Salsabeel S. Khazaleh
Professor Klaver
ETS 321
5 March 2018 What does it mean to an orphaned girl in the Victorian period to truly feel empowered? What does it mean to be free to a foreign captive wife? Many who first read “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte categorize it as love story, or they seem to draw similarities between it and Cinderella the Disney princess. This book however, is not a love story. It is about developing independence in a world where conflict between what one wants and what one needs arise everyday. It is about developing a sense of right and wrong and to know when it is necessary for you to compromise to survive. This book is more than a love story, it is an an insult to condone it to such a confining label. Jane the orphan governess and Bertha the imprisoned foreign wife, both struggle in “Jane Eyre” for their own sense of freedom. They are both symbolic creatures of the feminist’s on going war against the patriarchal society. Charlotte Bronte has truly outdone herself
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She seeks to be recognized in “heart and spirit” as an equal to her partner. She refuses to be objectified no matter how much Rochester tried to objectify her with expensive gifts “...the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation. “ (Bronte,355). She viewed marriage as a tool for the patriarchal society to entrap her kind and claim her independence and self. This is why when St John proposed she refused him. She did not want to be married for the mere convention of it, for that is how one is confined. St John is livid of course. He is a symbol for the reaction society has when one of it’s citizen seek to defy it. He is angry because he rejects the idea that women might not want to get married. That is not how a good Victorian woman is supposed to react when she gets proposed to. He
In “Jane Eyre,” Charlotte Bronte depicts the helplessness of children who lack the ability to speak up for themselves. Being an orphan and living in the mercy of her relatives who mistreat her, Jane is unable to vent out her feelings of loneliness and her longing for a family because she has nobody to turn to. Jane, beaten by John, is locked up in the red room all by herself. Though engulfed with rage, Jane has no power to reason out for herself causing her to feel that she is not wanted to live at Gateshead.
In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre there are many occasions in which there is motifs about division and bias relations. Money was a major division between people in the Victorian Era. Family made people rise in the standings with others, If your family was rich or well known, then you were going to be well known and well liked. There are many situations in which Jane is thought of as poor and worthless, as well as having no family.
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.
A woman raised in the 21st century needs quite a bit of imagination to realize that not so long ago she would not have the rights she has today. The freedom of choosing a career, whether she would want to marry or not, or of having children. During the Victorian age women had limited rights. They were considered to belong to the domestic sphere and stereotypically their job was to clean the house, cook dinner, raise children and be obedient to their husband. With ‘Jane Eyre’ Charlotte Brontë questions this position of women in the social hierarchy of Victorian England.
The rights and responsibilities women hold in modern society significantly differ from those held in the Victorian time period. Although the transition was a long and slow fought battle it was heroines, such as Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre that paved the way. Through Jane’s individuality, Bronte critiqued the inclinations of the time, creating an alternative meaning to what beauty is by relating it to an internal depth. This criticism is not only suggested through the absence of internal beauty in narcissistic characters such as Georgiana, Blanch and Bertha, but also by its presence in well-rounded characters like Jane. Jane’s individuality contrasted that of a common domestic wife in her determination to earn her way and be seen as an equal in her marriage to Rochester. Through Bronte’s characterization in the given social context Jane’s unique qualities make her an admirable advocate for women’s rights, demonstrating a just response to sexual and class prejudices.
91-106). They were refused such legal, social and political rights including the right to vote, to testify in court and had very little jurisdiction over personal property after marriage, including the custody of their children. Men controlled women and, unless they belonged to higher-classed families, often had very little freedom. In Britain during the 19th century, women like Miss Ingram were expected to seek fortitude through marriage. This is described within the novel when Jane states her beliefs to St. John, saying; “ I scorn your idea of love, I scorn the counterfeit sentiment you offer: yes, St. John, and I scorn you when you offer it,” (Jane Eyre 1999, p. 361). In her novel Jane Eyre, Jane expresses her self-possessive right to free will quoting “ I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will,” (Jane Eyre 1999. p. 223), thus giving light to her personal attitudes that she believed to be morally correct. If we consider the relationship in characterization between Bronte and Jane Eyre, we can better understand why Charlotte Bronte was seen to be iconic in the ‘eyes’ of feminist groups as attributes of emotional strength, determination and the idea of free will, were greatly relatable to feminists of this
Jane Eyre’s Journey to Independence In the outstanding novel of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront, the story is told of a romantic heroine named Jane Eyre who pursued independence during an era in which women were inferior to men. Jane proved her independence by demanding self-respect, becoming socially independent, and pursuing true love based on equality. Jane Eyre was an orphan left to depend on unsympathetic relatives who mistreated her. As Millicent Bell explains in her article “A Tale of the Governess,” “With the Reeds she suffers not only the dependency of childhood and female hood, but the excruciating humiliation of the poor relation.” The cruel treatment she received from her family members caused her to have no sense of belonging.
Similar to many of the great feministic novels of its time, Jane Eyre purely emerges as a story focused on the quest for love. The novel’s protagonist, Jane, searches not only for the romantic side of love, but ultimately for a sense of self-worth and independence. Set in the overlapping times of the Victorian and Gothic periods, the novel touches upon both women’s supposed rights, and their inner struggle for liberty. Orphaned at an early age, Jane was born into a modest lifestyle, without any major parent roles to guide her through life’s obstacles. Instead, she spent much of her adolescent years locked in imaginary chains, serving those around her but never enjoying the many decadences life has to offer. It is not until Jane becomes a governess that many minute privileges become available to her and offer Jane a glance at what life could have been. It is on her quest for redemption and discovery that she truly is liberated. Throughout Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre, the story’s protagonist Jane, struggles to achieve the balance of both autonomy and love, without sacrificing herself in the process.
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.
In Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, a fire that seems to have been accidently started from a neglected candle on the third floor has devastated the house of Mr. Edward Rochester. The fire resulted in a total loss of the estate.
Explore how Charlotte Bronte presents the character of Jane Eyre in the novel of the same name, noting the effects of social and historical influences on the text. Jane Eyre was a plain and insignificant unloved orphan, she was cared for by her aunt Reed, who did not like her but was obliged to look after her because it was a request of Mr. Reed who was also Jane's uncle. Eventually she was sent away to school after fighting with her bullying cousin John and getting locked in the room her Uncle died in, and she fainted. The school was awful with a horrible owner and bad conditions; there was a typhus epidemic in which her friend Helen Burns died.
Jane Eyre is a classic English novel which follows the development of a young woman in the mid 1800's. Jane grows to be a smart, self supporting, independent woman. This becomes a struggle for her as she was brought up to live in the lower-class. Throughout this novel, Jane tries to show that class and gender should not affect personality. This novel explains Jane’s struggle against societal expectations of class and of gender.
Jane Eyre is a novel, written by Charlotte Bronte and published in 1847, that follows the titular characters emotions and experiences, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the Byronic master of the fictitious Thornfield Hall. Jane Eyre's overarching narrative is presented in five phases. By linking Jane's stages of development to the various geographic locations with which she is involved (Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House, and Ferndean), the novel positions itself among a literary genre known as Bildungsroman. The literary genre details the growth and development of a main character through several periods of life. Although met with a series of individuals who threaten her autonomy, Jane succeeds in asserting herself and
Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre embraces many feminist views in opposition to the Victorian feminine ideal. Charlotte Bronte herself was among the first feminist writers of her time, and wrote this book in order to send the message of feminism to a Victorian-Age Society in which women were looked upon as inferior and repressed by the society in which they lived. This novel embodies the ideology of equality between a man and woman in marriage, as well as in society at large. As a feminist writer, Charlotte Bronte created this novel to support and spread the idea of an independent woman who works for herself, thinks for herself, and acts of her own accord.
Britain saw the Chartist movement expressed in mass demonstrations of riots, strikes and monstrous petitions in the 1840s. This was the animosity of workingmen under the economic misery caused by such time of industrialization and capitalism. The masses, pauperized by the new machines, united in rage to contend equality, demand universal male suffrage, and insist upon equal rights. Charlotte Brontë penned Jane Eyre living through such events and let it be read as they climaxed in what the nobility saw as a rampage of violence threatening to civilization itself. It is a plot of power and conflict, composed in a period of seismic political and social turbulence, and written in a manufacturing wool-town in the industrial North of England.