04-06-2008, 03:24 PM
MysteryMind Wrote:Your assessment of some of the characters are quite humorous. I was surprised to find that the eldest Reed girl became a nun - and a Catholic one I believe. That brings up another theme in the early Gothics - a "rebellion" against the Catholic Church. Although it wasn't forceful, Jane's response to Helen and St. John seems to underline the antagonism towards religious extremism. Bronte's presentation of Brocklehurst could be said to do the same. What do you think?
Yes, I do see a resistance to extremism. I believe this was in part influenced by her awful experience at the Clergy Daughters School. It served as a model for Lowood and its conditions are blamed for the deaths of two of her sisters. How sad that Lowood was not just a fictional creation.
I think that Gothic literature in general tends to be anti-Catholic. I think that post-Mary I, England became more and more anti-Catholic. So many of the early classic Gothics have evil priests or monks running around. Or nuns are sleeping around. I think that the English Protestant culture viewed Catholicism as Papists, sensual and devious. Not terribly surprising considering that there were so many abuses by the Catholic Church that earned them such a reputation. (Having been raised Catholic and still being of a Catholic culture, I feel like I can get away with saying this....heeeee!)