The Ministry of Higher and secondary education of the Republic of Uzbekistan The Uzbekistan state World Languages University

"The Sphere of Woman" by Goethe

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  How does Goethe define the role of the Victorian woman?
  
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  How does he see the woman's role as having advantages over the man's role?
  
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  On what is the woman "dependent"?
  
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  How does the image complement the text?
  

Think about how you would characterize the ideal Victorian woman. Read the following section "The ideal Victorian women" from Dr. Lynn Abrams article "Ideals of womanhood in Victorian Britain" via EDSITEment-reviewed Internet Public Library. 
Play the "Victorian Women's Rights" interactive for the year 1840, the same time period when Charlotte Brontë was embarking on her career as a writer. Then examine what the laws said about women's rights using A Brief Summary in Plain Language of the Most Important Laws Concerning Women (1854).
Read the letters exchanged between Brontë and Southey by scrolling down to the paragraph in Chapter VIII that begins with Southey's letter ("It is not my advice that you have asked as to the direction of your talents"). Read Southey’s letter, Brontë's response to Southey's letter, Southey's second letter, and the two short paragraphs that follow Southey's second letter.
Chapter VIII of Elizabeth Gaskell's 1857 biography The Life of Charlotte Bronte

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  Why does Southey believe that "Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life"?
  
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  How did Brontë interpret Southey's advice in his first letter?
  
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  How does Brontë explain her reasons for becoming a governess?
  
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  Why does Brontë feel that she sometimes fails in "the duties a woman ought to fulfill"?
  
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  How did corresponding with Southey influence Brontë's aspirations for a literary career?
  

Read an excerpt of Elizabeth Rigby's review of Jane Eyre in the 1848 issue of The Quarterly Review. Scroll down the document about two-thirds and read the two paragraphs beginning with the line "We have said that this was the picture of a natural heart" (or use Edit & Find to search the page for this paragraph). Consider the questions below, and then read the first several chapters of Jane Eyre and look for evidence to support and refute Rigby's claims about Jane.