The Negotiation of Space: An Exploration of Women’s Spatial Experiences in 19th-Century British Works

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma, the Brontës’ Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and George Eliot’s Middlemarch utilizing a spatial lens and framework. Analyzing 12 female characters’ navigation and manipulation of space across the five novels, I argue that Austen, the Brontës’, and Eliot utilize their characters to critique social and cultural norms and expectations placed on 19^th -century British women. To conclude my thesis, I analyze the five most recent film adaptations of each novel to understand the continuing popularity of these authors’ works. Within the coda, I explore the directors’ choices to emphasize or omit space in lieu of other concepts such as female relationships and romantic storylines and what that expresses about modern audiences’ sensibilities and values.