What Happens

Showalter begins this chapter by reminding readers that "Women beginning their literary careers in the 1840s were seeking heroines – both professional role models and fictional ideas – who could combine strength and intelligence with feminine tenderness, tact, and domestic experience." 

The Feminine novelists looked to each other for support, friendship, and inspiration. They also read purposefully to discover fictional heroines who could provide at least a semblance of these benefits.

Some authors of the past, like Jane Austen, were too docile and conventional for the new generation of writers. They looked more to the unconventional George Sand for inspiration, for she exhibited both the professional leadership and shared passion Feminine-era writers sought. However, two lines of "female literary tradition" developed among critics: "the Austen and the Sand lines."

By 1860, two contemporary authors added their names to these lines. "Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot increasingly came to dominate their period and to represent the models against which other women novelists were measured." Women writers often chose one path or the other for their inspiration. Brontë "exemplified in every sense the bonds of sisterly affection" while "Eliot was reserved, inaccessible, and opaque."

Brontë was accessible. Other women could relate to her personally and professionally. Eliot, however, was difficult for other women to connect with even though they admired her. There was a "mystique of majestic, cerebral, and ultimately sibylline detachment" about her that was appealing and off-putting at the same time.

Feminine novelists also looked to Brontë's and Eliot's heroines for inspiration. "Brontë's Jane Eyre is the heroine of fulfillment," Showalter explains, while "Eliot's Maggie Tulliver is the heroine of renunciation." "Jane Eyre achieves as full and healthy a womanhood as the feminine novelists could have imagined; the gifted and lovable Maggie Tulliver represses her anger and creativity and develops a neurotic, self-destructive personality." The author spends the rest of the chapter closely analyzing these two characters.

Showalter begins with Jane Eyre, whose abusive childhood, particularly the incident of the red room and Jane's time at Lowood, symbolizes female sexual repression. Jane must learn how to balance her "animal" passions with the expectation of an angelic "feminine spirit." Bertha Mason and Helen Burns symbolize these two sides of her character in the novel. 

Jane feels a strong passion for Mr. Rochester, but she refuses to become his mistress while his legal wife still lives. Instead, Jane, "in destroying the dark passion of her psyche," becomes her "own mistress" by the novel's end and discovers an equality with Rochester that Feminine authors longed for in the real world.

Maggie Tulliver in George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss never fulfills her longings. Maggie must cope with the differences in treatment and opportunities she and her brother, Tom, receive. Eliot presents their qualities as typically female and male, and Maggie is so attached to Tom that she will sacrifice anything to keep his love. The novel also explores Maggie's relationship with Philip and the frustrations it brings. Ultimately, Maggie evades all responsibility and descends into a self-destructive stupor.

Why It Matters

This chapter focuses on the Feminine authors' need for support and role models and the various ways that played out in reality. Women writers tended to gravitate toward either the Brontë camp or the Eliot camp, which shows their differences. However, Brontë and Eliot wrote about women who struggled to balance their femininity and desire for personal fulfillment. Thus, they both exemplified the primary characteristics of Feminine-era women writers.

While the author does not explicitly encourage readers to think about these issues in their own lives, such reflection is...