A Refutation of Gilbert and Gubars Anti-Christian Perspective of Jane Eyre - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1762 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/05/18 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Jane Eyre Essay Did you like this example? Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubars The Madwoman in the Attic is the seminal analysis of Jane Eyre, particularly with regards to feminism. The two assert that somehow Jane intentionally subverts not only social norms, but fundamental tenets of Christian morality, as though Christianity were by nature at odds with feminism, or even women themselves. This opinion is far from a recent development, seeing as Gilbert and Gubar cite several contemporary critics of Bront, which call the novel anti-Christian. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Refutation of Gilbert and Gubars Anti-Christian Perspective of Jane Eyre" essay for you Create order In truth, Jane is a highly virtuous and principled character. These are the qualities which in actuality make her a feminist role model, rather than mere rebellion against the status quo. Jane is morally and ethically superior to all but St. John, who she more than holds her own against. Janes Christianity is the foundation of her character, and Gilbert and Gubars analysis rests on uneven ground because of it. Since its publication in the mid-nineteenth century, Jane Eyre has been the subject of much controversy so far as Christian ethics are concerned. Jane herself was described by contemporary critic Elizabeth Rigby as being undisciplined and unregenerate (or unsaved), with the novel itself being preeminently anti-Christian (Gilbert and Gubar 1). This supposedly heathenesque bent, according to Gilbert and Gubar, comes from a refusal to accept the forms and standards of society in short rebellious feminism (1). The two waste no time linking their own analyses with these. They readily agree, Perhaps they were correct in their response to the book (Gilbert and Gubar 1). Charlotte Bront herself however, defended her writing passionately and authoritatively, admitting an intentional subversion of gender-norms, but declaring in the second edition of Jane Eyre that Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the ma sk from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns (Griesinger 5). In short, Bront was a Christian, through and through, as is her titular heroine Jane Eyre. Virtue being essential to discussions of faithfulness, it seems appropriate to me that Jane Eyres Christianity ought to be validated by an analysis of her moral character; something which contemporary critics, as well as Gilbert and Gubar, not only failed to acknowledge, but adamantly rejected. Gilbert and Gubar in particular connect Jane on a symbolic level with Bertha Mason, a character motivated by unbridled passion, governed by madness and violence. Marriage is one example used by Gilbert and Gubar as an analogy for principle, which, according to them Jane rejects. They state that St. John wants to imprison the resolute wild thing that is [Janes] soul in the ultimate cell, the iron shroud of principle (Gilbert and Gubar 11). Here they take things wildly out of context, forgetting the fact that Jane only finds herself in this predicament because she herself is a woman of principle in the first place. Jane leaves Rochester against her own will, on the grounds of principle and Chris tian decency. She refuses to play mistress to a married man (Bront Ch. 27). Janes virtue and faith both are evident throughout the entirety of the novel, as much as her feminist desires for equality. While Jane may temperately rebel against the status quo, she does not rebel against principle. It is not a prison to her. Gilbert and Gubars presumption of an incompatibility between faith and feminism is based upon a flawed understanding of Christian ideals of submission. This is why I bring up their comparison of marriage with prison. To Gilbert and Gubar, as well as contemporaries of Bront, marriage equals female subservience, and equality of the sexes is therefore incompatible with Christianity. The conclusion treats neither religion nor feminism with the proper modicum of respect and understanding. Gilbert and Gubar contend that Janes whole life-pilgrimage has, of course, prepared her to be angry at Rochesters and societys, [lovingly tyrannical] concept of marriage (Gilbert and Gubar 7). But who is to say that Rochesters and Christianitys are one in the same? The most striking, audaciously eloquent line in all of Bronts novel is when Jane challenges Rochester, just prior to his proposal, exclaiming it is my spirit that addresses your spirit as if we stood at Gods feet, equal, as we are! (Bront Ch. 23). To certain nineteenth century critics, this would have been seen as a grievous theological error, if not outright heresy. Gilbert and Gubar see it as a virtuous triumph of feminism, but still as anti-Christian. They rightly contend that Though in one sense Jane and Rochester begin their relationship as master and servant in another they begin as spiritual equals (Gilbert and Gubar 5). What they fail to recognize, is that spiritual equality is the Christian state of men and women. Such an analysis is hardly at odds with Christian values, or suggests any sort of innate rebelliousness. Long before Charlotte Brontes brand of feminism, Matthew Henry wrote in his Commentary on the Whole Bible That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Ad am; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him (Henry 7). While one can readily see through an examination of scripture that equality of the sexes has never been anti-Christian, it stands to reason that Jane Eyres brand of emerging biblical feminism as Emily Griesinger calls it, contains a great deal of theological and cultural complexity (19). This is made evident by Janes relationship with her cousin St. John, his proposal, her rejection, and ultimately the supernatural events which occur bringing Jane and Rochester back together. When St. John makes his final proposal, Jane prays earnestly for guidance and direction. She pleads with the Almighty for some sort of intervention. She cries to heaven, Show me, show me the path! and indeed He does (Bront Ch. 36). Jane hears the voice of Rochester, and she speaks to him in kind, across miles and miles of space. Its a miraculous answer to prayer, and one for which Jane immediately gives worship and thanksgiving, contrary to assertions made by Bronts critics. Gilbert and Gubar admit as that Christian morality is a focus of the novel, but contend that Janes inward sense of morality is superior to the external one, the Christian one. They see St. John as symbolic of this supposedly inferior morality, and Janes hearing Rochester as her inward moral compass. The conclusion of the novel refutes this however. Whereas Gilbert and Gubar see the climaxs miraculous intervention as being somehow tied to Janes subconscious, Bront makes it abundantly clear that Providence makes the final decision. Jerome Beaty points out, the notion that the voice is only the product of her excitement is almost immediately denied (Beaty 4). Janes love for Rochester was never rebellious. It was always part of Gods plan, which Jane chooses to accept. Beaty uses these events in his own rejection of the anti-Christian labels applied to the novel. He points out that [Jane] does not depart from the religious, certainly not the Providentialist tenets, and the novel does not force her to choose between religion and life or love (Beaty 4). Frankly, critics are wrong to assert as much. Janes final decision is not one of rebellion, but of submission; submission to God. Hardly anti-Christian, rebellious sentiment, Jane readily submits to the will of God the moment she is certain of it. Jane ends her story, not independent, but wholly dependent on the hand of God. She learns the truth of the proverb; In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Authorized King James Version, Prov. 3.6). In conclusion, Emily Griesinger asserts that Jane Eyres Christianity is far more reminiscent of evangelicalism, which has since taken much of Christianity by storm. She writes that Evangelical religion opposed formalism, a type of spirituality that favored outward forms, decent and orderly, over inward heart faith where the Spirit could not be easily contained and often spilled over (Griesinger 8). The fact that Jane Eyre is a woman directly led by the Holy Ghost and not by the church is likely what her critics found so offensive. Jane Eyres Christianity is not an anti-biblical one, but rather one ahead of its time. It is Janes ability to discern the voice of God for herself, suggests Griesinger, that makes her a Christian feminist icon. She needs no man, namely St. John, to explain the will of God for her life. She prays, and she finds it. Maria LaMonaca writes that because of this, Jane demonstrates that women must experience God directly (LaMonaca 8). Near the novels end, Jane refers to Paul and Silas miraculous escape from prison as not unlike her own experience. In the story, Paul and Silas, in an evening of prayer and praise, are loosed from jail by a miraculous earthquake. Jane herself, through prayer, is loosed from the prison of her own indecision. Like with Paul and Silas, Janes escape came by divine intervention in the midst of principled submission, not human rebelliousness. In such, she is exemplary of Christian virtue. Jane Eyre is at once a God fearing woman of principle and a feminist icon. Gilbert and Gubar may get a great deal right in their analysis, but theyre wrong to connect feminism with Brontes critics. They unnecessarily place themselves at odds with an ideology which has done more for the cause of equality than any other, seeing as it was the Apostle Paul who proclaimed There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Author ized King James Version, Gal. 3.23, emphasis mine). Works Cited Beaty, Jerome. St. Johns Way and the Wayward Reader. PDF file. Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. From A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain9 Janes Progress. Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale University Press, 1979. PDF file. Griesinger, Emily. Charlotte Bronts Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre. Christianity and Literature, vol. 58, no. 1, 2008, pp. 29â€Å"59. EBSCOhost, login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibburl=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login.aspx?direct=truedb=mzhAN=2008653303site=ehost-livescope=site. LaMonaca, Maria. Janes Crown of Thorns: Feminism and Christianity in Jane Eyre. Studies in the Novel, vol. 34, no. 3, 2002, pp. 245â€Å"63. EBSCOhost, login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibburl=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login.aspx?direct=truedb=mzhAN=2002532785site=ehost-livescope=site.

The Meaning of Innuendo, Definition and Examples

Innuendo is a subtle or indirect observation about a person or thing, usually of a salacious, critical, or disparaging nature. Also called insinuation. In An Account of Innuendo, Bruce Fraser defines the term as an implied message in the form of an allegation whose content constitutes some sort of unwanted ascription towards the target of the comment (Perspectives on Semantics, Pragmatics, and Discourse, 2001). As T. Edward Damer has noted, The force of this fallacy lies in the impression created that some veiled claim is true, although no evidence is presented to support such a view (Attacking Faulty Reasoning, 2009). Pronunciation   in-YOO-en-doe Etymology From the Latin, by hinting Examples and Observations The informal fallacy of innuendo  consists of implying a judgment, usually derogatory, by hinting. No argument is offered. Instead  the  audience is invited by suggestion, by a nod and a wink, to make the assumption. Someone asks, Where is Jones? Did he get fired or something? Someone answers, Not yet.  By innuendo, the response  numbers Joness days. The political candidate who distributes a brochure promising to restore honesty and integrity to an office has suggested, without presenting any argument, that the incumbent is crooked. - Joel Rudinow and Vincent E. Barry,  Invitation to Critical Thinking, 6th ed. Thomson Wadsworth, 2008 Sexual come-ons are a classic example [of innuendo]. Would you like to come up and see my etchings? has been recognized as a double entendre for so long that by 1939, James Thurber could draw a cartoon of a hapless man in an apartment lobby saying to his date, You wait here, and Ill bring the etchings down.​ The veiled threat also has a stereotype: the Mafia wiseguy offering protection with the soft sell, Nice store you got there. Would be a real shame if something happened to it. Traffic cops sometimes face not-so-innocent questions like, Gee, Officer, is there some way I could pay the fine right here? - Steven Pinker, Words Dont Mean What They Mean, Time, September 6, 2007 How to Detect Innuendo To detect innuendo, one has to read between the lines of the written or spoken discourse in a given case and draw out by implicature conclusions that are meant to be inferred by a reader or audience. This is done by reconstructing the argument as a contribution to a conversation, a conventionalized type of dialogue, in which the speaker and hearer (or reader) are supposedly engaged. In such a context, speaker and hearer may be presumed to share common knowledge and expectations and cooperatively to take part in the conversation at its different stages, by taking turns making kinds of moves called speech acts, for example, questioning and replying, asking for clarification or justification of an assertion. - Douglas Walton, One-Sided Arguments: A Dialectical Analysis of Bias. State University of New York Press, 1999 Erving Goffman on the Language of Hint Tact in regard to face-work often relies for its operation on a tacit agreement to do business through the language of hint--the language of innuendo, ambiguities, well-placed pauses, carefully worded jokes, and so on. The rule regarding this unofficial kind of communication is that the sender ought not to act as if he had officially conveyed the message he has hinted at, while the recipients have the right and the obligation to act as if they have not officially received the message contained in the hint. Hinted communication, then, is deniable communication; it need not be faced up to. - Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face-to-Face Behavior. Aldine, 1967 Innuendo in Political Discourse Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. - President George W. Bush, speech to the members of the Knesset in Jerusalem, May 15, 2008 Bush was speaking of appeasement against those who would negotiate with terrorists. The White House spokeswoman, with a straight face, claimed the reference was not to Sen. Barack Obama. - John Mashek, Bush, Obama, and the Hitler Card. U.S. News, May 16, 2008 Our nation stands at a fork in the political road. In one direction, lies a land of slander and scare; the land of sly innuendo, the poison pen, the anonymous phone call and hustling, pushing, shoving; the land of smash and grab and anything to win. This is Nixonland. But I say to you that it is not America. - Adlai E. Stevenson II, written during his second presidential campaign in 1956 The Lighter Side of Sexual Innuendo Norman: (leers, grinning) Your wife interested in er . . . (waggles head, leans across) photographs, eh? Know what I mean? Photographs, he asked him knowingly. Him: Photography? Norman: Yes. Nudge nudge. Snap snap. Grin grin, wink wink, say no more. Him: Holiday snaps? Norman: Could be, could be taken on holiday. Could be, yes--swimming costumes. Know what I mean? Candid photography. Know what I mean, nudge nudge. Him: No, no we dont have a camera. Norman: Oh. Still (slaps hands lightly twice) Woah! Eh? Wo-oah! Eh? Him: Look, are you insinuating something? Norman: Oh . . . no . . . no . . . Yes. Him: Well? Norman: Well. I mean. Er, I mean. Youre a man of the world, arent you . . . I mean, er, youve er . . . youve been there havent you . . . I mean youve been around . . . eh? Him: What do you mean? Norman: Well, I mean, like youve er . . . youve done it . . . I mean like, you know . . . youve . . . er . . . youve slept . . . with a lady. Him: Yes. Norman: Whats it like? - Eric Idle and Terry Jones, episode three of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, 1969

Heritable Genetic Information In Escherichia Coli In...

Heritable Genetic Information in Escherichia Coli in Transformation and Deoxyribonucleic Acid A report for Biology 2000 written by Alana Pay : 001196733 Introduction Griffin was a scientist that showed that there was a non-living component to heritability between organisms, although he had not yet discovered what exactly was the heritable component. However, during this time period, it was a common belief that the heritable material was contained within the protein of the organism, not the DNA that is now held in the truth. In the Avery and company experiment, they expanded Griffin research to pinpoint the exact location of the heritable information by breaking down cell components until the final product allowing transformation was†¦show more content†¦The experiment completed by Stanley et al, also used the transformational effectiveness of E.Coli to complete their R-Factor DNA study, so the effectiveness of using E.Coli in this type of experiment is well documented. (Stanley et al, 1972) The antibiotic that was used in our replication experiment was kanamycin, which is a amino-glycoside and it proceeds to block the areas that initiat ion complexes may occur. (National Center, 2017) A model system allows us to witness the effects of an experiment in many generations and in an organism that grows in a very quick fashion. The genetic growth is generally very similar to that of humans so that we may compare and contrast what may happen in humans, or what will before we start clinical trials of certain chemicals or antibiotics, in this case, that may have a positive or negative impact on the human populace. The objective of this experiment is to conclude that the results of Griffin and Avery et al, can be duplicated in a way that will allow us to corroborate their results. The null hypothesis that this repeated experiment revolved around was that the DNA involved from the E. Coli would not undergo transformation and therefore grow a strain, which means that there would be growth on any of the plated specimens. This leads to the alternative hypothesis that only the plates that involved the DNase would not have growth as it has the heritable genetic information that would allow the transformation to occur andShow MoreRelatedThe Theory Of Bacterial Transformation1417 Words   |  6 PagesBackground theory: Bacterial transformation is a versatile tool of central importance to molecular biology (The American Phytopathological Society, 2016; The Biotechnology Education Company, 2003). It is a process whereby bacterial cells take up and express exogenous DNA, resulting in the expression of a newly acquired genetic trait that is both stable and heritable (The Biotechnology Education Company, 2003; Bruce Roe, n.d.). For transformation to take place, the bacterial cells must enter a particularRead MoreThemes in the Study of Life5755 Words   |  24 Pagessimple, one-sentence definition. ââ€"‹ We recognize life by what living things do. Concept 1.1 The themes of this book make connections across different areas of biology. †¢ Eight unifying themes will help you organize and make sense of biological information. Theme 1: New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy. †¢ Each level of biological organization has emergent properties. †¢ Biological organization is based on a hierarchy of structural levels, each building on the levels below

Crime and Social Issues free essay sample

Many crime problems in my area which are creating difficulties for peoples day by day. I have seen many crimes have been done in my area. * Snatching * Drugs dealing * Shop lifting * Stabbing * Gang fighting * Theft and robbed * The area where I live is ok; I have been robbed for my money a couple of times – nothing too bad. But my friends live in a really bad estate. Theres always stuff going on there. People are shot and stabbed all the time. * It all starts with people getting rude with each other. One person is rude to someone else, and then the victim goes and gets their gang for revenge.Sometimes its just two gangs fighting and punching each other. But on this estate, its nearly always killing. Guns and knives are everywhere. * Its always worse when the gang hires someone else to do the killing. They only give a description of the person they want taken care of. We will write a custom essay sample on Crime and Social Issues or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page So the hit man hasnt even seen the guy hes going to shoot before. Sometimes they shoot the wrong person. Then, if the person who was killed by mistake was in a gang, their gang goes and gets revenge. So it never ends. * Im most worried about knife crime, because you can get knives anywhere – from the kitchen, shops and people from round the estates.My friend’s big brother was stabbed in the chest with a knife, because he was involved in some bad stuff. * In my school its not so bad because they check us for weapons. The only weapons were allowed are compasses. * Im not so afraid of gangs, because they dont have a reason to go after me. But my friends Dad got involved in drugs. Now hes got some gangs after him because of some trouble that happened. * When I visit my mates on the estate, I feel more protected than afraid, because I know my friends and their brothers are looking out for me.People there recognise me now, so I know even the drug dealers would look after me on their patches. They know Im not causing any trouble. But Id be very; very afraid for my life there if no-one was looking out for me. Snatching: About 10 houses in front of me was this young lady walking by a car parked along the grass patch outside one of the terrace houses. As she was reaching the rear end of this clean decent looking Silver Proton Waja, I noticed the engine started and the left rear passenger doors window was being wound down.Suddenly a man emerged out of the rear passenger doors window his entire torso! And making a grab of this ladies handbag!!!! As this man emerged from the cars window, the Silver Proton Waja was pulling out of its parking position slowly not in a hurry with the man from within just dragging the lady and her handbag along until she gave it up!! Then they drove off slowly no hurry!!! Conclusion: My report about crime problem in my area which I have describe in my report, we should do safety every time and inform to police about any crime or suspicious activiti es in area or any surrounding area.