To Find “Beloved Master”: Jane’s Ideological Journey and Male Asymmetry in Jane Eyre
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Although previous feminist approaches to Jane Eyre have paid considerable attention to Jane, recent masculinity studies give us a new lens to explore the male characters, St. John and Rochester, who have been dismissed under the umbrella term of Victorian patriarchy. This essay draws upon a methodological approach to masculinity studies and examines St. John and Rochester’s male gender complexities. In employing Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s model of male-male-female triangulation, this essay further argues for St. John and Rochester’s competing masculinities in the ascendancy of Victorian middle-class domesticity. I examine St. John and Rochester’s masculinities, respectively, and move on to Jane’s ideological position between male rivalry. Although Jane has been read as a feminist heroine in pursuit of her independence, I contend that Jane shows a selective sympathy with the domestic Rochester at the end of the novel with her internalization of Victorian middle-class domesticity. Throughout the novel, Jane’s path is a type of ideological journey to find her beloved master. Whereas previous Jane-centered gender discussions have relied upon the heterosexual binary opposition between Jane and the male characters, this essay aims to complicate such heterosexual binarism with a new attention to male rivalry through Sedgwick’s model of triangulation.
Abstract
Although previous feminist approaches to Jane Eyre have paid considerable attention to Jane, recent masculinity studies give us a new lens to explore the male characters, St. John and Rochester, who have been dismissed under the umbrella term of Victorian patriarchy. This essay draws upon a methodological approach to masculinity studies and examines St. John and Rochester’s male gender complexities. In employing Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s model of male-male-female triangulation, this essay further argues for St. John and Rochester’s competing masculinities in the ascendancy of Victorian middle-class domesticity. I examine St. John and Rochester’s masculinities, respectively, and move on to Jane’s ideological position between male rivalry. Although Jane has been read as a feminist heroine in pursuit of her independence, I contend that Jane shows a selective sympathy with the domestic Rochester at the end of the novel with her internalization of Victorian middle-class domesticity. Throughout the novel, Jane’s path is a type of ideological journey to find her beloved master. Whereas previous Jane-centered gender discussions have relied upon the heterosexual binary opposition between Jane and the male characters, this essay aims to complicate such heterosexual binarism with a new attention to male rivalry through Sedgwick’s model of triangulation.
참고문헌 (16)
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