Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bornte

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.

When we first meet Jane she is a young and orphaned girl with little self-confidence and hope of feelings a sense of belonging and self worth. It is unfair that Jane already feels lonely and desperate in such a cruel world as it is. Jane is open with her thoughts during her narration, “…humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed” (Bronte 7). Jane already feels as though she cannot participate in everyday activities because she acknowledges that she is a weaker person. By Jane believing she is weak she is succumbing to her own entrapment. The novel opens with Jane feeling inadequate about going on a walk with her cousins and the novel ends with Jane embarking on a journey of her very own, this is not a coincidence.

Jane seems to learn quickly that she is the only one who can help her break free from her entrapment. The first place Jane must learn how to leave is Gateshead. She is not happy at Gateshead because is constantly put down by her cousins and even the servants. Helen tries to teach Jane to forgive her enemies in order for Jane to be able move on and gain confidence in herself:

If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would have it all their own way: they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at w...

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...een injured it is her being a compassionate wife, not a server. She is doing it by choice now and out of love so it makes it more acceptable, “Certainly Charlotte Bronte was never again to indulge in quite such an optimistic imagining” (Gilbert & Gubar 371).

Jane is no longer entrapped at the end of Jane Eyre because she has learned how to be herself and be comfortable with who she is. She learns how to use her freewill to make life choices that will make her happy. Bronte illustrates the idea that good things will happen if people use their own free will and follow their heart. In the end Jane married for love and had a happy ending.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Radford: Wilder Publications, 2008. Print.

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. Second ed. N.p.: Yale University Press, 2000. Print.