The Industrial Brontës

The seven novels of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë took advantage of the change spurred on by the Industrial Revolution in order to argue—often obliquely but at times directly—for equality for women in the Victorian Age.

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This book addresses the ways in which Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë took advantage of the rapid change of their time unleashed by the Industrial Revolution in order to illustrate the inequalities women faced in the Victorian Age. It historically contextualizes all seven novels, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, Villette, and The Professor, in order to investigate the themes of marriage, education, class, and work. Specifically, the author examines the ways the Brontë sisters decenter marriage, call for equality in education, expose the inherent dignity of humans despite class differences, and demonstrate the ways in which increased work opportunities empowered women. Ultimately, the author argues that the Brontë sisters’ call for female empowerment was symptomatic of the age, and one that is realized in the latter half of the Victorian Age and beyond.