Nineteenth-Century British Novel

Study Questions

Jane Eyre criticism

• According to Poovey, why was the governess a problematic figure in the nineteenth century? Why is Jane Eyre’s position as a governess problematic in particular?
• What is Gilbert and Gubar’s argument about Jane Eyre? What are some problems / limitations posed by their approach to the novel?
• What is Armstrong’s argument about Jane Eyre? What do you make of the stark contrast between G&G’s insistence on the idea of Everyman and Armstrong’s insistence on Individuality? Whose argument is more convincing and why?
• According to Showalter, why is the madwoman an important historical figure? Do you agree with Showalter’s statement that Jane does not ever see kinship with the confined and monstrous Bertha?
• According to Poovey, why is childbirth so important (and so problematic) for Victorian constructions of sexuality and gender? How might you reconcile Poovey’s discussion of hysteria with G&G’s idea of Jane Eyre as a “hysterical text”?