Dombey and Son

As with most of Dickens' work, a number of socially significant themes are to be found in this book. In particular the book deals with the then-prevalent common practice of arranged marriages for financial gain. Other themes to be detected within this work include child cruelty (particularly in Dombey's treatment of Florence), familial relationships, and as ever in Dickens, betrayal and deceit and the consequences thereof.

The story concerns Paul Dombey, the wealthy owner of the shipping company of the book's title, whose dream is to have a son to continue his business. The book begins when his son is born, and Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth.

Dombey already has a daughter, Florence, whom he neglects.

One day, Mrs Richards, Florence and her maid, Susan Nipper, secretly pay a visit to Mrs Richard's house in Staggs's Gardens so that she can see her children. During this trip, Florence becomes separated and is kidnapped for a short time by Good Mrs Brown before being returned to the streets. She makes her way to Dombey and Son's offices in the City and is guided there by Walter Gay, an employee, who first introduces her to his uncle, the navigation instrument maker Solomon Gills, at his shop the Wooden Midshipman.

The child, also named Paul, is weak and often ill, and does not socialise normally with others; adults call him "old fashioned". He is intensely fond of his elder sister, Florence, who is deliberately neglected by her father as irrelevant and a distraction. He is sent away to Brighton, first for his health, where he and Florence lodge with the ancient and acidic Mrs Pipchin, and then for his education to Dr and Mrs Blimber's school, where he and the other boys undergo both an intense and arduous education under the tutelage of Mr Feeder, B.A. and Cornelia Blimber. It is here that Paul is befriended by a fellow pupil, the amiable Mr Toots.

Here, Paul's health declines even further in this 'great hothouse' and he finally dies, still only six years old. Dombey pushes his daughter away from him after the death of his son, while she futilely tries to earn his love.

Dombey marries a woman Edith, who is widowed, who doesn't like him, But Edith likes Florence and they escape together.

Her love for Florence initially prevents her from leaving, but finally she conspires with Mr Carker to ruin Dombey's public image by running away together to Dijon. They do so after her last final argument with Dombey in which he once again attempts to subdue her to his will. When he discovers that she has left him, he blames Florence for siding with her stepmother, striking her on the breast in his anger, and she is forced to run away from home. Highly distraught, she finally makes her way to The Midshipman where she lodges with Captain Cuttle as he attempts to restore her to health. They are visited frequently by Mr Toots and his prizefighter companion, the Chicken, since Mr Toots has been desperately in love with Florence since their time together in Brighton.

Dombey sets out to find his wife. He is helped by Mrs Brown and her daughter, Alice, who, as it turns out, was a former lover of Mr Carker

However, one day Florence returns to the house with her son, Paul, and is lovingly reunited with her father.

Ch. Brontë

21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontësisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. She wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell.

Charlotte was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, the third of six children, to Maria (née Branwell) and Patrick Brontë(formerly surnamed Brunty or Prunty), an Irish Anglican clergyman. In 1820 her family moved a few miles to the village ofHaworth, where her father had been appointed Perpetual curate of St Michael and All Angels Church. Her mother died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and a son Branwell to be taken care of by her sister, Elizabeth Branwell.

Between 1831 and 1832 Charlotte continued her education at Roe Head in Mirfield, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor.^[1] In 1833 she wrote a novella, The Green Dwarf, using the name Wellesley. She returned to Roe Head as a teacher from 1835 to 1838. In 1839 she took up the first of many positions as governess to families in Yorkshire, a career she pursued until 1841

In 1842 Charlotte and Emily travelled to Brussels to enrol at the boarding school run by Constantin Heger (1809–96) and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Heger (1804–87). In return for board and tuition, Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music.

Before the publication of Villette, Charlotte received a proposal of marriage from Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate who had long been in love with her. She initially turned down his proposal, and her father objected to the union at least partly because of Nicholls' poor financial status

Charlotte became pregnant soon after the marriage but her health declined rapidly and according to Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness."^[21] Charlotte died with her unborn child on 31 March 1855, aged 38.

Jane Eyre /ˈɛər/ (originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published on 16 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London, England, under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York.

Джейн живет с миссис Рид и ее детьми, Джон (сын) разбивает ей голову книжкой и ее отправляют учиться в другую школу, где ее называет Рид лгуньей,но все все равно любят Джейн. У нее подруга Элен, но та умирает. Джейн едет работать гувернанткой для Адель в Торнфилд и встречает ее опекуна Рочестера, влюбляется.Там есть зловещая швея Грейс Пул. Джейн спасает Рочестера от пожара, думают, что это Грейс Пул. Потом на другого мужика нападение – Мэзона. Рид зовет к себе Джейн и говорит, что ее хотели удочерить, но она сказала, что Джейн умерла. Рочестер просит ее руки, но оказывается, что у него есть сумасшедшая жена, которая там живет. Джейн убегает от него, ее находят какие-то люди (Сент-Джон и его сестры). Джейн становится училкой, но скучает по Рочестеру, почти соглашается на свадьбу с Сент-Джоном, но едет обратно в Торнфилд. Дом сгорел, жена покончила с собой, Рочестер ослеп и без руки. Но они женятся, Рочестеру возвращается зрение. Счастье.

В «Джейн Эйр» использованы многие традиции готического романа, например, готическое поместье. В романе фигурирует байронический герой (Рочестер), а также сумасшедшая женщина (Берта, его жена). Берта бросается на своего брата «подобно вампиру». Также присутствуют литературные аллюзии на Библию, английские сказки, «Путь Пилигрима», «Потерянный Рай», произведения Вальтера Скотта.

Кроме того, Бронте в книге избегает некоторых штампов викторианского романа, например, не выведено примирение между Джейн и умирающей тёткой.

Это автобиографично.

Morality[edit]

Jane refuses to become Mr. Rochester's paramour because of her "impassioned self-respect and moral conviction."

God and religion[edit]

Throughout the novel, Jane endeavours to attain an equilibrium between moral duty and earthly happiness

Social class[edit]

Jane's ambiguous social position — a penniless yet decently educated orphan from a good family – leads her to criticise some discrimination based on class, though she makes class discriminations herself. Although she is educated, well-mannered, and relatively sophisticated, she is still a governess, a paid servant of low social standing, and therefore relatively powerless.

Gender relations[edit]

A particularly important theme in the novel is the depiction of a patriarchal society. Jane attempts to assert her own identity within male-dominated society. Three of the main male characters, Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers, try to keep Jane in a subordinate position and prevent her from expressing her own thoughts and feelings. Jane escapes Mr. Brocklehurst and rejects St. John, and she only marries Mr. Rochester once she is sure that their marriage is one between equals

Love and passion[edit]

A central theme in Jane Eyre is that of the clash between conscience and passion — which one is to adhere to, and how to find a middle ground between the two. Jane, extremely passionate yet also dedicated to a close personal relationship with God, struggles between either extreme for much of the novel. An instance of her leaning towards conscience over passion can be seen after it has been revealed that Mr. Rochester already has a wife, when Jane is begged to run away with Mr. Rochester and become his mistress. Up until that moment, Jane had been riding on a wave of emotion, forgetting all thoughts of reason and logic, replacing God with Mr. Rochester in her eyes, and allowing herself to be swept away in the moment.