This document is available upon request.

Abstract

Female pubertal development of the mid-nineteenth century was a medical spectacle. Marginalized by their menstruation, mid-Victorian girls were subject to psychophysiological regulation, surveillance, and codification. Irregular menstruation was thought to precondition reproductive disorder, preempting the medical micromanagement of the adolescent female. Mid-Victorian girls were thereby instructed on diet, exercise, and climatic exposure. Female pubertal development was moreover approached as a social pollutant, incompatible with ideologies of hegemony and normative femininity. This dissertation examines mid-Victorian discourses on female pubertal development and their circumscription on the adolescent body. Charlotte Bronte’s Villette and Jane Eyre are presented as case studies, demonstrating how the female adolescent body was simultaneously inscribed by, and reproductive of, institutional reform. This dissertation likewise investigates the racial codifications of menstruation as well as the possibilities of mid-Victorian menstrual embodiment. Through Bertha Mason, I interrogate the mid-Victorian hypothesis of nonwhite menstrual prematurity. Through Ginevra Fanshawe and Lucy Snowe, I explore puberty as spectacle and non-public maturation. Villette and Jane Eyre are both examined to measure the imbrications of mid-Victorian menstrual procedures. My dissertation is interdisciplinary, integrating mid-century menstrual discourse of John Graham, Michael Ryan, and Edward James Tilt, I argue that Charlotte Bronte reproduces, problematizes, and destabilizes hegemonic ideologies of female puberty.