1) The Victorian Age: Social Background There are tow dates for the beginning of the Victorian Age in England: The first date is 1837, when the Queen Victory accessed to the British throne. However the most accepted date as the start of the Victorian Age is 1832, date of the First Reform Bill. This reform allowed the entrance of urban bourgeoisie or middle-class in the Parliament because the requirements for voting were simplified; there was an increasing number of population with the right to vote. This reform also broke up the monopoly of power in hands of aristocracy and landowners in the Parliament. The end of this Age is placed in the turn of the century when Queen Victory died in 1901. The Victorian Age is usually divided into three sub-periods: Early Victorian period. Mid-Victorian period. Late Victorian period. The period in which Charlotte Brontë wrote Jane Eyre (1847) was Early Victorian period, therefore that is the stage of history which I am going to analyze in my essay. The Early Victorian period (1832-1851) The Early Victorian period was a stage of social convulsions and deep transformations because the Industrial Revolution in England. The rural way of life in the villages and countryside was changed into an urban life in the big industrial cities. An economy based on industry and commerce was settled in England. One of the most important features of this stage was the appearance of two new social classes: a) Urban working class: lower social classes b) Industrial middle class who increased in number and they wanted to participate in the Parliament. They wanted a change and they achieved: the First Reform Bill (1832) by which middle classes ente... ... middle of paper ... ...erience at the school for clergymen's daughters where her sister died because the poor conditions of the school. The settings of her novels were also influenced by the places where Charlotte Brontë has lived. In Jane Eyre, many settings show the features of Yorkshire desolated moors: Gateshead and Thornfield surroundings. Some important figures of Charlotte Brontë's life have their reflection on some characters in Jane Eyre. St. John Rivers's severe discipline and devoted religious life reminds of Charlotte Brontë's father, Reverend Brontë and his strictness and coldness. Miss Temple's friendly care for Jane and Helen Burns may make reference to Mrs. Wooler, headteacher at Roe Head, who always had encouraged Charlotte through her years at school. It is quite that Charlotte Brontë's life has affected the composition of her novels.
In Stephen Dunn’s 2003 poem, “Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Point”, the famous author of Jane Eyre is placed into a modern setting of New Jersey. Although Charlotte Bronte lived in the early middle 1800’s, we find her alive and well in the present day in this poem. The poem connects itself to Bronte’s most popular novel, Jane Eyre in characters analysis and setting while speaking of common themes in the novel. Dunn also uses his poem to give Bronte’s writing purpose in modern day.
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 is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J Dunn 3rd ed. 1847. New York: W. W.
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.
In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses Jane Eyre as her base to find out how a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with her responsibilities. . Mistreated abused and deprived of a normal childhood, Jane Eyre creates an enemy early in her childhood with her Aunt Mrs. Reed. Just as Mrs. Reeds life is coming to an end, she writes to Jane asking her for forgiveness, and one last visit from her.
Jane Eyre is a novel, written in the Victorian era by the author Charlotte Bronte. Bronte uses different setting in order to show what the characters are feeling. The setting is often a reflection of human emotion. The setting also foreshadows certain events that are going to occur.
Jane Eyre’s continuous search for love, a sense of belonging, and family are all thoroughly displayed by Charlotte Brontë. Jane starts off as a despised orphan who is captivated by the thought of love, believing that it will help her achieve happiness. Throughout the novel, Jane attempts to find different substitutes to fill the void in her life.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 3rd ed. New York: The Modern Library. Bronte, Charlotte. "
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...
The Victorian Era started when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837 and ended roughly the day she died in 1901. Victorian England “was a strictly patriarchal society” (Yildirim 2). It is common knowledge that during the Victorian era men and women had their own specific roles. It is also common knowledge to know that men had complete legal and economical control over the women (Mitchell 1, 142). Women were expected to stay at home to keep house and take care of the children.
The lifestyles of this wealthy class, called the nouveau riche and who emerged in 1783, were considered lavish. Though they weren’t apart of the English aristocracy, they were able to live comfortable lives like them. This new class was able to emerge because of the influx of immigration into the rapidly forming cities; people were in search of employment. As these people arrived to the newly formed cities, factory owners obtaianed a larger labor force that would work for them. Nevertheless, they would continue to pay workers fixed wages and make large profits (Manolopoulou and Eagleton 3). Despite this change of social stratification in England, the society remained patriarchal. For marriage to occur, a woman had to either bring land into marriage or pay a dowry. In addition, any land or property inherited by women had to be passed on to her husband. Furthermore, patriarchal forces were reinforced since women were still restricted to the same low-status, low-paid, and low-skilled jobs they always had. A reason for this continuity was the decrease of employment opportunities given to women during the industrial revolution (Chalus and Barker 82). The dominance of men at the end of this time period was still
Jane was brought up enduring a life of struggle and hardship that she was able to gain wisdom from and see beauty in. Bronte places Jane in situations where she is able to prove her resilience such as placing Jane at the Moore house because she wanted her to see the nature of the world and to show the reader that life comes with surprises. After rising from this fall, she arrives at Moor House where her skills she learned at Marsh End are tested. Jane learns throughout her adventure that she has to take matters into her own hands. Jane desires to be favored in this world. She’s never found the “feeling of isolation” pleasing, so when she falls into Marsh End she is obviously miserable being alone with people who did not care about her. Jane not only cherishes approval but also likes to have a high status in society. She does “not like to belong to poor people,” and to be dropped into their class. Jane knew what she would be striving for, to succeed in life, and she knew that it came with new faces, under new circumstances. Jane was ready to handle any environment in her quest for establishing her individuality. Bronte novel can be interpreted in a number of ways, however the feminist approach is the most valid because its conclusions are drawn after analyzing a Marxist criticism, psychological criticism and many other criticisms that continue to be relevant in the lives of many
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.
Altercations were made to the fundamentals of the British life style in result of the Industrial Revolution. Economic, social, and political changes occurred throughout 18th and early 19th century Britain, in response to various factors regarding the revolution. Primarily it was the contributions from the new refined tools and technology that impacted Britain’s agricultural and industrial progressions; to the point where its society was ultimately influenced.