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From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette

Critics have argued that Jane’s engagement with the Orient in Jane Eyre (1847) is grounded in the vocabulary of her role as liberator and the discourse of female slavery and male domination as represented by the use of the harem metaphor in the text. Yet little is said about how this same metaphor e...

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Main Author: Mohd Ramli, Aimillia
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
PE English
PN0441 Literary History
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/14795/2/IRIIE_2011_Aimillia_Mohd_Ramli%27submission_for_Yellow_Social_Sciences_and_Humanities.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/14795/
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spelling my.iium.irep.147952012-11-05T15:08:24Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/14795/ From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette Mohd Ramli, Aimillia PE English PN0441 Literary History Critics have argued that Jane’s engagement with the Orient in Jane Eyre (1847) is grounded in the vocabulary of her role as liberator and the discourse of female slavery and male domination as represented by the use of the harem metaphor in the text. Yet little is said about how this same metaphor exposes in Villette (1853) the ambivalence inherent in the construction of a Western character that has been invaded by the so-called menacing influences of the Orient. In the novel, the Oriental familial institution of the harem is figuratively and literally seen as a contaminant that poses a threat to a racial and gendered colonial British character. It suggests that this contamination destabilizes this character, blurring the line that divides both East and West, fantasy and reality, and argues that the Oriental institution of the harem, the artistic representations of women as illustrated by the Orientalist portrait of Cleopatra and the actress playing Vashti and, finally, M. Paul, represent the different ways in which this character is gendered and orientalized. 2010-07 Conference or Workshop Item REM application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/14795/2/IRIIE_2011_Aimillia_Mohd_Ramli%27submission_for_Yellow_Social_Sciences_and_Humanities.pdf Mohd Ramli, Aimillia (2010) From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette. In: IRIEE 2011, 9-10, February 2011, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur.
institution Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia
building IIUM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider International Islamic University Malaysia
content_source IIUM Repository (IREP)
url_provider http://irep.iium.edu.my/
language English
topic PE English
PN0441 Literary History
spellingShingle PE English
PN0441 Literary History
Mohd Ramli, Aimillia
From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
description Critics have argued that Jane’s engagement with the Orient in Jane Eyre (1847) is grounded in the vocabulary of her role as liberator and the discourse of female slavery and male domination as represented by the use of the harem metaphor in the text. Yet little is said about how this same metaphor exposes in Villette (1853) the ambivalence inherent in the construction of a Western character that has been invaded by the so-called menacing influences of the Orient. In the novel, the Oriental familial institution of the harem is figuratively and literally seen as a contaminant that poses a threat to a racial and gendered colonial British character. It suggests that this contamination destabilizes this character, blurring the line that divides both East and West, fantasy and reality, and argues that the Oriental institution of the harem, the artistic representations of women as illustrated by the Orientalist portrait of Cleopatra and the actress playing Vashti and, finally, M. Paul, represent the different ways in which this character is gendered and orientalized.
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Mohd Ramli, Aimillia
author_facet Mohd Ramli, Aimillia
author_sort Mohd Ramli, Aimillia
title From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
title_short From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
title_full From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
title_fullStr From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
title_full_unstemmed From Pasha to Cleopatra and Vashti: the Oriental Other in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette
title_sort from pasha to cleopatra and vashti: the oriental other in charlotte brontë’s villette
publishDate 2010
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/14795/2/IRIIE_2011_Aimillia_Mohd_Ramli%27submission_for_Yellow_Social_Sciences_and_Humanities.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/14795/
_version_ 1643606945543749632
score 13.211869

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