| This thesis examines the strengths and weaknesses of Bronte's forthrightly politicized presentation of beauty in her debut Jane Eyre and her final completed novel, Villette. The first chapter provides a brief overview of the symbolic treatment of beauty in select fairy tales and early English novels, demonstrating the conflation of female appearance and female character that Bronte was reacting against when she created Jane Eyre. The second chapter argues that, while Jane Eyre succeeds in its aim of presenting a plain heroine who achieves happiness on her own terms, it falls short of genuinely decoupling appearance from character due to its contemptuous presentation of conventionally attractive supporting characters. The final chapter argues that Villette critiques the shortcomings of the beauty politics of Jane Eyre while presenting a broader argument that a beauty obsessed society disadvantages all but a few of its members, and accordingly fulfills the promise of Jane Eyre. |
