Examples Of Patriarchy In Jane Eyre

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In addition to Warhol’s concept of “doubleness”, Linda Gill describes the patriarchally defined narrative of Jane Eyre. More specifically, she describes how it oppresses Jane. In her criticism, appropriately named “The Princess in the Tower”, she analyzes the patriarchy’s effect on Jane as a character and as narrator. Her main discussion is like Warhol’s, taking a feminist view of the creation and shaping of Jane’s character through the oppression brought on by the patriarchy. Throughout the novel, Jane is socially underneath every man she comes into contact with, and it is that fact that shapes her strong independence and will. “...the fact that Jane is consistently and repeatedly defined as passionate and ungovernable in spite of her calm …show more content…

How is he my master? Am I a servant?’” (Brontë 1847). Onset in the second chapter, Jane’s ungovernable spirit remains constant throughout the novel. Even towards the end of the novel Jane is a strong and passionate character. However, despite all evidence of her feminine will, the patriarchy is still an oppressing factor. “…the woman is unquestionably represented as a subject with a rich interior life: she has desires, she speaks, she creates art. At the same time, however, in both texts—even in Jane Eyre—in the end, her subjectivity is one which can only thrive within the confines of the private realm: in particular, it is only granted if confined within his castle, in his home” (Gill, 2007). Even after all her triumphs and bouts of strength, Eyre’s social status is still determined by a man. The defining of Jane’s independence is still undermined by the oppressive nature of the Victorian patriarchy. In Jane Eyre, Jane is written as strong woman who is constantly the victim of the injustices that women face in the hierarchy of the Victorian patriarchy. However, through her distinct identity, Jane’s character does not become a victim of the patriarchy like so many women at the

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Jane Eyre is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature. A novel creates its own internal world through the language that it uses, and this fictional world may be quite independent from the real physical world in which we live” (Johnson). Bronte creates another world through her enlightening form of writing that has the reader connected to the novel as much as Riordan has on the readers in The Lightning Thief. “Reader, I married him” (Bronte 457). This line from the novel is one of the most iconic lines in literature because after all the terrible things she had to endure, Jane finally
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Reactions to Patriarchal Oppression by Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason
3815 Words | 8 Pages
Reactions to Patriarchal Oppression by Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason. Missing Works Cited Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason are both oppressed by the British patriarchal system, where men are the makers, interpreters, and enforcers of social and political rules. However, these two women differ greatly in the ways that they accept and cope with the reality of their place in society, and it is these differences that ultimately determine their fate. Jane Eyre follows the rules. Although she initially revolts against what she believes to be unfair restrictions at Gateshead and Lowood, she soon discovers that rebellion carries a high price and, over time, she learns to modify her behavior to conform to socially accepted norms.
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Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes
3631 Words | 8 Pages
This novel was one of the most radical books of the Victorian Era. It portrayed women as equals to men. It showed that it was possible that men could even be worse than women, through John and Jane. It taught the Victorians never to judge a book by its cover. The novel would not be as successful were it not for Charlotte Brontë’s talent in writing, and were it not for the literary devices employed.
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Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
1754 Words | 4 Pages
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
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Examples Of Patriarchy In Jane Eyre
1880 Words | 4 Pages
One of the recurring motifs of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is the idea of tyranny and slavery, most often perpetrated by men. Indeed, Jane’s entire life seems to be framed by a succession of male tyrants, from John Reed to Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and St John. Despite Jane’s attempts to rebel and find her own independence and freedom, she always seems to end up enslaved, in one way or the other, by a man. By putting this motif at the forefront of the novel, Bronte makes a powerful statement about abusive patriarchy and ends the novel with what I will argue is an optimistic flipping of this dynamic.
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How are Women Presented in "Jane Eyre"
928 Words | 2 Pages
In the novel Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, women are presented in a wide range of different ways. As Jane is the main character in the story I will be concentrating on how she is presented and particularly, the control men and some women have over her throughout the novel. Right at the very start of the story it almost instantly becomes apparent that Jane is in a place where she is incredibly inferior and has no control over the situation herself, in the second paragraph Jane tells us she is ‘humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John and Georgiana Reed’ this sentence clearly states she is inferior and therefore automatically presents Jane as being different from her cousins, and accepted by them, immediately we begin to feel sympathetic towards Jane and are interested as to why she is inferior to her cousins. In the next paragraph Jane then informs us that her cousins and aunt were all sitting around the fire, however Mrs Reed had ‘dispensed (Jane) from joining the group’, this not only shows us again how disliked Jane is, but also how harsh and cold her Aunt is almost instantaneously.
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Physical & Emotional Abuse in Jane Eyre: How This Affected Jane’s Evolution Into a Dynamic Character
1183 Words | 3 Pages
Jane Eyre has been acclaimed as one of the best gothic novels in the Victorian Era. With Bronte’s ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions. Readers are left with rich insight into the life of a strong female lead, Jane, who is obedient, impatient, and passionate as a child, but because of the emotional and physical abuse she endures, becomes brave, patient, and forgiving as an adult. She is a complex character overall but it is only because of the emotional and physical abuse she went through as a child that allowed her to become a dynamic character.
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Compare And Contrast Percy Shelley And The Sublime/Beautiful
1126 Words | 3 Pages
Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in
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Revision of Master Narratives within Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
2168 Words | 5 Pages
Bronte is known as one of the first revolutionary and challenging authoress’ with her text Jane Eyre. The society of her time was male dominated, women were marginally cast aside and treated as trophies for their male counterparts. Their main role in life was to be a mother and a wife, “ Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life……the more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” A quote from a letter Robert Southey wrote to Bronte. A clear sign of the mentality and opposition Bronte was up against. A woman’s “proper duties” of course being to tend and wait on her “master’s” every whim and need. Women during Bronte’s time had no clear voice, none that was of any merit, they were a silent category of society, silenced by their male oppressors. Bronte’s book was in fact written before the first women’s rights movement had happened, yet it puts forward an image of an independent strong character, of a passionate and almost rebellious nature. A character “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her right’s, and venturing creative thoughts.” I put forward that Bronte throughout her text not only revises the themes of male power and oppression, but reconstructs them also. The text is a female bildungsroman of it’s time, sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly tackling the patriarchal view of women.
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Gender Roles In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
1446 Words | 3 Pages
Within the context of Jane Eyre, the main character plays a role that opposes to the ideal model of women from the Victorian Era. From the beginning as a kid, Jane’s rebellious character opposed to the aspects of how girls should behave. Likewise, her complex interest in books displayed a genuine attraction to subjects that required creativity and analysis, like science. Throughout the book, Jane’s character development possessed these components, curiosity for people’s character through their features, that later expanded towards her unrestrained personality and her interest for pseudo-science; which was common during the 19th century. Examining somebody’s skull and face used to be a common technique to analyze and determine a person’s character.
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Jane Erye's Experience as a Governess
1003 Words | 3 Pages
...isted of many roles, but mostly consisted of the governess teaching her students to become adequate adults. Nevertheless, a governess must face many challenges and hardships. Through Jane Eyre's experiences as a governess, readers are able to gain a sense of what it is like to be a governess. Even though it seems that Jane has it easy in some ways there are many realistic things that happen to her that makes her experience similar to experiences of traditional governesses. In many aspects Jane Eyre is the embodiment of a Victorian governess. However, her strong-willed, independent, and assertive qualities seem to make her an exception to the ordinary governess as well, which clearly undermines what most governesses had to endure. Bronte does involve some realities of domestic service in the 19th century but more of Jane’s story has things that were very unrealistic.
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Finding the Balance of Love and Freedom in Jane Eyre
1343 Words | 3 Pages
Similar to many of the great feministic novels of its time, Jane Eyre purely emerges as a story focused on the quest for love. The novel’s protagonist, Jane, searches not only for the romantic side of love, but ultimately for a sense of self-worth and independence. Set in the overlapping times of the Victorian and Gothic periods, the novel touches upon both women’s supposed rights, and their inner struggle for liberty. Orphaned at an early age, Jane was born into a modest lifestyle, without any major parent roles to guide her through life’s obstacles. Instead, she spent much of her adolescent years locked in imaginary chains, serving those around her but never enjoying the many decadences life has to offer. It is not until Jane becomes a governess that many minute privileges become available to her and offer Jane a glance at what life could have been. It is on her quest for redemption and discovery that she truly is liberated. Throughout Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre, the story’s protagonist Jane, struggles to achieve the balance of both autonomy and love, without sacrificing herself in the process.
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Jane Eyre as a Feminist Novel
1971 Words | 4 Pages
Throughout the novel, the author raises a question on how a woman in her society can have passion and principle, love and independence. Though Jane Eyre does not so much suggest definitive answers, she is truly an epitome of femininity - a young independent individual steadfast in her morals and has strong Christian virtues, dominant, assertive and principled and the novel, as create the questions with urgency and a depth of imagination that challenge readers not only through comprehending but also its outcome on its audiences? life.
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Gender Inequality In Jane Eyre
257 Words | 1 Pages
The article Preface to "What Policies Would Promote Social Justice for Women?" written in 2010 states same idea related to the work Jane Eyre about gender equality. Despite the theoretical relevance of sexual inequality and Jane Eyre the feminist literature signifying the importance of gender issues that needs to change relations on social position. Also, these analyses the impact of changing issues now a days. It is quite surprising that the same issue is continuing over the centuries. The author of the article Preface to "What Policies Would Promote Social Justice for Women?" mentions gender inequality in business, politics, education, and other areas has been closely studied. “Gender discrimination is not limited to the business world. There
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Role of Women in Jane Eyre
1506 Words | 4 Pages
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.
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Examples Of Patriarchy In Jane Eyre

Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief, Literary Merit?

Reactions to Patriarchal Oppression by Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason

Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre