time Dickens alone could be placed on a level with the author of "Vanity Fair". Dickens took his material from the lower classes of England, Thackeray supplemented him by his brilliant characters of the upper-middle and aristocratic classes and portrayed their life: engagements, weddings, business success and bankruptcy, hunting for inheritance and titles, relations between parents and children, etc. He considered vanity the main force that moved his contemporary society. The novelist called that society "Vanity Fair" where everything could be sold and bought. He turned his satire against the vanity of the upper classes, the baseness of their aspirations, the power of money, ranks and titles.
Never did man create in a single novel so many, so varied and so immortal characters: businessmen, landlords, diplomats, dandies» officers, etc. The author of "Vanity Fair" wished to describe men and women as they really were: good and kind, silly and vain, wicked and heartless. But he knew upper-class society and had no illusions about it. Like the writers of the Enlightenment he thought that literature should teach people, but he did not know how to do away with social evils, he could only expose them. Therefore as the subtitle of the book "A Novel Without a Hero" shows Thackeray saw neither positive characters nor heroes in upper-class society. Even those who were kind and good were often limited and stupid. "Vanity Fair" is notable for its clear-sighted realism, simple style, attractive humour, biting satire and deep insight into human heart. It is a classic example of social satire. Thackeray once admitted that he had a high opinion of "that little production" himself. Indeed the novel is another epic, like "Tom Jones", of English life.
The plot of the novel is built around the fates of Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp. Amelia is the daughter of a rich merchant in London. She is sweet, honest and naive.
Her friend Rebecca Sharp or Becky is given in contrast to Amelia. She is clever, talented, charming and energetic. The girls meet at school. Becky's father was a teacher of drawing there. After his death Becky has to earn her own living. She understands that society is split into the rich and the poor. She decides to get to the top of it through marriage. Rebecca tries to entrap Amelia's brother Joseph ['dgouzif]. He is lazy and foolish, but rich. Her plans are ruined by George Osborne ['эгЬэп], Amelia's fiance. When her plan to marry Joseph fails Becky begins to work at Sir Pit Crawley's ['kroiliz] as a governess. She secretly marries Sir Pitt's son, Rawdon ['ro:dn], who is to inherit his rich aunt's money. But old Miss Crawley cannot forgive her favourite nephew this foolish step and leaves her money to Rawdon's brother, Sir Pitt. Nevertheless "Rebecca's wit, cleverness and flippancy made her speedily the vogue in London among a certain class. You saw demure chariots at her door, out of which stepped great people. You beheld her carriage in the Park, surrounded by dandies of note... but it must be confessed that the ladies held aloof from her, and that their doors were shut to our little adventurer."
Suddenly Sedley goes bankrupt. Old Osborne disinherits his son because he has married Amelia, the daughter of his bankrupt friend. Soon after their marriage George is sent to Belgium to fight against Napoleon's army. He is killed on the field of Waterloo ['wo:talu:]. Now Amelia and her son George are very poor. They only receive occasional presents from little George's godfather, Colonel Dobbin. He loves Amelia and little Georgy and after his friend's death proposes to Amelia. But she remains faithful to her husband.
Captain Rawdon Crawley returns a colonel. Rebecca is presented to the court and recognized by upper society. Yet her career soon comes to an end. Her relations with Lord Steyne fstim] are disclosed, and her husband leaves her. Her son is adopted by Rawdon's brother. Rebecca becomes an adventuress.
Old Osborne dies leaving his money to his grandson. Dobbin is appointed as Georgy's guardian. In the end Amelia learns that her husband wanted to leave her and flee with Becky. Then she consents to marry Dobbin.
Extracts from "Vanity Fair"
But as we are to see a great deal of Amelia, there is no harm in saying at the outset of our acquaintance, that she was a dear little creature, and a great mercy it is, both in life and in novels, which (and the latter especially) abound in villains of the most
sombre sort, that we are to have for a constant companion so guileless and good-natured a person. As she is not a heroine, there is no need to describe her person; indeed I am afraid that her nose was rather short than otherwise, and her cheeks a great deal too round and red for a heroine; but her face blushed with rosy health, and her lips with the freshest of smiles, and she had a pair of eyes which sparkled with the brightest and honestest good-humour, except indeed when they filled with tears, and that was a great deal too often; for the silly thing would cry over a dead canary-bird; or over a mouse, that the cat had haply seized upon; or over the end of a novel, were it ever so stupid; and as for saying an unkind word to her, were any persons hard-hearted enough to do so-why, so much the worse for them.
Miss Rebecca was not, then, in the least kind or placable. All the world used her ill, said this young misanthropist, and we may be pretty certain that persons whom all the world treats ill deserve entirely the treatment they get. The world is a looking-glass, and. gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice. This is certain, that if the world neglected Miss Sharp, she never was known to have done a good action in behalf of anybody; nor can it be expected that twenty-four young ladies should all be as amiable as the heroine of this work, Miss Sedley .. — it could not be expected that everyone should be of the humble and gentle temper of Miss Amelia Sedley; should take every opportunity to vanquish Rebecca's hard-heartedness and ill-humour; and, by a thousand kind words and offices, overcome, for once at least, her hostility to her kind.
She was small and slight in person; pale, sandy-haired, and with eyes habitually cast down: when they looked up they were very large, odd and attractive..
THE BRONTE SISTERS
There were three Brontes — novelists: Charlotte (1816—1855), Emily (1818—1848) and Anne (1820—1849). Their father was an Irish Protestant, a clergyman in Yorkshire. On their mother's death the children were entirely devoted to drawing, reading, writing, wandering over the open moors and playing a game of storytelling about their imaginary heroes. The sisters received their
education at a charity school and worked as governesses. Private teaching was the only profession open to educated women, and the Brontes needed to earn their living. They found their work unendurable and sought to relieve their loneliness by creating a new world of their imagination. The sisters turned to literature though they were aware of the difficulties a woman writer had to face when it came to publication. Their first volume of verse was published under a masculine pseudonym ['psjuidanim]. "Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell" (1846). Nowadays Charlotte and Emily rank among the greatest realists of the XIX century. Anne is less known, though her "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wild-fell Hall" cannot be ignored, either.
CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Charlotte's first novel "The Professor" (1857) was rejected by publishers. But the young author was not discouraged and began "Jane Eyre" [Мзет 'еэ] (1847). The book at once was discussed everywhere, praised and criticised. It was followed by "Shirley" ['.Mi](1849) and "Villette" [vi'let] (1853). These three books made her famous. She was called an eager rebel who had broken the placidity of the XIX century novel.
In her novels Ch. Bronte combined scenes from her own life with the far richer and more romantic experiences which she imagined. She aimed to make her novels a realistic picture of society but she also added to her realism elements of passionate romanticism. The essential subject of her books is the soul of a woman, a governess or a teacher, limited by loneliness, poverty and social insignificance. Her heroines are generous, intelligent, modest and gentle, trying to suppress their deepest feelings. Ch. Bronte attacks greed and lack of culture of the bourgeoisie and sympathises with the workers and peasants. It is her strong conviction that society can be reformed by means of education.
"Jane Eyre" (1847)contains all the elements that make up Charlotte's conception of life. On the first pages of the book the reader meets Jane Eyre as a small girl at her aunt's house and later at a charity school. She is an orphan, a plain and penniless girl, but a proud rebel, who possesses her own feelings of right and wrong. The first part of the book is a moving rendering of Jane's childhood.
The other part of the book is one of the most romantic love stories in English literature. When Jane grows up she becomes the governess of Mr. Rochester's foster daughter. Mr. Rochester is a strong, noble, proud, manly and tragic figure. He is a victim of his class and therefore at war with it. He is much older than Jane. His life has been miserable. He has been wandering here and there seeking rest and dulling his intellect. Heart-weary and soul-withered Mr. Rochester meets Jane. He finds in her many of
the good and bright qualities which he has sought for twenty years. He proposes to Jane. She is in love with her master and agrees to become his wife. The young woman does not know the truth: for years Mr. Rochester has kept a lunatic wife in his house in charge of a servant. Nobody suspects her existence. On the eve of Jane's marriage the lunatic enters Jane's room and tears her bridal veil in half. Jane is terrified. In the church she learns Mr. Rochester is married. Her confidence is destroyed. Her hopes are all dead. She thinks she must leave Thornfield, though she still loves Mr. Rochester.
Half-starved, worn-out and soaked to the skin Jane drops at the-door of her cousin's house. There she gets to know that she is the heiress of some £ 20,000 that her uncle has left her. Jane shares the money with her cousins. One of them, John Rivers, is going to India as a missionary and asks Jane to accompany him as his wife. Jane agrees to go with him, but not as his wife, because they do not love each other. J. Rivers insists on marriage. Just as Jane is on the point of yielding she seems to hear Mr. Rochester's voice calling her out of the night, "Jane, Jane." She hurries back to Thornfield and learns that the madwoman fired the mansion house, jumped off the roof and killed herself. A burning beam blinded Mr. Rochester and crushed his hand. He is now quite broken down. Jane comes to him and becomes his right hand and the apple of his eyes. They marry and their union is very happy. ,-,..,.,
"Jane Eyre" depicts a poor girl's rebellion against cruelty^, injustice, the division of people into the poor and the rich, the inhuman educational system in English charity schools and her struggle for Woman's emancipation. The author's wish to show that women are not inferior to men has led her a little astray — her heroine is too good to be true to life. Ch. Bronte presents things in a realistic and satirical way. In Mr. Rochester's house Jane meets the county gentry — uncultured, calculating, ambitious, cold and vulgar. They are contrasted with Jane, a poor orphan. She is honest, intelligent, brave, strong-willed and clever.
The structure of the book is simple. Events follow one another in quick succession. There are a lot of emotional and thrilling episodes in the novel. Ch. Bronte has also a fine knowledge of the English language and she employs it masterfully.
An Extract from "Jane Eyre"
Iresisted all the way: a new thing for me, and a circumstance which greatly strengthened the bad opinion Bessie and Miss Abbot were disposed to entertain of me. The fact is, I was a trifle beside myself; or rather out of myself, as the French would say: I was conscious that a moment's mutiny1 had already rendered me liable
open rebellion against authority
to strange penalties1, and, like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths.
"Hold her arms, Miss Abbot: she's like a mad cat."
"For shame! for shame!" cried the lady's-maid. "What shocking conduct, Miss Eyre, to strike a young gentleman, your benefactress's son! your young master!"
"Master! How is he my master? Am I a servant?"
"No; you are less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep. There, sit down and think over your wickedness."
They had got me by this into the apartment indicated by Mrs. Reed, and had thrust me upon a stool: my impulse was to rise from it like a spring; their two pair of hands arrested me instantly.
"If you don't sit still, you must be tied down," said Bessie. "Miss Abbot, lend "me your garters; she would break mine directly."
Miss Abbot turned to divest a stout leg of the necessary ligature2. This preparation for bonds, and the additional ignominy3 it inferred4, took a little of the excitement out of me.
"Don't take them off," I cried; "I will not stir."
In guarantee whereof, I attached myself to my seat by my hands.
"Mind you don't," said Bessie; and she had ascertained that I was really subsiding, she loosened her hold of me; then she and Miss Abbot stood with folded arms, looking darkly and doubtfully on my face, as incredulous of my sanity.
"She never did so before," at last said Bessie, turning to the abigail5.
"But it was always in her," "was the reply, "I've told Missis often my opinion about the child, and Missis agreed with me. She's an underhand little thing: I never saw a girl of her age with so much cover6."
Bessie answered not; but ere7 long, addressing me, she said, —
"You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poorhouse."
I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me — my very first recollections of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague singsong in my ear: very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible. Miss Abbot joined in, —
1 penalty fpenalti] — punishment for breaking- a law or rule
2 a thing that ties up
3 dishonour
4 implied, suggested
5 a maid-servant
6 pretence; disguise
7 before
"And you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Missis Reed and Master Reed, because Missis kindly allows you to be brought up with them. They will have a great deal of money, and you will have none: it is your 'place to be humble, and to try to make yourself agreeable to them."
"What we tell you is for your good," added Bessie, in no harsh voice; "you should try to be useful and pleasant, then, perhaps, you would have a home here; but if you become passionate and rude, Missis will send you away, I am sure."
"Wuthering Heights" (1847). Emily Bronte has only one novel, "Wuthering Heights" ['wA&arirj 'haits] — her prose-poem. She did not live to find herself famous. Now the book is regarded as one of the most remarkable novels in English literature. The book is strange. On the one hand the plot is full of mystery. On the other hand the novel is very concrete: the time of the action, the landscape, geography and climate are realistic. The author of the book makes no distinction between the supernatural and the natural. Both work together to serve her artistic purpose. The mystery and the supernatural are used as romantic elements in the original study of violent characters.
E. Bronte's characters and actions may seem incredible but they convince us. They are unique, and their violent emotions are involved with the Yorkshire moors where the action takes place. The moors are varying to suit the changing moods of the story, and they are beautifully described in all seasons.
As we begin to read the novel the action is already approaching its end. We see the drama of the occupants of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross ['OrAjkras] Park through the eyes of Lockwood and Nelly Dean. Lockwood has rented Thrushcross Park from Heathcliff ['hi:8klif], Nelly is an old family servant. The other main characters are:
theEarnshaws
the Unions
living at Wuthering Heights
living at Trushcross Park
their son their foster son their their son their daughter
daughter
Hindley Heatchliff Catherine Edgar Isabella
l ' married to f
I ■ i----------------- .—, _ ^ 4.
, married to «
„..,_.., , _ „___ .___
his son their daughter their son
Hareton Catherine (Cathy) Union
! married to *
The action is centred round Heathcliff. Nelly tells* his story of love and revenge to Mr. Lockwood, who in his turn addresses the reader. Mr. Lockwood is also an eyewitness of some events. Within Nelly's account of the fates of the Earnshaws and the Lin-tons there are incorporated other narratives in the first person, those of Catherine, Heathcliff, Isabella, Edgar and others.
The action of the novel may be divided into two parts. One part concerns the fates of Hindley, Catherine, Heathcliff, Isabella and Edgar. The other is the story of their children. Nelly and Heathcliff are the binding link between them.
Nelly remembers how Mr. Earnshaw brought Heathcliff home. He had picked him up in the streets of Liverpool. Nobody knew to whom the baby belonged. He was "dark almost as if it came from the devil". Heathcliff became the favourite of Mr. Earnshaw, though he himself had two children, Hindley and Catherine. Catherine was a'beautiful golden-haired girl, Heathcliff looked like a gipsy. Both were violent children, children of rock, heath and tempest. After Mr. Earnshaw's death Hindley ill-treated his foster-brother because his father had loved film more than his own children. The two boys became deadly enemies. When Catherine and Heathcliff grew up they fell in love. Their love was strange. They were so alike that they seemed one soul. As Heathcliff was poor, Catherine married the rich Edgar Linton. That drove Heathcliff to be "hell-like in heart and misery". He felt that life had turned against him, he was a victim of social injustice. Heathcliff left the district and after some time returned rich. He decided to revenge himself on the Lintons and the Earnshaws, to win their property and to degrade them as he himself had been degraded.
The second part of the action shows Heathcliff as the revenger. To revenge himself on the Lintons he married Isabella and made her life a torture. Catherine died leaving a daughter Cathy. Heathcliff was in despair. He went to the churchyard and began to undig her grave. He wanted to see her once more. Suddenly he seemed to feel Catherine breathing at his ear. A sense of relief flew through his every limb. Catherine was with him on the earth, not in the cold grave. Her imaginary presence remained with him for eighteen years. In every object he was surrounded with her image. Isabella ran away and gave birth to a boy whom she called Linton. After her death Heathcliff took Linton to Wuthering Heights. He did not care for the sickly and weak child but when the boy grew up Heathcliff forced young Cathy to marry him, now a cowardly egoist and capricious tyrant. Soon Linton died, and Heathcliff got the property of his son and his daughter-in-law, therefore Cathy is penniless now. Her life at Wuthering Heights is terrible, but she does not give in. Hindley's son, Hareton, becomes her friend and defends her. In order to revenge himself on Hindley Heathcliff has treated Hareton so badly that now he is almost a brute. Cathy's love for him rescues the young man. At the end of the
book we see Cathy teaching Hareton his letters, good manners and correct English. They both are not afraid of Heathcliff any more. Soon Heathcliff dies. He is buried beside Catherine. At last he is joined with her. But they have no peace. People say they have seen them both "walk" the earth at night.
An Extract from "Wuthering Heights"
(Catherine's conversation with Nelly)
.. "That will do to explain my secret as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now, so he shall never know how I love him; and that not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.1'
'Ere this speech ended I became sensible of Heathcliff's presence. Having noticed a slight movement, I turned my head and saw him rise from the bench and steal out noiselessly. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no further.
"I want to cheat my uncomfortable conscience, and be convinced that Heathcliff has no notion of these things. He has not, has he? He does not know what being in love is?"
"I see no reason that he should not know, as well as you," I
returned; "and if you are his choice, he'll be the most unfortunate
creature that ever was born. As soon as you become Mrs. Linton,
he loses friend, and love, and all. Have you considered how you'll
bear the separation, and how he'll bear to be quite deserted in the
world? Because, Miss Catherine----- "
"He quite deserted! we separated!" she exclaimed, with an accent of indignation. "Who is to separate us, pray? .. Not as long as I live, Ellen — for no mortal creature. Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into nothing before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff. Oh, that's not what I intend — that's not what 1 mean! I shouldn't be Mrs. Linton were such a price demanded! He'll be as much to me as he has been all his lifetime. Edgar must shake'off his antipathy, and tolerate him, at least. He will, when he learns my true feelings towards him. Nelly, I see now, you think me a selfish wretch; but did it never strike you that if Heathcliff
and I married, we should be beggars? Whereas, if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's power."
"My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries
and I watched and felt each from the beginning1. My great thought
in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, / should
still continue to be. And if all else remained and he were annihil
ated1 the universe would turn to a mighty stranger — I should
not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in
the woods; time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes
the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks be
neath — a source.of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I
am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind — not as a
pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as
my own being. So don't talk of our separation again. It is im
practicable, and------ "
ELIZABETH GASKELL
(1810—1865)
Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson ['sti:vnsn] is known to the world as Mrs. Gaskell ['geeskal]. She was the daughter of a clergyman, a gentle, tactful, religious and philanthropic woman. Elizabeth married young and lived a confined life at Manchester during the first period of the Industrial Revolution and together with her husband, a clergyman by profession, made a study of the conditions of Manchester workers. She reflected their life in her first novel "Mary Barton" (1848). Her other novels are as follows: "Ruth" (1853), "Cranford" (1853), "North and South" (1855), "Sylvia's Lovers" (1863), "Wives and Daughters" (1866). We are indebted to Mrs. Gaskell also for the "Life of Charlotte .Bronte", which is one of the best biographies. Elizabeth Gaskell admired innocence, industry and a warm heart. She had a talent to express what she thought and felt with humour, pathos and poetry and combined social criticism with melodrama. The artistic quality of Mrs. Gaskell's novels is not even. "Cranford", for example, is a simple and humorous study of life in a provincial town. "Mary Barton" and "North and South" treat of industrial and political conflicts.
1 destroyed completely 96
"Mary,J3arJ:on" (1848),as a pathetic picture of working-class life in Manchester in the hungry years of 1839—1841 won praise from many progressive writers. Mrs. Gaskell was horrified by the bad conditions in which the poor lived. She filled pages of her book with the description of ragged and starving workers and their families and showed their struggle with the pitiless employers. In the preface to the book its author writes: "I had always felt a deep sympathy with the careworn men, who looked as if doomed to struggle through their lives in strange alternations between work and want, tossed to and fro by. circumstances."
Mrs. Gaskell believed that good employers and social reforms could improve the terrible conditions of the workers. Then perfect understanding, confidence and love would exist between them and their masters.
The main hero of the novel is John Barton. He is a weaver, "a thorough specimen of a Manchester man" and a chartist. He was born of factory workers, and lives among the mills in the dirty and gloomy town. His features are strongly marked and their expression is extreme earnestness and enthusiasm, resolute either for good or evil.John Barton hates the rich and is always ready to help other workers who are poorer and more miserable than his family. The suffering of the workers is unendurable. But they believe the government knows nothing of their misery. A petition is framed and signed by thousands of workers. Ljfeworn, anxious and hungry men are the delegates to convey the petition to the government. One of them is John Barton. The government rejects the petition. The workers' disappointment is great. The in^ justice and desperation in the factory workers turns into revenge upon the rich' whose fortunes they have helped to build up and who often mock at them. The Manchester weavers decide to kill their employer's son, Harry Carson. Lots are cast, and it is John Barton who is to do it.
Elizabeth Gaskell is against violence and harshness. She shows that John Barton repents of what he has done. "He acted to the best of his judgement, but it was a widely-erring judgement.. He was actuated by no selfish motives, his class, his order was what he stood by."
John has a daughter, Mary. She loves a young worker, Jem Wilson, but for a time was carried away by Harry Carson. Jem is arrested in charge of murder: his gun has been found near the place where Harry lay dead. He might have killed Harry out of jealousy. Mary knows that the murderer is her father. But to save Jem would mean to betray her father. In the end she finds a way how to prove Jem's innocence. He is let free. John Barton confesses to Harry's father that he had murdered his son. His own misfortune makes Mr. Carson understand the causes that drove the weaver to desperation and crime, and he forgives him.
. 97
An Extract from "Mary Barton"
But as Mr. Carson was on the point of leaving the house with no sign of relenting1 about him, he was again stopped by John Barton, who had risen once more from his chair, and stood supporting himself on Jem, while he spoke.
'Sir, one word! My hairs are grey with suffering, and yours with years —"
"And have I had no suffering?" asked Mr. Carson, as if appealing for sympathy, even to the murderer of his child.
And the murderer of his child answered to the appeal, and groaned in spirit over the anguish2 he had caused.
"Have I had no inward suffering to blanch3 these hairs. Have not I toiled and struggled even to these years with hopes in my heart that all centred in my boy? I did not speak of them, but were they not there? I seemed hard and cold; and so I might be to others, but not to him! who shall ever imagine the love I bore to him? Even he never dreamed how my heart leapt up at the sound of his footstep, and how precious he was to his poor old father. — And he is gone — killed — out of the hearing of all loving words — out of my sight for ever. He was my sunshine, and now it is night! Oh, my God! comfort me, comfort me!" cried the old man, aloud.
The eyes of John Barton grew dim with tears. Rich and poor, masters and men, were then brothers in the deep suffering of the heart; for was not this the very anguish he had felt for little Tom in years so long gone by that they seemed like another life!
The mourner before him was no longer the employer; a being of another race, eternally placed in antagonistic attitude; going through the world glittering like gold, with a stony heart within, which knew no sorrow but through the accidents of Trade; no longer the enemy, the oppressor, but a very poor, and desolate old man.
The sympathy for suffering, formerly so prevalent4 a feeling with him, again filled John Barton's heart, and almost impelled him to speak (as best he could) some earnest, tender words to the stern man, shaking in his agony.
But who was he that he should utter sympathy, or consolation? The cause of all this woe5.
Oh blasting thought! Oh miserable remembrance! He had forfeited6 all right to bind up his brother's wounds.
1 becoming less severe
2 very severe pain or suffering
3 to make white
4 common
5 deep sorrow or grief
e lost
Stunned by the thought, he sank upon the seat, almost crushed with the knowledge of the consequences of his own action; for he. had no more imagined to himself the blighted home, and the miserable parents, than does the soldier, who discharges his musket, picture to himself the desolation of the wife, and the pitiful cries of the helpless little ones, who are in an instant to be made widowed and fatherless.
To intimidate1 a class of men, known only to those below them as desirous to obtain the greatest quantity of work for the lowest wages, .. — this was the light in which John Barton had viewed his deed.
GEORGE ELIOT
(1819—1881)
George Eliot ['d3o:d3 'eljat] is the pen-name oi Mary Ann Evans ['evanz],who began writing fiction when she was 'already middle-aged. Until then she had worked as a journalist. Mary's father was a land agent. She was born some twenty miles from Stratford-on-Avon, but spent her childhood on a farm in the Midlands. The girl studied at two private schools for young ladies. After her mother's death she left "school at the age of seventeen. Mary read a great deal and became interested in social and philosophical problems. Of all the women novelists of the XIX century G. Eliot was the most learned. After she had moved to London she translated some philosophical works from German into English and acted as assistant editor of the Westminster Review.
Her early "Scenes of Clerical Life" (1858) had an immediate success. These short narratives were followed by a long novel "Adam Bede" [biid] (1859), and her reputation was made. Her other novels appeared in rapid succession: "The Mill on the Floss" (1860), "Silas Marner" ['sailas] (1861), "Romola" ['гэтэ1э] (1863), "Felix Holt, the Radical" ['fitllkstioult] (1866), "The Spanish Gipsy" (1868), "Middlemarch" (1872) and "Daniel De-ronda" [da'rond9] (1876), which she regarded as her greatest work.
George Eliot's work belongs to the later phase of the XIX century novel. She has sometimes been described as the first modern English novelist. True, with her search for a scientific approach, based on biological and sociological data, and the psychological study of her characters. G. Eliot initiated a new stage in the development of XIX century English realism. Her heroes are not types but real men and women who are made good or bad by their actions and by their character which itself is conditioned by environment. G. Eliot very skilfully reveals to the reader her
1 to frighten
7' 99
heroes' psychology and moral conflicts. Their desires, passion, temperament and human weaknesses are always struggling with their moral duty. That is why in her novels G. Eliot deals mostly with the problems of religion and morality. She believes that all social contradictions could foe solvedby "religion of the heart" and "moral law".
"The МШ on the Floss" (I860).G. Eliot's most widely read book is "The Mill on the Floss". It is an original study of English provincial life and the story of a brother and a sister. The central character is Maggie Tulliver ['masgi 'tAlivs]. As a child she .is emotional, intellectual and strong in character. Her brother Tom is a contrast to his sister, being noisy, blunt and shallow, yet Maggie adores him. The children are set on the background of the country town in their relations to their parents and a circle of aunts and uncles. The reader sees this middle-class family through Maggie's experience. It is a hardworking, economical, proud and nar-rowminded family. When Maggie grows up she craves for a larger world of the mind and emotions. Her ardent nature is never satisfied with "a little of anything". "That is why better to do without earthly happiness altogether," she says to her friend Philip Wakem. George Eliot was always preoccupied with questions of duty and ethics. She also treats of these problems in "The Mill on the Floss". Maggie is ever ready for self-sacrifice. "She thinks she has found peace in subduing her own will. But the reader doubts in her desire for renunciation1. So does Philip. He loves Maggie and therefore he sees that Maggie is only trying to stupify herself. "You are shutting yourself up in a narrow self-delusive2 fanaticism, which is only a way of escaping pain by starving into dullness all the highest powers of your nature," he explains to her. Maggie is engaged to Philip but she falls in love with Stephen ['stiivn] Guest, who, in his turn, is engaged to her cousin Lucy Deane ['lursi 'dim].She is to make a moral choice between the two men. The author solves Maggie's dilemma by a quite arbitrary tragic ending. G. Eliot invents a flood of the Floss, Maggie tries to rescue her estranged brother from it, but both drown in the river.
An Extract from "The Mill on the Floss"
It was soon known throughout St. Ogg's3 that Miss Tulliver was come back: she had not, then eloped4 in order to be married to Mr. Stephen Guest — at all events, Mr. Stephen Guest had not married her — which came to the same thing, so far as her culp-
1 the act of giving up; self-denial; self-sacrifice
2 delusive [di'luisiv] — deceptive; not real
3 St. Ogg's — the town of St. Ogg
4 run away with a lover
ability1 was concerned. We judge others according to results; how else? — not knowing the process by which results are arrived at. If Miss Tulliver, after a few months of well-chosen travel, had returned as Mrs. Stephen Guest — with .. all the advantages possessed even by the most unwelcome wife of an only son, public opinion, which at St. Ogg's, as elsewhere, always knew what to think, would have judged in strict consistency2 with those results. Public opinion, in these cases, is always of the feminine gender — not the world, but the world's wife3: and she would have seen, that two handsome young people — the gentlemen of quite the first-family in St. Ogg's — having found themselves in a false position, had been led into a course which, to say the least of it, was highly injudicious4, and productive of sad pain and disappointment, especially to that sweet young thing, Miss Deane. Mr. Stephen Guest had certainly not behaved well; but then, young men were liable to those sudden infatuated attachments5; and bad as it might seem in Mrs. Stephen Guest to admit the faintest advances from her cousin's lover (indeed it had been said that she was actually engaged to young Wakem — old Wakem himself had mentioned it), still she was very young — "and a deformed young man, you know! — and young Guest so very fascinating; and, they say, he positively worships her (to be sure, that can't last!) and he ran away withher in the boat quite against her will — and what could she do? She couldn't come back then: no one would have spoken to her..
Maggie had returned .. without a husband — in that degraded and outcast condition to which error is well known to lead; and the world's wife, with that fine instinct which is given her for the preservation of Society, saw at once that Miss Tulliver's conduct had been of the most aggravated kind.
Maggie, all this while, was too entirely filled with a, more agonising anxiety to spend any thought on the view that was being taken of her conduct by the world of St. Ogg's: anxiety about Stephen — Lucy — Philip — beat on her poor heart in a hard, driving, ceaseless storm of mingled love, remorse and pity.
1 the state of being guilty
2 being always the same in thought or action
3 an allusion to the saying "all the world and his wife"
4 not wise or prudent
5 infatuated [in'faetjueitid] attachm