Tracing Self and Nature in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Virginia Woolf’s The Waves: Nineteenth through Twentieth Century

Year 2023, Volume: 3 Issue: 5 - PROF. DR. DOĞAN ÖZLEM'E İTHAFEN, 71 - 88, 20.06.2023

Aleyna Durmuş

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8058414

Abstract

The study of the concept of the self goes through shifts with the times, and ranges from a stable sense of self in the nineteenth century to fluctuating and heterogeneous with the twentieth century. As the concept passes through sociological, political and ideological influences that take shape in every period, it opens new windows into the exploration of its relation with the other. This article aims to study the transforming connection of the self with the other, or more specifically, the other cloaked in the image of nature. The examination of the affinity or hostility born to nature offers great insight into the journey of individuation in unison with the other. Though the integration with the outside world, and the natural environment as an extention of this connection is adressed extensively with the onset of the modern stage, the origin of this analysis is traced in the eighteenth century Romantic thought. Starting with the Romantic era that discloses the spirit of harmony established inherently with nature, the article intends to survey the dynamics regarding the individual and his/ her connection with the natural environment as a reflection of one's journey of self-fulfillment and maturation. The roots of this connection are to be traced in the literary field through the Bildungsroman genre that emerged in the nineteenth century as the genre provides space for the exploration of the interplay of the self’s exploration of the other. The article then attempts to cover the discussion of the concepts of self and nature in the English Modernist period. As the Victorian period was experiencing the fall of the norms emblematic of the time, the formation of a modern culture was a harbinger of a new reality and national identity. In this context, the ecocritical theory is to be utilized as a framework in these concepts of self and nature as well as their historical reflections overarching two centuries. The natural elements are then to be traced in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) and Virginia Woolf's The Waves (1931) in line with the formation of the characters. The analysis aims to address the heroine in Jane Eyre, who is on her journey of individuation against the social background of Victorian Britain. Similar processes are then to be traced in the six protagonists of The Waves in which the inquiry of the stable sense of self gives way to the fragmented self in the face of a desolate and modern reality. Through ecocritical theory, the relationship these characters have with their surroundings within the context of nature will be analyzed and the connection between the concepts of the self/ other, human/nonhuman with particular regard to characters’ respective journey of integration and individuation will be explored.

Keywords

self, nature, Victorian period, Modernist period, Charlottë Bronte, Virginia Woolf, English literature

Charlotte Brontë’nin Jane Eyre’i ve Virginia Woolf'un Dalgalar’ında Benlik ve Doğa’nın Keşfi: 19. Yüzyıldan 20. Yüzyıla

Abstract

Benlik kavramının analizi, zamanla birlikte değişmekte ve on dokuzuncu yüzyıldaki stabil benlik algısından yirminci yüzyılla birlikte değişken ve heterojen bir yapıya bürünmektedir. Kavram, her dönemde şekil değiştiren sosyolojik, politik ve ideolojik etkilerden geçerken, öteki ile arasındaki ilişkinin keşfine de yeni pencereler aralamaktadır. Bu makale, benliğin ötekiyle ya da daha spesifik olarak doğa suretine bürünmüş ötekiyle gelişen bağını incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Doğaya duyulan bağlılığın ya da karşıtlığın incelenmesi, bireyin öteki ile bütünlük içinde bireyselleşme yolculuğuna dair büyük bir içgörü sunmaktadır. Bu bağın bir uzantısı olarak dış dünya ile bütünleşme modern dönemle birlikte kapsamlı bir şekilde ele alınsa da, bu analizin kökeni on sekizinci yüzyıl Romantik düşüncesine dayanmaktadır. Doğayla kurulan içsel uyumun özünün ortaya koyulduğu Romantik dönemden başlayan makale, kişinin kendini gerçekleştirme ve olgunlaşma yolculuğunun bir yansıması olarak birey ve bireyin doğal çevreyle kurduğu bağa ilişkin dinamikleri incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bahsedilen bağlantının kökleri, on dokuzuncu yüzyılda ortaya çıkan Bildungsroman türü aracılığıyla edebi düzlemde izlenmektedir. Bu tür, benliğin ötekini keşfetmesinin karşılıklı etkileşiminin araştırılması için alan sağlamaktadır. Makale daha sonra İngiliz Modernist dönemindeki benlik ve doğa kavramlarının tartışmasını ele almayı amaçlamaktadır. Viktorya dönemi, dönemin simgesi olan normların çöküşünü yaşarken, modern bir kültürün oluşumu yeni bir gerçekliğin ve ulusal kimliğin de habercisiydi. Bu bağlamda, ekoeleştiri kuramı, iki yüzyılı kapsayan tarihsel yansımalarının yanı sıra, değişen benlik ve doğa kavramlarında bir çerçeve olarak kullanılacaktır. Daha sonra Charlotte Brontë'nin Jane Eyre (1847) ve Virginia Woolf'un The Waves (1931) adlı eserlerinde karakterlerin oluşumu doğrultusunda doğal unsurların izi sürülecektir. Analiz, Viktorya dönemi İngiltere’sinin toplumsal arka planında bireyleşme yolculuğuna çıkan ana karakter, Jane Eyre’i ele almaktadır. Benzer süreçler daha sonra The Waves'in altı karakterinde de izlenecek ve sağlam benlik anlayışının sorgulanması yerini dağılmakta olan yeni modern gerçeklikteki parçalanmış benliğe bırakacaktır. Ekoeleştirel teori aracılığıyla, bu karakterlerin doğa bağlamında çevreleriyle kurdukları ilişki analiz edilecek ve karakterlerin kendi bütünleşme ve bireyleşme yolculukları özelinde ben/öteki, insan/insan olmayan kavramları arasındaki bağlantı araştırılacaktır.

Keywords

birey, doğa, Viktorya dönemi, Modern dönem, Charlottë Bronte, Virginia Woolf, İngiliz edebiyatı

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