Rochester behaves like this when Jane leaves Thornfield both to visit Mrs. Reed and when she leaves Rochester after discovering Bertha Rochester. Rochester pleads for Jane’s marriage and claims despite being married to Bertha, he does not consider himself being wedded. This complexity of Rochester’s background also links him to being a Byronic hero. The striking of the chestnut tree, under which Jane and Rochester declared their love for each other and where Rochester makes his proposal, foreshadows the impending separation, disaster and danger for Jane and Rochester. It is an ideal gothic symbol, nature predicting human fate to come. The ghostly communication between Jane and Rochester in the novel is an old traditional Gothic element. It …show more content…
represents the sleeping romance between Rochester and Jane and is transferred to the Gothic setting, this links to the contrast to Saint John who is very different personality wise. When Jane hears Rochester’s voice, it may seem to one it is spiritual and ghostly. Brontë has made Jane go from a prisoner to a prison officer to represent Jane as a powerful, independent women. “I arrested his wandering hand, and prisoned it in both of mine” this shows Jane was a prisoner as a ten year old girl by Mrs. Reed and her children, then at Lowood school by most teachers- especially Mr. Brocklehurst, and she was prisoned a third time by Rochester who only allowed her a week to visit her Aunt Reed when she was dying. The imprisonment verbs also link to the fact that only superior and strong figures such as policemen can arrest people. Mrs. Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst and Rochester are all strong and superior figures. Jane then turns into a prison officer and overcomes these strong figures in different ways, Mrs. Reed and John Reed died, Jane proved Mr. Brocklehurst wrong when he said Jane was a very bad child, and ended up being in control of Rochester at the end. At the end of the novel, Jane is in control of Rochester in contrast of when Rochester was in charge of her when they first met. The first signal of this is when Rochester is blind and weak, but still Jane calls him “master” and Rochester still treats her as he is in charge and calls. Jane chooses to put herself into subservient roles by offering to look after Rochester and cater to his every need. Rochester thinks he is going mad and is very helpless because he cannot grasp Jane Eyre is real because in the Victorian era, women like Jane do not exist. Rochester does not believe that Jane is independent as a result of this. Despite being set in different era’s and different continents, there are some similarities in the way Steinbeck and Brontë present their female characters.
Firstly both characters are melancholy. The immensely low status of both the female characters links back to the fact that men are always in charge of women; this is shown because both characters are ruled by other figures throughout the novel. Curley’s wife by Curley, and Jane first by Mrs. Reed, then Mr. Brocklehurst, and finally Rochester. As they are both women, they suffer being pressurized by men because of the patriarchal society. Another similarity within “Jane Eyre” and “Of Mice and Men” is the marriage theme. Marriage is a dilemma and complex in both the novel and novella. Marriage is brought to the attention of the reader numerous times in” Jane Eyre”; first of all where Rochester claims he is marrying Lady Ingram to make Jane jealous of their relationship, and Rochester’s plan works in winning Jane over and Rochester proposes to Jane, and she reply’s with grateful yes. Whilst in “Of Mice and Men” Curley’s wife has a disastrous relationship with her partner; first of all she has no forename and is only known as somebody’s wife. Curley’s wife gets no affection or love from her husband in their relationship and ends up resorting to the other men on the ranch for any attention she can get; good or bad. In “Of Mice and Men” and “Jane Eyre”, both Brontë and Steinbeck make it very clear from their writing that male chacters always look at the women’s physical appearance and not their personality. When Rochester was engaged to Jane the first time, Rochester insisted that Jane had the most expensive jewels and veils, but all Jane wanted was a simple cotton veil and no jewels. In “Of Mice and Men” the male character looked at Curley’s wife as a sexual
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The novel Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, is about Jane who is a strong, independent women who went from being an orphaned, isolated ten-year-old to excelling at school and becoming a governess.The character Blanche Ingram is intended to marry Edward Rochester, the man Jane loves. Throughout the first half of the novel Bronte uses Blanche Ingram as a foil to Jane, to reveal her true persona. This is evident firstly by appearance, where Blanche is described as beautiful and Jane plain, their different inner characters, the way they connect with Adele and finally how they express their feelings towards Edward Rochester.
To begin, when Mr. Rochester secretly returns to Thornfield as a gypsy he tells many fortunes but when the secret comes out there is nothing but distrust for him. For example, when Jane finds out that Mr. Rochester was the gypsy, and Mr. Rochester asks if she can forgive him for his trick, she says ¨[She] cannot tell till [she] [has] thought it all over. … [she] shall try to forgive [him]; but it was not right¨ (Bronte 213). This shows that Jane had lost some trust in her beloved Rochester by such a simple joke and it was that, the secret had been kept from her, that makes Jane really wonder if she could tru...
The influential British writer, Hugh Kingsmill, once stated, “Society is based on the assumption that everyone is alike and no one is alive” In his novel, The Kite Runner, Hosseini depicts a unique friendship between two boys in a quickly disappearing Afghanistan. Hosseini creates Amir, an ambitious yet selfish character in order to elaborate on the negative effects society has on an individual. After he betrays his friend Hassan, Amir is conflicted and spends the rest of his life attempting to gain redemption by saving Hassan’s son. Similarly, in Of Mice And Men, Steinbeck uses two lowly ranch workers, George and Lennie, to depict a life impacted by the other men and their surroundings. Their valuable friendship is eventually thrown away due to the pressure of society when George is forced to take Lennie’s life. Although in both The Kite Runner and Of Mice And Men, Khaled Hosseini and John Steinbeck demonstrate society’s overbearing power over the individual, Hosseini and Steinbeck use different motifs and settings to convey their ideas regarding society.
In Jane Eyre author Charlotte Bronte illustrates two comparisons and one main contrast among Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester, and St. John Rivers. Bronte aims to present Brocklehurst, Rochester, and Rivers as men with similar traits that cause conflict with women, especially Jane. In response to the similarities, Bronte also depicts contrasts among the three men. These comparisons and contrasts ultimately decide their relationship with Jane throughout the novel. Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester, and St. John Rivers have two similarities including: their secrecy and their alpha dog mentality; while their difference is how they react to being challenged.
There are certain feelings that persuade writers to do what they do best. Of course, that feeling could be something different for each author, such as love, loss, peace, hatred, etc. The examination of these feelings is what makes an author’s work a piece of art and at the same time something humanly conceivable (since a majority of the time art is neither humanly conceivable nor understandable to those who merely observe it). And so when a writer decides to let these emotions that they have once felt, that perhaps they have felt for others, be translated into something perfectly tangible and comprehensible, an understanding is born between them and those they preach to. In John Gardner’s Grendel, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Joseph
When reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, I find myself cheering for Rochester. After finishing the book, I ask myself why Jane chooses Rochester over St. John. After all, Rochester has a "mad" wife, Bertha Mason, locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall at the same time that he is proposing marriage to Jane. He has a ward living with him, possibly the offspring of an illicit affair with a French dancer. He is arrogant, pushy, and basically ill-tempered. St. John, on the other hand, is well mannered, respected, and has a promising future. To answer my own question, then, it is essential to look at how each man fits the idea of masculinity in Victorian society, at how each man relates to Jane, and at why Bronte creates her two leading men to be such extreme opposites.
The book has many features which are found in Gothic novels such as romance. Romance plays a very important role as Mr. Rochester and Jane are both uncertain if their powerful love is being returned. Another common feature of the Gothic novel is lovers being parted; in the story of Jane Eyre Jane and Rochester are parted when Rochester leaves to visit Blanche Ingram and also when Jane goes to see her dying Aunt Reed. There is also tension between the true love and society. Mrs. Fairfax appears to disapprove of Jane's and Rochester's marriage because of their difference in social class.
In the novel Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, Jane is faced with a never before struggle of love. Her entire life she kept quiet on her inner feelings and very seldom did she express them fully. However, when Mr. Rochester is presented in her life, this newfound emotion comes into play. At first glance one might think that the chestnut tree has little significance in this passage, but in fact if one reads more closely, one finds that great insight is provided by potentially foreshadowing events within the novel through explicit details.
In “Jane Eyre” and “The Awakening”, both authors emphasize feminism and how both Jane and Edna showcased it in the novels. Charlotte Bronte and Kate Chopin underline independence and how women also have the right to express themselves as well as happiness. Although the same ideas are expressed in both novels, the authors display it in very different manners. There are many factors that made one story preferable to the other such as, the characterization, plot complexity, and themes. In many forms “Jane Eyre” is superior to “The Awakening”.
The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, depicts the coming of age of a woman who encounters great hardships, obstacles, and heartbreak. During the Victorian era women were subordinate to men and often times lacked the same opportunities and privileges that society and the family structure gave to men. Although society and the family structure of the Victorian era treated men and women differently, men were also oppressed, experienced suffering, and had to overcome poverty, but due to the masculinity that men were forced to portray during the era often times the hardships of men have been overlooked when analyzing the men in Jane Eyre. The characters John Reed, St. John Rivers, and Edward Rochester suffer various forms of lack and poverty that contributes to their oppressive and suffering nature precipitated by societal and family structure as well as being impoverished by their circumstances throughout the story even though they come across as having wealth and power.
One is faced with endless possibilities when they can compare two things the reality is that almost everything in this world is comparable. Even so, how does a classic romantic novel from the 1800s compare with a cheery musical about a singing Austrian family. Jane Eyre, one of the worlds most famous books, was published in 1847, and although it is a romance novel, it is serious and somewhat slow-paced. The Sound of Music is possibly the happiest musical of all time. Written in the fifties and becoming one of the worlds most famous movies in 1965, the songs are about goat-herds falling in love and whiskers on kittens. Jane Eyre and the Sound of Music have several differences in their moods, settings, and endings, yet they share similarities
Jane’s perspective of love is based upon a mutual understanding and equality. Jane’s equality in a relationship is derived from her desire of independence. Jane reveals her need of independence in her relationship with Mr. Rochester when she told him she would always call him master but she would not be inferior to him. Haiyan Gao asserts in her article “Reflection On feminism in Jane Eyre,” “Jane loves Rochester with all her heart and Rochester’s status and wealth make him so high above for Jane to approach, yet she never feels herself inferior to Rochester though she is a humble family teacher.” It is also notable that Jane does not pursue a relationship with Mr. Rochester with the intention of gaining money. Her love is solely based on equality and independence and not status, power, or property. As Heidi Kelchner proclaims in her article “Jane Eyre,” “Although she ranks far below Rochester in social rank and wealth, she feels equal to him in soul, understanding his true nature.” Jane has pure intentions in her marriage with Mr. Rochester as she believes he is her equal and true love. Jane proves that she seeks true love once more when she rejects St. John Rivers marriage proposal. St. John had offered Jane an invitation to become his missionary wife in India. Jane acknowledges that he does not seek marriage for love but instead for religious purposes. Therefore, Jane proposes an alternate plan that allows her to serve as a single, independent missionary and co-worker of John. As Heidi Kelchner affirms Jane’s thoughts in her article “Jane Eyre,” “As St. John’s wife, she fears she would be restrained, and always checked forced to keep the fire of her nature continually low.” She would not be degraded to an object but rather wanted to stand as a strong independent woman. Jane would not accept the humiliated marriage to please St. John’s wishes. She would continue to look for true love based upon
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses various characters to represent aspects of reason and passion, thereby establishing a tension between the two. In fact, it could be argued that these various characters are really aspects of her central character, Jane. From this it could be argued that the tension between these two aspects really takes place only within her mind. Bronte is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her character. As a prerequisite for marriage, Jane uses this determination in her relationships with Mr. Rochester and St. John.
Many novels speak of love and indulging in passion, but few speak of the dynamics that actually make a marriage work. Jane Eyre is one of these novels. It doesn't display the fleeing passions of a Romeo and Juliet. This is due entirely to Bronte's views on marriage and love. The first exception to the traditional couple the reader is shown is Rochester's marriage to Bertha. This example shows the consequences of indulging in passion. The opposite side is shown through another unlikely would-be couple, Rosamund and St. John. Through this pair, Bronte reveals the consequences of indulging in duty. Another view of marriage is also present in the book, through the character Jane Eyre and her actions.
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.