The Woman Question in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre: the interaction of Romanticism and mid-nineteenth-century Victorian England

Abstract

<p>Near the end of the twentieth century, various and even contradictory literary criticisms are available. Which one is best for interpretation? Specifically, which one is best for interpreting <em>Jane Eyre</em>? The answers vary. Terry Eagleton, for example, declares that "there are indeed Marxist and feminist theories of literature which ... are more valuable" since his hypothesis ts that "literature . . . is vitally engaged with the living situations of men and women: it is concrete rather than abstract". What he means is that literature occurs in a social context.</p>