Jane Eyre - Challenging Victorian Beliefs
Charlotte Brontë challenges the view that men are emotionally, socially and intellectually superior to women.
"Just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal - as we are!"
The 19th century was a period of oppression for women. The patriarchal system that dominated the Victorian period in England's history, was one during which Charlotte Brontë wrote and set the novel, Jane Eyre. Brontë denounces the persecution that women suffered at the hands of a society that placed faith in a belief that men were emotionally, socially and intellectually superior to Victorian women.
The belief that men were intellectually superior to women soiled the Victorian era. This period of time led to women being denied education, on account of their sex. Jane Eyre seems to be much more intellectually advanced than her male counterparts, even though she was schooled at such a substandard school, Lowood. A school where not only the food was "disgusting" but the facilities were too. She is able to converse confidently and at a level that is equal to, if not higher than, males. It is evident that Brontë strongly believes that women are equivalent to men in this respect. The fact that Jane was capable of creating "as fine a picture as any of Miss Reed's drawing-master could," also showed that Brontë endorsed the view that women are as intellectually capable as men. The skill that was involved in Jane's paintings led to some criticism from the males who saw her work; "I perceive these pictures were done by one hand: was that hand yours?" Jane's move against the constants of society display Brontë's disdain for society's limitations.
The Victorian era was a time when women's emotions were repressed. This gave expression to the belief that men were emotionally superior to women. Brontë challenged this view by instilling "a picture of passion" in Jane Eyre. This emotion and passion would have not been tolerated by others in Victorian society. Jane was often "roused to something like passion" when she was younger. This was evident in her confrontation with John Reed; "You are like a murderer - you are like a slave-driver". Women, let-alone young girls, in Victorian society, did not usually exhibit such anger. Brontë believed that the expression of women's emotions was crucial.
Brontë's be...
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... were usually about movement up the social ladder or because of the fact that the woman was "worthy of the work, and competent to accomplish it." Love was a factor, which many people negated. Brontë condemned this negation. The patriarchal religious system, Calvinism, instilled a view in its members that men were far superior to women in many respects, including morality. In Victorian society the most 'moral' people seemed to be figures like Brocklehurst, who were in reality hypocrites. They were seen as pious and likely to be the chosen few to enter the gates of Heaven. Brontë conveys Brocklehurst's character as being shallow and he eventually loses his business because of lack of humanity.
Victorian society's had gaps between classes, men and women, which discriminated. Thus creating lines of inequality between both sexes. Brontë believed that women were equal to men in regards to their intellect, emotion, morality and equal in relationships. The contemporary reader can relate to these beliefs, even though they were made in the mid 1800's.
"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion."
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1994, Penguin books
The Victorian Era had lasted from the years 1837-1901. People in this era were known through their social class and how efficiently they were able to present themselves. Those who were obligated to carry themselves is such a proficient manner, were the women of Victorian Era. Although they had been expected to perform and execute many tasks, they were never recognized just as equal to the men in society. They were never acknowledged to make judgments or decisions, rather were best known for marriage, prostitution, and motherhood. As the men, dominated and took control of every decision possible. They were known for their aggressive and independent attitude. This led an extraordinary women named, Charlotte Brontë to begin a revolution of change and improvement in the social standings. As her living in the Victorian Era, set her upon a journey of many hardships but her well-known classics, Jane Eyre, depicted her strength and courage to step up for women equality and portray who she truly was in society.
Jane Eyre's literary success of the time has been cheaply commercialized. In other words, Bronte's novel never got the appreciation it deserved, in the areas it deserved. Many 19th century critics merely assigned literary themes to their reviews to "get it over with". Critics commended Jane Eyre for everything from its themes to its form. However, their surface examinations amount to nothing without careful consideration of the deeper underlying background in Jane's life where their hasty principles originate. The widely discussed free will of Jane's, her strong individuality, and independence are segments of a greater scheme, her life. For example: Jane's childhood serves as the most important precedent for all of the self-realism although this purpose is widely disregarded. Even though "many have celebrated Bronte's carefully wrought description of her protagonist's first eighteen years for its vivid pathos, no one has as yet accorded this childhood its deserved weight in the novels ultimate resolution." (Ashe 1) Jane Eyre's genius develops in a series of internal reactions to external circumstances rather than shallow judgments about those internal happenings.
The outer layer of a reef consists of living animals, or polyps, of coral. Single-celled algae called zooxanthellae live within the coral polyps, and a skeleton containing filamentous green algae surrounds them. The photosynthetic zooxanthellae and green algae transfer food energy directly to the coral polyps, while acquiring scarce nutrients from the coral. The numerous micro habitats of coral reefs and the high biological productivity support a great diversity of other life.
... than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep.” They also tell her that “to strike a young gentleman, your benefactress's son! Your young master.” The servants respect the Victorian patriarchal society, despite the fact that they are so badly treated through it. Brontë is trying to tell us that this system has been in form for so long, that people are thinking of it as natural, and insists that it should not be so. In Brontë’s opinion, everyone should have equality.
Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain that is expressed clinically as a disease of the mind. Once it strikes, morbidity is high (60% of patients are receiving disability benefits within the first year of onset) as is mortality (the suicide rate is 10%). (www.nejm.org/content/1999/0340/008/0645.asp). Because its symptoms and signs and associated cognitive abnormalities are diverse, researchers have been unable to find localization in a single region of the brain. This essay will discuss the symptoms, treatments and causes of schizophrenia.
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.
Sourced in Eagleton, M. (1996) Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. Electronic Information Edwards-Capes, Kirsty (2012) Gender and Sexism in Charlotte Bront’s Jane Eyre, available from http://www.cbc.org/e http://kirstycapes.co.uk/post/19688269684/gender-and-sexism-in-charlotte-brontes-jane-eyre 18 th December 2013
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.
Zubin, J. and Spring, B. (1977) Vulnerability: A New View on Schizophrenia Journal of Abnormal Psychology 86, 103-126
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Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre embraces many feminist views in opposition to the Victorian feminine ideal. Charlotte Bronte herself was among the first feminist writers of her time, and wrote this book in order to send the message of feminism to a Victorian-Age Society in which women were looked upon as inferior and repressed by the society in which they lived. This novel embodies the ideology of equality between a man and woman in marriage, as well as in society at large. As a feminist writer, Charlotte Bronte created this novel to support and spread the idea of an independent woman who works for herself, thinks for herself, and acts of her own accord.
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