Nineteenth-Century Anti-Catholic Discourses

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 1-9

3. The Construction of an Anti-Catholic Ideology in the Nineteenth Century: Sexuality, Gender, Patriarchy and the Discourse of Fear

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 10-24

4. Forgive Me Father: The Sacrament of Confession as a Means to Control and Debauch Young Girls and Women

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 25-42

5. The Danger of Gliding Jesuits and the Effects of a Catholic Education

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 43-69

6. Lifting the Veil: A Nineteenth-century Perception of Nuns and Convents

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 70-90

7. Nineteenth-century Anti-Catholic Discourse in the Brontë’s Local Newspapers

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 91-97

8. The Perceived Anti-Catholicism of Charlotte Brontë’s Novel: The Professor

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 98-108

9. Jane Eyre: Anti-Catholic or Anti-Christian? Shirley: A ‘Social’ Novel

   • Diana Peschier

   Pages 109-137

10. The Priestcraft of the Book: Representations of Catholicism in Villette

    • Diana Peschier

    Pages 138-161

11. Conclusion: A Discourse of Fear Engendered by the Rise of Roman Catholicism in Mid-nineteenth-century England

    • Diana Peschier

    Pages 162-164

12. Back Matter

    Pages 165-198

    PDF

By the middle of the nineteenth century much clearly gendered, anti-Catholic literature was produced for the Protestant middle classes. Nineteenth Century Anti-Catholic Discourses explores how this writing generated a series of popular Catholic images and looks towards the cultural, social and historical foundation of these representations. Diana Peschier places the novels of Charlotte Brontë within the framework of Victorian social ideologies, in particular the climate created by rise of anti-Catholicism and thus provides an alternative reading of her work.

• English literature
• gender
• novel
• Victorian era
• British and Irish Literature

'This book provides much-needed insight into the widespread anti-Roman Catholic prejudice of mid-nineteenth-century England and highlights the gendered nature of this discourse. It offers a useful context in which to view attitudes to Catholicism in Victorian literature, especially in the novels of Charlotte Brontë.' - Christine Alexander, Professor of English, University of New South Wales, UK

'Peschier's is a useful account and her analyses of the four Brontë novels are original and challenge conventional readings.' - Anthony Chennells, The Heythrop Journal

DIANA PESCHIER is an independent researcher in Nineteenth-century literature and religion. 

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