Sound, silence and listening in the novels of the Brontës

Abstract

This dissertation explores the representations of sound, silence, and listening in the novels of the Brontë sisters, situating them within the emerging field of literary sound studies and addressing a notable gap in Brontë scholarship. Drawing on close reading and historical contextualisation, it examines how Charlotte, Emily and Anne deploy sonic elements and sonic-related actions not only as narrative devices but also as means of articulating power, gender, and interiority.

Chapter One focuses on Wuthering Heights, and analyses how Emily Brontë uses sound as a narrative; by establishing a soundscape of interconnected and interchangeable sounds – between natural sounds and human voices, meaningful language and meaningless noises – spatial and temporal boundaries are challenged, pointing towards Emily’s vision of a world towards unity over division. Chapter Two turns to Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, highlighting her concern with silence in both genders. Through written (letters, diaries) and oral (gossip, overheard conversations) language, Anne interrogates silence and seeks complicated narrative and structural strategies to provide a possible solution to it.

Chapter Three examines Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, where silence becomes both a site of oppression and self-assertion. Through key figures such as Helen Burns, Bertha Mason, St John Rivers, and Edward Rochester, Charlotte Brontë maps Jane’s acquisition of power and interiority via strategic silence. Chapter Four reads Charlotte’s Villette through the lens of surveillance and eavesdropping, which function not merely as narrative devices but as central themes intertwined with silence found both in characters and in structure.

Through the ghostly nun and bilingual narrative strategies, the author explores how silence and surveillance shape the protagonist’s search for interiority and position within a linguistically fragmented world constantly being over-watched.

Chapter Five centres on Charlotte’s Shirley, and discusses how listening works as a secondary action in the novel. It reveals social hierarchies and gendered forms of attention, particularly through working-class women and the ambivalent figure of the unheard listener.

By tracing Brontë sisters’ distinct yet intersecting sonic aesthetics, this study argues for a re-evaluation of the auditory as a critical mode of narrative meaning and social engagement. Sound, silence, and listening function not only as significant thematic and structural elements in the works of the Brontë sisters, but also – as explored through their novels – offer a lens through which to reflect broader anxieties and desires surrounding voice, agency, and relational presence in the 1830-1850s English novels.