Similarities Between Jane Eyre And Atonement

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In their portrayal of women, Ian McEwan and Charlotte Bronte explore the victimising nature of society through the oppressive portrayal of male authority, the education system, childhood, class, religion and relationships. Through their depiction of marriage, both authors present how women become psychological victims of society as a result of the confining nature of male dominance and power. Female passion and imagination is presented as both a destructive and constructive force and therefore illuminates how women become both victims and victors, as this passion is used to trap and confine women as well as empower them. Despite this confining and patriarchal society addressed in Jane Eyre and Atonement, both authors introduce females who …show more content…

Bronte discusses how female passion can be seen as a destructive force and is therefore suppressed by men. The portrayal of sexual passion and how it is condemned by society is shown through the depiction of Bertha Mason. Bertha’s character personifies female desire, which is seen in the line ‘the fiery eyes glared upon me’. The use of the definite article ‘the’ depicts Bertha as a victim by removing her identity, and showing how she is viewed as more of a sexual object and figure than a human being. The adjective ‘fiery’ and the use of fire imagery to embody Bertha’s character draws attention to her internal fire, sexual passion, as well as her potential for destruction. The association with Bertha and fire may also be symbolic of the 1830s slave uprisings in the West Indies, where slaves used fires to destroy property and to signal to each other that an uprising was about to take place. Thus, Bertha’s character is used by Bronte to draw focus on the passionate colonial woman and to remind nineteenth-century readers of the recent slave uprisings. Bertha’s

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