Tremendous Spirit and Feminism Displayed in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

1934 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Charlotte bronte's jane eyre critical appreciation

Tremendous spirit. The enviable trait that Jane Eyre from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre possesses is what stimulates her to achieve self-actualization despite the fact that she is a woman. True feminism isn’t as violent as a handful of vicious extremists claim it to be. The accurate definition of feminism is “the doctrine advocating women’s social, political, civil, educational and all other rights as equal to those of men.” Women of Charlotte Bronte’s era did not have basic rights such as the aforementioned. The feminist movement in the Victorian Era had only just begun and Jane Eyre was far ahead of her peers. Published in 1847, the bildungsroman novel of Jane Eyre was an intricate one, with subtle feminism carefully woven in it, particularly through the actions and thoughts of Jane Eyre, the protagonist. Her quest for self-worth and identity lead her to overcome the various stigmas that women in that era were faced with. These ambiguities reflect the tensions real Victorian women of faith experienced in trying to meet multiple often conflicting demands in their lives. Such challenges were complicated further by the fact that 19th century Evangelical Christianity- attentive to the realities of sin, sorrow, sacrifice, and loss- was no easy creed for women and men. (Lamonaca) Jane Eyre’s battles for authentic love, good reputation and indifferent attitude towards social classes dominated English women’s lives. The heroine tackles gender roles and breaks all the mannerisms of the time to inject an early dose of feminism in the English audience. Jane’s transformation from naïve child to independent woman stunned the public and gave women the inspiration to make their own decisions and defy the norms of their era.

The women of the V...

... middle of paper ...

...eceive a fine education that would not cause the aforementioned problem. The resilient and spirited Jane Eyre knew that the world say her as unconventional but was not perturbed because she truly felt that if anyone stood at God’s feet with her, that they would be equal in importance and therefore should have equal rights.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1996. Print.

Patmore, Coventry. The poems of Coventry Patmore,. London, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1949. Print.

Lamonaca, Maria. "Jane's Crown Of Thorns: Feminism And Christianity In Jane Eyre." Studies In The Novel 34.3 (2002): 245.Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Griesinger, Emily. "Charlotte Brontë's Religion: Faith, Feminism, And "Jane Eyre.." Christianity & Literature 58.1 (2008): 29-59.Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes

    3631 Words  | 8 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Physical & Emotional Abuse in Jane Eyre: How This Affected Jane’s Evolution Into a Dynamic Character

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jane Eyre has been acclaimed as one of the best gothic novels in the Victorian Era. With Bronte’s ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions. Readers are left with rich insight into the life of a strong female lead, Jane, who is obedient, impatient, and passionate as a child, but because of the emotional and physical abuse she endures, becomes brave, patient, and forgiving as an adult. She is a complex character overall but it is only because of the emotional and physical abuse she went through as a child that allowed her to become a dynamic character.

    Read More

  • Faith and Religion in Jane Eyre by Charlote Brontë

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I sincerely, deeply, fervently long to do what is right; and only that” (426). Throughout Jane Eyre, the characters struggle to live out and develop their faiths, according both to God’s will and their own. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, faith and religion are displayed in different forms through the characters of Helen Burns, St. John, and Jane Eyre.

    Read More

  • Girl Power: The Importance of Female Relationships in Jane Eyre

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lamonaca, Maria. “Jane's Crown Of Thorns: Feminism And Christianity In Jane Eyre.” Studies In The Novel 34.3 (2002): 245-63. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

    1754 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Impact of Tone in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tone of Jane Eyre is direct, perhaps even blunt. There is no prissy little-girl sensibility, but a startlingly independent, even skeptical perspective. At the age of 10, the orphan Jane already sees through the hypocrisy of her self-righteous Christian elders. She tells her bullying Aunt Reed, "People think you a good woman, but you are bad; hard-hearted. You are deceitful!" and "I am glad you are no relative of mine; I will never call you aunt again so long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say that the very thought of you makes me sick." (In fact, when her aunt is elderly and dying, Jane does return to visit her, and forgives her. But that's far in the future.) With the logic of a mature philosopher, in fact rather like Friedrich Nietzsche to come, Jane protests the basic admonitions of Christianity as a schoolgirl: "I must resist those who ... persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel that it is deserved." And this bold declaration, which would have struck readers of 1847 (in fact, of 1947) as radical and "infeminine":

    Read More

  • Christianity in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    1864 Words  | 4 Pages

    Faye, Ron.  Christianity in Jane Eyre, Barbara Timm, ed. Critical Essays on Charlotte Bronte. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1996.

    Read More

  • Convention vs. Self- Righteousness in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Jane Eyre." Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 3. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1982: 42-3.

    Read More

  • jane eyre, a passage to india , and the tempest

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jane Eyre begins as a young, weak girl and buds into a strong, independent woman. Because of her strength and amount of growth she is able to influence and change one very important man in her life. Mr. Rochester when he meets Jane is a very cold man. He loves no one, not Adele the child that is possibly his of Miss. Ingram a woman he would soon be engaged to. As her time a Thornfield Hall lengthens the reader watches his transformation from the man calling her Miss. Eyre to the man who begs her love him, stay with him and marry him. Charlotte Bronte shows through Jane’s impact on Rochester, as well as her own metamorphosis, that women are strong and capable as well as important to their society and the men they meet. The influence Jane had on Rochester and the fortitude she showed would allow society to see what a woman is capable of and in turn has the women reading encouraged to do the same. The way Bronte portrayed Jane affected not only Rochester but the women and men of society today.

    Read More

  • Sandra M. Gilbert Sparknotes

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Finding the Balance of Love and Freedom in Jane Eyre

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Percy Shelley And The Sublime/Beautiful

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in

    Read More

  • Female Characters in "Jane Eyre"

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    The development of Charlotte Bronte's character, Jane Eyre, becomes vital to her novel Jane Eyre, and the other characters in which she is involved. She is an intelligent, plain featured, honest young girl whose reaction to her situations brings more depth to her personality. She is forced to deal with oppression, discrimination, and at times poverty, which disrupt her strong will, dignity, and desire for freedom. At the beginning, Jane possesses a passion for pride and the idea of freedom and these characteristics, along with her integrity, are tested continuously throughout the novel by the many personalities with whom she encounters. Living in a male dominant world Jane is expected to remain obedient and docile and her passion sometimes keeps her from being able to do this. She is a rarity among obeying female characters and we see this throughout the book.

    Read More

  • Social Class And Feminism In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    In October 16, 1847, the novel Jane Eyre was published under the pen name “Currer Bell.” It was not until the following year that Charlotte Bronte revealed her true identity as the author. The novel was written in first person from the perspective of the protagonist Jane Eyre; an orphan on her journey through life and her search for love and belongingness. Jane Eyre took place in the Victorian Era in the mid-nineteenth century and featured many autobiographical elements from Bronte’s life. Within the novel there are very strong themes including love, religion, social class, and feminism. Feminism was arguably the most important theme of the book and played an immense part of Jane’s life, whether consciously or subconsciously. During that era, gender inequality was very prevalent; and in terms of society, men were undoubtedly superior to women. Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest,” was introduced to society and men immediately declared their place at the top of the evolutionary ladder while women were left at the bottom. Conclusively, the opinion that women were inferior was predominant but not exclusive. Bronte illustrates this very well in the book via Jane and other supporting characters. Jane consistently commits herself to dignity, independence, freedom of choice, and unwillingness to submit to any man’s emotional power. Some of her more important goals included maintaining integrity, sustaining dignity, and not giving in to societal norms and expectations of women. The expectations of women during that time period were very low and degrading, and it was presumed that unless they were teachers, women were to stay uneducated and tend to their husbands and households. Furthermore, social class played a large role in ev...

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre is a Feminist Novel

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jane Eyre is a Feminist Novel.In the novel Jane Eyre, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the tone of Jane Eyre is in fact a feminist novel. This book points out the times of unfairness in the Victorian society between men and women, where the man always comes first and is the master of his wife and always the provider. There are many examples that show feminist acts that usually do not occur in the Victorian era, such as wiith strength and integrity, Jane is able to break free from the role that the rest of the society has put her in, which is uncommon in that time

    Read More

More about Tremendous Spirit and Feminism Displayed in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

Open Document