Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1985

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Coyle, William

Abstract

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights are comparable in their symbolic use of physical illness. In both novels, illness symbolizes a basic opposition between a central female character and society. Conversely, excellent health symbolizes that a character is in harmony with society. In Jane Eyre, Jane's illnesses represent her inability to survive as a total outsider. Catherine's illnesses in Wuthering Heights are the opposite, for they represent her inability to be sustained by a conventional life. The illnesses of the central female characters facilitate their escape from unsatisfying situations. The position of Jane Eyre and Catherine Earnshaw as women in male-dominated worlds is central to their discontent and is the reason for their inability to change their lives through less drastic means.

Extent

96 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1985.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identifier

FADT14245

Format

pdf

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