Representation of the Other in Charlotte Brontes Jane...

Representation of the ‘Other’ in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Abstract This study aims at examining the representation of the’ other’ as portrayed in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre (1847). It attempts to inspect how the ‘Other’ is viewed in Nineteenth century England and the cultural ideology behind such specific representation. It poses crucial questions as to why the ‘Other’ is always represented negatively in main-stream western narrative as in the case of Bertha Mason who is portrayed as a madwoman and a voiceless monster that deserves a ten-year- rigorous confinement in the Attic. I will attempt to focus on the cultural and historical context of ‘Jane Eyre’ and its impact on the representation of the’ Other’. I will also draw on†¦show more content†¦Therefore, there is a great importance to focus on the ways in which meaning is produced and reproduced as the result of a particular discourse. According to Donnelly, Discourses are sets of experiences that are displayed through language, they are ways of referring to or constructing knowledge about a particular topic of practice. (2002:57). We come to know that representation is a form of discourse and it involves social conventions and unequal power relationships and that some people have more power to speak than others. Edward Said observes that the contemporary Western View of the Orient as an outsider and an inferior part of the West is manifested in the academic sphere. Western scholars use Oriental images and ideologies to consolidate the intellectual awkwardness of the Other .In other words, these views of the Orient are attempts to portray the superiority and intellectuality of the western status. (Said,1979). For Spivak, representation is not only a matter of ‘speaking about’ but also ‘speaking for and the role of literature in the production of cultural representation shouldn’t be ignored. (Spivak, 1988). She argues that many western writings ,for example Jane Eyre ,have not adequately portrayed the reality of the colonized Other and tend to exclude the voices of the Other where she concludes that theShow MoreRelated What aspects of Charlotte Brontes Essay876 Words   |  4 Pagesaspects of Charlotte Brontes What aspects of Charlotte Brontes depiction and use of the character of Bertha Mason are most clearly illuminated by Jean Rhys depiction and use of her parallel character of Antoinette? In Wide Sargasso Sea, written by Jean Rhys in the 1960’s, is a radical critique of the context of English Imperialism and male dominated society within which Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre. 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