Bronte places two examples of passion the novel, the passion between Bertha and Rochester and the passion between Rosamond and St. John. Rochester follows his passion and marries Bertha because of his physical attraction to her. “I was dazzled, stimulated; my senses were excited; and being ignorant, raw, and inexperienced, I thought I loved her” (352). Since Rochester based his marriage solely on is passion for Bertha it left him with a life of regret. “Oh, I have no respect for myself when I think of that act” (352). Rochester’s marriage to Bertha shows the consequences of marriages based only on passion. St. John does the opposite of Mr. Rochester, he ignores his physical attraction to Rosamond and follows God’s plan for him. “While I love Rosamond Oliver so wildly- with all the intensity, indeed, of a first passion … I experience at the same time a calm, unwarped consciousness that she would not make me a good wife … that I should discover this within a year of marriage” (431). Although he loves her, he knows she is …show more content…
Jane believes equality has nothing to do with your social class or gender; to Jane equality is based on the type of person you are and the characteristics you exhibit when dealing with relationships. From early in the novel, Miss Reed treated Jane as less than everyone else and equality was not possible for her. She refuses to accept that Rochester and St. John are above her as a result of her gender or social and economic status. At times, Jane feels her gender prevents her from doing many things men can do. She does not agree with society’s idea of the way women are supposed to be. “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel . . . It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom as pronounced necessary for their sex” (130). She does not understand why women are condemned because they want to because they want to do or learn more than what is
As a feminist, Jane is able to protect herself when she is in a situation where she needs to be defended. For instance, when her brutish older cousin John hurls a hardcover book at her head, she pounces back by attacking him in defense. She also faces no difficulty in successfully defeating her cold-hearted aunt in a verbal fight, just at the tender age of ten. Jane is surely unafraid of the consequences that she has to face on actions that she believes as rightfully done. This amazing trait remains even as she proceeds into adulthood and meets the love of her life. She is able to deal with, and even stand up to Mr. Rochester’s unreasonable verbal attacks directed at her. She clearly shows her dauntless side of her personality, by speaking her own mind when Mr. Rochester demands for the money that he had given her. Jane refuses clear cut, and Mr. Rochester asks to then at least let him see the cash. Jane refuses again by retorting that he is “not to be trusted.” Jane has an honest and truthful soul who knows how to speak for herself, unlike many women during this period of time. Jane is never concerned about what other people would think of her if she tells them the exact truth about everything. She is able to inform her departure by cancelling off the wedding between herself and Mr. Rochester after what she had witnessed and experienced. Jane cries out “you are a married man-or as good as a married man, and wed to one inferior to you- to one with whom you have no sympathy- whom I do not believe you truly love; for I have seen and heard you sneer at her. I would scorn such a union: therefore I am better than you- let me go!” Jane is able to truthfully utter her thoughts, her true opinion without being afraid; even if it was to someone she dearly loved. When Mr. Rochester angrily cries out, “Jane, be still; don’t struggle so, like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its
Throughout Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre is afflicted with the feud between her moral values, and the way society perceives these notions. Jane ultimately obtains her happy ending, and Brontë’s shrewd denouement of St. John’s fate juxtaposes Jane’s blissful future with St. John’s tragic course of action. When Jane ends up at the Moor House, she is able to discover a nexus of love and family, and by doing so, she no longer feels fettered to Rochester. Moreover, Rochester is no longer Jane’s only form of psychological escape, and thus Jane is in a position to return to him without an aura of discontent. At the end of the novel, Jane is finally able to be irrevocably “blest beyond what language can express” (Brontë 459) because she is “absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh” (459).
"Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel... It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex"(Brontë
He also accuses her of bewitching his horse, he recognized that Jane was day dreaming of another world when they met. He is quick to respond to Mrs Fairfax’s appreciation of Jane’s presence, “Don’t trouble yourself to give her a character”, “eulogiums will not bias me; I shall judge for myself. She began by felling my horse.”
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
“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel, they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do, they suffer from a too rigid restraint. Too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer, and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged creatures to say that they ought to confine
In Charlotte Bronte’s’ “Jane Eyre”, Rochester uses disguise and duplicity to achieve his desire of marrying Jane. By doing so; he defies state law and divine will. Consequently, Rochester suffers physically, emotionally, and financially.
Jane’s approach could be considered romantic and embodies conventional feminist concepts; she remains headstrong and stubborn in the face of injustice. The representation of Jane as a strong, independent woman upholds the belief that woman can achieve their goals. Jane does precisely this; she marries Rochester, becomes a part of a family as well as gains financial independence. The way in which Bronte represents Jane is emphasized through her narrative stance. The reader is presented with a firm and rebellious character, her diction is simple and assertive. She addresses the reader directly and is able to identify and challenge the problems she faces with determination. Furthermore Jane is able to identify and comment on how she feels woman are subjugated by their society; she denounces that “woman are supposed to be very calm generally: but woman feel just as men feel […]” (Bronte
St. John Rivers is a clergyman who gives Jane shelter after she flees from Thornfield. Jane later finds out that herself and St. John are related as cousins. Although knowing that they are related St. John proposes to Jane but she denies his offer because she is still deeply in love with Mr. Rochester. The relationship between these two cousins is more of a pastoral relationship. St. John is a sincere man that helps a helpless woman in need. There relationship goes on nothing more then just friends and family at the end of the day St. John is the one that helps Jane inherit her fortune that she later then shares with him and his sisters for helping her.
Passion. Something that many think they have, when in reality do not. Best described as an incontrollable emotion, passion is often seen as taking a huge role in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Although characters show the qualities associated with being passionate, their true attitudes can be summed up by a different word: obsessive. In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare develops the idea that trying to force passion can lead to obsession. In other words, when people deceive themselves into thinking they have passion, they can become obsessive. This is shown repeatedly in Romeo’s character. First through his immediate change of love from Rosaline to Juliet; secondly when he tries to kill
Before she can become Rochester 's wife, Jane must prove her acceptability based on class. Does she have an upper-class sensibility, despite her inferior position at Thornfield? For example, when Bessie sees Jane at Lowood, she is impressed because Jane has become "quite a lady"; in fact, her accomplishments surpass that of her cousins, yet they are still considered her social superiors based solely on wealth. The conversation emphasizes the ambiguities of Jane 's family 's class status and of the class system in general: Should a lady be judged based on academic accomplishments, money, or family name? The novel critiques the behavior of most of the upper-class characters Jane meets: Blanche Ingram is haughty and superficial, John Reed is debauched, and Eliza Reed is inhumanely cold. Rochester is a primary example of upper-class debauchery, with his series of mistresses and his attempt to make Jane a member of the harem. In her final view of Thornfield, after Bertha has burned it down, Jane
Readers learn early in the story that Jane Eyre does not fit contemporary society's idea of a proper woman. As a child, Jane stands up to her aunt, Mrs. Reed, on more than one recorded occasion when Jane feels she has been treated unjustly (Brontë 28, 37). At one point, Jane bluntly tells her aunt, "I declare, I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed [Jane's cousin]" (37). This was at best improper behavior for a child in Victorian society, and it was most definitely seen as improper by Mrs. Reed who grows to hate Jane, calling her "tiresome, ill-conditioned" and "scheming" (26). But her aunt's reprimands and hatred do not deter Jane from speaking up in the face of injustice.
In Graham’s Magazine, another anonymous reviewer suggested that Rochester’s character was dangerous and immoral, saying, “No woman who had ever truly loved could have mistaken so completely the Rochester type, or could have made her heroine love a man of proud, selfish, ungovernable appetites, which no sophistry can lift out of lust.” Thus, he intimated that any author who would contrive to have her heroine fall in love with such a total rake would be immoral herself and unknowing of what true love is. He went one step further to say, “We accordingly think that if the innocent young ladies of our land lay a premium on profligacy, by marrying dissolute rakes for the honor of reforming them, à la Jane Eyre, their benevolence will be of questionable utility to the world.” In this, he suggested that the depiction of Jane and Rochester’s relationship would cause young women of the time to emulate Jane’s “romantic wickedness.”
Jane eyre is a clear example of a bildungsroman because we see how she starts off as a miserable and poor child who is mistreated and ends up as a rich mistress. Jane Eyre’s development through the book helps the idea of the novel being a bildungsroman. In the first chapters of the book we see Jane filled with negative emotions towards the Reed’s because she is badly mistreated and being locked in the red room is the tipping point for jane. Later on when Jane attends lowood her emotions have drastically changed, she know feels some sort of comfort and love. Although the reader might think Jane has been through it all that is not the reality as she will fall in love with a man that will cause her problems but will ultimately reach happiness
Throughout the novel Jane faces many obstacles created by the beliefs of the society. Jane overcomes each of these standards created by the society and becomes her own independent women. The three societal standards in Jane Eyre are oppression, gender inequality, and social class. Jane knew what it was to be poor and be considerate before she became rich, thus helping her overcome her struggle for social class. She overcomes the mistreatment she receives by standing up to those who inflicted it upon her. Jane also overcomes gender inequality in the novel by forcing Mr. Rochester to see her as an equal. Jane overcomes many barriers in her path and becomes a strong independent