The Life of Women in the Early 19th Century

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What do you learn from Charlotte Bront about the Life of Women in the

early 19th Century?

Charlotte Bront was born at Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, and was the

third child of Patrick and Maria Bront. She had four sisters and one

brother altogether before her mother died in 1821. All of the girls

except Anne were sent to a clergyman's daughters' boarding school,

which in 'Jane Eyre' is recalled as Lowood.

The eldest sisters Maria (who is recalled as Helen Burns) and

Elizabeth became ill there and died in Haworth. Charlotte was then

employed as a teacher, became a governess and in 1842 went to study

languages in Brussels with her sister Emily. This relates to Jane

Eyre's life as she was also a governess and later she studied

languages with her cousin St. John Rivers.

Charlotte's brothers and sisters all died during the next few years

leaving Charlotte to publish novels and to marry the Reverend A. B.

Nicholls, her father's curate. Charlotte died in 1855 after leading a

very successful life.

'Jane Eyre' is an autobiography, yet Charlotte Bront writes it, so

people believe that the novel has an embedded narrative. 'Jane Eyre'

is a reflection of Charlotte Bront's life but Bront did not want

people knowing everything about her, so she did not name the novel

after herself, instead she was the shadow behind it.

Jane Eyre has a tough childhood when under the guidance of Mrs. Reed

at Gateshead Hall as she was not Mrs. Reeds real daughter. "I [Jane]

knew that he was my real uncle [Mr. Reed]" but Mr. Reed had died and

made Mrs. Reed promise "that she would rear and maintain me [Jane] as

one of her own children." Mrs. Reed treats Jane as a total outsider

and with very little respect at all. "Take her [Jane] to the red-room,

and lock her in there", this was said by Mrs. Reed to Bessie and Abbot

when Jane and Master John Reed had been fighting. Mrs. Reed did not

ask for an explanation to why either of them had been fighting, she

just automatically blamed it on Jane and she was the one punished, as

always.

Mrs. Reed also teaches her children not to treat Jane with the same

respect as their other siblings. This is proved when John tells Jane

"mama says you ought to beg, and not live here with gentlemen's

children like us". John takes this seriously and consistently beats

Jane whenever he gets the chance, but "she [Mrs. Reed] never saw him

strike or heard him abuse me [Jane]" even though "he did both now and

then in her very presence"

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