Jane Eyre and Social Justice
How to Survive a (Victorian) "Witch" Trial
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5842564 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alice Diver (0000-0003-2268-6931, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 209-242 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Preternature Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2161-2188 • E-ISSN: 2161-2196 |
| Publisher | Penn State University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5325/preternature.9.2.0209 |
| OpenAlex | W3085098688 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 32 |
This article argues that Jane Eyre was both "witch" and witch-trialed. Her ability to perform "witchcraft" (within the framework of Victorian folklore) enabled her to endure and ultimately triumph over a litany of ordeals often associated with the witch-trials, namely, unjust accusations, societal and familial exclusion, poverty, abandonment, and physical and psychological abuse. She overcomes all obstacles with the help of heartfelt incantations (some spoken aloud, others silently willed), control of the elements (fire, water, storms, and moonlight feature prominently), innate occult abilities (extra-sensory perception and supernaturally sharp prescience), and the summoning of folklore and "familiars" (human, animal, spectral) to assist her along the way
Abandonment (legal · Incantation · Witch · Crime and Detective Fiction Studies · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis
Introduction
Witchcraft and Magic in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe
Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe
Superstition, Testimony, and the Eighteenth-Century Vampire Debates
Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt
Folklore, Fear, and the Feminine
Swimming the Witch, Pricking for the Devil's Mark’
Jane Eyre and the Mot Tabou
Magic and the British Middle Classes, 1750–1900
The Medical Origins of the European Witch Case
A Terrific Ogre’
Witches, wives and mothers
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |