ABSTRACT: The objective of this thesis is to analyze the manifestation of female anger in the novels
Persuasion by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, and Beloved by Toni Morrison. In order to do
this, I will observe, through a feminist and a psychological approach, women’s response to anger in
these three novels, illustrating two major reactions and their nuances: expression and repression of
anger. In all three novels, I identify oppression as the main source of female anger, showing how
gendered and social constructs impact women’s relation to anger, and their way to express it. I will also
focus on the importance of control and lack of control over one’s manifestation of anger, exploring
anger’s various forms. My analysis will focus on the main female characters of each novel: Anne Elliot,
Jane Eyre, Beloved, Sethe. I will also compare and contrast their responses in relation to anger to
characters of the same sex, and of the opposite sex. In my analysis of Persuasion, I will focus on the role
of repression, in terms of anger in the case of Anne, and of feelings in the case of Wentworth; I will also
consider women’s need to limit their display of anger. In the chapter on Jane Eyre, I will observe Jane’s
development of a management of anger, contrasting angry outbreaks to a controlled verbalization of
anger. In Beloved, I will analyze the manifestation of an uncontrollable anger, highlighting its relation to
revenge and love. Through this analysis, I aim at identifying the common threads in the representation of
female anger in these three novels, while also reflecting on how these texts present a different approach
towards female anger and its manifestation.
