Writers commonly create characters who are not content with their lives or circumstances within. These characters yearn for changes to these unfavorable aspects. However, once they become aware they are unable to make any alterations themselves, these characters often lose hope and resign themselves to a horrible fate. Authors commonly use such characters to create meaning in their works. One of these authors, Charlotte Brontë often conjured characters in this style to populate the worlds of her novels. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë writes of a wealthy man, Edward Rochester, chained to a mentally unstable woman through marriage; this adds to the meaning of the total novel. On the surface, Edward Rochester seems to live a perfect life full of traveling, money, …show more content…
However, the consequences of a mistake from his youth continue to haunt him throughout his life. At the age of twenty-one, Edward journeyed to Jamaica to marry a woman he had never met. His father had sent him in order to amass a small fortune from the girl’s family upon the union. Edward married the girl, Bertha Mason, believing he loved her, but he later claims it to be caused by “the idiotic rivalries of society, the prurience, the rashness, the blindness of youth” (Brontë 354). Rochester came to regret his marriage when he discovered the Mason family secret of a long line of insanity. He tries to accept his wife, but eventually comes to hate her. Edward reveals that he was unable to change the circumstances of his marriage when he states, “Bertha Mason, the true daughter of an infamous mother, dragged me through all the hideous and degrading agonies which must attend a man bound to a wife at once intemperate and unchaste. And I could not rid myself of it by any
In the climax of the novel Mr. Rochester is finally exposed by a lawyer stating: “‘It simply consists in the existence of a previous marriage. Mr. Rochester has a wife now living.’” (Brontё 186) All of Mr. Rochester's lies are put on display when a group of men including a lawyer and Mr. Mason accuse him of having a current wife. After this large accusation we see that the lies Mr.Rochester's told may only have been told in order for him to get exactly what he wanted. “Mr. Rochester continued, hardily and reckless: ‘Bigamy is a n ugly word!- I meant, however, to be a bigamist; but fate has out-manoeuvred me, or Providence has checked me,-perhaps the last.” (Brontё 188) We see here that Rochester cared more about his own happiness and pleasure then he did about moral right and wrongs. The story continues and everyone goes seeking proof of a Ms. Rochester which they find, this causes Jane to leave Mr. Rochester, punishing him for his
How Charlotte Bronte Creates Sympathy for Jane in the First Two Chapters of the Novel
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.
The major male character in Jane Eyre is Edward Rochester. His is a history of sin and redemption. Like Jane, he matures in his own way. He is presented as worldly-wise, unpredictable and even brash.
A flower stands high in an empty field. It moves with every gust of wind and grows with every sunny day. At a single moment any one of the seven billion people on this Earth could have plucked it from the soil, yet for now, it remains in an upright position. Much like this flower, throughout life people are continuously influenced by those around them. Every person is changed constantly by the people around them, and their future is always altered because of this. In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronté, Jane Eyre is impacted greatly by characters such as Mrs. Reed, Helen Burns, and Mrs. Temple. These characters, just like the flower at mercy its environment, had left a great impact on Jane.
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.
The word choice here reflects Jane's situation - she is like the ground, 'petrified' under the influence of her aunt, whose behaviour is mirrored in the term "hard frost" because of the icy discipline she bestows. Mrs Reed's attitude towards Jane highlights one of the main themes of the novel, social class. Jane's aunt sees Jane as inferior as she had humble beginnings: she is "less than a servant". Jane is glad to be leaving her cruel aunt and of having the chance of going to school.
I read the literary criticism titled Bronte’s JANE EYRE, by Julia Miele Rodas. This criticism was about how Bertha acts what Jane wishes she could outwardly express. She says that although we may see Bertha as Jane’s alter ego, she thinks “Miss Ingram may be seen as Bertha Mason’s doppelganger” as well as Grace Poole. She compares how the two look and act to show the similarities between the two. When talking about Grace Poole, Ms. Rodas states that “it is also significant that Jane constantly mistakes Grace Poole... for Bertha”. She thinks that this is Bertha’s way of being able to interact with the outside world.
Edward Rochester's daughter, Adele, is a constant reminder of his ex-wife's affair. Mr. Rochester finds pleasure in parties and traveling. He has obtained his fortune through his deceased father. Gentlemen inherit money and land and are born into the upper class. This is Jane's beginning of a new life on her own.
In the novel, Jane Eyre, the author Charlotte Brontë’s real life experiences influence the novel heavily throughout. Some of Brontë’s life events are paralleled through the novel and are morphed to fit the main character, Jane Eyre, with a similar but better life compared to Brontë’s. There are three major experiences that Jane encounters through her life in the novel that have a few correlations with Charlotte Brontë’s which are their childhood life and her experience in an impoverished school, and her work as a governess.
The belief that women should have equal economic, political and social rights which were offered to men was known as feminism. Feminism has been a prominent and controversial topic in writing for over two centuries, with the view articulating in the “19th century meaning that women were inherently equal to men and deserved equal rights and opportunities.” (Gustafson, 1) Many women throughout time have stood forward towards women’s rights. Jane Eyre was written and published during the Victorian Era. The novel was written by Charlotte Brontë, but published under the
Charlotte Bronte presents Rochester in many different ways. He comes from a rich family, and has a sophisticated personality. His attitude and behavior from the start of the book and the end of it has a dramatic change. Rochester corresponds to the mould of a Byronic Hero however, with his brave and humble actions, he starts to become less attractive as a hero. Moreover, one could argue although he is an unconventional hero he is appealing in both physical and mental ways. However, another could argue against this and find no attractive views of Rochester.
Rochester. At first Jane sees him as rude and disrespectful due to his cold and gruesome remarks, but it is her fight and how Jane stands up for herself that leads to one of the most known relationships in literature. Eventually Rochester asks Jane for her hand in marriage but at the scene of the wedding, we come to learn, that Rochester is already married to an insane woman, living in his attic, named Bertha. With this Rochester asks Jane to run away with her to Europe, this is exactly where Jane is faced with a very hard decision between following her heart as everyone wants to do, or keeping her respect and dignity. We can see the respect Jane now has from Rochester when he says to her, “I was wrong to attempt to deceive you; but I feared a stubbornness that exists in your character” (Bronte 354). This shows that Jane has gained Rochester’s respect and the ‘stubbornness’ in Jane’s character is the best thing for her, for without this trait Jane could never gain respect from others, especially men, in his novel. Knowing that Jane has decided to leave her, Rochester begins to persuade Jane to stay with him. He says, “Oh, Jane, this is bitter! This – this is wicked. It would not be wicked to love me” (Bronte 355). Jane replies, “It would to obey you” (Bronte 355), showing that she will not give into his pleading, regardless of how much she loves him because to obey him would lead to the loss
"red room" she is told by Miss Abbot: "No; you are less than a servant
The Gothic Features of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte A Gothic novel is a type of literature, which became very popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In this time, society was governed by strict moral codes. The "Gothics" would escape into a world of dark, supernatural and wild passions. The word 'Gothic' meant barbarous and wild and many writers liked to involve these elements in their novels.