부정의 긍정성: 샬롯 브론테의 『빌레트』에 나타나는 기형적 인물들의 감정 경험

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze an individual’s emotions and their effect on the social processes in the nineteenth century novel Villette by Charlotte Brontë. The nineteenth century was a self-controlling society burdened by the surveillance and espionage of its people. The era is marked by the oppression of women’s emotions and regarded for any overt display of female emotions as hysteria, which was considered offensive and dangerous. In Villette, the outburst of emotions in social situations is shown as forms of ranging from heightened excitability to madness. In the novel, the protagonist and narrator, Lucy Snowe is a passive and calm woman at the beginning of the novel; however, her rational personality is eventually revealed to be unstable under Madam Beck and M. Paul’s surveillance. Above all, Lucy’s jealousy for Ginevra changes her calm nature to be excitable. Throughout her experiences, emotions, and illnesses, Lucy finds how limited the life of an ‘invalid’ woman is. However, she eventually is able to overcome her illness and critically look at society through its political, educational, and medical systems. Her emotions not only result in tragic isolation but also mirror her relationship with the world.