Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte

The Victorian Era encompassed a time of great discrepancy between the sexes, especially for women. The polarization of gender roles reflected on a basis of gender sexuality where men and women were granted certain advantages and disadvantages. Women were expected to realize a specific position in society based on morals of submission, passivity, and a complete lack of selfishness and independence. Constrictive notions such as these prevent individual expression and expansion. Therefore, while struggling to fill the pre-conceived expectancies of society, one forces true desires and happiness to pass as a scant priority. Charlotte Brontë's Victorian novel, Jane Eyre, explores the significance of individual fulfillment in an oppressive

Jane is taught at a young age to look down on people not of her caste, and to oppress them the same way that she herself is oppressed as a female orphan. Though Jane is not influenced directly by social status at all times, it is still a constant factor which Brontë makes evident. In Victorian England, a female must either be born or married into her social class, and this is what defines her. The character of Jane served to undercut the popular female stereotypes of fiction: the angel of the house, the invalid, or the whore (Brackett, 2000). Brontë creates Jane as her own force, in which she is neither the angel, invalid or whore, but a young lady who is intelligent and has pride and dignity. In this Victorian society, her unsubmissiveness and independence is her social fault, which Brontë pokes fun at (Brackett, 2000). Male Victorian writers cast women during this time as social, finagling creatures whose goals are to obtain as many friends as possible and throw the most elaborate parties. Brontë opposes this by creating Jane as an opposite of these “defining” characteristics, by making Jane a female who could are less about how many people adore her, a female who would actually enjoy a life with few companions. As mentioned before, Jane’s sense of dignity is evident. As Jane became Rochester’s governess, she is faced with the

“This book might have been written by a woman but certainly not a lady.” It is bildungsromane (Triska); a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist (Dictionary.com). Jane Eyre was a very shy, plain, and reserved person. Even though she had a very plain look she had a passion that wasn’t expected of her (Green). She also had hopes and dreams and aspirations. So I wonder, how might Jane Eyre react to the women of today?

Using Jane’s interactions with other characters, Bronte is able to accentuate the unequal treatment of women in her story while also alluding to women’s societal positions in the actual time period. Annimaria Tiainen analyzes Bronte’s incorporation of feminism in her thesis “Becoming Jane: Identity, Dependency, and Autonomy in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre” and provides acumen on why Bronte

Brontë shapes her female character in such a way that she deals with her “hunger, rebellion and anger” (Gilbert and Guber, 1979: 360), without entering into a visible conflict with society. Thus, Jane does not openly challenge the Victorian patriarchal system, because she knows how to encompass the imposed standards without letting them run her

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

“ . . . Women feel just as men feel . . . they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation . . . ” (Brontë 129-130). Charlotte Brontë, one of six Brontë siblings, was a feminist author who lived and wrote during the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was a time when England was going through a slow but significant change, mainly surrounding the Industrial Revolution, but still preceding the days of any major feminist movements. Brontë was angered that she had to write under a fake male name in order to have Jane Eyre published and read. Nevertheless, she was still completely focused on addressing issues concerning women, education, and marriage. Combining these topics, she produced one of the most popular novels in

It is often said that it is the role of literature to challenge and confront the conventional values of a society. In the novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte the idea of challenging and confronting conventional values is stressed often. Perhaps it is in relation to the author herself, as seen in the autobiographical elements recognizable throughout the novel. Some of these autobiographical elements include the form of which the novel is written in, called Bildungsroman where the story is focused around the growth from child to adult and all of the positives and negatives that fall in between. With the setting of the novel, society places a high value on the conventional ideas involved in this progression. The conventional values of society have been challenged in multiple ways in the novel including, illegitimacy, the gap between social classes, and both religion and law, to a great extent.

Charlotte Brontё, the author of ‘Jane Eyre’ has used the art of her writing to compose a novel considered to be a feminist novel, along with raising points about the sexism of women in Victorian society. Within the thirty-eight chapters of this novel discussing the protagonist Jane Eyre’s, coming of age story, Brontё not only discusses the hardship of Jane’s life, but the battles she and other female characters, such as Miss Temple face in this book by being belittled for their gender. Brontё physically knew the gender discrimination within Victorian society as she had to disguise her literature under the male name of ‘Currer Bell’ to be able the chance for her to publish her novels. This was because female authors were seen as inferior unlike

Although feminism was not a prevalent idea during the time that Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre, Bronte still valued feminist ideas and displayed them as a primary theme throughout the novel through the characterization of Jane. Through Bronte’s repetition of the contrast between the rights and treatment of the different sexes in this passage, it become evident to the reader that Bronte intends to educate the reader on her opinions on feminist ideals. During this passage, Jane gazes out her window in her room at Thornfield. In this passage, Jane reflects on her mundane and routine life, and contemplates what she would encounter if she could venture beyond the rolling hills she observes.

Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre embraces many feminist views in opposition to the Victorian feminine ideal. Charlotte Bronte herself was among the first feminist writers of her time, and wrote this book in order to send the message of feminism to a Victorian-Age Society in which women were looked upon as inferior and repressed by the society in which they lived. This novel embodies the ideology of equality between a man and woman in marriage, as well as in society at large. As a feminist writer, Charlotte Bronte created this novel to support and spread the idea of an independent woman who works for herself, thinks for herself, and acts of her own accord.

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

There is perhaps no human emotion that can evoke feelings of both utter despair and incredible joy like love can. Throughout the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Jane searches tirelessly for love while living in a mostly cruel and heartless world. Jane’s journey goes from a childhood doll being the entirety of her love to marrying Mr. Rochester, the love of her life. This is symbolic of the massive change Jane undergoes throughout the novel and how love affects her. Two prominent characters in the novel who have profound effects on Jane’s outlook and feelings toward love are St. John and Mr. Rochester. The differences in Mr. Rochester’s and St. John’s outlook on love affect Jane by creating two vastly different relationships and leading her to reach her own conclusion on what it is to be in love and to be happy.

The 1847 novel Jane Eyre follows the main character throughout her eventful life in Victorian England, allowing readers to watch the young, unruly orphan flourish into a successful, content woman. On the simplest level, the work is a classic gothic tale showcasing fear, passion, and love. While it is evident that the story utilizes emotion, looking deeper into the text is essential to understanding the underlying motive behind Brontë’s decision to include these emotional aspects in the first place. Looking through the feminist lens of literary criticism, Jane Eyre not only highlights the oppression of women during the time, but specifically focuses on the part that emotion plays in female mistreatment. Shannon O’Byrne, author of “Law and Emotion in Brontë’s Jane Eyre”, claims that the work exposes the association of women with hysteria during the Victorian era, and is correct in her analysis of the feminist message within the novel as shown through the main female character’s, Jane and Bertha’s, passionate acts and their outcomes.

In a time period where women were unequal and unheard in society, Charlotte Brontë expresses her feminist ideals through her novel Jane Eyre, an unexpected love story between an unlikely pair. During her work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane gets to know her master, Mr. Rochester, very well and begins to fall in love with him. Jane at first forbids herself from a courtship because of the class difference between them; however, in time she learns that the feelings of love are mutual and they plan to marry. Unfortunately, a lawyer interrupts their wedding and claims Mr. Rochester has a living wife, which proves true when Mr. Rochester introduces Jane to Bertha, his insane spouse. Unwilling to be Rochester 's mistress, Jane flees him and finds work, only to realize that her employer is her cousin and that her uncle left her with a large sum of money. Now equal in rank to Rochester, Jane seeks him out and finds out that his wife died burning Thornfield Hall to the ground, which means that Jane can finally marry Rochester. Although it cannot be classified as a gothic novel, Brontë purposefully includes elements of Gothic literature to cause changes in the plot that identify feminist characteristics in the main character, Jane Eyre. Multiple supernatural occurrences certainly act as catalysts for changes that reveal Jane 's independence. Places such as the red-room and events like Bertha 's introduction and the answer to Jane’s prayer serve as stimuli for major plot shifts