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Chard, M J.

English

The purpose of this thesis is to, examine the sources of the theme
of spiritual pilgrimage and its significance in the novels of
Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot. Central to the
Victorian imagination, the archetypal quest-motif is a literary
expression of a living faith that the journey of life is invested with
challenge and purpose. Although the three novelists under discussion
present in their work unique variations on the theme, they share the
conviction that the ultimate goal of pilgrimage is a reconciliation
of the sacred and secular. Spiritual crisis often becomes in their
novels the point of encounter between the human and the divine and
the means of effecting the new creation, in which the dichotomies of
human experience are resolved.

The Introduction places the theme of spiritual pilgrimage within
the Victorian context by demonstrating its importance in the thought
of major prophetic writers of the age. The main body of the thesis
is divided into two sections: Part I. Sources, and Part II, The Novel.
Since one of the most vital clues to the interpretation of the
Victorian novel is found in its use of biblical metaphor and allusion,
the first chapter of the thesis focuses upon the Bible, from which
Victorian writers and readers derived their understanding of the
essential nature of pilgrimage. All quotations are from the King
James Version, and, after the first footnote, all biblical references
are included in the text.

The second most familiar source of the pilgrimage theme for the
Victorians was The Pilgrim's Progress, which presents in a linear
narrative the stages of the journey from the present world to that
which is to come. As in the chapter on the Bible, I have included
references to The Pilgrim's Progress, following the first full
footnote, in the text. The hymns which were sung in the churches and
homes of the Victorian era gave voice to the theme of pilgrimage,
which was already firmly instilled in the national and cultural
consciousness. In their selections from the canon of Christian
hymnody and in their own writing of hymns the Victorians reflected
their attitudes towards the pilgrimage of life and its ultimate
destination, and I have, therefore, given a full chapter to this topic.

Three other strongly influential works were The Divine Comedy,
The Imitation of Christ, and Paradise Lost. These inspirational
sources, also based upon the pilgrimage motif, were drawn upon
particularly by Bronte, Gaskell, and Eliot, and are cited in the
relevant chapters on the novel rather than treated separately in the
first part of the thesis.

For the sake of consistency I have used as far as possible the
Penguin English Library series of novels by Bronte, Gaskell, and Eliot.
In all cases I have given complete bibliographical details in first
footnote references, including the author's name even if already cited
in the text, but have omitted the names of publishers throughout

Chard, Margaret Joan

Edinburgh Research Archive

Spiritual pilgrimage: a study of its sources and thematic significance in the novels of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot

Chard, M

OpenGrey Repository

Spiritual pilgrimage  A study of its sources and thematic significance in the novels of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot

https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/7424/1/254137.pdf

Spiritual pilgrimage : a study of its sources and thematic significance in the novels of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot

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