Struggles of Women in Society Within Literature

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Jane Austen's Emma, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, and Gustav Flaubert's Madame Bovary, all encompass heroines who struggle in vain to fit the confines of the rigid society they have been born into. Jane Eyre is born into a life of an orphan, only to thrive and rise into the affections of the wealthy nobleman, Mr. Rochester. Unlike Jane, Emma Woodhouse is a creature that has been born into the upper echelon of British society, but is disillusioned to a point where Emma believes that she has the right to dictate people's love affairs. Moll Flanders, like Jane Eyre, is born into a life of poverty; However, unlike her predecessor, Moll performs demeaning tasks, such as acting as a prostitute and thief, to elevate her position in society. For Clarissa, in Mrs. Dalloway, comes to the realization that she must break away from societal rules, in order not to be swallowed up by the societal snobbery that surrounds her. Anna Karenina, like Clarissa Dalloway, has allowed society to dictate her life by stressing discression in affairs; therefore, Anna breaks away form these rules with Vronsky, only to end up crushed by society. Emma Bovary, much like Anna, throws away a live of luxury, in order to pursue a love affair that ends in trajedy.   Within all these novels the characters either overcome the problems that face them within society or perish because they are unable to do so. Through examination of the rich settings, societal rules, reversals fortunes, and the fortunes of love, one can see how some women over come the pressures of society while others plunge to the deepest depth of despair.
In all six works, the settings range from glorious well-lit mansions to the dingy dirty streets of the city, which parallel the emotions of the characters struggling to survive. For Bronte's work, the eeriness and isolation of the red room is described as, "dark and unlit. Seldom did a fire... [continues]

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