Bronte's Objectification Of Women In Jane Eyre

  The Victorian era in England marked a period of unprecedented technological, scientific, political, and economic advancement.  By the 1840s, the English had witnessed remarkable industrial achievements including the advent of the railways and the photographic negative.  They had witnessed the expansion of the Empire, and, as a result, were living in a time of great economic stability.  Yet they had also seen thousands of people starving-and dying-due to the Irish potato famine and poor conditions and benefits in British factories and witnessed the entire order of society questioned as the working classes began to demand representation in Parliament.    The English also experienced biological

    At first glance and under insufficient scrutiny, the persona of Jane Eyre reflects a slightly expanded Cinderella character. But Jane Eyre's personality and life delve much deeper than a superfluous "rags to riches" story. Her identity is as complex as literature can convey and her characteristics are manifested through several subtle parallels. These parallels relate to objects and nature, but mostly to one particular individual in the novel. A seemingly exact opposite of the persona's placid character, the maniacal Bertha Mason actually personifies an inner part of Jane, the part of her personality that longs to live free but goes crazy under the oppression of society, and especially

Charlotte Bronte created one of the first feminist novels--Jane Eyre--of her time period when she created the unique and feminist female heroine, Jane Eyre. Throughout the novel, Jane becomes stronger as she speaks out against antagonists. She presses to find happiness whether she is single or married and disregards society’s rules. The novel begins as Jane is a small, orphan child living with her aunt and cousins due to the death of her parents and her uncle. Jane 's aunt--Mrs. Reed--degrades her as she favors her biological children. Jane 's aunt--Mrs. Reed--degrades her as she favors her biological children. Her cousin--John Reed--hits her and then Mrs. Reed chooses to punish her instead and sends her to the room in which her uncle

Novels are necessarily demonstrative as they give form to a world totally at the author’s disposal not to assert his point but to display it and thus memorable, relatable, and complex books reinforce the author’s point through every action or thought of the main character allowing their meanings and implications to transgress their temporal restrictions. Charlotte Brontë successfully escapes the fetters of her historical period in Jane Eyre which provides meaningful and dense passages that illuminate Jane’s character through her description, analysis, and interaction with her environment, constantly pushing Jane’s inner conflict to the foreground, making her stream of consciousness the constant that unifies the whole work. The feud between

Furthermore, Jane says “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” (Chapter 27, Bronte.) This statement greatly represents the growth that Jane has undergone. She no longer dreads the solitude that once haunted her because she respects herself enough to realize that she did not deserve to experience such great dismay. Through independence and self-recognition, Jane has discovered the importance of loving oneself. Without the reliance on the thoughts of others, the once extremely troubled girl found bliss through a lack of outside control. In regards to her relationship with Mr. Rochester, Jane understands that she must leave him behind to maintain her own well-being. She does not allow the wealth or proclaimed love from Rochester to skew her decisions and she does not linger to dominate the life of her lover. Instead, she moves forward to continue her endless pursuit of happiness and independence.

This extract from Jane Eyre sees Brontë, in one sense, overturning the gender and social constructions of the mid-Nineteenth century. However, overwhelming, she reinforces that Rochester and Jane’s relationship is one of insurpassable inequality. Jane’s Confirming her view of female independence earlier in Chapter 12, ‘It is thoughtless to condemn [women] […] if they seek to do more or learn more,’ (Jane Eyre, p.95) Jane rises above the constraints of her status as a ‘poor, obscure, plain and little,’ woman, through her retort towards Rochester, where she condemns him, who is superior to her societally, for his behaviour towards her.

Charlotte Bronte’s beloved novel Jane Eyre stepped out of the literary world and into our own when The Hale Center Theatre in Orem, Utah set this moving story to the stage.

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

Charlotte Brontë’s nineteenth-century Victorian novel discusses the effects that gender has on male and female paradigms. Rochester was married to Bertha Mason, who is characterized as “the madwoman in the attic.” He locks his wife in the attic because he cannot control her disability and marries Jane Eyre, a young governess. Jane abandons Rochester at the altar because he lies about being married. However, Jane later returns when Rochester becomes disabled.

of Currer Bell in 1847. It is a semi autobiography and is a mixture of

The nineteenth century Victorian era woman needed wealth or position to avoid a life of drudgery.  Women were viewed as trophies or possessions men owned.  They were not permitted to develop nor expected to, and even venturing out on their own was considered inappropriate.  During the era in which Jane Eyre was published the home and family were seen as the basic unit of stability in society.  At the middle of this foundation stood a wife and mother representing the sum total of all morality - a Madonna-like image.  This image was reinforced by social institutions such as mainstream religious and political beliefs.  Women were steered away from independence, confidence, and

In theory, the opinions that people form of each other should be based on things that they have complete control over: their actions, their words, and the personality that they convey. However, more often than not, the factors that play a role in who we confide in are out of the person’s control. Traits like gender, religion, social status, race, and physical appearance can all play a role in the way we view each other, and can impact the opportunities that are available to us. Although this is unjust, prejudice was much deeper rooted and more problematic in the time of Charlotte Bronte, the author of the novel Jane Eyre. The novel depicts a young woman who strives to be viewed as an equal and yearns to be free from the grasp of the metaphorical cage that

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’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

Jane Eyre was written in a time where the Bildungsroman was a common form of literature. The importance was that the mid-nineteenth century was, "the age in which women were, for the first time, ranked equally with men as writers within a major genre" (Sussman 1). In many of these novels, the themes were the same; the protagonist dealt with the same issues, "search for autonomy and selfhood in opposition to the social constraints placed upon the female, including the demand for marriage" (Sussman). Jane Eyre fits this mould perfectly. Throughout the novel, the reader follows Jane Eyre on a journey of development from adolescence to maturity to show that a desire for freedom and change motivates people to search for their own identity.