Theme Of Alienation From Society In Jane Eyre

The only time that a member of the Reed family speaks to Jane is when they are belittling her, hoping to further assert their elite dominance over the lower class. In one particular quarrel, John Reed, the oppressive “Roman emperor” and “slave driver,” throws a book at Jane’s head to physically proclaim his dominance over her, to which Jane responds by verbally firing back at his elitist oppression. (Brontë 13) The battle between the social classes concludes with Jane being banished to the horrifying red-room as punishment for attempting to overthrow the elite power, John Reed, even though John was the clear instigator of the scuffle. Jane is later condemned by the house servants for her attempt to overthrow her “young master.” Jane and John are both children, but due to the wealth and status of his parents, John is allowed to rule over Jane, making Jane, as the Gateshead servants would describe, “‘less than a servant’” because she does nothing for her keep. (Brontë 15) Jane continuously faces this maltreatment at Gateshead until an outburst directed towards Mrs. Reed causes her to be sent away to Lowood school, a place where Mrs. Reed hopes Jane will perhaps be taught to conform to the societal norm of how a young girl like Jane should act in

Britain’s Victorian Era was one in which the status of a person affected how someone lived their whole life. Not only in how they lived, but also in appearance, how they presented themselves, and how others treated them. In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontё, socioeconomic status and how it affected the citizens of England is shown through the character descriptions of John Reed, Jane Eyre -the main character-, and Miss Abbot.

In the Victorian Era, women were considered to be unequal and below the power of men. As a result of the class difference between the rich and the poor, women that were underprivileged, had no say in doing work between right and wrong. In the story Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the Victorian women Jane, is impoverished by her rich Aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her uptown cousins: John, Eliza and Georgiana. After standing up to her wicked Aunt, Jane is sent to boarding school at Lowood, where she gains friendship and love. After completing her education, Jane prevails as a governess at Thornfield Hall and eventually finds her beloved.

In Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, she writes about the life of a woman named Jane, who falls in love with a man named Rochester. Throughout the novel Bronte describes and uses the challenges Jane faces in order to reveal that you can be true to your morals and still be happy with yourself. According to society’s expectations the more wealth you have, the more superior you see yourself in comparison to others. Throughout the novel Jane has conflicting beliefs about what she should do when it came to certain situations. She wants to prove self morality while staying true to her christian morality as well.

Throughout the novel, Jane Eyre faced various alienating situations. Jane Eyre experienced such a fissure and was cut off from home numerous times. Although this is true, in the end her life and all it entailed turned out to be enriching. She finally obtained true happiness and respect that she had been searching for all her life.

Jane Eyre’s standards for each of the class levels are provided in several ways. Specifically, the novel begins with Jane Eyre’s class distinction when she is living with her aunt at Gateshead Hall. Mrs. Reed and her son John emotionally and sometimes physical abuse Jane. Before Jane is locked into the Red Room, she strikes John back after he harms her. Bessie forces her away and tells Jane she is “less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep” (Brontë 14). This starts the novel off with distinctly defining Jane in the lowest possible class. Jane, though living with a middle class family, is rejected and forced to a lowly position. Though she is not poor, she is considered to be worse, because she does nothing to help Mrs. Reed and

Furthermore, Jane fights against the stereotypes of social class during her time at the Moore House. Readers find Jane Eyre in the most vulnerable state after her departure from Thornfield, “...I can scarcely bear to review the times to which I allude: the moral degradation, blent with physical suffering, form too distressing a recollection ever to be willingly dwelt on” (Bronte 324). All of her life, Jane Eyre has worked towards proving her worth to society; to avoid remaining in a degrading situation. As she arrives at the Moore House, Jane Eyre must once again, prove that she has worth. This comes with ease in her relationships with the women of the household, "With the Rivers sisters, Jane enjoys a relationship of mutual respect, where all labor to educate themselves and to help one another. Authority only intervenes in the figure of their brother, St John Rivers..." (Gordon 49).

Jane’s status in the social ladder starts at the very bottom because she is was treated very poorly like a peasant or a servant.Jane was having to hide from her family because she would get abused by her cousin John.”He bullied and punished

Jane responds passionately when she is exploited due to her position, yet every time Jane reacts this way she is able to explain her actions. When she yells at Mrs. Reed, Jane had perceived that Mrs. Reed had used her social standing as a superior adult to “obliterate [Jane’s] hope” for her future at Lowood. This particular explanation and other internal reflections reason with the reader, inspiring empathy for Jane’s situation. Even Jane’s depiction of the poor farmer’s children conveys Charlotte Brontë’s scorn of the class structure. Despite being illiterate and ill-mannered, the children have potential and they “wish to learn.” Jane’s condescending tone when referring to these children, and her recognition that tone is “wrong,” helps Charlotte Brontë relate to the reader and subtly show them that this innate scorn is ill founded. Furthermore, the characters of the upper classes that grew up with privilege are depicted throughout Jane Eyre as petty or immoral: Mrs. Reed, who is “cold-hearted,” spiteful and incapable of forgiveness; Blanche, who values wealth and status over personal happiness; and Rochester, who tries to trick Jane into a false marriage. All of these characters assist Brontë in disparaging the idea that the upper class is the worthier class. Instead Brontë intimates, through the moral purity and happiness of the less

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

Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, illustrates a British society that depicts an uneven distribution of wealth among people in the Victorian Era, creating this gap between the rich and poor. Social class in British society was made of the lower, middle, and upper class. Brontë implemented characters like Mr.Brocklehurst and the Reeds to show that characters that were high in class and supported the social hierarchy were not good people and are not usually rewarded. The main character and protagonist, Jane Eyre, has challenged the view that wealth is equivalent to superiority and good character. She has expressed feminine power and independence. Throughout the entire novel, Jane encountered dominant male figures that attempted to force her to abandon her morals and emotions, she challenged and escaped those who tried to suppress her. Women of this era’s patriarchal society were expected to know their place, men were controlling and dominant but this novel proved otherwise. Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre, challenges the class structure of British society through gender, wealth, and education.

However, it should also be noted that the novel, through the character of the protagonist Jane Eyre, also points to the cracks in that social system, where class differences were getting fused. For instance the novel throws up certain questions pertaining to the position and role of the governess: Should she be considered upper class, based on her superior education, or lower class, because of her servant-status within the family? What happens when relationships develop between people of different classes, such as Rochester and

The inferiority complex that was instilled within the young, lower class during this time period caused them to resist change, and remain complacent in a constant state of oppression. Nearly the entirety of Western society subjected itself into being organized by a social hierarchy, and the notion of a mere glimpse of equality was quickly expelled at a youthful age. This state of complacency served as a source of ignition for both Jane, and Bronte as they would both fight preconceived notions of social division later in their lives. Not only were citizens of the lower class obligated to embrace their inferiority to the upper class, but in the case of Jane, their lives as a member of the impoverished community were depicted in a harrowing light. At an immature stage of their life children “have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty”, but rather connect the life of lower class citizens with “ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manner, and debasing vices” (Bronte, 29-30). The bleak description of life in the lower class not only depicts the debilitating nature it may have on poorer member of society, but also the polarity of wealth distribution within Victorian England. A person within the social hierarchy could only travel as far as their wealth, or title, could carry them, and with a poor woman like Jane that possessed neither, their futures seemed eerily grim. Bronte was faced with similar hardships as she sought to escape

The leading lady and protagonist of the story, Jane Eyre, is an intelligent, honest and mousy governess who through a difficult and neglected upbringing. She is forced to be content with the Victorian inequality between English hierarchy and the oppression of the “fairer” sex, until she finally through inheriting a small fortune can

Jane Eyre, a poor little orphaned girl in the beginning of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, is described as a “capricious witch” (271) by her fiancé, Mr. Rochester, when she asserts her independence as a powerful woman. Despite their differences in social status, age, and gender, Jane and Mr. Rochester find a shared position as outcasts: hardly fitting the Victorian era stereotypes of propriety. Their romantic relationship; Jane, a governess, and Mr. Rochester, her employer, disregards nineteenth century English social class conventions. Since Jane grows to to achieve personal autonomy and reaches a sense of intellectual maturity, she demands respect from Mr. Rochester. The effects of Mr. Rochester’s psychological repression from his dark past contribute to his moody behavior toward he; when he becomes threatened by Jane’s self-control and influence over him, he further perceives her as the archetypal coy seductress. The effects of Jane’s experiences of being oppressed as an impoverished, young governess empower her to refuse marriage until she can have Mr. Rochester’s true love without sacrificing her integrity.