Victorian Women Novelists

One sign of England richer in social consciousness is the abundance of women writers. some of them almost attained the highest rank. The novelists enuciate the feminine view of life and society. In the world of fiction, these novelists emerged as a check in the realm of medieval Romantic period. They include Mrs. George, Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Bray, Mrs. Henry Wood and many more now justly forgotten. However, George Eliot, Bronte sisters and Mrs. Gaskell are the most important novelists of the time.

Now let us consider individually the achievements of these novelists.

The  most impressive of Victorian women novelists is George Eliot as Mary Ann Evans called herself. With her we come to the most philosophical of major Victorian novelists. Philosophy is both her strength and weakness. It keeps her from falling into triviality but at the same time, it gives her art–a reflective quality. Even her humour has about the quality of ponderous reflectiveness.

All her novels are marked by extreme seriousness of purpose. She is indeed to didactic. She presents virtues like industry, self-restraint and consciousness.

An important feature of her novels is her deep concern with human psychology. For her the development of the human soul is important. She excels in minute analysis of the motives and reactions of the ordinary folk. In her characterization she displays  both subtlety and variety. As David Cecil says,“Her portraits are primarily portraits of the inner man.”

The Bronte Sisters

The Bronte Sisters–Charlotte, Emily and Anne –who entered into the realm of literature as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell in a personage on the Bleak Yorkshire Moorlands remote from culture, dwelt this tragic family who lived fiercely and died prematurely. Three of them transmuted their passions and experiences into intensely personal stories.

Anne Bronte 

Anne Bronte [1820-1849]

Anne Bronte is by far the least important figure of the three. Her two novels ‘Agnes Grey’ and ‘The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’ are very much interior to those of her sisters, for she lacks all their powers and intensity.

Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte [1816-1855]

Charlotte Bronte’s novels are ‘The Professor’, ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘Shirley’ and ‘Villette’.

In her novels, Charlotte revolted against the tradition of Jane Austen, Dickens and Thackeray. Her novels are novels not of manners but of passions. In the plots of her novels, she is largely restricted to her own experiences, her passion is attired overcharged to the point of frenzy.

Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte [1818-1848]

Emily Bronte wrote less than Charlotte. Her only one novel– ‘Wuthering Heights’ is unique in English literature. She writes about different subjects, in a different manner and form, a different point of view. Men and Nature are to her equally living and in the same way, to her an angry man and an angry sky are not just metaphorically alike. They are actually alike in kind. Her vision of life does away with the ordinary antithesis between good and evil. The conflict between right and wrong which is a distinguishing feature of Victorian view of life does not come into her view. Her characters have extremely intense emotions. Her imagination is built on a tremendous scale.

Elizabeth Gaskell 

Elizabeth Gaskell [1810-1865]

Mrs. Gaskell had nothing of this passion and frustration of the Bronte Sisters. Her sense of humour and deep human sympathy are obvious manifestations of her serenity. Her novels can be divided into two well defined categories. Her novels like ‘Mary Barton’, ‘North and South’ deal with the social and industrial problems. On the other hand ‘Cranford’, ‘Ruth’, ‘Wives and Daughters’ and ‘Sylvia’s Lovers’ paint the rural life and manners. Her plots are generally weak and melodramatic. Her style is simple, lucid and unaffected.

Conclusion

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