"Wuthering Heights "and "Jane Eyre "have remained continuously popular ever since their 1847 publication. Though their lives were tragically short, Charlotte and Emily Bront DEGREESDe made significant contributions to the history of the novel as a respected literary form. This Student Companion offers an absorbing biographical account of the Bront DEGREESDe sisters' upbringing, tracing the familial and personal influences that shaped their intellectual lives. A literary heritage chapter also helps students grasp the importance of the sisters' literary accomplishments. A thorough, clear critical analysis is provided for each novel, including sections on plot, character development, thematic issues, literary devices and craft, and the historical/social-cultural context of each work. In addition to "Wuthering Heights "and "Jane Eyre, " original analysis is also given for "Shirley" (1849)," Villette "(1853"), "and" The Professor" (1857), Charlotte's first written but posthumously published novel.

Five different contemporary literary theories--Marxist, Freudian, Jungian, Postcolonial, and Feminist--are included in the analysis and are discussed and applied to the novels. Difficult concepts are clearly explained, in non-academic prose. In-depth historical information not usually found in books about the Bront DEGREESDes is included, such as Belgian history, which is important in understanding "Villette "and" The Professor." Clear writing and additional background information make this book a good choice for non-specialists, including students and general readers. An up-to-date bibliography includes the most recently published books and articles in Bront DEGREESDe studies.

This is the first full-length study to focus specifically on representations of motherhood in fiction by such Victorian writers as Elizabeth Gaskell, Margaret Oliphant, Caroline Norton, and Ellen Price Wood. These authors presented an idealized view of motherhood as part of a campaign to gain social and legal status for mothering in a society in which married women were not legal entities and children born in wedlock were the inalienable property of their fathers. These writers used "dead mother" plots which reversed New Testament parables so that the mother plays the leading role, and "maternal circle" plots, which portray adult daughters and their mothers raising children outside marriage. This fiction, which showed how children benefit from good mothering, was instrumental in married mothers eventually obtaining equal parental rights.