The representations of women and nature in Jane Eyre and North and South: An ecofeminist reading

Ecofeminism focuses on the relationship between domination of women and nature and is based on the assumption that there is a relationship between the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature. One of the issues that ecofeminists particularly target is the dualist thought created by two concepts that are thought to be opposite to each other. The ecofeminist movement rejects this hierarchical order that prioritizes the mind over the body, culture over nature, masculine over feminine, and offers holistic approaches. In this thesis, Jane Eyre and North and South written in the Victorian era are analysed from an ecofeminist point of view. The first chapter of the thesis examines ecocriticism and ecofeminism in a theoretical framework. The second chapter of the thesis focuses on how Victorian society conceptualised women and nature in the novel Jane Eyre. The novel underlines the domination of men over women and nature. The similarities between women and nature enable them to establish a strong bond between them. The third chapter of the thesis focuses on the impact of the Industrial Revolution on women and nature in the novel North and South. The novel focuses on the exploitation of women and nature by the patriarchal capitalist system caused by industrialisation. Keywords: Ecofeminism, Victorian society, Jane Eyre, North and South, Dualism, Exploitation