All The Single Ladies Queen B (a.k.a Beyonce) once quoted, “We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” Beyonce is a strong successful woman who is known for her songwriting, singing , dancing etc. Women all over the world look up to her and get drunk in love because of the empowering effects she has on everyone. In this statement, she explains how women should do what they are capable of. She wants to see women flourish and take leadership with ambition. Women are misconstrued everyday due to their gender. However, if every woman looks at herself as someone who is able to take control then as a whole gender, society will change. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, is about a woman named Jane, who grew up as an orphan tells the story about her life from her brutal childhood with her aunt to her love life in the grand Thornfield. Jane has up and downs throughout her whole life but no …show more content…
Jane lived with her aunt Mrs. Reed, for most of her childhood at Gateshead. However, one day after being fed up with Mrs. Reed, Jane outbursts, “‘I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty’” (Bronte 35). During this conversation with Mrs. Reed Jane expresses hostility towards her aunt for the insolent treatment she endured most of her childhood. She defends herself knowing the consequences could harshly affect her. As a vulnerable eight year old having the ability to stand up for herself, portrays Jane as an empowered female character who shows leadership. With that she’s not only able to take that position of being brave but also staying genuine throughout her
In the early chapters of the novel Jane Eyre, our heroine resides at Gateshead and Lowood school; her character immediately inspires pity from the readers. She is an outcast within her own family, the Reeds, and is considered less than a servant. John Reed bullies her to the extent that she fears him, introducing weakness as one of her character flaws. Jane is somewhat jealous of her cousins’ lack of punishment and condemnation, although she believes they were “not fit to associate with [her]” (Bronte, 35). She feels wrongly accused, leading to a growing bitterness towards those who have treated her so harshly.
As for Jane’s relationship to Mrs. Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst, she shares some of the deep antipathy towards them as they do her. However, the authority the two adults have over her, the child, prevents her from responding to their hatred of her in a comparable manner. She does not remain silent, though, in one of her last encounters with Mrs. Reed, in which she promises to reveal Mrs. Reed’s improper treatment of her and vows to never call her “aunt” again. While it shows the enmity runs both between adult and child, only the adult has license to fully express
This passage appears in the beginning of the novel in Chapter 4. In this passage, Jane throws an outburst at her aunt, Mrs. Reed before she leaves Gateshead and attends Lowood School.
This creates a belittling tone that illustrates the strained relationship between them, conveying Jane’s inability to connect with people during her childhood. In addition, Bronte illustrates Mrs Reed’s domineering behaviour by saying, ‘’Be seated. Remain silent’’ These demanding imperatives convey that Jane is not as important as Mrs Reed’s other children, which demeans
Blanche Ingram is the most important woman, other than Jane Eyre, in the novel. Arguably, she is the most important antagonist in this book. It is difficult to fathom how an absolutely horrid, conceited, venal, apathetic creature could be so vital to the book; but take her away, the motivation, conflict, and character itself crumbles.
After she leaves, Jane finds her distant cousins and lives with them and even gains a large sum of money from her ancestors. Again, Bronte is showing the good things that come from Jane’s
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 Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre is the story of an orphaned ten-year-old girl name Jane Eyre, who overcomes abuse and neglect to discover compassion and love. Jane lives with the Reed family at Gateshead Hall, who was despised Jane, and she is bullied by Mrs. Reed and her son, John. John bullied her when she was reading the book, he threw the book at her head, John tortured Jane mercilessly and cruelly. Jane totally afraid of John, but she didn’t cry and cower under him. She did try to avoid him, but when he throws her book, she retaliates and fights back. Mrs. Reed sends Jane into the red room for the punishment where her uncle died, and for Jane this room represents terror and death. Jane said everything she thought about Mrs. Reed
From childhood, Jane had a tendency to speak her mind due to her passionate nature. When she became aware that she would be leaving Gateshead to attend school, Jane confronted her aunt about how terribly Jane had been treated. The novel compares her passion and bursts of emotion to a fire. “A ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring, would have been a meet emblem of my mind when I accused and menaced Mrs. Reed.” (Bronte 31).
The only time that a member of the Reed family speaks to Jane is when they are belittling her, hoping to further assert their elite dominance over the lower class. In one particular quarrel, John Reed, the oppressive “Roman emperor” and “slave driver,” throws a book at Jane’s head to physically proclaim his dominance over her, to which Jane responds by verbally firing back at his elitist oppression. (Brontë 13) The battle between the social classes concludes with Jane being banished to the horrifying red-room as punishment for attempting to overthrow the elite power, John Reed, even though John was the clear instigator of the scuffle. Jane is later condemned by the house servants for her attempt to overthrow her “young master.” Jane and John are both children, but due to the wealth and status of his parents, John is allowed to rule over Jane, making Jane, as the Gateshead servants would describe, “‘less than a servant’” because she does nothing for her keep. (Brontë 15) Jane continuously faces this maltreatment at Gateshead until an outburst directed towards Mrs. Reed causes her to be sent away to Lowood school, a place where Mrs. Reed hopes Jane will perhaps be taught to conform to the societal norm of how a young girl like Jane should act in
However, Jane stays faithful and finds her way in life despite being alone. The theme of this Victorian novel symbolized Jane’s self-reliance through examples such as, John Reed throwing a book at her, Mr. Brocklehurst calling her a liar in front of the entire school, and Mr. Rochester not telling her about his wife. In the beginning of the novel, Jane lived with Aunt Ms. Reed; during her stay with the Reed’s Jane was mistreated. The Reeds
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
Growing up with her Aunt and cousins, Jane learned quickly to gain a voice with which she could defend herself. Jane and Mrs. Reed’s relationship is described discourteously. Jane is aware of her Aunt’s feelings towards her, as she admits to knowing, “‘My uncle Reed is in heaven, and can see all you do and think; and so can papa and mama: they know how you shut me up all day long, and how you wish me dead’” (Bronte, 18). Jane recognizes early in life that there will be people who despise her even when she has done nothing to deserve it. Throughout her childhood, Jane
In this novel, Jane finds herself in both negative and positive relationships. Her most prominent negative relationship is none other than with her Aunt Reed. Examples of this are seen almost every time they interact, which is scattered throughout the book. One of the first examples that can be found in the novel is when Mrs. Reed leaves Jane in the Red Room, even though Jane expresses how frightened she is. “‘Silence! This violence is almost repulsive:’…Mrs Reed, impatient of my now frantic anguish and wild sobs, abruptly thrust me back and locked me in, without further parley” (Brontë 22). Mrs. Reed severely haunted Jane during her childhood. She was awful, cruel, and just plain mean to Jane, a young, orphaned child. Jane even repeatedly called Mrs. Reed “aunt”, a term of relation for Mrs. Reed, and being rejected and met with abhorrence instead of love or even pity took a toll on Jane. Jane’s attitude and reaction to Mrs. Reed, mostly because of this specific situation, included something close to loathing as well. She knew from all of her experiences with Mrs. Reed that she would not be able to trust her, but later, Jane did pardon her, illuminating an aspect of Jane’s true character, being forgiveness, even to a woman who felt nothing short of disgust for her. Furthermore, in a conversation between the now delirious, dying Mrs. Reed, and the adult Jane, Mrs. Reed reveals concepts to the reader. “‘I have had more trouble with that child than anyone would believe. Such a
Readers learn early in the story that Jane Eyre does not fit contemporary society's idea of a proper woman. As a child, Jane stands up to her aunt, Mrs. Reed, on more than one recorded occasion when Jane feels she has been treated unjustly (Brontë 28, 37). At one point, Jane bluntly tells her aunt, "I declare, I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed [Jane's cousin]" (37). This was at best improper behavior for a child in Victorian society, and it was most definitely seen as improper by Mrs. Reed who grows to hate Jane, calling her "tiresome, ill-conditioned" and "scheming" (26). But her aunt's reprimands and hatred do not deter Jane from speaking up in the face of injustice.