In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte employs birds a symbol to highlight important themes in her novel. While birds traditionally symbolize freedom and expression, Bronte employs them to show independence (or a lack of), freedom, and rifts in social class. Bronte also depicts some of her most prominent characters as birds such as Jane, Rochester, Bertha, and even Rochester’s guests. Through the use of bird symbolism Bronte highlights important topics in her novel, while giving the reader a deeper understanding of her most prominent characters. Bronte assesses birds as a symbol to represent Jane’s quest for independence and her desire to define individuality. Since “the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge,” Bronte moves Jane from one …show more content…
Jane yearns for independence and fights “like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation” to obtain it (Bronte 483). However, when she states “I have spoken my mind, and can go anywhere now” (Bronte 483), Jane fulfills her ability to exert her opinions and to make decisions for herself. Bronte illustrates Jane as “a vivid, restless, resolute captive “who desperately tries to gain freedom (Bronte 263). Before realizing her true potential Jane acts like “a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage” (Bronte 263). Bronte depicts Jane as “curious” not because she loves learning new things, but because of the irony of her situation. Jane’s situation creates irony since birds escape their troubles through flying away, but without the use of her metaphorical wings, society smothers Jane’s independent spirit and urges her to conform to societal norms. Bronte chose to include irony since it showcased Jane’s struggle to escape society’s influence, even though Jane will never be completely free of its steely grasp. Without its constant influence, Jane …show more content…
Bronte defines Jane’s quest through the use of bird symbolism that highlights Jane’s ability to express herself and to make decisions for herself. Throughout the novel Bronte develops Jane’s potential to do great things, but society hinders her potential due to her confinement in the “close-set bars of a cage” (Bronte 263). After finally leaving the horrid conditions at Gateshead Jane thought that she would become free, but instead found herself in a new form of a cage at Lowood. Jane bounces from one cage to the next and it is not until she leaves Thornfield that she realizes her standing as “a free human being with an independent will” (Bronte 483). After leaving Thornfield she “gained the strength to begin to discover her real place in the world (Gilbert and Gubert 364).” She “stood erect before him” and looks him directly in the eye, instead of looking at the ground (Bronte 483). She finally realizes that “your will shall decide your destiny” and that no one has the power to control her (Eyre 483). After this realization, she transforms into a free spirit that is capable of independent thought and movement. She lives as free as a bird, literally and figuratively, for the first time in her life. Bronte assess Jane’s journey for freedom through the use of bird symbolism that showcases Jane breaking out of her cage and experiencing freedom for the first
The link between Jane and birds is strengthened after she leaves Gateshead and moves to Lowood Institution. Bronte foreshadows poor nutrition at the school through a hungry bird whom Jane gives the remains of her breakfast. "My vacant attention soon found livelier attraction in the spectacle of a little hungry robin, which came and chirruped on the twigs of the leafless cherry-tree" (41; ch. 4). This description of a hungry bird allows the reader to understand Jane’s compassion for others, and her willingness to give. It also seems to foreshadow Jane’s struggle at Lowood with poor nutrition and moreover how she is forced to share her meals with other students:
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” (P. 319) Jane boldly confesses. Jane is a ten-year-old underprivileged orphan who is growing up in the Victorian era, while having to go through a challenging series of constant disrespect, neglect, and drudgery. Charlotte Brontë’s, most well know book, Jane Eyre deserves to continue being published, since it shows relevancy to today’s readers, by demonstrating how Jane is a female protagonist, while being a female heroine, who believes in self-respect and equality. While she challenges authority, at Gateshead, Lowood, and Thronfield.
In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the heroine is portrayed as a neglected individual who desperately wishes to learn the skill of escaping the imprisonment of the troubled mind. Literary critic Nina Baym claims that Jane’s goal is to assert her dominance rather than to gain independence. However, in several parts of the novel, Jane is vocal about her desire to make it on her own without the assistance of money, love, or affection. She would rather be freed of any restraints that may hold her hostage than dominate the life of another.
Hence, Bronte used bird imagery to imitate human behaviour and feelings, allowing a connection between emotions and nature; she also used Birds to describe Jane’s progression over time. However, in contrast the images Jane looks at are not of pretty birds, but bleak shorelines. Jane is like a bird, she longs to fly away, but she is not beautiful she is plain and bleak, and feels trapped like a caged bird.
Jane’s approach could be considered romantic and embodies conventional feminist concepts; she remains headstrong and stubborn in the face of injustice. The representation of Jane as a strong, independent woman upholds the belief that woman can achieve their goals. Jane does precisely this; she marries Rochester, becomes a part of a family as well as gains financial independence. The way in which Bronte represents Jane is emphasized through her narrative stance. The reader is presented with a firm and rebellious character, her diction is simple and assertive. She addresses the reader directly and is able to identify and challenge the problems she faces with determination. Furthermore Jane is able to identify and comment on how she feels woman are subjugated by their society; she denounces that “woman are supposed to be very calm generally: but woman feel just as men feel […]” (Bronte
Bronte effectively uses the archetype of nature to furthermore portray Jane’s emotions and tell the audience how Jane truly feels in her current situation.
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, builds up a sense of isolation and a sense of constraint through Bronte’s diction. Bronte as well invokes us to feel what the main character, Jane, feels by giving us the feeling Jane is imprisoned by everyone at the orphanage, through imagery. Although the emotions are not clearly stated in the excerpt, they are felt as the reader reads the excerpt. The felling of isolation is manifested as Jane speaks of how “mamma” would not let Jane join the rest of the group.
Throughout Jane Eyre, as Jane herself moves from one physical location to another, the settings in which she finds herself vary considerably. Bronte makes the most of this necessity by carefully arranging those settings to match the differing circumstances Jane finds herself in at each. As Jane grows older and her hopes and dreams change, the settings she finds herself in are perfectly attuned to her state of mind, but her circumstances are always defined by the walls, real and figurative, around her.
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
In the classic novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte tells the story of a young orphan who struggles through life until she overcomes her class and marries the man of her dreams. Bronte weaves together a story that shows the inner struggle of the main character beautifully. One of the main themes of the story is love versus autonomy, and which one will overcome the other in the end. Jane comes to a crossroad where she must make the choice between her own independence or living out her days with Rochester. The theme love versus autonomy is extremely important to the novel Jane Eyre because Jane is forced to choose between the two.
Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” has captivated readers for generations. As with all coming of age novels, young adults can relate to the struggles and triumphs of Jane. Jane’s setting influences and parallel her emotions. A reader can see the novel through her eyes and perspective. In Bronte’s “Jane Eyre,” the location often parallels Jane’s emotional growth through the tone presented by the environment, resulting in the different places she lives revealing her journey through depression. Jane’s behavioral patterns and thoughts suggest clinical depression that affected her choices throughout the novel and her life at Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Marsh End, and Ferdean.
Jane’s thoughts, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” reveal her rebellious spirit (Brontë 240). Jane has many character revealing thoughts throughout the novel: "Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and should rise in mutiny against their rigor… They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane.”
Bronte has purposefully rejected the idea of a conventionally beautiful heroine; she told siblings ‘I will show you a heroine as plain and small as myself’. As a reader we have more respect for Jane because of these virtues, she has more emotion and does not appear placid. She questions everything, which is unfortunate at Gateshead as Mrs Reed doesn’t ‘like cavillers or questioners…there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner.’ Jane is shown to possess a strong and rich inner life, but we notice also how much she internalises and, when attacked, retreats and finds solace in solitude, in the world of art, and in contact with nature.
“I am no bird and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will” (Bronte, Jane Eyre 293). In the Victorian time period Charlotte Bronte lived the unequal life as a woman, like many others. The only difference is Bronte did not believe in living in inequality, and she wrote about her hardships in her literature. In her book, Jane Eyre, the reader can see many similarities in her main character’s life and her own. Jane Eyre has many ways of showing how Victorian women were expected to be and act, included in the life of Jane. Bronte also continues her portrayal of the inequality of women and the decision of love versus autonomy through two of her poems, “Life” and “The Wife’s Will.” Charlotte Bronte displays the inequality in life of women in the Victorian era by taking her life and revitalizing it into themes of her works, by providing a journey of discovery of love or autonomy.
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