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Female roles in early British literature
The character of Jane Eyre
Themes in the bronte sisters novels
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Recommended: Female roles in early British literature
Charlotte Bronte's, Jane Eyre, a story of an unfortunate you who's morals and self-respect continue to fluctuate as she matures. Jane Eyre begins her life in the wrong place at the wrong time. During the novel, Jane endures love, hate and friendship, though maturity allows her to forgive. Settings surrounding Jane's life alter her own ideas of self-acceptance, her actions taken to release herself from certain settings have effect on her. In the first few chapters, Bronte establishes Jane's character as a young girl who is the object of hatred from her cousins and aunt. In Chapter Five, Jane encounters numerous problems with her cousin John. After a confrontation, Mrs. Reed forces her to the Red-Room for punishment. Though, Jane resists which is unlike her, she is still placed in the Room. Jane recalls contents resting in a drawer in her aunts wardrobe, "[. . .] a miniature of her deceased husband, in those last words lies in the secret of the Red-Room -- the spell which kept it so lonely in spite of its grandeur (Bronte, 3rd Ed. 2001 p.11)." The Red-Room becomes a symbolic part of the novel but also an important setting. The Red-Room is "[. . .] the largest and stateliest chambers in the mansion (p. 11)," the atmosphere of the room lingers an ominous and creepy tone. Jane's inferior position among the Reed family is set by her punishment in the Red-Room. Jane explains her hatred towards the Reed's and shows no remorse for them. Soon after Jane's experiences in the Red-Room, Jane leaves to attend Lowood. As she leaves Gateshead, Jane emotions are overflowing with joy. The Lowood Institute assists in education impoverished and orphaned children, receives majority of its funds through charity. Beginning... ... middle of paper ... ... fire and his mad wife. Jane's feelings and thoughts of a equal life together return. Jane realizes that they both need each other, Rochester is now physically dependent on her. But, Jane is emotionally dependent upon him, thus equality is attained. Receiving the happy ending, Jane realizes that pursuing her needs and her wants remain the only way to be truly happy. As her life progresses her actions to things happening around brought her to the end of her life. Other people and her maturity remain large impacts on her decisions and actions. She learns of ways to accept what she wants to accept and no one can force beliefs upon her, only contribute. Thus Jane's quest for love and her desire to belong are fulfilled.
We learn that Jane is a young girl who is a victim of emotional and
The situation when Jane in locked in the Red Room occurs because she has retaliated against John Reed hitting her and the fact that she is being punished for doing so. The mere fact that she is being locked in the Red Room can already accumulate sympathy within the reader because she is seemingly being very unfairly punished whereas her cousin John has attacked her already and managed to escape any punishment whatsoever. However in the events leading up to being locked in the room, the reader could not feel sympathy for Jane Eyre as she did in a way bring the punishment upon herself for attacking Mr. Reed in the first place. If she has not retaliated she would have not been locked in the room. Most readers however probably do feel sympathy for her as she was acting more in self-defence. She was also unfairly spoken too as they were dragging her to the room itself as they say things like she's like a mad cat' and do not seem to be letting her give an explanation at all for her actions, and only listening to what John had too say. They make sure that she knows her place by telling her that You are under obligation to Mrs. Reed' and that she is less than a servant'. These are not kind words and the reader will probably feel sympathetic as she is being treated as a worthless object. The room that she is sent too is a dark and unpleasant place with memories of the dead Mr. Reed. For a child of Jane's young age it would seemingly be very distressing for her, and with the added experience of her seemingly seeing a ghost' of some kind, it would be a terrible experience. Even if the reader has not felt sympathy for Jane before this incident they would surely feel so now, as she is in a distressing situation alone. When Jane first screams out for help from someone it does seem as though people are coming too help her as Bessie and Abbot come to open the door and ask her what is wrong and what has made her cry for help.
From an early age Jane is aware she is at a disadvantage, yet she learns how to break free from her entrapment by following her heart. Jane appears as not only the main character in the text, but also a female narrator. Being a female narrator suggests a strong independent woman, but Jane does not seem quite that.
The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...
Mrs Reed keeps Jane only because of a promise she made to her husband on his deathbed. This abuse and neglect from her relatives forces Jane to be resentful and full of hatred. Later on Jane begins to stand up for herself. Once Jane begins to rebel to the abuse done by John and Mrs Reed, it is as if an uncontrollable beast had been unleashed inside of her.
This passage displays how Mrs. Reed loses her control of Jane. The passion born inside Jane by her experience in the red room allows her to burn through Mrs. Reed's coldness and imposed restrictions. Mrs. Reed still views Jane through an "eye of ice" when this passage begins, and seeks to hamper her by using a "tone in which a person might address an opponent of adult age (rather) than such is ordinarily used to a child". This is an attempt to remind Jane which one of them is the adult, and therefore in ...
thinks of her as burden, and low life. Jane is forced to live with her
By Jane expressing rage and blatantly retaliating against authority, it was defiance against the traditional role of women. After expressing her feelings, Mrs Reed sends her away to Lowood School. However, before doing so she severs her ties with her Aunt by saying ‘I will never call you aunt again as long as I live’. Here Jane gains familial liberation and expresses her emotional state of mind as she takes a stand and shows some empowerment.
Adolescence and its impact on a character is a common theme throughout literature. Adolescence describes the period after childhood and before adulthood in one’s life. Childhood can impact one’s future course in life, whilst adulthood will receive the lasting effects of adolescence. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre it is possible to see Jane’s adolescence as shaped by her childhood and impacting her adulthood. Jane’s difficult childhood leaves her with warped ideas of love and power. Jane’s adolescence is the first time she receives any love and learns how to love. Lastly, Jane’s adulthood decisions are influenced by her ideas on love and power that have been shaped by her childhood and adolescence.
Before Jane leaves Gateshead for Lowood Institution, she chooses to verbally revolt against Mrs. Reed, as she was unable to before. She tells Mrs. Reed that she is "bad, hard-hearted" and "deceitful" and renounces her as a relation (39). Soon after, Jane is off to Lowood school where more adults tell her what to do.
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
The story begins as Jane lives with the Reed family in their home at Gateshead Hall. Here, the theme of education vs. containment develops immediately, as Jane is kept confined indoors on a cold winter day. The other children (Eliza, John, and Giorgiana) are "clustered round their mamma in the drawing-room" (Bronte: 39) being educated, as Jane had been excluded from the group. Jane tries to educate herself by reading from Berwick's History of British Birds, but once again, she is held back from her attempt at enlightenment by the abuse of John Reed, who castigates her and throws the heavy book at her. In anger, Jane cries out, "You are like a murderer - you are like a slave-driver - you are like the Roman emperors" (Bronte: 43). In this passage, Jane compares John Reed to a slave-driver because, like a slave-driver, he deprives Jane of her attempt at education and keeps her suppressed. Afterwards, Jane is blamed for the entire incident and...
Jane makes her journey from Gateshead to Lowood at the age of ten, finally freeing her from her restrictive life with her aunt, who hates her. Jane resented her harsh treatment by her aunt. Mrs. Reed’s attitude towards Jane highlights on of the main themes of the novel, the social class. Jane’s aunt sees Jane as inferior, who is less than a servant. Jane is glad to be leaving her cruel aunt and of having the chance of going to school.
Starting off with Mrs. Reed, she was the wife of John Eyre who was asked to take care of Jane but of course Mrs. Reed secretly envied Jane and had treated her the complete opposite. The reeds had made Jane feel like and outcast to where it had lead to isolation and loneliness. In the beginning of the book the Reeds were introduced as being the family to verbally, physically and mentally abuse Jane. As Jane was left merely to herself, she was left to imagine ,visualize and wonder what it was like on the outside. This leads off to the introduction of the educational school that she will be attending called the Lowood school.
It is very obvious now that Jane has matured and grown from a little girl with little self-confidence, to a mature and successful woman with self-confidence and experience. The obstacles she had to encounter throughout some of the stages of her life had made her stronger and her self-confidence had grown, also because of certain people in her life. Jane believed in herself and her morals, and as a result was so successful in her life and she was able to achieve a high position of self-confidence at the end of the novel. She developed self-confidence and maintained it my knowing her self-worth, and having faith in what she believes in.