SOURCE: Ellis, Lorna. “Jane Eyre and the Self-Constructed Heroine.” In Appearing to Diminish: Female Development and the British Bildungsroman, 1750-1850, pp. 138-61. Lewisburg, Pa. and London: Bucknell University Press and Associated University Presses, 1999.
In the following essay, Ellis contends that Jane Eyre, along with Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Betsy Thoughtless, conforms to the female Bildungsroman genre by presenting a heroine who manages to develop and grow while upholding the expectations of society. In addition, Ellis remarks that Jane Eyre is notable for Jane's profound sense of self, which paves the way for later non-Bildungsroman novels in which the heroine spurns societal conventions.
This is a free excerpt of 103 words. There are 10,189 words (approx.
34 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our The Bildungsroman in Nineteenth-Century Literature: Critical Essay by Lorna Ellis Access Pass.
