Question

Explain Virginia Woolf’s views of the relevancy of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Do you agree or disagree with Woolf’s commentary? Explain your answer. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

Answer 1

Answer:

I tend to disagree.

Explanation:

Woolf, almost a century nearer to Charlotte Brontë than we, surprisingly had the same problems as we have, trying to understand Charlotte and the character Jane Eyre. 'We have to cast our minds back to the fiftees of the last century (19th), to a remote parsonage upon the wild Yorkshire moors.'

In other words, Woolf questions the timelessness of Jane Eyre, stating that, in so many words, it is outdated. Maybe she is right, maybe not. When I think of The professor by Charlotte Brontë I can only disagree. This book, although it describes a victorian world long gone, the emotional story is alive and kicking, as well as the never ending problems teachers have with students.

Further on Woolf´s argument concentrates on the poetic style of Charlotte, claiming that it´s all about 'I love, I hate, I suffer'.

Correct, no matter how intellect we are (and Woolf makes it very clear that she is one hell of an intellectual), in the end our human existence is one that passes through the whole emotional spectre. And that, in my opinion, makes the works of all the Brontë sisters so important.

The setting may be outdated; the human story not.