Substitute Mothers in Jane Eyre

Substitute Mothers in Jane Eyre

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.

Charlotte Bronte’s own mother died when she was only five years old, so she and her sisters were raised by her father, Patrick. According to John Cannon, author of The Road to Haworth, "The image of their mother was strong in their minds, and it is often seen in the fictional characters which the girls created, but they were all far too young to be influenced by her in any other way" (Cannon 19). Charlotte’s father tried to remarry yet was unsuccessful, and he therefore raised his children alone with some aid from his wife’s sister. Charlotte’s older sister, Maria, ...

... middle of paper ...

...istreated" (Thaden 27).

Given the background of Victorian motherhood, the nourishment, teachings, and support from the mother are never really present in Jane’s life. Placing other women in her life are able to fill the void where her mother would have been, but never fill the void as a mother really would.

Works Cited

Berg, Maggie. Jane Eyre: Portrait of a Life. Boston: Twayne, 1987.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Bedford/St. Martins, 1996.

Cannon, John. The Road to Haworth. New York: Viking, 1981.

McKnight, Natalie. Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels. New York: St. Martin’s, 1997.

Moglen, Helene. Charlotte Bronte The Self Conceived. New York: Norton, 1976.

Nestor, Pauline. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. New York: St. Martin’s, 1992.

Thaden, Barbara. The Maternal Voice in Victorian Fiction. New York: Garland, 1997.