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Masculinity in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
Throughout the novel 'Jane Eyre' we meet 5 male characters.
Immediately we can notice that the number of female characters
outweighs the number of male characters. It feels as though Brontë is
trying to tell us that overall women will come out more influential
and powerful than men. Indeed power is what our male characters have
in common. Their power however alters from character to character.
This is the common version of masculinity portrayed by Bront
throughout 'Jane Eyre'. Many men at the time of the novel were very
powerful, this power varied from wealth, influential positions and
even whom you knew. Women were not entitled to their own opinions and
their husbands or fathers made all the decisions. Jane however defies
the conventions of the time. She has her own opinions and is not
prepared to take orders from the powerful men in the novel.
With power comes other traits, and this is where we can differentiate
between the characters. Brocklehurst and St John both have power
through the position they hold (Brocklehurst being in charge of the
girls' school and St John being a parson), whereas John Reed and
Rochester have power through wealth. Mr Lloyd (the apothecary) is
perhaps the only man in the novel without any real power and he is the
only person who listens to Jane.
Rochester's masculinity is the most important, as he represents the
best and worst of a man. His masculinity is typical of this period and
he is shown ordering Jane around, 'bring me my horse', most women were
obliging to men as they were the authority in society, although Jane
resents this authority and wants to do things her own way. So from
this we can see that the masculinity he shows typical of the time and
incredibly dominant and powerful over women in the novel, especially
Jane. As the novel progresses however Rochester becomes less masculine
during the fire at Thornfield he loses everything, here we can compare
him to Jane because; at the beginning she too doesn't have anything.
In loosing everything he loses his masculinity and power. He no longer
has his house, 'I saw blackened ruins'. His house is part of his power
and this is no longer there. He also looses his sight and his hand,
Jane becomes his, 'eyes and hands', and Rochester is reliant on her,
'I led him out of the wet wild wood'. The role of the dominant one is
reversed. Here Rochester shows very little masculinity as he is now
not in charge. Jane saves Rochester but equally he saves her, from St
Emmanuel Goldstein - In the novel, Goldstein is rumored to be a former top member of the ruling Party who had broken away early in the movement and started an organization known as "The Brotherhood", dedicated to the fall of The Party.
He and he alone are responsible for his actions, he refuses to be further controlled by the government that seeks to oppress him and lock him away. Harrison contrasts the mysterious man with the reader having knowledge of where Harrison’s power comes from. Harrison uses his power to try to save himself, while the mysterious man uses his to take advantage of others. Harrison is also portrayed in a different light than Yeats’ swan. The swan is revered by the author, while Harrison is not.
Analyse the methods Charlotte Brontë uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novel’s literary content.
in the book, that he is a good natured old gossip. He is a useful
Through the baring of Jane’s inner thoughts and emotions, and indeed Emily Brontë’s own feelings, it is evident that she was left with this bitter feeling after this shocking incident underling Jane’s and Emily’s belief that both genders should be treated equally, even though differences do exist. With this quotation, Brontë takes the time to show the emotional side of females and how it affects them. Jane appears as being completely affected by her feelings, while Rochester seems to not have been affected at all. The author is attempting to express, through Jane, her own feminine side. This is one of those specific times in the novel where we’re faced with the reality of the female side that Jane portrays, and we are forced to reevaluate our
this makes him one of the most powerful people in the play and one of
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.
In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, it was love, and not age or education, that led Jane to mature and grow as a person. With the help of Helen Burns and Miss. Temple, Jane Eyre learned what it meant to love someone. Both these people influenced Jane to mature into a young lady by showing Jane their love and affection. When Jane left Lowood to become a governess, she met the love of her life, Mr. Rochester. With his love, Jane Eyre eventually matured fully and grew into a self-sufficient woman and left the hatred and anger behind.
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë clearly demonstrates the relationship between sexuality and morality in Victorian society through the character of Bertha Mason, the daughter of a West Indian planter and Rochester's first wife. Rochester recklessly married Bertha in his youth, and when it was discovered shortly after the marriage that Bertha was sexually promiscuous, Rochester locked her away. Bertha is called a "maniac" and is characterized as insane. Confining Bertha for her display of excess passion reinforces a prevalent theme in Jane Eyre, that of oppressive sexual Victorian values. Bertha's captivity metaphorically speaks on the male-dominated Victorian society in which women are inferior and scorned for acts of nonconformism.
Many people believe that eating disorders are a product of the twentieth century, brought on by teenage girls aspiring to be supermodels like Cindy Crawford. Although such pressures are precipitating factors to many eating disorders, doctors diagnosed patients with anorexia as early as 1689 (Spignesi 7). One early example of anorexia is present in the novel Jane Eyre. Written in the mid-nineteenth century by Charlotte Brontë, this book describes a young girl whose personality bears striking similarities with that of a diagnosed anorexic. The life of the main character, Jane, has also been shown to share innumerable similarities with Brontë's own life. Biographical information from researchers and autobiographical information from Jane Eyre (whether intentional or not) verify that Brontë had an eating disorder.
The Quest for Inner Beauty in Jane Erye The beauty of a woman is usually classified into two categories: superficial, or physical, beauty and inner, or intellectual, beauty. In the Charlotte Bronte's Jane Erye, the protagonist rejects her own physical beauty in favor of her intelligence and morality. This choice allows her to win the hand of the man she desires. Jane values her knowledge and thinking before any of her physical appearances because of her desire as a child to read, the lessons she is taught and the reinforcements of the idea appearing in her adulthood.
In the novel “Invisible Man” the anonymous narrator struggles with his identity throughout the whole novel, leading him to be a quite questionable character. He first begins to question his identity was the way he tried to emulate his grandfather. His grandfather tries to instill in him that he should be docile but still keep in mind that he should never become complacent, never allow the whites to fully undermine him or possess all the power, he was...
her off to school. She tells him that he should "keep a strict eye on her,
In the beginning of Jane Eyre, Jane struggles against Bessie, the nurse at Gateshead Hall, and says, I resisted all the way: a new thing for me…"(Chapter 2). This sentence foreshadows what will be an important theme of the rest of the book, that of female independence or rebelliousness. Jane is here resisting her unfair punishment, but throughout the novel she expresses her opinions on the state of women. Tied to this theme is another of class and the resistance of the terms of one's class. Spiritual and supernatural themes can also be traced throughout the novel.
Feminism is a global movement that affects women all around the world either directly or indirectly because of the discrimination that it defends. Over the years women have been limited to living in a male dominated world. Women have been alienated from educational opportunities, workforce or labor opportunities and most importantly financial opportunities. Being oppressed by these factors and others has left women with the little option of becoming a housewife or a servant, or inheritor. Feminism has proven to be a controversial yet present point in the works of literary giants such as William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and many others. Charlotte Bronte phenomenal novel Jane Eyre is developed with ample evidence that is a direct