Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte

Great feminist writers, such as Zora Neale Hurston and Betty Friedan, have been openly outspoken against misogyny in their societies. Charlotte Bronte, a prisoner of the strict and proper Victorian society, speaks out against gender inequality in a subtle manner, as her environment limits her voice. Bronte illuminates the misogynistic and sexist attitudes of the Victorian era in Jane Eyre through the relationships between the protagonist, Jane, and the male characters in the book, through the treatment of madwoman Bertha Mason, and through the inner monologue of Jane herself.

The Victorian Era encompassed a time of great discrepancy between the sexes, especially for women. The polarization of gender roles reflected on a basis of gender sexuality where men and women were granted certain advantages and disadvantages. Women were expected to realize a specific position in society based on morals of submission, passivity, and a complete lack of selfishness and independence. Constrictive notions such as these prevent individual expression and expansion. Therefore, while struggling to fill the pre-conceived expectancies of society, one forces true desires and happiness to pass as a scant priority. Charlotte Brontë's Victorian novel, Jane Eyre, explores the significance of individual fulfillment in an oppressive

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

Brontë shapes her female character in such a way that she deals with her “hunger, rebellion and anger” (Gilbert and Guber, 1979: 360), without entering into a visible conflict with society. Thus, Jane does not openly challenge the Victorian patriarchal system, because she knows how to encompass the imposed standards without letting them run her

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

“This book might have been written by a woman but certainly not a lady.” It is bildungsromane (Triska); a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist (Dictionary.com). Jane Eyre was a very shy, plain, and reserved person. Even though she had a very plain look she had a passion that wasn’t expected of her (Green). She also had hopes and dreams and aspirations. So I wonder, how might Jane Eyre react to the women of today?

This purpose of this essay is to examine Charlotte Bronte’s analysis of Victorian gender roles found within Jane Eyre. For most readers, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is much more than an iconic Gothic novel set within the Victorian Era. In my opinion, it’s a story about a young woman who not only defies gender role, but also the social class in an attempt to live her life; but in her own way. On top of that, readers began to view Jane as a somewhat unexpected heroine of Bronte’s novel, that while facing innumerable obstacles within a tough social class, becomes something more by the end of the story. I believe that another purpose for Bronte’s novel is to show readers that women like Jane Eyre can rise above the oppressive environment of

The 1847 novel Jane Eyre follows the main character throughout her eventful life in Victorian England, allowing readers to watch the young, unruly orphan flourish into a successful, content woman. On the simplest level, the work is a classic gothic tale showcasing fear, passion, and love. While it is evident that the story utilizes emotion, looking deeper into the text is essential to understanding the underlying motive behind Brontë’s decision to include these emotional aspects in the first place. Looking through the feminist lens of literary criticism, Jane Eyre not only highlights the oppression of women during the time, but specifically focuses on the part that emotion plays in female mistreatment. Shannon O’Byrne, author of “Law and Emotion in Brontë’s Jane Eyre”, claims that the work exposes the association of women with hysteria during the Victorian era, and is correct in her analysis of the feminist message within the novel as shown through the main female character’s, Jane and Bertha’s, passionate acts and their outcomes.

Using Jane’s interactions with other characters, Bronte is able to accentuate the unequal treatment of women in her story while also alluding to women’s societal positions in the actual time period. Annimaria Tiainen analyzes Bronte’s incorporation of feminism in her thesis “Becoming Jane: Identity, Dependency, and Autonomy in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre” and provides acumen on why Bronte

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

It is often said that it is the role of literature to challenge and confront the conventional values of a society. In the novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte the idea of challenging and confronting conventional values is stressed often. Perhaps it is in relation to the author herself, as seen in the autobiographical elements recognizable throughout the novel. Some of these autobiographical elements include the form of which the novel is written in, called Bildungsroman where the story is focused around the growth from child to adult and all of the positives and negatives that fall in between. With the setting of the novel, society places a high value on the conventional ideas involved in this progression. The conventional values of society have been challenged in multiple ways in the novel including, illegitimacy, the gap between social classes, and both religion and law, to a great extent.

In Charlotte Bronte 's transitioning novel Jane Eyre, the fundamental character Jane not just battles with the parts of social class deviations additionally her voyage to locate her own confidence in God and religion. On her trip she experiences three enormously extraordinary minor departure from Christian confidence, all of which, however she at last rejects, help her reach her own decisions of her own confidence and deep sense of being. Her first genuine addressing of religion is with her companion and Lowood school Helen Burns. Jane observes Helen to be gently dedicated in her confidence in God, and Jane appreciates her for it. In any case, Jane battles to acknowledge Helen 's uninvolved view, as it does not have the understanding that Jane looks for. Likewise, at Lowood Jane experiences the proprietor of the school Mr. Brocklehurst, who goes about as a tyrant over the young ladies and instructors at Lowood. His religious goals are those of yield yet it is obvious that Mr. Brocklehurst takes no thought of these goals in his own way of life. Jane promptly rejects Mr. Brocklehurst 's perspective as it is so clearly fraudulent. At long last Jane meets her cousin St. John, a pastor. After watching him and watching one of his sermons she understands that however he is driven and energetic his perspectives concentrate on "disturbing goals" as restrict to the elevating of deep sense of being. She understands that St. John does not have a genuine comprehension of what confidence

In “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte, Jane finds herself loved by two different men, with two different intentions, and two different personalities. On one hand is Edward Rochester, who inherited a large fortune from his father. He was burned by past relationships before he met Jane. St. John Rivers, a minister from Morton, is cold and reserved. In many ways he serves as a FOIL character to Rochester. The latter part of the novel deals with Jane’s struggle to choose between the two men, where she ultimately chooses Rochester. With feminism being a strong theme of “Jane Eyre”, Bronte gave Jane a powerful voice, and a sensible thought process. The decision to marry Rochester was based on her independent views and obstinate personality.

In a time period where women were unequal and unheard in society, Charlotte Brontë expresses her feminist ideals through her novel Jane Eyre, an unexpected love story between an unlikely pair. During her work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane gets to know her master, Mr. Rochester, very well and begins to fall in love with him. Jane at first forbids herself from a courtship because of the class difference between them; however, in time she learns that the feelings of love are mutual and they plan to marry. Unfortunately, a lawyer interrupts their wedding and claims Mr. Rochester has a living wife, which proves true when Mr. Rochester introduces Jane to Bertha, his insane spouse. Unwilling to be Rochester 's mistress, Jane flees him and finds work, only to realize that her employer is her cousin and that her uncle left her with a large sum of money. Now equal in rank to Rochester, Jane seeks him out and finds out that his wife died burning Thornfield Hall to the ground, which means that Jane can finally marry Rochester. Although it cannot be classified as a gothic novel, Brontë purposefully includes elements of Gothic literature to cause changes in the plot that identify feminist characteristics in the main character, Jane Eyre. Multiple supernatural occurrences certainly act as catalysts for changes that reveal Jane 's independence. Places such as the red-room and events like Bertha 's introduction and the answer to Jane’s prayer serve as stimuli for major plot shifts

“ . . . Women feel just as men feel . . . they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation . . . ” (Brontë 129-130). Charlotte Brontë, one of six Brontë siblings, was a feminist author who lived and wrote during the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was a time when England was going through a slow but significant change, mainly surrounding the Industrial Revolution, but still preceding the days of any major feminist movements. Brontë was angered that she had to write under a fake male name in order to have Jane Eyre published and read. Nevertheless, she was still completely focused on addressing issues concerning women, education, and marriage. Combining these topics, she produced one of the most popular novels in