In her article, “A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain Jane’s Progress,” Sandra M. Gilbert begins by identifying what shocked Victorian audiences disliked about Jane Eyre. Gilbert acknowledges that many modern critics believed, “the novel’s power arose from its mythologizing of Jane’s confrontation with masculine sexuality” (483). Though this aspect of Jane Eyre caused grumblings among reviewers, the real issue with the novel was, “its ‘ant-Christian’ refusal to accept the forms, customs, and standards of society—in short, its rebellious feminism” (Gilbert 483). Gilbert’s feminist read of this Bildungsroman tracks the progression of Jane Eyre from enclosure to equality and freedom.
Gilbert states that the most important confrontation in Jane
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Eyre is between Jane, and Rochester’s mad wife Bertha. This is because, according to Gilbert, Bertha is Jane’s “hunger, rebellion, and rage” (484). Gilbert divides Jane into the rational (taught by Miss Temple) and the irrational (manifested in Bertha Manson). Before diving more deeply into Jane’s unique parallels with Bertha, Gilbert explores Rochester’s unequal relationship with women.
Gilbert explores the character of Grace Poole and attempts to “fathom the dark ‘pool’ of the woman’s behavior” (Gilbert 485). Keeping with deconstructive ideas, Gilbert is highlighting the polyvalent nature of the signifier “Poole.” It is the shady nature of Poole, and her unknown relationship with Rochester that begs the question, “Who is the slave, the master or the servant, the prince or the Cinderella? What in other words, are the real relationships between the master of Thornfield and all these women whose lives revolve around his?” (Gilbert …show more content…
485). These questions all are evidence of the secrecy surrounding Rochester; secrecy, which Gilbert argues, is the “secret of male sexual guilt… ‘Guilty’ sexual knowledge makes him in some sense her superior” (486). It is this sexual knowledge that Gilbert blames for tipping the scales of power in Rochester’s direction. This sexual inequality is at no point more apparent than after Jane and Rochester’s engagement.
Rochester’s language immediately becomes possessive and patronizing towards Jane. Jane rebels against this herself, but it is through Bertha Manson that Gilbert argues Jane’s true rebellious spirit is manifested. “Bertha is Jane’s truest and darkest double: she is the angry aspect of the orphan child, the ferocious secret self Jane has been trying to repress ever since her days at Gateshead” (Gilbert 488). This idea that Jane is trying to “repress” her Bertha finds its origin in Psychoanalysis.
Gilbert dispels the notion that Bertha is simply a monitory warning for Jane. She cites many parallels of their actions and descriptions, from both of them “pacing forwards and backwards,” to “child Jane” seeing herself as a monstrous visage in the red-room mirror and then first seeing Bertha’s terrifying face in a mirror at Thornfield (Gilbert 489). Bertha acts out Jane’s anxieties throughout the novel, “Jane’s disguised hostility to Rochester…comes strangely true through the intervention of Bertha, whose melodramatic death cause Rochester to lose both eye and hand”
(488). It is not until the death of Jane’s unconscious oppressor and dark side, Bertha, that she can truly be free. It is by Bertha’s death that Jane is free of her irrational side, and her orphan child self; she can now grow into the new Jane. Bertha’s death also equalizes the playing field between Rochester and Jane, who can now marry and flourish in the Eden of Ferndean. Their marriage flourishes away from society, in the healing of nature. Gilbert observes, “The astounding progress toward equality of plain Jane Eyre, whom Miss Rigby correctly saw as ‘the personification of an unregenerate and undisciplined spirit’” (491).
Eventually, she returns to her former employer, discovering Thornfield in ashes, Mrs. Rochester dead, and Mr. Rochester blind and free from wedlock. Flooded with motifs, Jane’s continual struggles between her passions and responsibility prevail as the main theme of Bronte’s entrancing narrative. From the introduction of Jane’s orphan life, she battles between her ire at cousin John’s antics and obedience to Aunt Reed’s reluctant guardianship.
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.
The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...
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.
Indeed, keeping with the gothic theme of the novel Edward Rochester is a dark, mysterious, blunt man whose confidence can often be mistaken for arrogance. Rochester’s traits award him Byronic status. Merja Makien confirms this point by saying, “in appearance, Rochester is a typical gothic hero, dark and brooding with ‘granite-hewn features’ and ‘great, dark eyes’’’. Furthermore, “you think me handsome” and “retain my hand” does not only show that Rochester wants Jane’s approval but displays an intimate and flirtatious relationship between them. Likewise, the Master of Bly in the Turn of the Screw is a distant and mysterious man who is attractive to the governess. We begin to understand the governess’ intentions when she describes the situation at Bly as a “magnificent opportunity” to impress the master. Moreover, Rochester appears to Jane, the reader and himself as a pillar of physical power and makes no apologies for the way he is; “I cannot alter my habits”. Not only does this confession have undertones of self loathing but it is almost a cry of help aimed at Jane to cure his metaphorical illness. Like all great Byronic figures in literature Rochester needs to go on a road to redemption. We begin to see this path form when both Jane and the reader’s feeling of pathos for Rochester is heightened when they find out about his past “family troubles” as well as the fact that he “lost his elder brother”. Both Jane and the ...
The Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte took a surprising twist when Bertha "Mason" Rochester was introduced. Bertha leaves a traumatizing impression on Jane’s conscious. However, this particular misfortunate event was insidiously accumulating prior to Jane’s arrival at Thornfield. Through Bertha, the potential alternative dark turn of events of Jane’s past are realized, thus bringing Jane closer to finding herself.
When Bertha Rochester is first introduced in the novel she is much of a mystery. Her name isn’t stated and it isn’t really clear if she is the one causing trouble. Jane has assumptions of who might be committing all these problems. Bertha tries to kill Mr. Rochester by setting the curtain around his bed on fire. Jane is hearing things inside her room and wished she kept her candle on so she could see. Jane says, “This was a demoniac laugh-low, suppressed, and deep-uttered, as it seemed, at the very keyhole of my chamber door. The head of my bed was near the door and, I thought at first the goblin-laughter stood at my beside-or rather crouched by my pillow: but I rose, looked around and could see nothing; while, as I gazed, the unnatural sound was reiterated: and I knew it came from behind the panels. My first impulse was to rise and fasten the bolt; and my next again to cry out, who is there?” (155) Jane stated that “Something gurgled and moaned. Ere long, steps retreated up to the gallery toward the third-story staircase: a door had lately been made to shut in that staircase; I heard it open and close and all was still.
Charlotte Bront’s Jane Eyre entails a social criticism of the oppressive social ideas and practices of nineteenth-century Victorian society. The presentation of male and female relationships emphasizes men’s dominance and perceived superiority over women. Jane Eyre is a reflection of Bront’s own observation on gender roles of the Victorian era, from the vantage point of her position as governess, much like Jane’s. Margaret Atwood’s novel was written during a period of conservative revival in the West partly fueled by a strong, well-organized movement of religious conservatives who criticized ‘the excesses of the sexual revolution.’ Where Bront’s Jane Eyre is a clear depiction of the subjugation of women by men in nineteenth-century Western culture, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale explores the consequences of a reversal of women’s rights by men.
Jane Eyre’s inner struggle over leaving an already married Rochester is the epitome of the new "lovemad" woman in nineteenth-century literature. Jane Eyre is the story of a lovemad woman who has two parts to her personality (herself and Bertha Mason) to accommodate this madness. Charlotte Bronte takes the already used character of the lovemad woman and uses her to be an outlet for the confinement that comes from being in a male-dominated society. Jane has to control this madness, whereas the other part of her personality, her counterpart, Bertha Mason, is able to express her rage at being caged up. As what it means to be insane was changing during Bronte’s time, Bronte changed insanity in literature so that it is made not to be a weakness but rather a form of rebellion. Jane ultimately is able to overcome her lovemadness through sheer force of her will.
Although written during both the Victorian and Gothic time period, Jane Eyre draws upon many revolutionary influences that ultimately enabled it to become one of the most successful books of all time. Jane Eyre is merely a hybrid of a Victorian and Gothic novel, infusing a share of dark allusions with overzealous romanticism. The primitive cultures of the Victorian period reflect high ethical standards, an extreme respect for family life, and devotional qualities to God, all in which the novel portrays. Yet, to merely label Jane Eyre as a Victorian novel would be misleading. While the characteristics of a Gothic no...
...t on earth. I hold myself supremely blest - blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine" (Bronte 519). Every hardship and trouble Jane endured, from Gateshead to Morton, amplifies the perfect balance between passion and reason Jane receives at the end of the novel. Jane achieves this balance by being with the one she loves the most without any complications of reasoning. Her internal conflicts between Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers contained many complications including Mr. Rochester's mad wife Bertha, not being in love with St. John, and her own sense of self-respect. Bronte successfully reveals this balance at the end of the novel by Jane receiving a large amount of money, allowing Jane to be with Mr. Rochester without Bertha, Jane discovering she has family, and Jane starting her own family with Mr. Rochester.
Charlotte Bronte utilizes the character of Bertha Rochester to interrupt Jane’s potential happy ending with Mr. Edward Rochester. Bertha is announced by Mr. Briggs as a way to stop the wedding and it also shows how hopeless Jane’s situation is. “That is my wife “said he. ‘Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know—such are the endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have,’” (312) and “’I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout,’” (312) are quotes that express Mr. Rochester’s reasons for trying to remarry while he already has a wife, meanwhile showing his disposition towards said wife. Had Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason not been present for the ceremony, Jane may have lived happily in ignorance. Due to Bertha’s involvement however, Jane could never truly call herself Mr. Rochester’s wife. She says, “’Sir, your wife is living: that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself. If I lived with you as you desire—I should then be your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical—is false.’” (323) This quote shows that as a result of Bertha’s exposure, Jane refuses to marry Mr. Rochester. The influence that Bertha’s brief debut had on Jane’s life was significant enough to hinder the growth of her relationship with Mr. Rochester.
She does not run away, she does not launch an attack, and she is unable to preserve her past self while under Rochester’s thumb. She has no real power, as it all lies in the hands of her husband. The amount of control that Rochester has over Bertha’s life clearly characterizes him as a powerful figure, but it is how he uses his power that earns him the title of “male oppressor”. This is shown through the narrative structure displayed in the second half of Jane Eyre; it is what earns Rochester the right to be called truly oppressive. He saw Bertha “safely lodged in that third story room, of whose secret inner cabinet she has now for ten years made a wild beast’s den” (Bronte 360).
Power dynamics in Bronte’s Jane Eyre have been examined in a multitude of ways, including the centralisation of slaves and masters (Zonana), and Dupras’ reading of the importance of economic status and depravity. However, this critical response will focus on how the ultimate form of power, and therefore the formation of power dynamics, stems from Jane’s position as an unreliable, biased narrator. The extract from chapter twenty-seven, wherein Rochester tells Jane about Bertha’s voyage and confinement to Thornfield, ultimately displays how Jane as the narrator challenges the influence of masculinity, and how power structures are superimposed by female narrative voice. Similarly, how Jane’s voice furthers power imbalances between her and Bertha,
The realistic novel places greater emphasis on its characters, rather than its plot, and explores the relationships between these characters. The selected passage shows both the servant-master aspect of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship, as well as its romantic nature. At the beginning of the selected passage, Jane affectionately describes Mr. Rochester as a “kind master,” which is indicative that even after his proposal, she is unable to separate herself from her position as a servant. This is further emphasized when Jane states that “he would send for [her] in the morning,” whic...