The power of silence: The question of reserve in four Victorian novels.

Abstract

Victorian women's silence has been the subject of investigation by many feminist critics, and most have understood it as a function of repression. More recently, however, feminists have begun to recognise more productive levels of silence. This thesis examines four Victorian novels that show that silence is not a stable social sign with a clear meaning but an aspect of the Victorian convention of femininity that can mean different things and be used in different ways. Chapter One looks at silence and choice in Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, tracing the implications of choosing reserve. Chapter Two turns to a consideration of self-silencing and sanity in Charlotte Bronte's Villette, while Chapter Three looks at secrecy and survival in Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The thesis concludes with a reading of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss in Chapter Four that concentrates on the risks of using silence as retreat into a fantasy space.