Fairies and Feminism: Embodied Theology and Feminist Resistance in Jane Eyre

Publication Date

2026

Presentation Length

20 minutes

College

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences

Department

English, Department of

Student Level

Graduate

Presentation Type

Talk/Oral

Summary

In the 19th century, the Victorian Patriarchy used religious doctrine to regulate women’s physical, spiritual, and sexual lives. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë’s heroine resists this system of control by using various tactics to preserve her autonomy. Central among these is the development of an embodied theology: a form of spirituality grounded in lived experience rather than abstract doctrine. For Jane, this theology manifests as an affinity for movement outdoors and sustained engagement with the natural world. Jane’s attraction to nature as a source of spiritual guidance situates the novel within a broader literary tradition that associates landscapes with modes of transcendence and self-knowledge. This thesis argues that Jane’s spiritual imagination resonates with the conceptualization of “Faerie” described by J.R.R Tolkien in his essay “On Fairy-Stories.” Tolkien’s descriptions of the realm of Faerie reflect Charlotte Brontë’s depiction of nature as a space that exceeds the patriarchy’s theological limitations. By reading these frameworks together, I demonstrate how elements of nature and folklore converge to provide Jane with an alternative spiritual framework—a framework that challenges the authority of 19th century religious doctrine and results in a distinctly feminist method of resistance.

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