Conflict In Jane Eyre

Women who had no claim to wealth or beauty received the harshest of realities in America’s Victorian era. Author Charlotte Bronte – from America’s Victorian era – examines and follows the life of a girl born into these conditions in her gothic novel Jane Eyre (of which the main character’s name

Throughout Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte incorporates the theme of rebelling against society’s expectations. Jane and Rochester are written as characters that both conform and rebel to their society’s standard behavior based on class, beauty, and marriage. Bronte wrote this novel in a way that both appeals to her audience’s morals by giving Jane a religious aspect to her life, but also opens them up to the idea that it’s acceptable to not follow the path of the class you were born into, redefines what living a meaningful life can be, and emphasizes the importance of equality in a time of great socio economic disparity.

One of the most famous passages from the novel comes from Jane’s very clearly feminist inner monologue. She states that “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel…they suffer from too rigid a restraint…” (130). Jane, as a forward-thinking and progressive protagonist, exemplifies in every sense the essence of gender equality of her time. Bronte reveals the limitations experienced by the female sex and the effects of those limitations on her protagonist. By doing this, the author uses Jane to fulfill her feminist and pro-equality agenda. Another example of Jane’s inner monologue comes from her irritation with Rochester. When Rochester showers Jane with gifts soon after their engagement, Jane’s “…cheek[s] burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation” (309). She becomes increasingly irritated with Rochester because of the complete lack of respect Rochester has for her feelings due to his joy of becoming engaged. Because Jane is already considered inferior to Rochester because of her lack of wealth and her status as an unmarried woman, being pelted with lavish tokens of affection is less than an ideal situation for her. This imbalance between the two highlights the already sexist society of the Victorian era. After Jane’s engagement to Rochester, she recounts the fact that she “…could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol” (316). She becomes blinded by the overpowering love she held for Rochester, to the extent that she put him on a pedestal, seeing him as an “idol”, and not a human being capable of fallacies. Bronte uses this dangerous mental circumstance Jane is in to illuminate the clear disparity between men and women of the time. Jane’s infatuation with Rochester serves as an important device implemented by Bronte to further her argument against sexist Victorian

Written by Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre tells the story of its title character as she matures and experiences all that life has to offer in 19th century England. Jane Eyre grows up as an orphan and seeks work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets and falls in love with Mr. Edward Rochester. After discovering that he is already married, she is introduced to St. John Rivers; he asks her to marry him for the sole purpose of being a missionary’s wife and she instead returns to Mr. Rochester, who she truly loves, and marries him. Throughout her journey, she learns many thing about Mr. Edward Rochester and St. John Rivers. Both men display similar characteristics, but as foils they exhibit many different characteristics as well. Both

At first glance Jane Eyre may seem to be a young woman with semi-bad taste in men, but she is actually much more complex a character than that. Jane is driven by her craving for freedom, her desire to be useful, and her yearning to fit in somewhere. She is rich in character with a stubborn, strong willed, and passionate personality. She is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, whether it is a family she wants to have, or a marriage that is unfair and without balance. As an adult, Jane is a level headed young woman, but as a child she let her passions get the best of her. She tones down this passion quite a bit as she grows older and gains more experience, and channels it into other areas of her life.

Due to his love for Jane, he is happy to throw caution to the wind, therefore disgracing himself in society’s eye, without a care for his reputation or appearance or those in his service and niche. Jane came across to me as someone who was not obsessed with society but who still took care in her appearance and the way people perceived her. For example, even though she was deeply in love with Mr Rochester she won’t marry him or be part of a bigamous relationship. She runs away to physically separate and remove herself from harm’s way due to her fearing that she might give into temptation, resulting her being totally at Rochester’s mercy as she would have been lost to society and labelled as a fallen woman. Also when St.John supposedly proposes to her about becoming his wife and travelling as a missionary wife, she refuses as to her it would not be right, she would rather go as a friend and a sister. St.John refuses this as it would not be deemed as appropriate and would slate both his and her name.

The novel takes place during the Victorian Era when Jane is a young girl and carries on until she reaches adulthood. According to Kathryn Hughes, author of Gender Roles in the 19th Century (2014), the 19th century was what “Victorians thought of as ‘separate spheres’, only coming together at breakfast and again at dinner.” She also mentions that women were expected to occupy the domestic, private ‘sphere’, while men engaged in the public ‘sphere’. Despite such ideologies, Jane manages to succeed in breaking such views of women by becoming a governess, which allows her to engage in the public ‘sphere’ at Thornfield, and during her stay, she forms a respectable relationship with Mr Rochester. Mr Rochester takes walks with her and occupies their time by having meaningful conversations of which he leaves “both the choice of subject and the manner of treating it entirely” (Brontë. 2010. p 133) to Jane. At the end of the novel, he also tells Jane that he will “abide by your decision” (Brontë. 2010. p 454) as he confesses that he wants to marry. Jane’s occupation and relationship with Mr Rochester suggest that she did not live in ‘separate spheres’ as men. This suggests that Jane Eyre is a modern, feminist novel that was incredibly ahead of the 19th

Jane Eyre is a very intresting novel as soon as you open it the first few chapters are shocking as it shows you two big themes one of which is class and the other is gender. In 1947 people would judge you depending on your class and people in society would judge you and treat you by where you are in the hierarchy tree. Another big theme was gender women were treated as third class citizens no freedom at all. Jane Eyre was a novel about an orphan who is adopted into this wealthy family. However she feels completely out the circle and not part of there family. The family certainly did not make her feel part of them either they first saw her as poor because she came from a poor background even though now she is adopted in there family they still saw her like that and secondly she was a girl so that made things worse and those two combinations were not good. At one point in the novel Mr reed said to her "You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mamma says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentleman's children like us . . " he is telling her

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre written during the Victorian era in the nineteenth century, stars Jane, an orphaned, isolated girl, living with a family that disapproves of her. As she grew, she exceled at school, became a governess, and falls in love with Edward Rochester her employer. Furthermore, after being deceived by him, Jane goes to Marsh End, where she reclaims her aspect and indentifies her own strength. By novel's end, Jane became a strong, independent woman. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre still raises relevant questions to readers; like (4) how abuse or unfair treatment makes a person angry or bitter? or (10) how love can transform appearances in the eye of the beholder?

When searching for female role models in literature across the ages, one may look towards Jane Eyre, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Joy Luck Club. Set in 19th century England, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, is the memoir of an orphan named Jane Eyre. From her first memories, Jane is different from the people around her and is treated as such. She faces prejudices for her social an economic status, as well as for being an educated woman. To see the world, Jane finds work as a governess for Adele, the charismatic ward of Mr. Rochester, at Thornfield manor. Brontë uses characters around Jane to compare the ideals for women in her society with the hope of what women could be. In the end, Jane and Mr. Rochester are married, but only after

Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, takes its reader on a journey of a young woman finding her independence both economically and emotionally. In addition, the elaborate descriptions of the character herself and the multiple allusions to lands overseas indicates this is a point in history in which the British Empire was at its peak. As a result, there is a relationship between the novel and the empire in that it illustrates the domestic issues women faced, fortifies common beliefs Europeans had on natives of other countries and recognizes the influence the British Empire had overseas. Situated in the Victorian era, wealth determined one’s status in society. Bronte tests this social norm by creating Jane Eyre: a girl whose position is ambiguous

The time in which Charlotte Bronte lived is quite different from our modern day. This is evident through the way she reflects it in her works. Some aspects of her works are relevant to our time, despite the differences they carry. This includes the culture, and lifestyle. Things have changed since the 19th century, because of the evolution of technology and culture, yet we have managed to salvage some aspects of them. Jane Eyre can be viewed to be tremendously different than our time, which is to some extent true.

The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë displays a variety of different themes throughout the novel. During the time period in which the novel was published, Great Britain had begun their conquest of Africa and Southeast Asia in a scramble for resources, causing mass death and suffering as a result of the native resistance. Thomas Tracy argues that Jane Eyre is written through a perspective of colonial criticism. Tracy claims that the ending of the novel exemplifies this theme with St. John’s mission to India given as the main example of the colonialist theme being present in Jane Eyre.

Bronte’s feminist ideas radiated throughout her novel Jane Eyre. There were many strong and clear examples of these ideas in Bronte’s protagonist, Jane, her personality, actions, thoughts and beliefs. From the beginning of the book, Jane’s strong personality and her lack of following social expectations were quiet clear. “Women of the Victorian era were not part of a man’s world, as they were considered below them.”(VanTassel-Baska, 4) The class divisions between a man and a woman were very distinctive. Jane however ignored this. When Jane first met Rochester, the whole scene presented a feminist portrait of Jane. A women walking alone in that era should never address a man, but Jane went out of her way to help Rochester stating that “if you are hurt, I can help” (Bronte, 98), Jane even let him place a hand on her shoulder. Jane believed that “women were supposed to be very calm generally, but women felt just as men felt” (Bronte, 116), which showed her perseverance and persistence in being independent and proving that men should be equal to that of women. This was of

Jane Eyre is a classic novel written by Charlotte Bronte. It was published on October 16, 1847 under the pen name Currer Bell. This book is said to be an autobiography of Charlotte Bronte's life, even though it was not published as an autobiography. Jane Eyre was considered a controversial book, but it was also considered revolutionary, as well as interesting.