Throughout Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane faces several conflicting feelings about her role in the world. Jane struggles with her acceptance of Mr. Rochester’s authority, which is exemplified in chapter 20 when Jane is told by Mr. Rochester to care for the bleeding Mr. Mason. While Jane does what Mr. Rochester asks, she questions herself and his power over others, showing how she faces a dilemma in how to properly feel about the situation. By using tools such as repetition, symbolism, and irony, Bronte conveys the period typical struggle that women faced against authority figures in finding a place between submissiveness and independence. The passage displays Jane’s transformation to unquestioningly doing as she is told, to wondering why she must do as she is doing. Initially, as Jane attends to Mr. Masons wounds, Jane begins to tell herself what she must do: “I must keep to my post… I must watch this ghastly countenance… I must dip my hand again.” This shows how, upon Mr. Rochester’s orders, she immediately dives into action and This is seen when Jane describes the change in behavior between Mr. Rochester and Mr. Mason. While earlier Mr. Rochester had been fearful of Mr. Mason’s arrival, Jane states that, “Lastly, I saw Mr. Mason was submissive to Mr. Rochester.” Jane wonders how their dynamic could have shifted so abruptly. She notes “the passive disposition of the one had been habitually influenced by the active energy of the other,” which implies that sense of power is derived from the willingness of another to be submissive. It is ironic that both Mr. Rochester and Mr. Mason are able to exhibit such control over the other and yet still be so fearful of the other. This contradiction of power allows Jane to see that there is no inherent right to rule, rather, authority comes from the acceptance of another’s power over
Jane Eyre’s inner struggle over leaving an already married Rochester is the epitome of the new "lovemad" woman in nineteenth-century literature. Jane Eyre is the story of a lovemad woman who has two parts to her personality (herself and Bertha Mason) to accommodate this madness. Charlotte Bronte takes the already used character of the lovemad woman and uses her to be an outlet for the confinement that comes from being in a male-dominated society. Jane has to control this madness, whereas the other part of her personality, her counterpart, Bertha Mason, is able to express her rage at being caged up. As what it means to be insane was changing during Bronte’s time, Bronte changed insanity in literature so that it is made not to be a weakness but rather a form of rebellion. Jane ultimately is able to overcome her lovemadness through sheer force of her will.
Jane Eyre is born into a world where she is left bereft of the love of parents, family, or friends, but instead surrounded by hateful relatives. She resolves to attend school to begin her quest for independence. This theme is seen through Jane’s behavior when she renounces her relation to her aunt Mrs. Reed, ignoring the nurse’s orders and leaving her room to see Helen again, and when she acquires the courage to speak her opinion to Mr. Rochester.
...d Rochester. All of whom who showed some sort of established power and control over her. One way or the other, they tried to overpower and take complete dominance over her, however, she never allowed such an act to take place. She followed her heart and the faith she had in God. She strived to maintain a position in life, regards the debts of others. Jane followed her own path and stood up for justice and women equality. Therefore, the struggles in Charlotte's life, foreshadowed strengths in her novel to depict the moral values and principles of all women during the Victorian Era and after. As Charlotte's novel served as a model and opened up the eyes of many. The novel had become a turning point, as her true and genuine piece of literature, created a legacy for the women and their right to be independent and fairly equal to the men of society.
The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is an early 19th-century English literature; a literary work that is evocative and riveting. It depicts acts of betrayal between family members, loved ones and self-inflicted betrayal. The acts of betrayals are done by Mrs. Reed, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre herself.
In Brontes’ work, there is a barrier separating the upper class from the lower class as she describes the upper class being rewarded while the lower class are punished. The protagonist Jane was written in this world where these rules were made to reduce the lower class pride to make them easier to control. However, Jane’s character is stubborn, and is depicted to believe, “they (upper class) are not fit to associate with me” (27). Therefore, Jane is attributed to be a superior being because Bronte shows her believing in herself and will not allow someone to control her. In “The Turn of the Screw” the author James, has given power to characters which increase their personal pride, making them feel superior. The protagonist the Governess was hired by an Uncle to watch over his niece and nephew. But these children were written to have two ghosts of their past guardians visit them. Although power, as displayed by the writer, is taken into the wrong hands of the lower class, as it creates them into superior beings for, “protect(ing) and defend(ing) the little creatures” (153). Furthermore, James creates characters becoming superior as they gain power. This increases their personal pride of themselves because they are valued and needed. In both “Jane Eyre” and “The Turn of the Screw”, the personal pride of the protagonists makes them superior beings as they ignore
... self-worth. She believes that there is a chance for her to change her future. She had to make certain sacrifices in order to discover her strength, true friendships and her self-worth. She sacrifices her love to preserve her self-worth. After realizing her marriage to Rochester cannot be lawful and will mean surrendering her sense of dignity and virtue, she leaves him. When Jane leaves Thornfield she says “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” (Bronte 336). In the end, she finds her happiness, as she is now with the man she loves, she preserves her self-worth without sacrificing her integrity.
Eventually, she returns to her former employer, discovering Thornfield in ashes, Mrs. Rochester dead, and Mr. Rochester blind and free from wedlock. Flooded with motifs, Jane’s continual struggles between her passions and responsibility prevail as the main theme of Bronte’s entrancing narrative. From the introduction of Jane’s orphan life, she battles between her ire at cousin John’s antics and obedience to Aunt Reed’s reluctant guardianship.
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.
The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...
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
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses various characters to represent aspects of reason and passion, thereby establishing a tension between the two. In fact, it could be argued that these various characters are really aspects of her central character, Jane. From this it could be argued that the tension between these two aspects really takes place only within her mind. Bronte is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her character. As a prerequisite for marriage, Jane uses this determination in her relationships with Mr. Rochester and St. John.
In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane is an orphan who is often mistreated by the family and other people who surround her. Faced with constant abuse from her aunt and her cousins, Jane at a young age questions the treatment she receives: "All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sister’s proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a turbid well. Why was I always suffering, always brow-beaten, always accused, forever condemned?" (27; ch. 2). Despite her early suffering, as the novel progresses Jane is cared for and surrounded by various women who act as a sort of "substitute mother" in the way they guide, comfort, and inspire her. By looking into Charlotte Bronte’s own childhood and family background, as well as discovering aspects of Victorian motherhood in the mid-nineteenth century, one may be enlightened as to why so many substitute mothers are present to Jane throughout the novel. The substitute mothers, although a starting point for Jane’s emotional redemption, do not prove to fulfill what a mother in the Mid-Victorian era would be.
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.
The development of Charlotte Bronte's character, Jane Eyre, becomes vital to her novel Jane Eyre, and the other characters in which she is involved. She is an intelligent, plain featured, honest young girl whose reaction to her situations brings more depth to her personality. She is forced to deal with oppression, discrimination, and at times poverty, which disrupt her strong will, dignity, and desire for freedom. At the beginning, Jane possesses a passion for pride and the idea of freedom and these characteristics, along with her integrity, are tested continuously throughout the novel by the many personalities with whom she encounters. Living in a male dominant world Jane is expected to remain obedient and docile and her passion sometimes keeps her from being able to do this. She is a rarity among obeying female characters and we see this throughout the book.
As Jane controls how readers view Rochester’s masculinity and therefore his social power through narrative voice, it can therefore be suggested through Kaufman’s idea that Jane also controls Rochester’s individual power. This both serves to heighten the power of women as they implicitly control the presentation of men, and lessen the impact of Rochester’s status. Therefore, Jane as the narrator provides her with an ultimate source of power, as she dictates how those with the ultimate source of power in society are