Abstract
This thesis studies three pairs of sisters in works of literature written and published during the 19th century, namely in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811), Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White (1859) and Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” (1862). There are several similarities between these the three pairs, mainly that the two sisters I have focused on in each text are given diverging personality traits by their respective authors. To simplify, Collins’ Marian and Laura represent the masculine and feminine, Rossetti’s Laura and Lizzie represent the sinful and the virtuous, and Austen’s Elinor and Marianne represent sense and sensibility. This thesis has endeavored to map the portrayal of these individual sisters, and how their sororal relationships affect their fates. My findings suggest that the dichotomies between the sisters are used mainly as plot points and literary devices used to drive a narrative forward. Arguably, the authors’ projects when portraying binary sisters, are aimed at promoting closeness and to demonstrate the importance of bonds between women of the 19th century, and that these bonds need to exist within a space not affected by patriarchy. As this thesis will attempt to show, sisterhood provides an arena in which to portray both positive and negative emotions between women. In order to bring out the significance and power of these emotions, the sisters in question are presented as dichotomous.