Content uploaded by Maurice Gning
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Maurice Gning on Nov 28, 2023
Content may be subject to copyright.
International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC)
ISSN: 2582-9823
Vol-3, Issue-6, Nov-Dec 2023
Journal DOI: 10.22161/ijllc
Article CrossRef DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijllc.3.6.4
Peer-Reviewed Journal
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 25
Marginality in the Brontë sisters’ novels
Etienne Pathé Tine1, Maurice Gning2
1English Language Teacher, Prytanée militaire of Saint-Louis, Senegal
2Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis, Senegal
Article Info
Abstract
Received: 09 Oct 2023,
Received in revised form: 10 Nov 2023,
Accepted: 20 Nov 2023,
Available online: 28 Nov 2023
Keywords— marginality, Brontë sisters,
Victorian woman, prejudices, exile,
wandering.
©2023 The Author(s). Published by AI
Publications. This is an open access article
under the CC BY license
The Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne have left their mark
on the literary landscape of Victorian England. Beyond the fact that
they belong to the same family and are all three remarkable writers in
the same period, a unique fact in literary history, these sisters fully
express their genius through the sensitive and aesthetic dimension of
the various themes they address in their novels. One of the major
themes common to their novels is the question of marginality in a highly
stratified society of 19th-century Britain. Using Marxist, new
historicist, feminist, and psychoanalytical reading grids, we aim to
examine this theme of marginality precisely in Jane Eyre, The
Professor and Shirley by Charlotte and Wuthering Heights by Emily.
This work thus reveals the multiple faces and implications of
marginality in these novels in a context of economic, political and
social revolution.
I. INTRODUCTION
Marginality refers to the state of a marginalised
person or group of people. A marginalised person, as the
name implies, is one who is on the margins of the society or
the space in which he/she lives or works. He/she is treated
without any consideration and even ill-treated. Marginality
can take various forms depending on the factors that
account for it such as poverty, gender issue, social rank,
illness, convictions, passions, geographic location, etc. It
has existed since the dawn of time and in all societies.
However, it was a particularly notable fact in 19th-century
British society. In effect, the advent of the industrial
revolution that moved Great Britain from an initially
agricultural country to a highly industrial one widened the
gap between the already existing social categories. For
example, people or groups became richer, while many more
lived in deteriorated conditions. The Victorian woman, the
weaker sex, also suffered the full brunt of the effects of the
revolution. In addition, this form of exclusion related to the
industrial revolution could be observed on the geographical
level, as illustrated by these words from Clark (2):
Even within Britain the Industrial Revolution changed
the balance of power. Up until 1770 the center of population
and political power was the south. London had a population
of over 500,000 and was the center of Government. The
next largest towns in 1760 were Bristol and Norwich, both
in the south (see figures 1 and 2). Manchester, the center of
the cotton industry had a population of only 17,000. But the
Industrial Revolution was a phenomenon of the North of the
country, and population, income and political power moved
in favor of the north.
This analysis shows that the north of the country was
industrialised and favoured over the south that was lagging
in its traditional farming economy. Therefore, marginality
took on different aspects in Victorian society. The novels of
the Brontës depict, among other things, this complex issue
of marginality in a period of profound change, which this
study seeks to highlight. Using as a corpus Jane Eyre, The
Professor and Shirley by Charlotte and Wuthering Heights
by Emily, the paper draws on theories such as New
Historicism, Feminism, Marxism, and Psychoanalysis. The
New historicist theory that is mainly concerned with the
background of the text will help us better examine the issue
of marginality in relation to the historical, economic and
cultural context of the novels under study. In exploring the
condition of Victorian women from the angle of the theme
of study, feminist theory will be of particular help. It will
give us a better grasp of the various factors involved in the
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 26
objectification of women in this still highly patriarchal
society. To speak of marginality in Victorian society is also
to evoke the economic logic underlying the discriminatory
treatment of a certain social category. From this point of
view, the Marxist approach, which explains social
inequalities by questioning the capitalist system, could
serve as a good basis for analysis. Finally, resorting to
psychoanalysis seems convenient to examine the self-
defense mechanisms that characters develop faced with the
unbearable weight of marginality.
The first part of the work attempts to point out chief
marginalised groups, namely women in the domestic
sphere, the old maids and the domestic and industrial
workers. The second part analyses the main reactions of the
marginalised characters to overcome their social ordeal and
restore their dignity.
II. MARGINALISED GROUPS
2.1 Women in the domestic sphere
It is a truism to say that women were part of the groups
that the social structures of 19th-century England had placed
outside the centres of decision-making. The marginal status
of Victorian women was the subject of various debates
commonly referred to as the “Woman Question”. For some,
the woman should remain the guardian of the home by
fulfilling the matrimonial functions assigned to her by
society. Though women were generally referred to as ''the
cornerstone of Victorian society'', men considered that “the
perfect lady's sole function was marriage and procreation”
(Vicinus 8).
This gender inequality was the result of a sum of
prejudices of different kinds which resulted in theories such
as 'The separate spheres'. That ideology emerged in the
USA towards the end of the 18th century and developed in
the 19th century. It maintained that women and men had
divergent interests, with separate zones of influence. The
domestic or private sphere fell to women who were to
manage home and children, while men were responsible for
the public sphere related to work and the outside world. In
this perspective, the domination of men over women was
believed to be natural and legitimate.
Others believed, on the contrary, that the Victorian
woman should be promoted socially, economically and
even politically and enjoy a more honourable status in the
industrialised country. The debate around the status of
Victorian women had above all the merit of putting an old
idea taken for granted on the scales of moral scrutiny. This
is what led M’Carthy to assert that “the greatest social
difficulty in England today is the relationship between men
and women. The principal difference between ourselves and
our ancestor is that they took society as they found it while
we are self-conscious and perplexed”.
It goes without saying that in this debate the Brontës
took up the cause of the Victorian woman. With a view to
restoring the scorned dignity of the woman, they set out to
reveal and criticise the “oppressive force against women”
(Maine 9), that is the discriminatory and unfair treatment to
which they were subjected. Talking about Jane Eyre by
Charlotte Brontë, for example, Maine (9-10) asserts that it
“seeks to demonstrate and lament the injustices perpetuated
by law, notably in regard the inequality of women in
marriage and the treatment of insanity”. The Brontë girls'
advocacy of the Victorian woman takes various forms in
their novels. They make their plea through female
characters who suffer from the burden of housework.
Female characters like Nelly in Wuthering Heights,
Bessie, Miss Abbot and Mrs Fairfax in Jane Eyre are
confined to everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and
washing. In Villette, Lucy, who is employed by the
incapacitated Miss Marchmont, is so busy working that she
is disconnected with the world outside. She confesses: “I
forgot that there were fields, woods, rivers, seas, an ever-
changing sky outside the steam-dimmed lattice of this sick-
chamber” (C. Brontë, Villette 31). Taking care of sick
family members is also part of the daily responsibilities of
housewives. This is illustrated in Wuthering Heights by
Zillah who keeps providing assistance to Cathy and
Heathcliff until they pass away.
The Brontë sisters also highlight the lack of
consideration suffered by Victorian women through the
irresponsible behavior of their husbands. Because of the
“separate spheres theory”, men can often be away from
home without this causing concern from their wives.
Indeed, unlike women, whose household chores keep them
eternally confined within the four walls, men have the
opportunity to go out, given the professional activities that
theoretically link them to the outside world. However, the
reality is that many of them take advantage of this
opportunity to frequent bars and clubs and indulge in
alcohol, gambling, or visiting prostitutes, which is contrary
to Victorian values of morality.
In The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne gives, among
others, the example of Helen and her friend Millicent whose
husbands rarely stay at home. The evil becomes more
pronounced when the men's mistresses taunt the cuckolded
wives. Such is the case with Helen to whom Annabella, her
husband's mistress, retorts: “You need not begrudge him to
me, Helen, for I love him more than you ever could” (A.
Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 248). Besides cheating
the wives, men often prove very violent with them. The
reader of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall may be shocked by
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 27
Arthur's brutality, but more precisely by the barbarity of his
friend Hattersley, Millicent's husband. The latter attacks his
wife only because she inadvertently saw him and his friends
as they were leaving the bar. This scene of domestic
violence for which there is no justification is ironically
found in the chapter entitled ‘Social Virtues’. Huntingdon,
Grimsby and Hattersley were so drunk that they were
unable to walk. When her husband saw her, he began to
brutalise her. She begged him: “Do let me alone Ralph!
Remember we are not at home” (A. Brontë, The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall 218). It is sad to see a woman begging her
husband not to beat her because they were not at home. It is
as if the house were the place of torture agreed upon and
accepted by this resigned woman. Helen was going through
a similar situation with her husband. She ends up running
away with the child because they were dangerously exposed
to his growing violence.
The Victorian woman described by the Brontës’
novels remains under the yoke of male domination in a
society that is still very patriarchal. Takahashi (2) reminds
us that the “women’s social status in the Victorian era was
low, and their lives were destined to be obedient to men and
endure patriarchy. Many women had to endure unhappy
marriages”. However, they are consciously engaged in a
fight for liberation to put an end to this subordinate,
marginalised situation and to take full responsibility for
themselves. This struggle to conquer dignity takes several
forms in the novels under study. Nevertheless, generally
speaking, it is a question of women leaving the closed
environment of the home to venture outside, mainly in
search of employment. Women remain convinced that
success at work, whatever and wherever it may be,
constitutes a first step towards their liberation. This is the
reason why a good number of female characters go on
adventures, moving from one place to another. The
determination of these women to free themselves can be
measured by the audaciousness with which they overcome
the enormous obstacles that often stand in the way of their
adventures. In Chapter 28 of Jane Eyre, Charlotte describes
the challenges and hardships of Jane's journey in order to
meet an employer. She alights late in the evening at
Whitcross, a crossroad with only a stone pillar indicating
the directions of the nearest towns, distant at least ten miles.
It is night and she has accidentally left her packet in the
coach and is now destitute. She tries to sleep in the wood
(C. Brontë, Jane Eyre 285), and the next day, she eats from
the porridge which is meant for pigs. She is finally taken in
by the Rivers family. Lucy has a similar journey on her way
to Villette. Beyond housewives, another category of
women were also subject to marginalisation in Victorian
society.
2.2 The old maids group
The scourge of marginality also affects the group of
older girls who cannot find husbands, the number of which
was incredibly high in 19th-century English society. One of
the most striking literary images of the suffering of old
maids in the Victorian era is that found in Irish author
Charoltte O'conor Eccles' novel, The Rejuvenation of Miss
Semaphore (1897). Indeed, in this novel, Eccles paints a
middle-aged bourgeois woman who, tired of the solitude in
which her situation as an old spinster consigns her, decides
to drink an elixir “the Water of Youth” in order to
rejuvenate and escape her existential situation.
Unfortunately, under the effect of the product, she regresses
to the baby stage and is put into foster care. The image, both
comic and tragic, expresses the deep suffering that torments
Victorian spinsters subjected to the merciless gaze and
judgment of society. They would do anything to regain their
youth and free themselves from their degrading status as old
maids.
Old maids’ discrimination was based on the fact that it was
anchored in the mentalities of people that to become a real
English woman, the girl must first get married. The Brontë
girls deplore the stigmatisation of girls whose only fault is
to come from poor families, to be physically less attractive
or simply to be unlucky, to name just a few causes. They are
put at odds with people who consider them as a burden to
their family and often as girls with bad morals. They are
despised. In the homes, they are forced to work hard and
often in deplorable conditions. That is what revolts
Charlotte Brontë when she makes her character utter these
words: “Look at the rigid and formal race of old maids, the
race whom all despise; they have fed themselves, from
youth upwards, on maxims of resignation and endurance”
(The Professor 207).
Their challenge is to prove that the marginalising
treatment society reserves for them is not justified.
Charlotte devotes a chapter to this subject in Shirley which
she entitles Old Maids. She clearly tells us about the
situation of this group through Miss Mann and Miss Ainley.
Their life is all the more pitiful as they are ostracised and
left alone because the other girls avoid joining them. They
are regarded as a factor of bad luck. Fanny, for example,
seeing that little Caroline is bored at home, suggests her to
go near Mann or Miss Ainley. She does not hide her
reluctance and replies: “But their houses are dismal; …they
are both old maids I am certain old maids are a very
unhappy race” (C. Brontë, Shirley 134). Ainsley has no
brothers or sisters, nor anyone to take care of her. No one
thinks of her and no one comes to see her either. The worst
is that she leaves young men indifferent and “gentlemen
always sneer at her” (C. Brontë, Shirley 134). Caroline does
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 28
not feel safe within this group. She is afraid of experiencing
the same fate as they do. She does not want to call upon
herself what Rosalie calls an 'infamy' or becoming an old
maid (A. Brontë, Agnes Grey 62-63). This campaign which
demonises these girls seems to succeed, but Fanny tries to
explain to Caroline that all the ideas are only prejudices.
Ainsley is known and praised for her generosity and
honesty.
This marginalisation often pushes old maids to
leave their area and opt for a certain form of exile, literally
and figuratively. An unmarried girl feels a void in her life.
That is what Frances explains in Charlotte's novel, The
Professor: “Had I been an old maid I should have spent
existence in efforts to fill the void and ease the aching”
(460-61). Most of the characters' numerous movements
could be explained by their desire to dispel that feeling of
vacuity.
In Villette, Lucy gives the impression of fleeing
that society which stigmatises and marginalises her. She
says she is emigrating to Villette in search of work, but her
long journey, like Jane's, looks more like a quest for a
husband. She wants to be an English woman. Lucy was able
to obtain both, but outside of her country and society. Anne
Longmuir approves of these journeys, however perilous
they may be because if those girls had remained in England,
they would probably have become, “like millions and
thousands, jaded, listless, unhappy women, unable to marry,
and in many instances useless members of society”
(Longmuir). Since society does not help them, these girls
must fight for themselves by trying to go on an adventure.
Curiously, they often manage to settle down on a foreign
land, invest successfully, or even find a husband. They even
become victims of jealousy and are eventually regarded as
usurpers. The next marginalised group highlighted in the
novels of our corpus is that of domestic workers.
2.3 Domestic workers
This is the group of those who are employed by
upper-class families. They are responsible for all the
domestic tasks. Their importance, however, contrasts
sharply with the treatment they receive. After work, they
generally meet in the spaces of the house reserved for them
to relax, to eat or to sleep. This prevents them from
interfering too much in these families' lives. The bosses and
their children do not communicate with them a lot because
they are only servants, and “that one must keep them at due
distance, for fear of losing one's authority”' (159), as it is
explained by Fairfax in Jane Eyre. They keep that group at
a distance without worrying about the effects of that
treatment on their lives. The only thing that matters for these
employers remains their image and their social rank.
In Emily's novel, Heathcliff is forced to join this
group after his exclusion. He cannot bear living with them
because he fails to identify himself morally or
psychologically with this group of servants until his
voluntary exile. On his return from his long journey, he goes
to visit Catherine. On that occasion, Edgar reminds his wife
Catherine that this man's place is no longer in the living
room but in the kitchen to humiliate him. Servants like
Nelly, whom Caywood (9) calls “a member of a largely
marginalised class in England”, love the kitchen, that place
where they feel freer and sit together to share a meal, which
is an act of communion. It reinforces the group's cohesion.
That space is generally lively, “alive” (300) as Charlotte
says in Jane Eyre, and contrasts with the atmosphere of “the
red room which was silent, because it was remote from the
nursery and kitchen” (C. Brontë, Jane Eyre 9). She also
alludes to Bessie who, “as soon as she had dressed her
young ladies used to take herself off to the lively regions of
the kitchen and housekeeper’s room” (300). The servant's
eagerness to join the kitchen explains the importance of this
place for this group. They take advantage of these moments
to momentarily forget their marginality.
In the Brontë sisters’ novels, marginality appears as
a constitutive trait of the Victorian society, a society in the
midst of changes resulting from the industrial revolution
which is also more favourable to certain regions than to
others. Bailly, cited by Rioux (637), points out that the
centrality/periphery couple is then closely associated with
that of socio-spatial well-being/socio-spatial unhappiness.
The consequences of all these socio-spatial, socio-economic
and even socio-cultural changes often affect the necessary
cohesion among people and foster tensions which usually
results in conflicts (Bailly, 1383), (Rioux 637).
III. Reactions to marginality
3.1 Violence in Jane Eyre
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë tells us the life
experience of a young orphan girl of about ten years old,
Jane, in her uncle’s family. She does not live like other
children as her aunt, Mrs Reed, and her children treat her
like an outcast, which she cannot stand. The last straw
occurs when her cousin attempts to attack her physically.
She fights him back with that violence which surprises
them. In fact, she argues and fights against marginality so
as not to become “atypical or considered secondary” (C.
Brontë Villette 306).
A psychoanalytic reading suggests a state of psychic
regression with the interior resonances of a childhood
marked by an emotional deficit. As a result, Jane is revolted
by the fact that they do not consider and treat her as a human
being, “labelling her as something other than human”
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 29
(Peters 57) and regarding her as a child to boot. That
outburst of violence can be explained by what the senses
reveal, but Jane's disproportionate reaction seems to show
that she is moved by other arguments which she probably
ignores, particularly when they are stored in her
unconscious. It is a passionate revolt against social
marginality, according to Susan Meyer.
Jane has failed to adapt to the changes that took place
after her uncle's death. She has suddenly felt weaned from
the attention and affection of the latter who used to help her
live and grow well. Until his disappearance, Jane was
sheltered from marginalisation. Her aunt's hypocrisy and
jealousy ultimately cause her disaffiliation from the family.
Liliane Rioux demonstrates how traumatic this experience
can be, especially for a child. She explains that
rejecting an individual or group to the margins also
means perceiving them as potentially dangerous; it is, for
the marginalising group, affirming the legitimacy of its
regulatory and integration functions but it is also allowing
it to recognize itself as 'normal' by making the marginalised
group or individual play a role of ‘pusher’
1
(Rioux 636).
Jane is actually regarded as a threat to the social and
cultural norms of this group who view themselves as
superior. She appears as an intruder who has taken the place
of Mrs Reed and her children in Mr Reed's heart. From a
Marxist point of view, they cannot participate in the
promotion of inferior classes. Mrs Reed and her children
want to reconstruct Jane's character and make her into
another person who matches her true social level. For them,
Jane’s acceptance into the house does not equate with total
inclusion in the family which should remain the epitome of
high society. In consequence, Jane must be excluded. Her
exclusion is here synonymous with marginalisation the aim
of which is to reduce her influence. Jane is clearly aware of
Mrs Reed's new attitude to achieve her plans but she does
not panic. Charlotte uses the phrase, “were now clustered”
(C. Brontë, Jane Eyre 3), to mean the coalition that is being
established between the mother and her children against
Jane. They are now in battle order. To better refine their
strategy, they hide their plot by making people believe in
their friendliness with the girl. All the good words they
preach about Jane are often reported to her by Bessie. They
often tell her that Jane remains the beloved daughter of the
family although she is native of a poor family. Jane knows
all now: “I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like
nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs Reed or
her children” (C. Brontë, Jane Eyre 3). She is aware of the
1
Rejeter un individu ou un groupe à la marge, c'est aussi le
percevoir comme potentiellement dangereux ; c'est, pour le
groupe marginalisant, affirmer la légitimité de ses fonctions de
régulation et d'intégration mais c'est également lui permettre de
determination of her "adversaries" to return her to her initial
social state of less than nothing. For example, to prevent the
ten-year-old orphan of being on the same intellectual level
as her children, her aunt forbids her to consult the books of
her cousins Eliza, Georgiana, and John.
Jane resolutely embarks on the path of confrontation
to defend her dignity and identity. This is what Mérias (3)
explains when she says that Jane seems to be constructed
through opposition to the established order. Her belligerent
attitude does not define her. It results from a necessity to
fight for survival. Her fight against John opens the way for
Mrs Reed to implement her plans. By sending her to “the
red room” for punishment, she separates her physically
from the family. This exclusion will be completed when
Mrs Reed sends Jane to Lowood boarding school where she
meets Helen Burns who is three years older than her. She
instinctively becomes her friend. Their complicity seems to
indicate that they have something in common. Indeed,
Helen is the unloved student in the school. She is a thirteen-
year-old girl. For the slightest mistake, she often receives
the most severe punishments. She always submits without
protest. Jane cannot understand her impassivity, but she
considers that it is her own way of experiencing marginality.
Jane does not know her father and has not got the
chance to benefit from maternal tenderness. What society
offers her through her aunt and cousin John, instead, turns
out to be just contempt and total enmity. Therefore, she
must struggle and defend her personal space that constitutes
a system of defence and safeguarding of intimacy, by
regulating interactions with the social environment
2
(Rioux
639). Jane manages to withdraw into herself and find the
space of the self for want of integration. It is as if she were
doomed to walk alone, despite her attempt to get closer to
others. Helen Burns, her only friend with whom she would
exchange, dies shortly after they meet. After all, she hugs
herself for rebelling against her aunt. Her transfer to
Lowood appears as a liberation and an opportunity to learn
more about the outer world. Six years later, she becomes a
teacher at the same school.
Isolation and marginality have characterised Jane's
life. Thus, the loneliness and darkness of the red room at
Gateshead Hall, or the last moments Jane spent alone at
Helen’s bedside in Lowood, could be related to that moment
when she returned to Rochester, to join her husband who
secluded in his estate after Thornfield had burnt. She has
fought so valiantly to escape from marginality but at that
stage, she seems to relapse into the isolation of the periphery
se reconnaître comme ‘normal’ en faisant jouer au groupe ou à
l'individu marginalisé une fonction de « repoussoir »
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 30
of society. As Sarah Eron notes, “Jane never leaves her
station as a woman who remains on the outskirts of society’,
even after her marriage to Rochester, she fails to join the
upper class depicted in chapter seventeen”.
Charlotte illustrates the theme of marginality
through another atypical character, Madame Bertha. She is
discreet essentially because she is sick and isolated by her
husband. Physically, morally and psychologically
marginalised, she represents the hidden part of Mr
Rochester's life. They have a tumultuous but secret life
together until Jane arrives in the house. That discovery
brings back many memories to Jane particularly about her
stay with her uncle, including her confinement in the Red
Room. The similarity between Jane and Bertha is obvious.
They both, at one moment, plunge into the madness of anger
and overreact. For Jane, this state is temporary, but for
Bertha, it is permanent and even more violent. The latter
goes so far as to pose a real danger to her husband and to
the whole house. Indeed, she once set fire to Rochester’s
bed while he was sleeping. He narrowly escapes from death,
saved by Jane who discovers the fire on time. Mason, a
friend of Rochester's, has also experienced the mad
woman’s brutality. Bertha's revolt is reminiscent of Jane's.
River explains Bertha's attitude who voices out “her
resistance through acts of violence such as the burning of
Thornfield. The symbolism of lighting fire expresses her
presence, her denial of concealment, and her terrorism
against the patriarchal powers”.
The restriction of freedom is always unbearable.
Both Jane and Bertha are pushed to react in violent way to
express their frustration, but especially their hatred for their
oppressors and the social system that marginalises them.
Although Bertha is sick, she continues to claim her rights as
a married woman in her household. Her isolation only
exasperates her death impulses. That woman with an
affected psyche is actually crumbling under the weight of
the pressure of the subconscious, psychoanalyst critics
would say. Her violent behaviour appears as the expression
of a claim for liberation and justice. Wandering is also
another form of reaction of the marginalized to their
unenviable social situation.
3.2 Wandering in The Professor
Wandering is a major theme in the Brontë sisters' novels.
From a new historicist point of view, the predominance of
this theme can be explained by the experiences of these
three writers. The issue has, in fact, much to do with the
history of their family. Their father, Patrick Brontë, has Irish
origins. He immigrated to England for professional, but
3
Entretien N°3 François CHOBEAUX Annexe I-3. ‘la solution qu’ils
ont trouvée pour fuir leurs horreurs psychologiques, intimes et
pour se protéger de ça.’
mainly security reasons. In Ireland, he lived with his parents
in a difficult context due to the conflict between Catholics
and Protestants. Born from a Protestant father and a
Catholic mother, he was constantly attacked by his peers
when he was young. They called him “mongrel Pat” or “Pat
the papish” (Wright 227). He experienced marginality from
his early age but he managed to live and grow safely until
he became a pastor. However, it was difficult for him to
serve in his country. He did not hesitate to accept the offer
to go and work in England. As a pastor, he constantly
moved with his family to the parishes where he was posted.
His children were born in Hartshead or Thornton. That
seems to have an impact on the girls’ fictions with numerous
travels, long walks through wide open spaces like the
moors, adventures, migrations from the countryside to the
city, or from the South to the North, etc.
The expression of wandering can plainly be read
through William or Frances in The Professor. The
characters’ trips to Belgium are reminiscent of Charlotte's
stay at the Hegger Boarding School in Brussels. She went
there with her sister Emily. Patrick wanted them to study
for six months but Charlotte had the idea of staying there to
find work, “Before our half year in Brussels is completed,
you and I will have to seek employment abroad.” (qted by
Reef 56) She was very ambitious like her father and
imprinted this mark to her marginalised characters. To
achieve their ambitions, William did not hesitate to involve
in wandering.
In the novel, the main explanation for wandering
seems to be the socio-economic situation which has created
precariousness within many families. Most wanderers are
marginalised people in search of a solution to their material,
financial and sometimes psychological problems.
Wandering is therapeutic; even if it is 'very risky', as Olivier
Douville says, it remains for François Chobeaux, the
solution they have found to escape their psychological,
intimate horrors and to protect themselves from the ‘ça’
3
In
the novels under study, the wandering characters aim to
reconquer or gain a social status.
William is comparable to Jane in The Professor. He
is involved in wandering because his parents persecute him
by trying to impose their ideology. They all disown him. He
gets into a family breakdown and cannot find work, but he
does not despair. He dares to face poverty and all other
forms of suffering. It is a harsh experience of marginality.
As D. Laberge and S. Roy support, the most commonly
forms associated with social marginalisation and exclusion
generally relate to the world of poverty. William's exclusion
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 31
actually begins when his maternal uncles, Lord Tynedale,
and the honourable John Seacombe seek to influence the
choice of his future profession. The former wants him to be
a pastor and the latter to marry one of his daughters. The
young man declines all these offers. From that time, they let
him know that he must make his own way. He refers to his
brother Edward who agrees to recruit him into his company.
Unfortunately, he removes him from the position shortly
after for family reasons.
William finds himself alone, helpless and with no
support in a society where one can easily succumb to the
temptation of deviance. Aware of his social vulnerability,
he avoids vice by keeping on his quest for a job. He actually
believes, like Jane, that it is the only way to regain centrality
and dispel marginality. Shuttleworth (28) notices that “both
Jane and Crimsworth make their way by hard work, thus
avoiding the taint of upper-class idleness, and the overt
money-grubbing of trade. (28)
William dreams about investing in business, to
follow in his father's steps as he promised his uncles. They
had a real contempt for that man because he was a merchant
and of a lower rank. He eventually decides to go to Belgium
to explore another path to success. Travelling is the usual
practice for marginalised characters to escape from
isolation. Yorke Hunsden helped him when he left his
brother's company by recommending him to a school
principal in Belgium for a teaching position. Unfortunately,
after a few months, he has problems with the headmistress
linked to jealousy. He freely chooses to leave the school.
Consequently, he begins to believe that he was born to live
in wandering and die in poverty and contempt. (C. Brontë,
The Professor 298).
In the story, Charlotte illustrates moments of turmoil
in this character's life. Unlike Jane, William shows restraint
and uses diplomacy in case of provocation. Marginality and
wandering seem to reorient his life but to the positive
direction. He meets Mr Vandenhuten who resolutely leads
him to the way of success and Frances, his future wife. He
manages to build his own school, make his fortune and
regain centrality.
William displays great courage by daring to meet
and trust unknown people from different cultures, despite
all the risks inherent in living in exile, as a refugee or an
immigrant. He might have been rejected or a victim of
xenophobia or any other forms of discrimination. He seems
to focus on the issues of his quest. Indeed, William has got
landmarks. As Claudio Bolzman says about wandering,
people are in fact part of a subculture that gives access to
the codes necessary to survive in the world of marginality.
4
He tries to get away from the environment that rejected him
in order to meet the challenge for survival and social
identity.
In The Professor, the destinies of two wanderers
have crossed. William and Frances who share the same
passion for teaching fall in true love after recovering each
from repetitive emotional frustrations. Wandering is
beneficial in view of the positive results it brings in the
marginalised people's lives. Most of them have managed to
reconcile with themselves and with society.
3.3 Social ostracism in Wuthering Heights
In Wuthering Heights, Emily portrays characters
belonging to different classes the relationships of which is
marked by exploitation and subjugation. The upper classes
exercise almost a tyrannical power over the lower ones.
Characters like Heathcliff find this situation so unbearable
that they have decided to escape from this society
The experience of marginality is part of what makes
Heathcliff an important character in Emily's story. Even
when he disappears from the Wuthering Heights scene, he
continues to be feared by Cathy, Edgar or Hindley. They are
aware that he will return and the most worrying thing is that
they cannot know the moment and his new intentions. Given
the conditions of his departure, they naturally expect
revenge on them, because of the role they have played in his
exclusion since the death of Mr Earnshaw. Heathcliff also
seems to understand that the first catalyst for his
marginalisation and exclusion remains the changing
English society. His marginality can be interpreted as the
reverse or failure of integration, assimilation or social
integration (Laberge and Roy 5).
Heathcliff receives the same treatment as Mr
Earnshaw's children. The family adopts him, but his
integration is never complete despite all the advantages. He
is not surprised when Hindley, one of Mr Earnshaw's
children, insists that all the privileges should be taken away
from him. He immediately falls into a total state of
relational isolation (Rioux 635). Readers are eager to know
if Emily will create a surprise by making him into a
marginalised character who brings misfortune to society, or
one who tries to deliver it from evils (Rioux 635). His long
absence from the story cannot but let us expect to see a
revengeful marginal person tending towards evil upon his
return. Indeed, he had gradually and discreetly shifted from
a human to a monstrous character. As Huxley (159) puts it,
a person different is inevitably alone and is liable to treated
abominably.
The harsh experience of marginality makes
Heathcliff better realise the need to react to the aristocracy
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 32
dominated society which has failed to support and protect
him. The only way to find a place in that society is to make
a fortune. Far from being an isolated case, Heathcliff lives
every day, like many other people or groups, with that
injustice. Unsurprisingly, the upper classes act as real
oppressors, “our august aristocracy” with its “footprints…,
see how they walk in blood, crushing hearts as they walk”
(C. Brontë, The Professor 332). These terms clearly express
the cruelty of the system that William complains about in
The Professor, which has greatly contributed to establishing
the phenomenon of marginality. And yet, these classes only
exist thanks to the work of industrial or agricultural
workers, servants and all the lower social categories at their
service. They have allowed them to build their wealth.
Victor Hugo (79), referring to patriarchy and aristocracy in
England, writes that it is from the hell of the poor that the
paradise of the rich is made. That is the type of society
Heathcliff wants to fight.
Heathcliff’s life changes after Mr Earnshaw's death
particularly when Hindley orders him to distance from his
sister Catherine because he is neither a rich young man nor
a young man of good birth. Heathcliff refuses to abdicate in
view of all that she represents to him, beyond the emotional
aspect. The girl seems to represent centrality to him, which
is his main reason for living i.e achieving his dream of social
ascension. Unfortunately, he is made to give up. That
confirms his definitive exclusion from the childhood
kingdom he built with Catherine through their ramblings in
the moors when they were young. Indeed, what disturbs him
most is less Hindley or Edgar’s attitude than Catherine’s
about-face. By agreeing to marry Edgar, she is made to
accept the social argument supported by her brother and her
cousins. So, the dream kingdom of the innocent past years
becomes a kingdom of nightmares and a prison. Heathcliff
loses his sovereignty.
To complete his marginalisation, Emily chooses to
make Heathcliff disappear from the story for years. During
this long absence, he lives on the fringes of society in
absolute discretion. Emily does not give any information
about his activity or the source of his fortune. It is as if
Emily wanted to take him on a spiritual retreat in order to
get him ready for his mission: to change this society that
excludes and marginalises.
By falling back into marginality, he gives the
impression of returning to square one. In fact, he arrives in
this family as an outsider and leaves it, more ostracised than
ever after years of dream. By withdrawing her unwavering
support, Catherine inexorably pushes him down the path of
exile. Heathcliff does not look so offended by what may
appear to the reader as a misfortune. He considers that it is
only a forced passage for anyone who intends to achieve
normality or settle at the centre of this society where people
are obsessed by fortune. Travelling offers opportunities for
getting money, a job or even marriage. When Heathcliff
returns from his trip, he becomes rich and ready for the
mission. Armstrong (96) explains how he manages to
control society thanks to his fortune:
A competitive principle rooted in the
accumulation of capital provides the
transforming agency that moves
Heathcliff from the margins of society
to its very center. Once there, he
displays all the vices that have
accompanied political power, the
Lintons’ sophistication, their veneer
of civility, as well as the Earnshaws’
brutality. It is money alone that
empowers him to infiltrate the
timeless institutions of marriage,
inheritance, and property ownership
and to shape these institutions to serve
his own interests. Upon gaining
possession of both the Heights and the
Grange, Heathcliff initiates a new
form of tyranny that undoes all former
systems of kinship and erases the
boundaries between class as well as
between family lines.
Through his control over Heights, and Grange,
Heathcliff lays the foundations of a new order characterised
by the social tyranny he steps up and conducts alone. He
still remains locked in his marginality, with the only
difference that he moves from the status of an oppressed to
that of an oppressor. He becomes rather dangerous because
of his thirst for revenge which consumes and makes him
more and more violent and nearly inhumane. All the acts he
carries out aim at taking people hostage and stripping them
of their property. Armstrong (108) specifies that the new
master and tyrant “ends up leading an imprisoned inner
existence, one epitomised in the plot of his unceasing unrest
in the last half of the novel”.
The quest for power and domination never leaves
Heathcliff, even after defeating all his adversaries. He
eventually becomes too obsessed that even by the end of his
life, he chooses to stay alone at the climax of marginality.
He does not want to accept any suggestion to improve his
worsening health condition. He stays away from any human
presence until death.
IV. CONCLUSION
Marginality is an obvious reality in 19th-century
English society. The reading of the Brontës’ novels in the
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 33
light of New Historicism, Marxism, Psychoanalysis and
Feminism has helped better identify the causes,
manifestations, consequences and functions of marginality.
The patriarchal and capitalist mentality of 19th-century
England - that fosters individualism, selfishness and even
malice - is the main underpinning of this social evil. The
main aim of marginality is to consolidate the social position
of the dominant party, which is only possible if he/she
succeeds, through humiliation of all kinds, in objectifying
the weaker party. This evil affects various categories of
people including women, old maids, and domestic workers
who struggle everyday not to stay on the margins. As
Takahashi (1) underlines, “the ultimate aim of the central
figures of Brontë was to become insiders in the real sense”.
This struggle for recognition is expressed in a variety of
ways, such as violence, exile, the stubborn search for work,
wandering, self-imposed isolation, etc.
At first glance, we can say that the results of the
liberation struggle led by marginalised groups generally
seem mixed. It is neither completely a success nor
completely a failure. Two examples are enough to illustrate
this fact. These are the fate of Jane Eyre in Charlotte's
eponymous novel, and Lucy, the heroine of her third novel,
Villette. Indeed, Jane asserts women’s rights but eventually
settles for the Angel in the House withdrawn in gloomy
Ferndean; Lucy is quiet and unassertive, but eventually
fulfills her dream of founding a school, and remains single
for the rest of her life (Takahashi 5). However, if we take a
closer look at the wave of multi-faceted revolt that unfolds
in the Brontës’ novels, we can easily imagine the imminent
collapse of the discriminatory social system and the
transition of outcast figures from a position of social
marginality to confirmed membership of the gentry
(Shuttleworth 8). In this regard, the Brontës’ novels herald
a new era of freedom for the oppressed trapped in an
iniquitous social system.
REFERENCES
[1] Armstrong, N. “Emily Brontë In and Out of Her Time.”
Genre, vol. 15, 1982, 89-108.
[2] Bolzman, C. “Exil et errance”. Pensée plurielle, 1 (n° 35),
2014, 43-52.
[3] Boone, J. A. “Wuthering Heights: Uneasy Wedlock and
Unquiet Slumbers in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights” (.
H. Bloom (Ed.), New Delhi: Viva Books Private Limited,
2010, 127-46.
[4] Bos, J. « Les types de marginalisation dans leur relation
constitutive au discours », L'Homme & la Société, vol. 167-
168-169, no. 1-2-3, 2008, 177-201.
[5] Brontë, A. Agnes Grey. London: Wordsworth Classics, 1998.
— —. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. London: Wordsworth
Classics, 2001.
[6] Brontë, C. Jane Eyre. London: Wordsworth Classics, 1999.
— — —. Shirley. London: Wordsworth Classics, 1993.
— — —. The Professor. Edinburgh: Thortorn Edition, 1907.
— — —. Villette. London: Wordsworth Classics, 1993.
[7] Brontë, E. Wuthering Heights. London: Wordsworth
Editions, 1992.
[8] Huxley, A. Brave New World, Chatto & Windus, London,
1932.
[9] Caywood, H. “Nelly, I am Heathcliff!” The Intersection of
Class, Race, and Narration in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering
Heights. A thesis presented for the B.A. degree with Honors
in The Department of English University of Michigan,
Winter 2017.
[10] Clark, G. “The British Industrial Revolution, 1760-1860”.
World Economic History: ECN 110B, Spring 2005.
[11] Eccles, C. O’. The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore: A
Farcical Novel. 1897. London: British Library, 2011.
[12] Eron, S. "Issues of Social Marginalisation and Physical
Isolation and their Moral Significances in Brontë's Jane
Eyre." https://victorianweb.org /authors/bronte/cbronte /
eron21.html Web. Accessed 2 February 2022.
[13] Hadjiafxendi, et.al. “What Is a Woman to Do? A Reader on
Women”. Work and Art, c. PETER LANG, Oxford, 2011,
1830–1890.
[14] Hughes, K. “Discovering Literature: Romantics &
Victorians.” <https://bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians /articles/
gender- roles- in-the-19th-century>. Accessed 17 February
2022.
[15] Hugo, V. « L'homme qui rit ».
https://www.ebooksgratuits.com/blackmask/hugo homme_
qui_ rit. pdf. Accessed 9 July 2022.
[16] Laberge, D. & Roy, S. Marginalité et exclusion sociales : des
lieux et des formes. https://doi.org/10.7202/1002205ar.
Accessed 10 October 2023.
[17] Longmuir, A. “Emigrant Spinsters and the Construction of
Englishness in Charlotte Brontë's Villette.” Nineteenth-
Century Gender Studies Issue 4.3, 2008.
[18] Maine, A. “Pet Lamb and Clothed Hyena: Law as an
Oppressive Force in Jane Eyre”. Student Journal of
Professional Practice and Academic Research, Volume 1
Issue 1, 2006, 9-11.
[19] M’Carthy, J. “Novels with a Purpose”. Westminster Review,
26(1), 1864.
[20] Mérias, C. Images de l’enfance dans Jane Eyre. Clermont-
Ferrand: PU Blaise Pascal, 2009.
[21] Meyer, S. “‘Indian Ink’: Colonialism and the Figurative
Strategy of Jane Eyre.” Bloom’s Modern Critical
Interpretations: Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte, Updated
Edition, 2007, 43–74.
[22] Peters, J. G. “Inside and Outside: ‘Jane Eyre’ and
Marginalisation through Labelling.” Studies in the Novel, vol.
28, no. 1, 1996, 57–75.
[23] Reef, C. The Brontë sisters: the brief lives of Charlotte,
Emily, and Anne. Clarion Books, New York, 2012.
[24] River, R. ‘Reconsidering Bertha: Marginalised Women and
Unheard Voices in Jane Eyre, the Odyssey, and the Wide
Sargasso Sea’. http://reileypengxi.wordpress.com 7 June
2023.
Tine and Gning/ International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture (IJLLC), Vol-3, Issue-6 (2023)
Int. J. Lang. Lit. Cult.
https://aipublications.com/ijllc/ 34
[25] Rioux, L. "Les dimensions spatiale et culturelle de la
marginalité : une approche
psychosociologique".https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/ex
l-doc/pleins_textes /divers 4/ 01 0017379. Accessed 17
october 2023.
[26] Shuttleworth, S. “Jane Eyre: Lurid Hieroglyphics” in
Charlotte Bronte and Victorian Psychology, CUP, 2009, 7-
42.
[27] Takahashi, M. “Feminism and Identity in Victorian novels of
Brontës, the Interchangeability of the Binaries: Center and
Margin, Reality and Appearance, Original and Copy”. Doctor
of Philosophy to the faculty of the Department of English of
St. John’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at St. John
University, New York, 2023.
[28] Wright, W. The Brontës in Ireland or Facts Stranger than
Fiction. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1893.
[29] Zwick M., M. & Grimard, C. ‘De la marginalité à la
vulnérabilité : quels liens entre concepts, réalités et
intervention sociale?’ Nouvelles pratiques sociales, 27(2),
2015, pp 45–59.
