Critical Echoes: The Transformation of Jane Eyre Scholarship Over Time

Abstract

Since its 1847 publication, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has attracted steadily shifting critical attention. This study maps those changes by analyzing two representative scholarly articles from each of four periods—1950–1960, 1965–1975, 1980–1990, and 1995–2015—to track evolving methods and thematic priorities. Whereas earlier criticism focuses on narrative technique, language, and other formal devices, later work increasingly engages social and cultural questions, especially issues of gender and feminism. The pattern shows how Jane Eyre continually registers new theoretical currents and remains a central text in debates over women’s status in Victorian Britain and literary studies more broadly.