Charlotte Bronte published Jane Eyre in 1847, a novel that follows an orphaned Jane and her endeavors throughout the early years of her life. Bronte introduces specific social structure criticisms, including sexism and feminism, independence, and orphan life that reflected the time period in which the novel was written. Specific social criticisms discussed in Bronte’s work have allowed it to be a coming-of-age novel, as high school students nationwide continue to read this classic work. Similarly, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables of 1908 parallels motifs discussed in Bronte’s Jane Eyre, such as sexism and feminism, independence, and orphan life. “By any standard, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables is a stunning success. …show more content…
As for Jane, both of her parents died, thus she is sent to live with her aunt at Gateshead and when that becomes a problem, Jane is sent to live at a boarding school called Lowood. Anne, who is also an orphan, spends her first few years living in strangers’ homes and orphanages, until she finally gets adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Because both characters are orphans, growing up allowed them to become self-reliant and independent. “Adoption, in short, means adaptation” (Drain). While both Jane and Anne learn to become self-sufficient, Anne differs from Jane in that Jane is raised in a strict boarding school and is near adulthood when she is moved to Thornfield; Anne is still a budding teenager who relies on Matthew and Marilla in the growing stage of her life. “Anne is independent. She still acts within the inherent, day-to-day restrictions of dependency that all children must, but beyond that she has a certain independence of spirit. Her thoughts on such significant topics as religion, life, and ways of viewing the world, are her own, coming from her own life experiences, and she will not easily give them up unless she is ready” (Weiss-Town) proves that Anne is independent in the sense that she is growing up, but needs that dependency of Matthew and Marilla in the process of maturing. Additionally, both of the characters learn to move away from the comfort of their homes for some time being, thus demonstrating that independence. In Jane’s case, she must move out of Thornfield as the secret of Mr. Rochester’s wife is revealed. Jane then travels to Marsh End where she begins to live with her long lost cousins and teaches at a school. As for Anne, at age fifteen, she goes to the Queen’s Academy to earn her teaching license, and receives it in one year rather than two. In the end, both Jane and Anne make their way back home, Jane returns to Thornfield when she receives
Jane Eyre, written in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte, relates a tale of tragedy, mystery, and gothic romance. Covering the multiple issues of England in that time, Bronte writes about orphan treatment, social class, and Britain’s controversial law of prohibiting divorce in all circumstances. Orphaned at a young age and unwanted by her guardian Mrs. Reed, Jane searches for higher prospects in education at Lowood, eventually earning a position as a governess at Thornfield. Complications disrupt her life, when she becomes engaged to her employer, Mr. Rochester, and soon after discovers that he is already married to a lunatic. Leaving Thornfield, Jane finds a home with St. John and his two sisters.
Jane Eyre is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature.
Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, was published in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Company, in London. This year is exactly ten years into Queen Victoria’s sixty-four year reign of the British Empire. The Victorian Era was renowned for its patriarchal Society and definition by class. These two things provide vital background to the novel, as Jane suffers from both. Jane Eyre relates in some ways to Brontë’s own life, as its original title suggest, “Jane Eyre: An Autobiography”. Charlotte Brontë would have suffered from too, as a relatively poor woman. She would have been treated lowly within the community. In fact, the book itself was published under a pseudonym of Currer Bell, the initials taken from Brontë’s own name, due to the fact that a book published by a woman was seen as inferior, as they were deemed intellectually substandard to men. Emily Brontë, Charlotte’s sister, was also forced to publish her most famous novel, Wuthering Heights, under the nom de plume of Ellis Bell, again taking the initials of her name to form her own alias. The novel is a political touchstone to illustrate the period in which it was written, and also acts as a critique of the Victorian patriarchal society.
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...
I remember first reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in ninth grade. I thought it was a wonderful love story between a smart, ambitious girl and a wealthy, conceited, handsome man. Now, as I go back and read the story again, I find more of what Bronte was trying to convey. She uses many different literary devices to enhance her work and aid in understanding such as diction, imagery, tone, and characterization.
Bronte is known as one of the first revolutionary and challenging authoress’ with her text Jane Eyre. The society of her time was male dominated, women were marginally cast aside and treated as trophies for their male counterparts. Their main role in life was to be a mother and a wife, “ Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life……the more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” A quote from a letter Robert Southey wrote to Bronte. A clear sign of the mentality and opposition Bronte was up against. A woman’s “proper duties” of course being to tend and wait on her “master’s” every whim and need. Women during Bronte’s time had no clear voice, none that was of any merit, they were a silent category of society, silenced by their male oppressors. Bronte’s book was in fact written before the first women’s rights movement had happened, yet it puts forward an image of an independent strong character, of a passionate and almost rebellious nature. A character “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her right’s, and venturing creative thoughts.” I put forward that Bronte throughout her text not only revises the themes of male power and oppression, but reconstructs them also. The text is a female bildungsroman of it’s time, sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly tackling the patriarchal view of women.
During the course of the novel she lives at five homes. In each of these places, the idea of inner beauty conquering exterior appearance becomes a lesson, and in her last home she gains her reward, a man who loves her solely for her mind. She reads against her cousins wishes as a child at Gateshead, learns to value her intelligence as a child at the Lowood Institution, her mind and humility win the heart of Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Manor, she earns St. John's marriage proposal at Marsh's End, and in the end she wins her prize of Mr. Rochester's hand in marriage at Ferndean Manor. Jane Erye spent the beginning of her childhood at her Aunt's house, where she struggles to become more intelligent by reading books. Jane wants to learn, even though her cousin insists: "You have no business to read our books; you are a dependent" (pg. 42).
Jane had a testing childhood at the hands of her aunt Mrs Reed and her cousins. She lived with the Reed family until ten years of age and during these ten years she was bullied and unloved. Jane was then sent away to Lowood School she appeared excited to leave Gateshead, yet once at Lowood she experienced more ridicule and a hard school life. Nevertheless she did find friendship in Helen Burns, although this friendship was short lived as Helen died during a breakout of typhus, through their short friendship Helen had shown Jane that life at Lowood could be bearable; she was also the first friend Jane ever really had.
Discuss Charlotte Bronte’s portrayal of childhood in Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bront’s ‘Jane Eyre’ was a controversial novel at its time. It traces the heroine from an orphan child to a contented adult woman. Through the trials Jane experiences Bront highlights many. hypocritical aspects of Victorian society, mainly focusing on the religious hypocrisy of the era.
Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in
cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more
Jane Eyre was written by a young girl named Charlotte Bronte in 1847, as a way to earn an income for her family. This novel depicts social situations not yet seen by the American public, much less primarily focused on that of a female. This was a ground breaking work, as while the public did not know the author, they could identify with Jane’s struggles, irrelevant that the work was merely fictional. A daughter of a poor clergyman, whose mother died when she was seven was raised by her mother’s sister. Like Jane, Bronte grew up in dirty conditions, but she also, like Jane, possessed a passion for learning, even studying abroad and learning a few languages. Although, she never did attend any higher schooling, due to her gender and the attitude of the times, she did have some experience publishing, before Jane Eyre became popular. Bronte and her two sisters were sent to a desolate boarding school as young girls, which most likely inspired the conditions for Lowood school. Her eldest sister’s death had an impact on her characters, inspiring Helen Burns, her pure, loving, innocent schoolmate at
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is set in the mid nineteenth century, during the Victorian era where class and gender roles are clearly defined in the patriarchal society. The general ideology of the era expresses the idea that if gender categories were not maintained as binary oppositions, catastrophic chaos would likely ensue (Gill, 109). Throughout the novel, Jane is faced with the issue of oppression. The typical characteristics of an ideal female in Victorian society would include submissiveness, simple dress, low ambition, longing for a male love interest and passiveness. Bronte clearly shows her stance on this Victorian ideology as Jane often challenges those social institutions and changes her place in society, although she often settles for the status quo for certain periods of time. Jane plays the typical role of a Victorian woman through much of her life, but through subtle shifts in power Bronte challenges these Victorian norms by way of Jane’s education, unlikely rise in social status from teacher to governess and her relationship with a seemingly unattainable man.
The article Preface to "What Policies Would Promote Social Justice for Women?" written in 2010 states same idea related to the work Jane Eyre about gender equality. Despite the theoretical relevance of sexual inequality and Jane Eyre the feminist literature signifying the importance of gender issues that needs to change relations on social position. Also, these analyses the impact of changing issues now a days. It is quite surprising that the same issue is continuing over the centuries. The author of the article Preface to "What Policies Would Promote Social Justice for Women?" mentions gender inequality in business, politics, education, and other areas has been closely studied. “Gender discrimination is not limited to the business world. There
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.