ABSTRACT
Typology provides Victorian poetry with imagery and theme also has other important literary applications. Prose fiction, narrative poetry, and related forms, such as the dramatic monologue, frequently employ this form of symbolism as a device for creating character. Charlotte Bronts Jane Eyre provides examples of two contrasting uses of scriptural types to describe the moral and spiritual condition of a character. Rochesters misapplication of scriptural texts exemplifies a far more common use in fiction of prefigurative symbolism. The almost inevitable disparities between type and fulfillment in the life of a fictional character, like a characters misinterpretation of such symbolism, produce a range of ironic commentary on fictional personages. In addition to contributing to poetry and the novel, typology also had an influence upon what is probably the most characteristic Victorian literary form that kind of non-fiction best described as the creation of the Victorian Sage. This genre, which variously combines the attributes of the sermon, Jeremiad, and neo-classical satire.
