Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte

Furthermore, this demeaning and negative attitude Jane is exposed to is further instigated when her cousin, John Reed, expresses her situation by saying: "You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us". The truth of Jane's unfortunate situation is expressed against her which results in her feeling no true support from this family and confides only in her childhood nursemaid- Bessie, who although behaves inconsistently and has “a capricious and hasty temper”, is the closest mother figure to her. Furthermore, the friction between Jane and John is further emphasised when the first physical aspect of violence is introduced to the reader through a graphic portrayal, further showing the ultimate rejection Jane experienced

Throughout the book Jane Eyre, the protagonist Jane goes through a variety of stages in her life where the setting/environment of where she lives in forms a part of her character and who she becomes as a person. The first setting in the novel is the Reed family’s home in Gateshead, England. As an orphan with no parents, she is taken in by Mrs. Reed who promised the late Mr.Reed to take care of Jane. Playing the role of the “mean stepmother”, Mrs. Reed as well as all of her cousins John, Eliza and Georgiana treat her as if she was a lowly, undeserving girl. At the fragile age of ten, Jane develops an almost rebellious character and has a lot of anger built inside of her because of feeling wronged by the unfortunate deeds of the Reed family that drives her to become lonely and miserable as a child. Being locked up in the red room also gave her a superstitious side that also proves as a part of the prejudices that form around her when people don’t

It instead shows Jane’s inner struggle to do what is “right” versus what she desires. The separation between the voice of herself and her thoughts exhibits her helplessness to change her path from what her mind has already decided. This displays the heavy influence society has on Jane, which is further proven by the personification of Jane’s two strongest rivaling emotions. The heavy influence of a patriarchal dominated society is evident in her “Conscience” being a strong male figure, whereas her “Passion” is a weaker, feminine figure. Similarly, the strongest reasoning for Jane to leave Thornfield is driven by the patriarchal demand for a female to remain “pure” until holy marriage, rather than Jane’s own desire to leave, further solidifying the idea that the voice given to her mind is not just her own internal thoughts, but also the demands and expectations of

In the first few opening chapters Jane Eyre is seen as a mentally and physically abused child, during her years at Gateshead Hall. John Reed displays violence towards Jane in the first chapter. He punishes and bullies Jane; it is not known why the Reed family resent her so much. Her situation is seen as desperate within the first few paragraphs. Her cousins and Aunt make her life impossible and unbearable, she is not seen as a member of the family. Jane is simply seen as ‘’less than a servant’’ as she does ‘’nothing for her keep’’.

Following the experiences of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, expresses many elements of gothic literature throughout her novel Jane Eyre. In her perfect understanding of gothic literature, she expresses the three types of evil commonly found in gothic literature, including the evil of the supernatural, the evil within or the instinctual evil motives of humans, and lastly, the evil because of societal influence. Jane Eyre experiences all of these three evils with her aunt and three cousins with her residency and return to Gateshead: Jane encounters the supernatural and the evil of societal influence as a child and she fully encounters the evil within upon her return.

“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?

The first chapter of Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, creates the feeling of constraint and imprisonment that the main character is experiencing. The author conveys this feeling to the readers by utilizing diction and imagery. With these literary elements the reader is able to comprehend the emotions the main character feels. Charlotte Bronte applies imagery to demonstrate how the character is affected by what she sees. In the chapter it states, "...

Brocklehurst was about to leave, he gave Jane a book called Child’s Guide and told her that a girl named Martha died a sudden death because she was “a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit” (Brontë 31). This further reveals the harshness of the real world to Jane. Some people, such as Mr. Brocklehurst, do not hold back their words, even against those who are much younger than them. Mr. Brocklehurst basically implies that Jane would die an early death by comparing Jane and her deceitfulness to Martha. Therefore, Jane learns she is unable to really stand up for herself even if she may be able to stand up against Mrs. Reed and her children. Essentially, she learns that sometimes obedience may be necessary to get on with life instead of constantly bashing heads with others, which reflects how she acted when she went to

Jane is a woman searching for where she belongs. In the exposition of the novel it is revealed that Jane has no knowledge of her

Brontë and Steinbeck are arguably two of the most prominent writers in English literature, parted by a ninety year time span and a difference in pre occupations, which could be due to their difference in gender. Jane Eyre and Curley’s wife are two of most different characters but similarly both used drive the plot. Both characters struggle to fit into society; Jane is belittled by her Aunt Reed and being kept apart from the other children in the Reed household. Similarly Curley’s wife is looked down upon by the men on the ranch, where she is named a ‘tart’ and ‘rat trap’ she uses her physical appearance to get attention. Both texts show the inequality of society through isolation of the characters.

The novel highlights the significance of class consciousness and how one particular class can become subjective to the hands of the dogmatic elites. The derogative attitudes regarding social class first occurs when Jane suffers horrible treatment from John Reed. He violently torments Jane and constantly reminds her that she is an orphan and a dependent of the Reed family, forcing into her mind that to be without a class is to be without worth. He imposes fear into Jane and reminding her that he is the superior being.

The issue of class is prevalent in the novel. The novel begins in Gateshead Hall when Jane must seat herself away from her aunt and cousins because she does not know how to speak pleasantly to them. She proceeds to seat herself in the breakfast room where she reads a book titled The History Of

The first chapter of Jane Eyre opens with the introduction of her environment and her cousins, one of them being the tyrannical John Reed. She is notably excluded from the group of her cousins huddling around their mother because she is unwanted. She finds peace in exclusion, reading her own book and being independent, yet John demands it that she be found immediately so he may presumably further exert his authority. It is at this point in the novel that there is light shed upon John’s apparent disaffection for the women in his family, possible sexism, and antagonism towards Jane. She is relentlessly bullied by John as he demands she refer to him as “Master Reed” as he bolsters his male superiority over the fragile young woman named Jane Eyre.

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre emerges with a unique voice in the Victorian period for the work posits itself as a sentimental novel; however, it deliberately becomes unable to fulfill the genre, and then, it creates an altogether divergent novel that demonstrates its superiority by adding depth of structure in narration and character portrayal. Joan D. Peters’ essay, Finding a Voice: Towards a Woman’s Discourse of Dialogue in the Narration of Jane Eyre positions Gerard Genette’s theory of convergence, which is that the movement of the fiction towards a confluence of protagonist and narrator, is limited as the argument does not fully flesh out the parodies that Charlotte Bronte incorporates into her work. I will argue that in the novel

An obscure orphan governess, perceived to be too young, too penniless, too insignificant to control her own life, defied societal conventions of her time, and remains relevant to this day. Why does this poor, plain governess with no financial prospects or social standing matter in a modern feminist perspective? If she could speak, a modern feminist’s beliefs would likely shock her, so to interpret this novel as feminist, one must see it through the lens of the time and place Brontë wrote it. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was a feminist work in that Bronte expressed disdain for oppressive gender structures through the voice of Jane Eyre, and the actions of Bertha Mason.