Charlotte's Transvestites

Author: Bertrandias, Bernadette¹

Source: Bronte Studies, Volume 34, Number 2, July 2009 , pp. 138-146(9)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

Patricia Beer's view of the significance of costume in Charlotte Brontë's novels points the way to a further analysis of the representations of ambivalent gender identity, and even of the staging of a recurring masquerade, in which woman's aspirations to develop a masculine persona are projected; but while the masks allow the secret dream of androgyny to surface, they also confirm its limited, if not altogether delusory nature.

Keywords: JANE EYRE; SHIRLEY; VILLETTE; COSTUME; MASQUERADE; TRANSVESTISM; GENDER IDENTITY; PATRICIA BEER

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/147489309X431539

Affiliations: 1: Honorary Professor of English Literature at the Université Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand, France

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