Examples Of Stress In Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre's literary success of the time has been cheaply commercialized. In other words, Bronte's novel never got the appreciation it deserved, in the areas it deserved. Many 19th century critics merely assigned literary themes to their reviews to "get it over with". Critics commended Jane Eyre for everything from its themes to its form. However, their surface examinations amount to nothing without careful consideration of the deeper underlying background in Jane's life where their hasty principles originate. The widely discussed free will of Jane's, her strong individuality, and independence are segments of a greater scheme, her life. For example: Jane's childhood serves as the

The first manifestation that will be examined in this chapter is hysteria. While there existed different forms of hysteria, this section of the chapter will focus on the aspect that it was considered a disease that affected women more than men due to their weakness and susceptibility to emotions. Several publications were written about women and hysteria, or they were written geared toward women about dealing with hysteria. Women were viewed as unable to control their bodies, being described as the “feebler sex” and meek. Inasmuch, when struck with a hysterical paroxysm – a medical term for an attack or episode – they were rendered helpless. As stated by Robert Brudenell Carter, a nineteenth-century physician and ophthalmic surgeon, based on the research conducted during this time, it was decided that there were ‘satisfactory reason[s] for the greater proclivity of the female sex to hysteria, and also for the absolute rarity of its occurrence in man.’ Furthermore, even though hysteria affected both males and females, in the nineteenth century it was seen as an illness that was prone to the female sex. This view flooded into society and thus created the many public debates on the discourse of the illness, along with the literary responses such as Jane Eyre.

Rounded, changing, and progression. Pride and prejudice written in 1813, by Jane Austen, and Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte in rural Victorian England are both classics and contain dynamic characters at center stage. Thus main characters should be dynamic, for three reasons. One the reader understands the growth of the character. Second the story is more exiting with dynamic characters. Finally it makes conflicts and it also creates several foils.

Phrenology is the study of attributing specific personality traits and behaviors to specific portions of the head, and was discovered by Franz Joseph Gall sometime in either the 18th or 19th century (Gross). The word phrenology is derived from two Greek words meaning "mind" and "knowledge" (Price). His revolutionary, although faulty and erroneous, science of the mind changed the study of psychology. Victorian England was a supporter of Gall's work, and was a popular method of trying to understand the fellow man. Jane Eyre, a novel written by Charlotte Brontë, depicts many unique characters, including that of the main protagonist.

I was experiencing an ordeal: a hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals. Terrible moment: full of struggle blackness, burning! No human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better then I was loved; and him who thus loved me I absolutely worshipped: and I must renounce love and idol. (311; ch. 27)

In her 1977 essay, “Plain Jane’s Progress,” Sandra M. Gilbert argues that in Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre the protagonist, Jane Eyre, struggles with the emotional dilemma of being logical vs. irrational. Gilbert writes, “the sequence of ideas expressed in the famous passage beginning ‘anybody may blame me who likes’ is as logical as anything in an essay by, say, Wollstonecraft or Mill. What is somewhat irrational, however ,is the restlessness and passion/the pacing ‘backwards and forwards’ which as it were italicize Jane's little meditation on freedom.” She writes that throughout the book Jane does have a mental struggle with these two concepts; however, there are also elements of passion vs. principle. In the early years of Jane’s life no one

Bertha Mason has become quite the literary character since Charlotte Brontë wrote her in Jane Eyre in 1847. As discussed in chapter one, there was a social correlation between women and hysteria. While the raw facts show otherwise, there was a great fear that a woman could be falsely committed or locked away in her home by her husband. Jane Eyre is a novel that plays upon that fear and brings these frightening scenarios to life. Brontë's depiction of Bertha Mason also reveals how a woman with hysteria was viewed. It is not an understandable portrayal, and Jane is visceral with her descriptions of the hysterical woman. The aim of this chapter is to argue that Bertha Mason is a literary response to the public debates of mental illness, specifically hysteria in women. This chapter will begin with an analysis of her character, from her description to her actions. Following this, there will be a deeper examination into how nineteenth-century psychiatry handled the symptoms of hysteria that are portrayed in the novel. This analysis will show how Brontë used the knowledge available to society to exploit the fear of wives being mistreated while using current treatment methods. By the end of this chapter, there will be a clear understanding of how nineteenth-century literature responded to the public debates on hysteria in women.

Many issues of adulthood are deeply rooted in a traumatic childhood. Abuse, neglect, alienation- all metaphoric 'weapons' of childhood that leave psychological wounds that seldom heal. The survivors of these incidents grow up to be impaired when establishing independence and attempting to form stable relationships. The victims of this childhood trauma get what they want by doing what they do best: being the victim in every situation. They are interdependent in every aspect of their lives; unable to freely make decisions. Their relationships will ultimately be destroyed by the things that make them most happy. In Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, this was definitely the case. Abandoned by everyone she loved, Jane was left to fend for herself.

The narrator is a newlywed by the name of Jane who accepts her husband's words as if by law and it drives her to insanity. John’s character hinders her mental deterioration because of his certainty in his decision for his wife's treatment as both her physician and husband. Still, she puts John’s words above her own and gives him full authority and essentially, loses not only control of her body but lastly, her mind. John tells Jane to control her imagination and prohibits her from writing a journal. To appease John, Jane must ignore her own needs and pretend that his treatments are working. In the story, John tells her to harness her imagination. Jane is compromised because if she denies John’s proposed treatment, she seems unwise and irrational.

Bertha Mason has become a significant literary character since Charlotte Brontë included her in Jane Eyre in 1847. As discussed in chapter one, there was a social correlation between women and hysteria, and a great fear by women of false committals or home imprisonment by their husbands. Jane Eyre is a novel that plays upon that fear and brings these frightening scenarios to life. Brontë's depiction of Bertha Mason also reveals society’s views of hysteria. This is an illness that is difficult to understand, and Jane’s descriptions of the hysterical woman have a visceral feel to them. This chapter will argue that Bertha Mason is a literary response to public debates concerning mental illness, specifically hysteria in women. It will begin with an analysis of her character, from her description to her actions. This analysis will show how Brontë used the knowledge available to society to exploit the fear of the mistreatment of wives while using current treatment methods. This chapter aims to read Bertha Mason not only as the hysterical woman but as a figurative illustration in the novel.

Born in 1860 in a small northern village of Cedarville, Jane grew up well educated and fairly wealthy. Jane was guided by her father, a self-made business man and a supporter of Abraham Lincoln. As a child, she influenced herself in literary classics and she was a highly outstanding student at Rockford Seminary. After graduation, discovering her own role was not done very easily. Jane suffered a long period of illness, physical and psychological. Jane´s depression was caused by the sudden death of her father on August 17, 1881.

Female hysteria was a constant theme throughout Victorian novels, it was a taboo subject that intrigued thousands, one example being Charlotte Brontë’s, an English Author, novel Jane Eyre. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Edward Rochester has his first wife, Bertha Antoinetta Mason, locked in the attic of his mansion for ten years until she kills herself in a fire she started. This novel was written in 1847 and people with mental illnesses were still being shut off from society, they were the skeletons in the closet. As shown by Rochester’s thoughts, “That woman [Bertha], who has so abused your long - suffering, so sullied your name, so outraged your honour, so blighted your youth… Place her in safety and comfort: shelter her degradation with secrecy, and

simply, it is the story of a woman who began her life with nothing but

This novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë is about the life a woman named Jane Eyre undergoing many changes that wound up shaping the person she had eventually grown up to be. This type of novel which accounts for the psychological development of the protagonist as they grow up is known a bildungsroman. One particular moment or action, which accounts for Jane’s psychological development, that is described in this novel is the adoption of Jane by her relatives known as the Reed family (Chapter 3).

Female hysteria was a constant theme throughout British Victorian novels; it was a subject that intrigued thousands yet at the same time was considered taboo, one example being Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Edward Rochester has his first wife, Bertha Antoinetta Mason, locked in the attic of his mansion for ten years until she kills herself in a fire. This novel was written in 1847 and yet people with mental illnesses were still being shut off from society, they were the skeletons in the closet. As shown by Rochester’s thoughts, “That woman [Bertha], who has so abused your long-suffering, so sullied your name, so outraged your honour, so blighted your youth… shelter her degradation with secrecy, and leave her.” Rochester justified locking his ‘mad’ wife in