Analysis Of Temptations Of A Motherless Woman

Jane Eyre is a personal journey for independence and belonging in an extremely unpleasant society. Jane Eyre is very distinctive from other romantic pieces of the era, in the fact that it portrays a woman searching for equality and dignity through independence from those who treat her as a second hand citizen. Finding independence is Jane’s only way to combat the situation she is stuck in time and time again throughout her life. Throughout Jane Eyre, Jane, attempts to find independence and a sense of belonging, while also attempting to form open and equal relationships.

Jane, as a child, was brought up by family members of a higher class and Elizabeth was self-educated and brought up by her family in a low class, neither treated well by those higher than them. Due to Jane being of a lower class than that of her aunt and cousins she is constantly treated like scum. Her cousins, especially John Reed, would bully her just for entertainment. Jane explains, “He bullied and punished me….every morsel of flesh on my bones shrunk when he came near” (Brontë 4). This caused Jane to constantly feel less than her cousins. At that young age she did not understand why she was treated this way and by her family no less. However, “Mrs. Reed was blind and deaf on the subject” (Brontë 4); She would always take her children’s side over Jane’s and would punish her for acting out. She could not fight back for the risk of being locked in a room for hours on end.

If we look back on the 19th century, we see masterpieces like Jane Eyre that dared to shatter the standard of the quintessential Victorian woman, obedient and tucked away at home. In an article by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Charlotte Brontë, the author of Jane Eyre, was described as dissatisfied by a culture that

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,

The novel in which Jane Eyre stars in can be seen criticizing many aspects of those times such as the role and nature of women, child negligence and social hardships for those in a lesser class. Jane Eyre’s alienation from society allows for a greater reveal of the story’s culture, values, and assumptions. It’s presented through the use of gender, class and character conflicts throughout the story. On multiple occasions, Jane is judged for the presented factors reflecting the type of society Jane lives in and what the times were like at that time.

The first type of abuse that Jane experiences is physical abuse. This is caused by John Reed. John is first introduced to the reader in the very first chapter of the book. He immediately shows dominance over Jane and treats her with disrespect. Pushed by his savage personality, John bullies Jane. For instance, in this chapter, John throws a book at Jane, causing her to fall and cut her head. This brutal behavior affects Jane and helps her to stand up for herself. Even though she does stands up for herself, John continues to bully her. Since Jane is considered nothing but a nuisance to the Reed’s, John blames his mistakes on Jane, and because of this, John’s punishments pass over to Jane. Although Bronte’s dynamic character, Jane, is changed from abuse displayed by the infamous John Reed, She continues to stand strong as best as she can. Eventually, Mrs. Reed sends Jane to a

The character of Jane Eyre refuses to blend into the traditional female position of subservience expected of the period. Although there had been Bildungsromans before ‘Jane Eyre’, as the first one told entirely by a female narrator, by its very nature, the novel could not help intersecting with every aspect of femininity of the 19th century, and as the novel repeatedly demonstrates, how intrusive and overbearing highly controlled patriarchy can go; “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 too rigid a restraint… precisely as men

Cinderella is a classic fairytale almost every person knows. Such recognition was earned through time and it’s originality. Yet from this well-known tale, many stories have stemmed into their own interesting aspects of virtually the same plot with similar characters. One of the related stories is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Brontë uses the main character Jane as Cinderella who finds her prince charming. Even though Jane Eyre contains more about human nature and less of magic, it still resembles the Cinderella archetype through Jane’s early life and her relationship with Rochester. This does not, however, help Jane Eyre, but makes it cliché.

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.

Throughout the book, Jane endures both physical and mental abuse from multiple individuals; however, she defies them by fighting back in her own way. The abuse starts at Gateshead when her older cousin, John Reed, verbally and physically assaults Jane. Brontë writes on page 12, “He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in a day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near.” Jane consciously chooses to defend herself after John strikes her on page 13 and 14, “I wonder if he read that notion in my face; for, all at once, without speaking, he struck suddenly and strongly. I tottered, and on regaining my equilibrium retired back a step or two from his chair…I don’t very well know what I did with my hands, but he called me…” Jane defies John’s authority as the man of the house by fighting back when he abuses her. By doing this, Jane breaks the typical Victorian gender-based ideal that a woman must obey and be complacent to the directive of any man in a higher position than her (Olga Zeltzer, Historical Analysis: Women as the "the Sex" During the Victorian Era). Jane’s actions,

In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane is an orphan who is often mistreated by the family and other people who surround her. Faced with constant abuse from her aunt and her cousins, Jane at a young age questions the treatment she receives: "All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sister’s proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a turbid well. Why was I always suffering, always brow-beaten, always accused, forever condemned?" (27; ch. 2). Despite her early suffering, as the novel progresses Jane is cared for and surrounded by various women who act as a sort of "substitute mother" in the way they guide,

Parallel to many of the great feministic novels throughout literary history, Jane Eyre is a story about the quest for authentic love. However, Jane Eyre is unique and separate from other romantic pieces, in that it is also about a woman searching for a sense of self-worth through achieving a degree of independence. Orphaned and dismissed at an early age, Jane was born into a modest lifestyle that was characterized by a form of oppressive servitude of which she had no autonomy. She was busy spending much of her adolescent years locked in chains, both imaginary and real, as well as catering to the needs of her peers. Jane was never being able to enjoy the pleasures and joys that an ordinary and independent child values. Jane struggles

We never lose sight that Jane is plain, ordinary, and not the sexually repressed spinster who cannot resist her sexuality, as portrayed in in the critic Mary Pooveys argument in her essay ‘The Anathematized Race’ (Reader p. 195) who states, ‘The figure who epitomised the Victorian domestic ideal was also the figure who tried to destroy it.’ (Reader, 195). On the contrary, Bronte used this uncertain profession for Jane to illustrate the difference in social class and to portray the story from both a servant’s and aristocratic point of view, (CD 3) whilst also depicting Jane’s journey from her humble beginnings to equal stature with the man she loved.

Jane Eyre is a story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued and belonging. However, this search is constantly hindered by her need for independence. She starts of as an unloved orphan who is desperate to find love and a purpose. For example, Jane says to Helen, “to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest”. However, over the course of the novel, Jane learns to gain love without harming herself in the process. Although she is despised by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, she finds parental figures throughout the book. Miss Temple and Bessie care for Jane and give her love and guidance. However, Jane does not feel as though she has found

Jane Eyre (1847) has been considered one of the classic English texts which celebrates the arrival to selfhood of Jane from the state of an uncared for orphan to a governess of a rich household and eventually as an heiress of Ferndean. English literature (as all other literatures of the world) has certain canonical texts, which are widely acclaimed and accepted as classics. In the classics, we expect to find the finest embodiment of a culture. However, in the post-colonial era literature is often read in a contrapuntal way to uncover the gaps. According to Said, such a reading bears witness to the worldliness of culture. The term reminds us that texts emerge from and have complex engagement with the historical, social and political conditions of their time, amongst which