Women and myth narratives in Charlotte Brontë'sshirley

Abstract

The powerless characters in Charlotte Brontë'sShirleycreate myth narratives which represent their hopes about resolving the social and gender problems that distinguish the plot. Although critics tend to read Shirley Keeldar as the most rebellious female character in the novel, her deference to patriarchal myth archetypes, especially the mermaid and the biblical Eve, undermines her reputation. In contrast, Caroline Helstone repeatedly undercuts the patriarchal myths espoused by such characters as Shirley and Martin Yorke and creates more realistic myth narratives which display her ideals of an independent female community. Both women construct versions of antediluvian narratives for two distinctly different purposes. The foundations of Shirley's and Caroline's myth narratives align respectively with the hopes held by two discordant forces within the novel's social debate, the leaders of the frame breakers who, for all their bluster, merely want to return to a paternalistic society, and William Farren, who calls for real democratic changes.