A Plea for Help in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Many people believe that eating disorders are a product of the twentieth century, brought on by teenage girls aspiring to be supermodels like Cindy Crawford. Although such pressures are precipitating factors to many eating disorders, doctors diagnosed patients with anorexia as early as 1689 (Spignesi 7). One early example of anorexia is present in the novel Jane Eyre. Written in the mid-nineteenth century by Charlotte Brontë, this book describes a young girl whose personality bears striking similarities with that of a diagnosed anorexic. The life of the main character, Jane, has also been shown to share innumerable similarities with Brontë's own life. Biographical information from researchers and autobiographical information from Jane Eyre (whether intentional or not) verify that Brontë had an eating disorder.

Brontë was raised in the nineteenth century, a time in which many psychologists believe that eating disorders may have been more common than originally thought. With science and psychology still in their infancy, the victims of these disorders were said to suffer from either insanity, hysteria, or narcissism. Changes in the twentieth century society have led to a greater likelihood of an eating disorder being discovered, diagnosed, and reported. In the nineteenth century, however, girls

were not subjected to regular health checks at school and took little physical exercise. Girls' bodies were hardly ever seen undressed, except perhaps by their mothers, sisters, or maid servants. In the higher socio-economic classes, women generally dressed elaborately, wearing corsets and other apparel which concealed and transformed their figures. (van't Hof 28)

Young women of the nineteenth century were a...

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...ring from anorexia nervosa. Both were perfectionists, obsessed with food, and searching for control.

Works Cited

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. NY: Penguin, 1966.

Fraser, Rebecca. The Brontës: Charlotte and Her Family. NY: Ballantine Books, 1988.

Minuchin, Salvador, et al. Psychosomatic Families: Anorexia Nervosa in Context. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.

Spignesi, Angelyn. Starving Women: A Psychology of Anorexia Nervosa. Dallas: Spring Publications, Inc., 1983.

Vandereycken, Walter, and Ron Van Deth. From Fasting Saints to Anorexic Girls. NY: New York University Press, 1994.

van't Hof, Sonja. Anorexia Nervosa: The Historical and Cultural Specificity. Berwyn: Offsetdrukkerij Kanters B.V., 1994.

Whitney, Elanor Noss, and Sharon Rady Rolfes. Understanding Nutrition. Minneapolis: West Publishing Co., 1993.