Don’t Crown Me with Roses : "The Moral Understanding of Beauty in Jane Eyre"
Sonninen, Julia (2022)
Sonninen, Julia
2022
Kielten kandidaattiohjelma - Bachelor's Programme in Languages
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-05-23
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202204294134
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202204294134
Tiivistelmä
This thesis examines the different understandings of beauty that are present in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. The novel’s protagonist Jane Eyre grows up as a poor orphan and as an adult, she is a governess who falls in love with her employer Mr. Rochester. She observes peoples’ appearances and personalities as a child in a Christian institution and as a governess at the mansion.
This thesis focuses on the understandings of beauty Jane’s observations reveal and beauty’s connection to British society’s discourse at the time. The 1840’s Britain’s societal changes caused by industrialisation were studied for context. The different understandings of beauty present in Jane Eyre had been established in the 18th century by philosophers. The aesthetic theories of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Burke and Kant provide the basis for the analysis of beauty in Jane Eyre. The social importance beauty and aesthetic theories’ influence on society shapes the analysis further.
Jane Eyre prefers a moral understanding of beauty and criticises other understandings of beauty. Lack of consideration of morality and appreciation of beauty is shown to have detrimental effects on people. Jane Eyre aims to strengthen the morality of British society by using imperialism and orientalism to indicate and criticise immoral beauty. Jane Eyre has the problematic belief that British society is and should be superior.
This thesis focuses on the understandings of beauty Jane’s observations reveal and beauty’s connection to British society’s discourse at the time. The 1840’s Britain’s societal changes caused by industrialisation were studied for context. The different understandings of beauty present in Jane Eyre had been established in the 18th century by philosophers. The aesthetic theories of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Burke and Kant provide the basis for the analysis of beauty in Jane Eyre. The social importance beauty and aesthetic theories’ influence on society shapes the analysis further.
Jane Eyre prefers a moral understanding of beauty and criticises other understandings of beauty. Lack of consideration of morality and appreciation of beauty is shown to have detrimental effects on people. Jane Eyre aims to strengthen the morality of British society by using imperialism and orientalism to indicate and criticise immoral beauty. Jane Eyre has the problematic belief that British society is and should be superior.
Kokoelmat
- Kandidaatintutkielmat [8780]