THE IDEA OF “NEW WOMAN” IN THE NOVELS OF ENGLISH VICTORIAN AGE WRITERS

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of striving of main women characters for the changes in their social role and status in the novels of English writers of the Victorian age. The analysis is based on modern investigations of the problem, done by English critics, scholars and scientists. It is stated, that the social status and the position of women in the 19th century was not equal to men’s. Nevertheless, a new trend was growing in the society. The term “New woman” symbolized a new personality, who, unlike her predecessors, had different understanding of woman’s place in the society. It is also grounded, that a lot of English novelists of the time devoted their works to the depiction of such women and their protest against the traditional norms and social injustice. The research reveals that the theme is best reflected in the novels of Emily and Charlotte Brontë, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot. It is also pointed out, that the novels of the writers were analyzed from the feminism viewpoint, which differs much from the traditional approach. Such approach gives the possibility to look upon the value of the novels in the perspective of their impact on the further development of women’s fight for their rights and position in the society.