Reason in the face of passion: emotional freedom in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre

Resumo

This research proposes an interpretation of Jane Eyre, novel written by Charlotte Brontë (1847) in which are found different meanings of freedom. Jane's narrative supposes an emotional freedom desire, related as much with the conflit between reason and emotion as with the conflict related to the individual's autonomy in face of organic determinations. Following this thought, this research intends to connect these subjects with the moral philosophy and mind sciences that circulated widely during the beggining of the XIX century, such as frenology, physiognomy, psychology, alienism and philosophy, that tried to comprehend the conexion between the individual, his character, his personality, his autonomy and his characteristics that were determined biologically.