A New Historicist Perspective on The Question of Faith in W. Collins’ The Woman in White and E. B. Browning’s Aurora Leigh

Abstract

The relationship between fiction and ideology is a crucial issue to many critical schools and theoretical approaches. Such an issue has been flowing smoothly across historical periods and influencing various social, historical, and cultural aspects. The Victorian era is one of these stages, and Victorian literature has played a significant role in determining the nature of such a relationship in the subsequent generations in England. Departing from the New Historicist theoretical framework, this study examines the views of two Victorian masterpieces, namely, W. Collins’ The Woman in White and E. B. Browning’s Aurora Leigh as both texts and contexts. Both are influenced by and influential in their circumstances. The subjectivities of the two authors are changed, and they are, at the same time, agents of change within their sociohistorical spheres. These literary works cannot be considered as only products of their times; they are also major players in creating new pathways for the development of people and culture. The conventional views of religion are questioned, and several inherent rules are constantly replaced by others. Although W. Collins and E. B. Browning explicitly voice their full adherence to religious beliefs and principles, skepticism becomes strongly expressed in some of their literary works while institutional faiths and their status are called into question in certain ways.