A Stereotypical Representation Of Females During Victorian Period

In its simplest form, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre tells the story of a young woman, Jane Eyre, who grows up poor, makes the decision to be independent, does so, and, eventually, marries rich. The novel follows her from her childhood to her reunion with the love of her life and she, throughout it, deals with classism and sexism and exhibits her own form of feminism. By the end, it becomes clear that, with this semi-autobiographical novel, Charlotte Bronte was providing a criticism on society’s discrimination toward those of a lower class, a subtle argument against the male-dominated society’s treatment of women, and an even subtler call to action for women to find their own agency outside of the men in their lives. On another end, however,

During the Victorian period, upper and middle class men and women existed in different spheres of life: the private sphere, and the public sphere. The private sphere, which included taking care of the home, entertaining guests, and raising children was dominated by women. Meanwhile men were superior in the public sphere, where they took part in politics and business. This lead to the archetypes of women being fragile and motherly, controlled by their emotions, and of men being rational and strong. Social norms, supported by laws, viewed women as “relative creatures” that were below men in the natural hierarchy and only defined in reference to men. These two ideas towards women created a gap of equality for women and constricted them to their sphere of domesticity. The suffrage movement, followed by the first and second waves of feminism gave rise to many civil rights for women, narrowing the gap of inequality. The quest for equality continues today, as these two spheres begin to merge, due to the rise in social media and the subsequent decreasing private life, and women gain more influence in the public sphere. While the forms of inequality are different and an issue for both genders, the Victorian ideas are still present and prominent today.

Rebecca represents the non-conformist female character, who acknowledges societies limits on women. Although she cannot be justified having laid with her many lovers, she had made it clear that she did not want a traditional marriage and Maxim was hoping to change, even control her. Along with Rebecca cheating, Maxim was also fearful of her power at Manderley, as she stated “I’ll make it the most famous showplace in England,” which represents the male dominant society of the 1920s; being fearful of gender equality. Rebecca controlled the house, which removed masculinity from Maxim simultaneously threatening him. Sympathy must be shown for Rebecca, otherwise justice is not shown for women in general. She confronted society full on, maybe not in the most practical of ways, displaying rebellion. Daphne Du Maurier’s characterization of Rebecca indicates that 1920s society idealized a stance in which the only thing that can come of a powerful woman is destruction, and that’s not true. “What Rebecca is ultimately condemned for within the text is also what makes her appealing; her transgression of the categories of class, gender, and sexuality” (Harbord, 102). She maneuvers outside of the societal rules of the day. Daphne Du Maurier juxtaposes

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.

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

In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the titular character goes on both a mental and physical journey throughout the novel. Jane calls several different places home throughout her life, and encounters different milestones and challenges that shape her into a person at each one. The names given to these places and the people Jane comes across in them are used to represent what will happen to her while she is living there. Bronte’s use of the meanings of names as symbols is called etymology. For the duration of Jane’s time moving between several different homes in England, her life changes drastically, causing her to adapt to new situations and develop as a person.

Throughout Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë uses the character Jane as a tool to comment on the oppression that women were forced to endure at the time. Jane can be seen as representative of the women who suffered from repression during the Victorian period, a time when patriarchy was commonplace. Brontë herself was affected by the time period, because according to Wolfe, she was deprived “experience and intercourse and travel.” (70) Thus Jane offers a unique perspective as a woman who is both keenly aware of her position and yet trapped by it despite repeated attempts to elevate herself and escape the burden placed on by her different suitors. Although superficially it seems that Jane wants to break away from the relationships that further

Gender roles are different throughout all the world, but how does it compare to 100 years ago? Based on culture, religion, or social standing, there are many factors that developed through generations of how we see traditional gender roles today. There are many questions that come to mind about this subject. What was the traditional gender role of men and women in the past? How did they coexist with each other?

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

In her childhood, Bronte suffered from a hypocritical schoolmaster, the death of her dear sister, and in adulthood, the few rights she had as a woman, and she expressed her thoughts and small experiences in her works. She incorporated her wishes for more adventure, experience, and justice into Jane. Jane suffers from Mr. Brocklehurst, the death of her friend Helen, and her narrow lot in life. Bronte made Jane Eyre almost an autobiography, referencing many events in her life and writing a main character who wishes for more than what society gives her. Many other woman in a position similar to Jane would have likely accepted these ideas gladly, taking joy in finding a message to which they could relate.

Women of our time have change so much to compare to women in the past. I must admit in my experience, I have seen things that weren’t so great. Although as I look closer at others, women have become stronger, smarter, and proved themselves in so many ways. As I research about women from the Victorian Era and the present. I must say we are very lucky. Also upset for there are women out there that doesn’t understand that they think their lives are hard when women back then had worse. We get to be whoever we want to be to prove men that they are wrong. They challenged us in the past look what happened. We challenged them looked what happened as well. So we mostly ended up as equals. That’s great! Now

Gender role has always been prevalent in society. No matter what part of the world or culture a person looks at, there will always be a specific code in which these genders have to conform to. As expected in the Victorian Era’s strict codes of conduct, much emphasis was put on gender roles. In the Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde effectively uses gender role reversal to reveal the faults in the Victorian Era.

At the beginning of the Victorian Period, both single and married women’s rights were limited. The changes during this era in the identity of genders are represented in the characters the author Wilkie Collins describes. For example, Marian Halcombe is characterized as strong and predominant. She is Laura’s voice when regarding to her husband and protects her throughout the story. Although Marian knows her role as a woman in society, she disapproves with the beliefs of the era. On the other hand, Laura personalizes the conventional quiet woman that obeys customs. To emphasize this, in Collin’s novel, he lets the reader know that Laura is marrying the man that her father approved even though he is now dead. When she marries, her rights legally belong to her husband and is treated with the laws and customs of the Victorian era. Throughout this period, the distinction between classes was also notable. Comparatively, The Woman in White presents how the middle class as Laura and her uncle refer to the working class, Fanny the maid. Even though Fanny has always been their maid and is the only person they trust, they only communicate with her at their convenience. Moreover, Mr. Fairlie does not even call the maid by her name, but refers to her as “Young Person”. Certainly, the Victorian Period was a significant impact in the novel where

The Victorian period was an era of constantly shifting and contradicting ideologies concerning women, which extended over many areas of society and culture including politics and the media, the family and domestic field as well as the contemporary and traditional beliefs within the art institutions. The body of the belief systems about women and the feminine ideal that are present in each of these areas involve a combination of established or traditional ideas versus those of a contemporary and revolutionary nature. Whether traditional or revolutionary these evolving ideologies played a consistent and prominent role in regulating the methods by which women produced their art and the subject areas and genres in which they employed

Jane Eyre, a novel by Charlotte Brontë, contains several notable themes and messages sent to its readers. Jane Eyre is a coming of age novel that is a story of a girl's quest for equality and happiness. A common theme that recurs throughout the novel is the importance of independence.Charlotte Brontë utilizes several techniques to convey this message, incorporating her personal experiences, as well as including symbolism and motifs. Charlotte Bronte subjects Jane to several conflicts that occur because of Jane’s desire for independence and freedom, such as love, religion, and gender inequality.