Why Did Charlotte Bronte Change The Gender Of Her Narrators?

There are few critics and scholars up to the present moment who have placedemphasis on analyzing the gender of Charlotte Bronte's narrators in both The Professor and Villette. Therefore, the thesis aims to elaborate on the reason why she changed the gender of her narrators through a comparative study of The Professor and Villette from the perspective of the nature of a male narrator, in order to demonstrate Bronte's intense feminine consciousness. Due to the different gender of the narrators, William Crimsworth, as a male narrator in The Professor, fails to tell the story Charlotte wants to narrate because of the privileges of a male sex,but Lucy Snowe, as a female narrator in Villette, is well-qualified to speak completely on behalf of Charlotte Bronte and to express her feminine consciousness. First, William Crimsworth enjoys some privileges, which is obviously reflected in the bright colour of the text, his fortunate working and living experiences; on the contrary, Lucy Snowe suffers a lot like the majority of Victorian women in life and work so that the colour of the story is bound to be gloomy and cold just like the name of Lucy Snowe. Second, Crimsworth consciously or unconsciously exerts masculine power on the characters around him, especially on Mile Reuter and Frances Henri. However, Lucy, on the one hand, shows the submissive position of Victorian women revealed from her relation with Dr. John and, on the other hand, expresses Bronte's feminine consciousness of equality and independence through her intimate relation with Paul Emanuel.