Jane in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

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To what extent is Jane presented as a victim during her time at

Gateshead in the first four chapters of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre?

The first four chapters of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre draw the

reader into the life and emotions of the heroine of the novel Jane

Eyre and the cruelty she suffers in the hands of the Reeds. These

chapters portray an image of Jane and present her character which

appears to be vulnerable yet determined to stick up for her self.

We learn that Jane is a young girl who is a victim of emotional and

physical abuse from the Reeds, and also suffers from discrimination.

We’re shown that the Reeds only provide her with a home but she

receives no love and is treated very different from her cousins. Jane

is shown to be a girl of great strength, this is revealed when she

stands up for herself in chapter 2. She is a sufferer of great abuse

but yet keeps herself going. The way she is treated shows the reader

what is was like in the 19th century and how people who were different

were treated. In Jane Eyre we see the 19th century through a child’s

eyes, Jane is not treated kindly or with love and because of this we

see how awfully some children were treated in the nineteenth century,

so very different to our world today where that would be unacceptable

to treat a child badly. Jane Eyre is set in the early to mid

nineteenth century and we see how different life today is, compared

with the time which Jane lived. In the nineteenth century, school was

not compulsory and that is why many people had little or even no

education at all. If you were rich, you would have a good education,

but you would not have to work. If you were poor however, your

education, if any would not be of a very good standard and you would

have to work to earn enough money to survive.

Bronte uses many techniques of writing to show Jane’s emotions and

position, the story is told through Jane’s perspective showing her

feelings and thoughts towards everything happening around her. This

helps us understand her life and her character causing us to feel

sympathy towards her isolated position. The novel is written in a way

that draws the reader into Jane’s life and suffering.

In the opening chapter, we begin to see Jane as a victim of cruelty

she suffers by the Reeds. An orphan since early childhood, Jane feels

exiled and ostracized at the beginning of the novel, and the cruel

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