n a society where the social paradigm where women were solely for the benefit of males and your class was your limiting social factor, Bronte challenges the norms of the 19th century through the creation of a heroine in Jane Eyre. Through her journey through Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, and the Moor House, we as readers witness Jane constantly being ostracised as she chooses happiness over what others feel she should do. She demands respect and is not afraid to be passionate or rebel for what she believes in. Bronte titles this novel as a autobiography and uses it to combat her own life conflicts. She writes under a pseudonym of a male knowing that if she wrote as a women, her work would not be taken seriously. Charlotte uses Jane Eyre and
her struggle with alienation as a low class women to shine light on and overcome societies assumptions. A woman’s life was supposed to be defined by marriage and what they could offer to the male race. To begin, Mrs. Reed isolates Jane from the rest the household as she is not used to Jane as a lower class girl, speaking her mind and standing up for herself. She banishes Jane as if she were a pet, to the red room which is probably the worst place a ten year old can be placed. Society did not see it as appropreite for womwn to speak out and have passion. At Lowood Mr.Brocklehurst treats the girls differant due to their orphan status. He degrades them and makes them feel as if rags and scraps of food is all they deserve because they are of a low status.As she moved onto Thornfield and the Moor house her percieved inequalaties show once again. Predujice and unfair treatnent is not somwthing she could outgrow. Both suiters would usually marry for money. Jane, an ugly lower class girl, breaks the assumption that a man must court you for your looks and money. Jane is secluded from Rochester as he was busy hanging with high class people like the Ingrams as jane sat in the corner. In the end the worth of her mind was no match to the beautiful rich exterior of the hollow snobbish ladies such as Blanche who are Jane’s social betters. Women were not supposed to deter from what a man has told them. Men showed a egoistic property towards women, Jane is alienated due to her refusal to both St.John and Rochester marriage proposals. They expected her to be fine with being the mistress where St,John wants marriage without love. This asserts a woman’s right to love and pleasure. Women were supposed to be put together, pretty and polite; three qualities Jane did not possess, as men were supposed to be the macho bread winners. Even though she is highly educated, she is still stuck being a governess due to her class. Bronte herself worked as a governess yet hated it. She believed women should be able to do what interests them not be stuck “making puddings and knitting stocking, …playing on the piano and embroidering bags' (ch. 12)” being confined at home due to their sex. Jane was rather mobile for a women, leaving inequality after inequality behind. She paved a way for women to be able to have the freedom to do and say as they please and the power to be equal in every situation. In the end, Jane ends up marrying the man she loves, but only after he has an actual need for her in his life. Being mamed and amputaed, he physically, not just emotionally, needs Jane. Its like they are now somewhat equal now that he is injured again playing on the view that women are there to meet mens needs . Charlotte uses Jane Eyre and her struggle with alienation as a low class women to shine light on and overcome societies assumptions.
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.
Jane Eyre, the protagonist of Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, is an outcast in the Reed’s home where she lives with her aunt Mrs. Reed and her children, Eliza, John, and Georgina, and Bessie, the nurse. The quote below reflects Jane’s insecurity about herself. As an orphan, Jane is mistreated by her relatives and her aunt purposely excludes her from the rest of the family. She is helpless and could not do anything to fix the situation. Jane submits herself to the abuses. Bronte could use Jane’s struggles to obtain equality and acceptance as the plot for the succeeding chapters of the book.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
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.
Eagleton, Terry. " Jane Eyre: A Negative Heroine." Modern Critical Interpretations: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987: 29-46.
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is a coming-of-age story about an unconventional woman's development within a society of strict rules and expectations. At pivotal moments in Jane's life, she makes choices which are influenced by her emotions and/or her reason. Through the results of those choices, Jane learns to balance passion and practicality to achieve true happiness.
Moving ahead a few decades takes us to the Romantic Era, which was the first half of the 19th century. There was a huge surge in portraying gender roles in literature and art. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre portrays a great depiction of gender roles during this time period. Jane Eyre is a Victorian Era novel. The Romantic Era and the Victorian Era overlap a number of years, so Jane Eyre does encompass ideas of both eras. However, what’s important about the novel is the progressive depiction of women and how it deviates from the norm. A central theme of the novel is the patriarchal society that Jane lives in.
In Charlotte Bronte's book, Jane Eyre, Bronte's demeanor towards the position of women in Victorian society is identified. During that time, women were expected to at least have the beauty, wealth, and propriety. In the novel, Jane is described as the opposite of what the social class expects of her; while, other female characters live up to society's standards. Blanche Ingram, Rosamond Oliver, and Bertha Mason symbolizes Bronte's belief that woman in Victorian societies are selfish, rude, vain, unexciting, and likely to lose their sense of reality and independence.
We are frequently reminded that Jane is a passionate woman-an often dangerous quality for the Victorian female-and through her passion, Brontë delivers to us a message which, if it came by means of a sober treatise calling for a reversal of the status quo, would frighten us with its indignation, but appears softened with the venting frustration of a misfortunate orphan trying to find her station in life. The message, however, is clear to all who choose to acknowledge the truth delivered in its passion:
Jane Eyre, one of Charlotte Brontë’s most well-known novels, displays the main character, Jane Eyre’s difficult life from the beginning of her childhood to her adult years, and shows how the characters from the novel develop and reveal Jane’s personality. Brontë uses a variety of characters to contrast with and reveal Jane Eyre’s characteristics and personality. She contrasts Jane’s personality with the characters of Blanch Ingram and Georgiana Reed. She also reveals Jane’s behavior with others through the character foil between St. John and Mr. Rochester. Brontë’s usage of character foils between Jane Eyre and the characters, Georgiana Reed, Blanche Ingram, as well as the contrast between St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, reveal different aspects of Jane Eyre’s true personality and characteristics from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel.
Charlotte Brontë composed her novel Jane Eyre during the Victorian era; a period of history where Patriarchy set the expectations of men and women. The effect of this social system resulted in women suffering discrimination simply because of their gender. Sigmund Freud, in his essay entitled, “The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming,” articulated that women were only capable of having erotic wishes dominate their “phantasies,” and even their ambitious “phantasies” were rooted in erotic wishes (177). The predominating thought concerning women during this era was that, due to their nature, longed to marry—tending to the needs of her household. Those who were not fortunate enough to marry (due to appearance or social status) were to become governesses. Ms. Brontë, through her protagonist Jane Eyre, clearly depicts the struggles of an indigent young woman who is forced into near slavery. This tale is articulated well by Adrienne Rich in her essay entitled, “Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman,” when she states that Jane wants to “choose her life with dignity, integrity, and pride” (471). Even though Charlotte Brontë depicts a woman who will not be bound by the mores of her society, she is not so exuberant as to have her protagonist proclaim “I am woman, hear me roar.” The toning down of Jane’s demeanor can be attributed to satisfaction of the critics, but Brontë also expresses that the societal expectations, or the patriarchal rights of men, produced a similar negative effect on men. From John Reed and his self-righteous attitude, to Rochester’s internal battle in regards to the treatment of women, Charlotte Brontë demonstrates that sexism—inherent in a patriarchal society—has an adverse affect on both men and women.
One of the most beneficial ways to learn about people in a certain era is to read literature from that period of time. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre takes place in the Victorian Era, a time when society expected women to uphold distinct virtues and responsibilities. Jane Eyre, the protagonist of the novel, constantly resists these stereotypical roles. Because of this, she faces both positive and negative consequences. Through Jane's actions, Bronte attempts to convey a message: in order to be happy, one may need to rebel.
In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, she uses the foils of male characters and characters of higher classes to present a unique perspective to her audience. People in Bronte’s time did not have access to books unless they were very educated and wealthy, and Jane Eyre is neither of these things. Jane’s story is one of a girl who traverses between the classes, and challenges gender roles, at the time this was a completely new-fangled idea.
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.