Two Ways Of Struggle

Jane Austen and Charlotte Bront? are two of the most outstanding women writers in the nineteenth century English literature. Both of them write with love and marriage as the main theme in their masterpieces. They discuss condition about women in their society which is neglected by most of the men writers at their times. In their masterpieces Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, they write about rough social and economic status of women and their tough struggle for women's independence and rights in patriarchal society. Though the two novels are similar in many aspects, their differences are more prominent.In this thesis I try to compare these two novels from three aspects. Firstly, their styles of writing are different—tenderness versus passion. Charlotte Bront? lives in a village on the Yorkshire moors. The influence of gothic style and her unaccomplished love experience makes her novel full of conflicts and struggles. Thus Charlotte chooses to express her emotion violently. On the contrary, lively life, harmonious family atmosphere and siblings'love always surround Jane Austen. Her choice of love and marriage in genteel rural society of England as the theme and her employment of a third person point of view makes her work seem to be more tender and rational. Secondly, their ways of creating female characters are different—subjectivity versus objectivity. Charlotte's strong subjectivity weakens the novel's artistic value. It makes her women characters less objective. While she tries to free women from patriarchal society, she has granted privilege to Jane over men. What's more, She cares too much about her heroine, Jane's feelings. Therefore other poor woman's rights are completely ignored. While Austen gives enough freedom to her characters, thus hers seem to be more objective and round. She not only creates a multi-facet heroine, but also shows her excellence in portrait of minor female characters. While she struggles for women's rights, she does not deprive those of men. Finally, though both novels have the same theme—love and marriage. Their ways of dealing with it are different—rational versus romantic. Charlotte is eager for romantic love, but her radicalism makes her resolve the conflicts and struggles in the novel only by means of unrealistic Cinderella mode which reduces the power of passion and rage of the novel. It is true that Austen repeatedly emphasizes the importance of material in Pride and Prejudice. But she does not deny real love. She believes that good marriage should be a rational one which bases on the combination of love and property.This paper tries to use a comparative approach to illustrate the differences of the two novels and to further prove Austen's gentle way of struggle is more efficient and can be accepted more easily.