Loading...
Prospect and Refuge in Villette’s Forbidden Garden
Newbold, Alison
Newbold, Alison
Advisors
Editors
Other Contributors
Affiliation
EPub Date
Publication Date
2024-05-28
Submitted Date
Collections
Files
Loading...
Article - VoR
Adobe PDF, 908.06 KB
Other Titles
Abstract
During the Victorian period, the expansion of the domestic sphere into the garden afforded women greater agency within their own physical and psychological landscapes. The Pensionnat in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853) provides Lucy Snowe, the protagonist, with access to a forbidden avenue within the school garden, initially providing her with shelter and solitude. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this article reads the novel through the lens of the ‘prospect–refuge’ theory developed by the aesthetic geographer Jay Appleton, which considers people’s emotional and psychological responses to their environment. It explores the symbolic uses of the garden space to convey the emotional landscape of characters as well as examining how Brontë positions her protagonist in the garden to allow Lucy freedoms not easily afforded within formal indoor settings.
Citation
Newbold, A. (2024). Prospect and Refuge in Villette’s Forbidden Garden. Brontë Studies, 49(3), 193-206. https://doi.org/10.1080/14748932.2024.2347392
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Journal
Brontë Studies
Research Unit
DOI
10.1080/14748932.2024.2347392
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Type
Article
Language
Description
Series/Report no.
ISSN
1474-8932
EISSN
1745-8226
ISBN
ISMN
Gov't Doc
Test Link
Sponsors
Unfunded