‘The Loose Woman in the Attic: Clothing, Corsetry and Control in Jane Eyre’ - Vivienne Richmond, Goldsmiths, University of London

‘The Loose Woman in the Attic: Clothing, Corsetry and Control in Jane Eyre’

Vivienne Richmond, Goldsmiths, University of London

Clothing in Charlotte Brontë’s work has received little scholarly attention, yet Jane Eyre is replete with dress references. From Rochester’s ‘steel clasped’ riding cloak, to the 'brown stuff frocks’ worn by the  Lowood pupils in stark contrast  with the Brocklehurst girls’ ‘shot orange and purple silk pelisses’, and Jane’s rejection of ‘brilliant amethyst’ silk and ‘superb pink satin’ in favour of ‘sober black’ and ‘pearl-grey’ for her trousseau,  Brontë deftly deploys clothing throughout the novel to signal the personalities, class and moral worth of her characters.

References to clothing are much less frequent in Brontë’s personal correspondence, but in one letter she writes about her corset (and Brontë’s corset is among the artefacts at the Brontë Parsonage Museum). Considering that reference in the context of Leigh Summers' assertion that Victorian corsetry was intended to regulate women's minds as much as their bodies, and the intimation (explored by Jean Rhys) that Bertha Mason was sexually voracious, this paper will argue that Brontë’s descriptions of the 'mad' woman's dress suggest an uncorseted, and therefore uncontrolled, body – and mind –  that her captors attempt to bring under control by the imposition of a ‘corset’ through binding.

3a: Re-Defining the Corset (Chair: Alex Tankard) – CWE 124