Representations of Power and Transgression

8/18/2019 Representations of Power and Transgression

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Representations of Power and Transgression:

The Idea of Byron and the Byronic Character in the Poetry of the Brontës

Paula Alexandra Guimarães

Universidade do Minho

In my youth’s summer I did sing of One,The wandering outlaw of his own dar mind!

"#yron, Childe Harold)

$ar %a&&ho' (ould not verse immortal saveThat )reast im)ued with su*h immortal fire+

"#yron, Childe Harold

In order to -uestion and ex&lore the *om&lex &ower relations )etween man and

woman in early .i*torian /ngland, the two eldest #ront0 sisters seem to use several strategies

of re&resentation and dramatisation of &oliti*al and sexual transgression in their res&e*tive

&oetry1 2hile (harlotte *hooses &rimarily a male &ers&e*tive to &ortray female

disem&owerment in her &oems, in /mily’s wor a female &ers&e*tive of male

disem&owerment &redominates! nevertheless, these &ers&e*tives may often shift and *ross3

dress a**ording to ea*h author’s individual develo&ment and her *orres&onding &oeti* fi*tion1

I will argue that these methods of re&resentation derived for the most &art from the *lassi*

&oeti* traditions of the image of male and female 4a)andonment’ inaugurated )y %a&&ho, )ut

also from the overwhelming myth of &ersonality that the *hara*ter of #yron eli*ited through

his fi*tionalised *reations ")oth male and female, and his own am)ivalent and *ontroversial

re&utation as a &oet and a man15

The image or theme of a)andonment as an artisti* and literary 4&re3text’,notwithstanding its variations through the ages, is as old as &oetry itself and a sort of undying

myth, *onstituting also the oldest and ri*hest literary resour*e for *om&aring the sexes1 6 In

5 (harlotte and /mily #ront0 res&onded to -uite different as&e*ts of #yron’s &oetry and &ersonality1 2hile7(harlotte’s early stories refle*t the so&histi*ated, the witty, the o&ulent and lus*ious side of #yron’s &oetry,/mily’s &oems are &ervaded )y the sense of doom, of inex&ia)le guilt, remorse and shame 89:1; "#rown 1In &arti*ular, this &oet’s de*ision to use sym)oli* forms, in*luding fi*tive *hara*ters, as slightly dis&la*edfigures of himself in propria persona would exert a &rofound influen*e in the literary art of the #ront0s,(harlotte and /mily16

(uriously, the word 4a)andoned’ usually *arries a dou)le meaning? on the one hand, it originally signified 4asu)mission to &ower’! on the other, it meant 4freedom from )ondage’1 This ver)al du&li*ity or am)iguity mayhint at the roots of &ower )eneath the desolation of all the a)andoned women in literature1


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this forsaen and out3of3*ontrol figure, @awren*e @i&ing finds not only a &artial re*ord of

women’s ex&erien*e )ut a)ove all a model for the &oet! he uses the &oetry a)out 4a)andoned

women’ to *om&are the ways )y whi*h men have imagined women and women have

imagined themselves, )ut also to re*onsider the maor male &oets, in*luding #yron, Tennyson

and /liot1


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(oin*identally "or not, Ovid’s Heroides , a set of variations on the theme of a woman

whose lover has left her, from Penelo&e to %a&&ho, was the first wor to define 4heroinism’ H

the woman as hero and, sometimes, the woman as &oet1> #ut if, for Ovid and many of his

male "and female followers, to )e a 4heroine’ means )eing a)andoned, with all the

im&li*ations of su&&ressed womanhood, for a &oet as /mily #ront0 it may mean &re*isely the

o&&osite1 In her fi*tional &oems derived from the inde&endent Gondal saga "only shared )y

her younger sister, Anne, she deli)erately seiNes the traditional image of the 4a)andoned

woman’ as defined )y @i&ing, and duly re&resented in her sister’s earliest Angrian writings,

and reverts it *om&letely, introdu*ing instead the dou)ly im&lausi)le figures of the

4a)andoned’ or 4doomed man’ and the #yroni* woman or heroine15 In &ositing su*h a

*hallenge to &oeti* tradition, /mily sim&ly a*nowledges the &ossi)ility that the gendered

lyri* voi*e of a)andonment *an )e uttered as intensely and dramati*ally )y a man1

The &roud and tragi* A1G1A1 "Augusta Geraldine Almeda, who )ears the same name

as #yron’s half3sister "Augusta @eigh, is the feminine version of amorna and /mily

#ront0’s most im&ortant &oeti* persona1 @ie her male *ounter&art, she defines her *areer )y

the intermina)le line of )roen3hearted lovers that she su**essively a)andons or destroys1

The ueen of Gondal is not only a first &rototy&e of the .i*torian e&i* heroine )ut also an

enun*iator of &oems, a &oet in her own right1 55 Kurthermore, lie (harlotte’s hero, she moves

a*tively in the high s&heres of &ower, exerting her )rilliant )ut *ruel dominan*e through the

vehemen*e of her gestures and the elo-uen*e of her s&ee*h1 @ie amorna, and lie #yron’s

heroes "in*luding Larold, she also moves in a *om&lex and violent )a*ground of *onfli*t,

war and suffering156

the hero *ame dire*tly from %*ott’s re3*reation of the feudal &ast; and from #yron’s Childe Harold , where the7as&irations of the mind after greatness and true glory were indled )y a &ortrait gallery of great men, an*ientand modern1; " The heroi* or Ovidian e&istle is a versified love letter, involving histori*al &ersons, whi*h dramatises thefeelings of a woman who has )een forsaen )y hus)and or lover1 The most famous exam&le is 7%a&&ho to

Phaon;1 The heroine’s sui*idal lea& from the @eu*adian ro* to the Aegean sea )elow has *ome to re&resent thetradition of women’s &oetry in the 2est and the tragi* figure of the woman &oet as &er&etuated )y authors su*has Keli*ia Lemans and @etitia @andon 15 These two figures will )e analysed in some detail further on, )ut it is im&ortant to remar that their im&lausi)ility is not that high given the ha)itual &ra*tise of gender reversal in the &oeti*al wors of )oth sisters,and not only in /mily #ront0’s155 /mily #ront0 seems, thus, to anti*i&ate ")y twenty years /liNa)eth #arrett #rowning in her female e&i* "or new Heroide Aurora Leigh "5F=1 @ie A1G1A1, Aurora is not only the &rotagonist )ut the &oet herself, thusfusing a*tion and )eing in one single *hara*ter1 This wor would also )e *onsidered a feminine feministrewriting of #yron’s Childe Harolds Pilgrimage "5F561 Kurthermore, the name of #rowning’s heroine is notvery different from the one of #yron’s half3sister, Augusta @eigh! it is as if /1#1 #rowning also envisaged the

&ossi)ility of a female #yron156 The two sisters, and in &arti*ular /mily, a&&ear to have a)sor)ed &art of #yron’s &roe*ted sense of so*ial and

&oliti*al *risis during the Ea&oleoni* wars1 As Jerome Ma*Gann states, 7/uro&e was tearing itself a&art from/ngland to the (au*asus, )ut that s&e*ta*le of &oliti*al ruin was no more than an ex&ression of 89: thesuffering it )rought to 89: individual &ersons1; "7Introdu*tion; to !yron, xvii1


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In (harlotte #ront0’s uvenilia, the $ue of 2ellington, hero of the re*ent wars

against Ea&oleon and a &rominent Tory &oliti*ian, would &lay a maor &art1 5


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Marian’s hero does not only exhi)it military &retensions "the ones that would win him

the title of 4Mar-uis’ )ut, as 4honorary mem)er of the a*ademy of artists’, also literary ones1

The role that (harlotte attri)utes to the figure of the Poet3Lero "*learly modelled on that of

#yron himself is &atent in 7The .iolet;, a long &oem of 5F3=61 In this new heroi* era, new )ards have emerged to hail

marvellous deeds?

And sons of Al)ion in the ran %hine *rowned with honours they have won!

Kor dee&ly of the fount they dran?The sa*red fount of Leli*on'

"5>3556

In the same *lassi* fashion of #yron’s initial invo*ation to the muses in Childe Harold , the

male s&eaer addresses the Muse of &revious #ritish )ards as a life3)estowing Mother?

74Eature, unveil thy awful fa*e' To me a &oet’s &ower im&art1 89:; "55F355>1

Another &oem of 5F


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meaning, or any other &u)li* or outward intervention, while the female’s is to fulfil her

&assive domesti* role "that, in turn, will legitimise the male’s 4home3si*ness’1 7%ong;, a

&oem that the Mar-uis of $ouro sang to Marian Lume to a&&ease her ealousy of another

more inde&endent female rival "the 4)luesto*ing’ @ady eno)ia /llrington 5D, seems to

*onfirm (harlotte’s *ons*iousness of this se&aration of s&heres "whi*h she at this early age H

fourteen H does not yet dire*tly -uestion or *hallenge?

89:%o she who sweetly shines at home

And seldom wanders then*e,Is of her &artner’s ha&&y dome The )lest intelligen*e

The highest talents of her mind,The sunlight of her heart,

Are all to illumine her home designed, And never then*e they &art1

"356

Interestingly, in an elegia* &oem written around Ke)ruary 5F


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"C5, C


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89:

The wealth of nations shines res&lendent round!#ut shadowy horrors *ast o’er him their gloom,

And near his death3)ed fiendish whis&ers sound,

(alling his soul 89:

"5


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mas*ulinity in (harlotte’s &oems is &aralleled )y an analysis of the *onstru*tion of

femininity1 The &assionate eno)ia /llrington, a 4)luesto*ing’ in the tradition of Mme1 de

%ta0l, *om)ines emotional ex*ess with formida)le learning, thus 7tres&assing on the male

s&here of &ower and &rivilege; "5D1 $ouro maes it *lear that her intelle*tual attainments

may render her undesira)le )y ro))ing her of her femininity for, when he sends eno)ia one

of his manus*ri&ts to *orre*t, he indire*tly *om&ares her to his angeli* wife "Marian?

4The &earl within the shell *on*ealedOft sheds a fairer light

Than that whose )eauties are revealedTo our restri*ted sight1’

"53C

A&art from this almost ex*e&tional version of the #yroni* female *hara*ter H 7eyes

etty )la*;, 7dar glowing *om&lexion;, 7*onversational talent; "#eer 6D1

>


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Out of her dying eyes1 Eow is my time?All rushes on me! *ould I s&ea the feeling'

Eow, Per*y, whom in s&ite of )lood and *rimeI loved intensely, dar thy doom is sealing1

Am I not well avenged+ %tru* in her &rime,

$ies thy fair daughter, her last loo revealing,Ler last word telling H to what hand she owes

Ler grave )eneath this avalan*he of woes189:

"5=35=F,


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Eow, Patriot, rise o’er mer*y, softness, fear1Plunge to the red hilt in his no)le )reast,

%end the young $es&ot to his last high rest189:

And then let darness fold him in its gloom,Then let *orru&tion )rood trium&hantly

O’er what was on*e so &roud, so )right, so high,89:

"3C, CD3, DD3DF

#ut in the same way that Larold had re&resented for #yron the em)odiment of his *reative

for*e "7a )eing more intense;, 7soul of my thought;,6C this forsaen hero had &layed the role

of (harlotte’s ins&iring muse or imagination "7self *on*eived light;, 7a gem u&on the )row of doom; for more than a de*ade1

It is &re*isely after amorna’s 4dissolution’ that another *hara*ter is slowly delineated

and allowed to emerge H an unnamed woman, and more s&e*ifi*ally amorna’s daughter

"with all that this reversal of genres may im&ly1 7Mementos; is a &oem whi*h revisits the

ghostly mansion that Mary Per*y inha)ited and summarises the *ause of her disa&&earan*e H

7%he gave her hand, then suffered wrong! O&&ressed, ill3used, she faded young, And died

of grief )y slow de*ay; ">3>=1 #ut we are also told that this doomed woman had left adaughter, 7a forsaen *hild;, 7that ne’er its mother new; and for whom her 7im&ure and

wild; father, 7a)sor)ed in vi*e;, 7little *ared; "55355


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7Mementos;, &u)lished ust one year )efore Jane Eyre *ame )efore the &u)li* eye "5FCD,

effe*tively mars the moment of 4)irth’ of a *om&letely new ty&e of heroine, a &review of

Jane H with only a few tra*es of eno)ia’s learned and *osmo&olitan )ehaviour and many

similarities with the *hara*ter of the woman &oet (harlotte had )e*ome?

89:%he grew un*herished H learnt untaught!

To her the inward life of thoughtKull soon was o&en laid1

I now not if her friendlessness$id sometimes on her s&irit &ress,

89:The )oo3shelves were her darling treasure,

89:

A een and fine intelligen*e,89:

#ut )loom or lustre was there none,Only at moments fitly shone

An ardour in her eye,89:

Ler s&ee*h, too, was not *ommon s&ee*h,89: oft the for*e of elo-uen*e

89:Ler fervid soul transfused

Into the hearts of those who heard,89:

Ret in gay *rowd or festal glare,Grave and retiring was her air!

89:%he )ore in silen*e H )ut when &assion%urged in her soul with *easeless foam,

The storm at last )rought desolation,And drove her exiled from her home1

%he *rossed the sea H now lone she wanders

89:Kain would I now if distan*e rendersBelief or *omfort to her woe1

89:

"5536

Although the differen*es in relation to the stereoty&ed 4Marian’ *hara*ters are easy to dete*t

in this ex*er&t H intelligen*e, nowledge, elo-uen*e, self3determination or initiative H the

same sense of isolation, desolation and suffering that affe*ts the traditional 4doomed

*hara*ter’ &ermeates this woman’s text1 As #yron’s Larold learned at the end of his

56


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4&ilgrimage’, and as Jane /yre herself would ex&erien*e, it is not )y a)andoning

homehomeland that she will evade her fate as a woman1 Ler feelings, her love, will

eventually su)merge her, ust as they did su)merge %a&&ho and her later sisters1 Larold’s

existential -uestion is, therefore, -uite &ertinent in this *ontext? 72hat exile from himself *an

flee+;6D

All of the later *om&ositions of (harlotte #ront0 H also &u)lished in the 5FCD edition

of Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton !ell H seem to &resent women as the &rotagonists of their

own fates and, *onse-uently, anti*i&ate the &oet’s new interest in the more self3determined

female *hara*ter1 That is the *ase of 7The 2ife’s 2ill;, in whi*h another unnamed woman

refuses to stay at home )y herself and is determined to a**om&any her sailor or soldier

hus)and, thus im&li*itly refusing to )e re&eatedly 4a)andoned’ )y him every time he has to go

away1 In 7The 2ood;, this same woman’s wish has )een somehow materialiNed )e*ause she

is de&i*ted as sharing in e-ual terms with her hus)and the dangerous venture of (hannel

*rossing during the Ea&oleoni* wars1 #oth &oems seem, therefore, to offer an alternative to

the fate of feminine a)andonment and they re&resent a real )rea in the &oeti* tradition of the

forsaen state1

The long &oem 7Kran*es; offers us a more develo&ed and *om&lex image of the

a)andoned woman, really a &review of (harlotte #ront0’s later heroine, @u*y %nowe, and of

the &sy*hologi*al sufferings that indu*e her &ainful -uestionings )oth on woman’s )eing and

role? 7@ife I must )ound, existen*e sum In the strait limits of one mind;, 7Must it )e so+ Is

this my fate+ (an I nor struggle, nor *ontend+; "D


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I’ve sat, the slave and &rey of gloom189:

4One feeling H turned to utter anguish,Is not my )eing’s only aim!

89:

"5F35FF, 5>=366

Only then does Kran*es &rogress from a ho&eless and doomed *reature, stigmatised )y the

ree*tion of the male, to a strong, &ur&oseful and realisti* woman, who de*lares that no one

has to die of a love disa&&ointment anymore1 Through this *arefully et*hed &ortrait, the &oet

a&&ears to )e finally introdu*ing the element of eman*i&ation in her rewriting of woman’s

story1

As Irene Tayler has remared in Holy &hosts, #ront0 wished to &ro)e the &ro)lem 7of

how gender relates to fate? must it always )e the women who are swallowed u&+ (ould

amorna, with all his dangerous glamour, tae female form+ 89:; "5D51 This was not very

&ro)a)le, as a &ersonal &oem written around 5FCC, a year after the return of (harlotte from

#russels and an unre-uited love affair, seems to &rove1 In it, the &oet des*ri)es the *ruelty

and the indifferen*e of the man she loved "her #elgian tea*her, Mr1 Leger in very a*ute

terms, using a language heavy with &owerful imagery and still redolent of her Angrian style,

in whi*h the male element is e-uated with a &agan god and the a)andoned female with a

#yroni* exile?

Le saw my heart’s woe, dis*overed my soul’s anguish,Low in fever, in thirst, in atro&hy it &ined!

Qnew he *ould heal, yet looed and let it languish, HTo its moans s&irit3deaf, to its &angs s&irit3)lind1

89:Idolater I neeled to an idol *ut in ro*'

I might have slashed my flesh and drawn my heart’s )est )lood?

The Granite God had felt no tenderness, no sho*!My #aal had not seen nor heard nor understood1

89:In dar remorse I rose! I rose in darer shame!

%elf3*ondemned I withdrew to an exile from my ind!A solitude I sought where mortal never *ame,

Lo&ing in its wilds forgetfulness to find1

89:

5C


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"53C, 536

A**ording to Irene Tayler, 789: the father3world was the actual world where we a*t

and are a*ted u&on "91 This was the world of *reative am)ition, of 7doing; in all its range

of thrill and mena*e! the realm of will and &ower, of audien*e and art1; "=3F This was also

the world (harlotte wanted for woman and for herself1 /mily #ront0 was more am)ivalent

a)out the male element and the outer s&here of influen*e! she saw that element as an alien

and su)versive &ower, 7a fragmenter of her &rimal, female )eing; "Tayler >, and she had a

dee& sus&i*ion of all forms of &ower1 /mily had to develo& for herself a woring mythology

to a**ount for the relationshi& of her femaleness to her *reativity, a female em)odiment of her

own *reative identity! this 7s&iritual system;, se&arate from the authority of the 4father’,

)e*ame her own religion16=

Eevertheless, the *hara*ter of Augusta "A1G1A1, /mily’s heroine, seems to have )een

anti*i&ated )y #yron in Don Juan when, with a *hara*teristi*ally nowing air, he des*ri)es

the nature of women’s love?

Alas' The love of women' It is nownTo )e a lovely and a fearful thing!

89:And if ’tis lost, life hath no more to )ring

To them )ut mo*eries of the &ast alone, And their revenge is as the tiger’s s&ring,

$eadly, and -ui*, and *rushing! yet, as realTorture is theirs, what they infli*t they feel1

"(anto II, stanNa 5>>6F

The 4fearful’ -uality of a strong woman’s love, that @i&ing refers to in the *ase of Juan, 6>

was also &resent in #yron’s tumultuous affair with @ady (aroline @am) and it would

eventually re3emerge in /mily #ront0’s version of the #emme #atale1


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s&e*ifi*ally men’s fear of women H derives not only from the &assionate attitude of the

4woman of *hara*ter’ )ut from her violent and demanding, sometimes sadisti*, nature1 The

element of 4revenge’ also defines this woman’s instin*tive rea*tion to a)andonment or

)etrayal and it is as unex&e*ted and deadly as a tiger’s atta*1 #ut there is also the more

maso*histi* element that results from all this? self3torture, remorse, guilt H the moment when

vi*tim and vi*timiser share their dou)le misery and )e*ome e-ual in the end1 This stanNa of

#yron’s *ould )e said to ade-uately summariNe all the elegia* laments uttered )y /mily’s

fi*tional *hara*ters, whether male or female? when 4strength of *hara*ter’ meets 4love’, the

result is )etrayal or a)andonment, whi*h in turn leads to revenge or remorse1 These are the

ingredients of %haes&earean drama and Gree tragedy, endlessly re&eated1

Although a)andoned men have &roved mu*h less im&ortant in the history of &oetry,

there is still a tradition, of whi*h %ir Thomas 2yatt’s 7They Klee from Me; is a relevant

exam&le1


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girl %usan .aughan de*lares 7Again de*eived' again )etrayed' In manhood as in youth;,

another lyri* addressed to @ady (aroline )egins 7Go3 trium&h se*urely H that trea*herous

vow Thou hast )roen 89:;1 In 7The $ream; "5F5D, the male &oet "#yron tells the story

of his first love and of his shameful ree*tion! in 7To ThyrNa;, the male s&eaer addresses

dire*tly his )eloved, saying? 7thou Last fled, and left me lonely here;, )ut the reason )ehind

this a)andonment is death "of the woman and not )etrayal? 7The heart that gave itself with

thee Is silent H ah, were mine as still'1; "5C35D, C3CD1 The *ulminant #yroni* text in this

line is 'an#red, in whi*h the hero says of his e&i&sy*he Astarte 7I loved her, and destroy’d

her '; "II, ii, 55=1

This variation whi*h the &assing way of the )eloved *om&rises is itself extremely

sus*e&ti)le to &oeti* ex&loration, namely in elegies1 /mily #ront0 has herself immortalised

several figures of male a)andonment "most famously, Leath*liff, some of whi*h s&ea to us

from the grave or are, in turn, eulogised )y the female vi*timiser "as is the *ase of

7Bemem)ran*e;1 A1G1A1’s su**essive doomed lovers, Alexander l)e, Alfred %idonia and

Kernando de %amara, let us hear their tortured and re&roa*hful voi*es in &rison, exile or the

)attlefield, and they all end u& dying after the fatal woman has a)andoned or )etrayed them1

As we have very little nowledge of the woman &oet’s &rivate feelings or life, we *an never

affirm, as we *an in the *ase of #yron and even of (harlotte #ront0, that /mily had had some

love ex&erien*e whi*h resulted in disillusionment1


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hands 89: .i*tim or outlaw, &owerless or &owerful;, heshe 7*an *hange in an instant from

the a*ted3u&on to the a*tor; "xvii1 This as long as their &oeti* dis*ourse in*or&orates )oth

senses of a)andonment? the &hysi*al &redi*ament and its s&iritual *onse-uen*es1

In the first &oem that A1G1A1 dedi*ates to her )eloved, )ut also )etrayed, Alexander

"Mar*h, 5F


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89:Oh *ould I now thy soul with e-ual grief was torn H

This fate might )e endured H this anguish might )e )orne'

89:

And *ould she see me now, &er*han*e her li& would smile2ould smile in *arless &ride and utter s*orn the while'

89:Un*on-uered in my soul the Tyrant rules me still H

@ife )ows to my *ontrol, )ut @ove I *annot ill'

"F3CC

Kernando de %amara is the most re)ellious, the most Manfred3lie of /mily’s

*hara*ters and his utteran*es may disguisedly re&resent some of /mily’s more extreme views

on life or, at least, her dramatisation of the Bomanti* or #yroni* &oet’s more unorthodox

views, namely %helleyan atheism and even sado3maso*hism1


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89:Thy raving, dying vi*tim see!

@ost, *ursed, degraded all for thee'89:

"653

The image or myth of the &oeti* enun*iation of the 4a)andoned’ or 4doomed’ man is enlarged

in /mily’s *on*e&tion to in*lude not only a)andonment )y an all3&owerful woman, and its

grim *onse-uen*es, )ut also a)andonment )y an all3&owerful and *ruel God and its even

more devastating results1 In )oth /mily’s and #yron’s minds, this is the ex&losive )rew that

will originate 4lost souls’1 In real life, #yron had )een a)andoned )y his wife and &revented

from seeing his own daughter, and /mily must have often felt a)andoned )y the male god of (hristianity1

After a re*less life of overweening am)ition, tormented at times )y agonies of

remorse and )elated tenderness, the ueen of Gondal is )rutally murdered at last on a lonely

moor )y a )and of long3o&&ressed outlaws1 The extensive &oem dedi*ated to her final

demise, written )etween 5FC5 and 5FCC, des*ri)es in some detail how Augusta falls &rey to

another #yroni* woman’s revenge, the )etrayed and outlawed Angeli*a, in allian*e with a

male admirer "$ouglas, himself 7a s&irit lost in *rime;?

489: from my very )irthI have )een nursed in strife,

And lived u&on this weary /arthA wanderer, all my life!

89:Kor men and @aws have tortured me

Till I *an )ear no more H

The guiltless )lood u&on my hands

2ill shut me out from LeavenAnd here, and even in foreign lands

I *an not find a haven H 4

"6>3C

The fatidi* day slowly sets for $ouglas to fulfil his trea*herous tas and Augusta’s life )lood

is violently s&illed! )ut )oth Man and Eature seem to )e ironi*ally indifferent to the &roud

woman’s final struggle as she lies dying on the &ur&le heath?

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89:The fa*e, all deadly fair,

%howed a fixed im&ress of een suffering &ast,And the raised lid did show

Eo wandering gleam )elow

#ut a dar anguish, self3destroyed at last H89:

Eothing in heaven or earth to showOne sign of sym&athiNing woe H

89:Kull many a heart, that in the tom)89:, might have thro))ed again

Lad they )ut seen their idol H there,A wre* of desolate des&air,

@eft to the wild )irds of the air 89:

"6=3

At least one of Augusta’s doomed lovers, Alfred %idonia of As&in (astle, must have

nown a)out this woman’s demise for, in a &oem dated from 5FC6, he addresses her from his

7Eorman; grave’s 7som)re &ortal; and in the form of a ghost haunting his 7feudal home;1


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There is no worm however mean,That living, is not no)ler now

Than she H @ord Alfred’s idol -ueen%o loved H so worshi&&ed long ago H

89:

"=C3>5

Through this s&ee*h, the &oet allows us to glim&se at her firm, )ut sar*asti*, realiNation of the

inevita)ility of death and dissolution, whi*h also mu*h resem)les #yron’s similar *on*erns,

namely those regarding the final destination of )oth 4s&irit’ and 4*lay’, as well as the shar&

*ontrast of a &roud life versus a lowly death1 The irony of these lines is devastating? in s&ite

of her &ower ")oth sexual and &oliti*al, Augusta’s existen*e has left no higher im&rint than

the 4meanest worm’1 /mily’s message is that all man’s struggles and &ride will in the end )e

mo*ed )y Time and Eature1

As Georges #ataille has famously stated, /mily #ront0 seems to have had 7a &e*uliar

and &rofound ex&erien*e of the a)yss of /vil; "


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2hose madness daily maddened me,$istorting into agony

The #liss )efore my eyes H

%o stood I H in Leavens glorious sun

And in the glare of LellMy s&irit dran a mingled tone

Of sera&h’s song and demon’s moan, H 2hat my soul )ore, my soul alone

2ithin its self may tell H89:

"5536D

2e are left to wonder if /mily’s final &osition on this matter *ould )e re&resented )y de

%amara’s words in the a)ove dedi*ation to A1G1A1, 72ritten in the Gaaldine &rison *aves; "its

dungeon theme was very &ro)a)ly ins&ired in #yron’s The Prisoner o# Chillon?

89:And say not, that my early tom)2ill give me to a darer doom H%hall those long agoniNing years

#e &unished )y eternal tears+

Eo, that I feel *an never )e!A God of hate *ould hardly )ear To wha*h, through all eternity,

Lis own *reations dread des&air'89:

If I have sinned, long, long agoThat sin was &urified )y woe H

I’ve suffered on through night and day!I’ve trod a dar and frightful way H

89:

"C36

/mily seems to *all in #yron to redress a genuine &ersonal &redi*ament1 The a&&arently

&agan and amoral world of Gondalian figures )e*omes sur&risingly (hristian in the s&eaer’s

&ronoun*ement of the religious )elief that a heartfelt atonement of one’s sins *an lead to the

final salvation of the soul or s&irit1


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#ront0an faith seems to have )een a)sent )oth from #yron’s life and the life of his

*reations1 Although many of /mily’s s&eaers exhi)it an ontologi*al re)ellion, #yron’s are

in a &ermanent state of sin that alienates them from God and the (hristian &romise of eternal

life1

2hat )oth #yron and /mily #ront0 ended u& ex&ressing was 7the un*onditional sense

of a)andonment in every soul1; "@i&ing CF )e*ause there are indeed strong affinities in their

sense of loss and &er*e&tion of human suffering! their &oems 7return o)sessively to the

ultimate mixed meta&hor of s&irit and *lay, the mismat*hed *om&anions who are )ound

together to death "as s&irited man 8or woman: may wal through life in sha*les; "CF1 The

&i*ture we are left with is &re*isely that of two 4s&irited’ &oets1 After all, it is #yron himself

who, in stanNa 56 of Childe Harold ’s (anto III, )est des*ri)es the *hara*ter of what *ould )e

his female su**essor, his true 4daughter’, in a &erennial image of transgressive self3

suffi*ien*y and disaffe*tion "whi*h I too the li)erty of reada&ting for this &ur&ose?

89:#ut soon she new herself the most unfit

Of (omen to herd with Man! with whom she held@ittle in *ommon! untaught to su)mit

Her thoughts to others, though her soul was -uell’dIn youth )y her own thoughts! still un*om&ell’d,

he would not yield dominion of her mindTo s&irits against whom her own re)ell’d!

Proud though in desolation! whi*h *ould findA life within itself, to )reathe without manind1

"535F

#yron )elieved that the author im&arted something of himself to his *hara*ters, )ut he

also )elieved that the author was influen*ed )y the *hara*ters he *reated1 It is an ex*hange in

whi*h the &oet gives something of his own )eing, and what the *hara*ter gives him )a* in

return is the satisfa*tion of having *reated an imaginary )eing who is as real to him as his

own &rogeny? 7 4Tis to *reate, and in *reating live A )eing more intense that we endow

2ith form our fan*y, gaining as we give The life we image, 111; "Childe Harold , III, vi, 53C1

One *ould say that this is essentially true for the #ront0s whose lives were s&ent &regnant

Kor Larold #loom, 7#yron is the sour*e of the #ront0s’ vision of the 2ill to @ive, )ut the #ront0s add to#yron what his inverted (alvinism only &artly a**e&ted, the Protestant will &ro&er, a heroi* Nest to assert one’sown ele*tion, one’s &la*e in the hierar*hy of souls1; "7Introdu*tion; to 'odern Critical *ie(s" The !ront%s, 61

6C


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with their dramatis personae, )oth feminine and mas*uline1C The great differen*e in relation

to the &oet who de*lared he 7had the share Of life whi*h might have fill’d a *entury; lies in

that to )ring their imaginary *reations to life, these female &oets *ould only *onfront

themselves with situations they had not, and would never, en*ounter in their &rivate lives as

single middle3*lass women? dashing &oliti*al *areers and great, tem&estuous &assions set in

histori*ally grand s*enarios1

Part of the interest of &oeti*al wors lie these is their im&li*it *om&arison )etween

the ways that the two sexes *onstrue a)andonment in their inevita)le &ower relations! this, in

turn, is an adult game that &er&etually ass? is man or woman the more a)andoned the more

*ontrolled )y the other+ #yron, as usual, seems to &rovide the answer in his 7/&istle to

Augusta;? 72e were and are H I am, even as thou art H #eings who ne’er ea*h other *an

resign; "56=FD1

#loom, Larold, ed1 The !ront%s +'odern Critical *ie(s)1 Eew Ror and Philadel&hia?

(helsea Louse Pu)lishers, 5>F=1

#rown, Lelen1 7The Influen*e of #yron on /mily #ront01; 'odern Language e$ie( F?=>3>C1

C Jill Ghnassia, in 'etaphysical ebellion in the Wor-s o# Emily !ront% , states that /mily’s &ower as animaginative writer is the &ower of a 7female o)server; who 7sees and feels everything! she nows all the formsof madness, suffering, love, *om&assion! she uses u& all &assions, all venoms, all &oisons, all evils and 89: she

)e*omes, through unuttera)le torture, the sightseer of her &ersonae, the a**ursed &oet, 89: the great thoughtim&ersonator 89: %he attains the intensity of all ex&erien*e and enters all levels of understanding, of *ons*iousness, and nowledge of a world )eyond visi)le reality 89: "6C1

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Representations of Power and Transgression

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