Charlotte Bronte and the Woman Question

Sangeeta Dutta Mid-19th century saw the emergence of a female literary community coincide with the social phenomenon of an excess of female population which stimulated widespread reassessment of women's role and relationship. Women's work had meant work for others, women were defined as wholly passive, projected as selfless. Charlotte Bronte was among the female role innovators breaking new ground and creating new feminine' possibilities. Examining her fictional world this paper seeks to show how she employed the novel to demonstrate woman's proper sphere and to remake woman's image in the face of the dominant ideology.