In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte,Jane Eyre, a young and ordinary girl, with a past of full of loneliness, and self loathing comes into a welcoming home with her uncle who cares for her dearly. As if Jane’s life is not supposed to be able to enjoy happiness, her dear Uncle dies. This event leaves Jane to live alone with the wife of her Uncle as they are his dying wishes towards his wife. Mrs.Reed hates Jane because her husband loves Jane more than their own children. Despite Jane’s conditions Jane finds ways to cope and handle every challenge met. Jane is only able to complete tasks like this due to her being the new woman on the inside, and slowly letting rise and boil out of her to emerge as a new woman that none have ever seen. One that is independent, and able to make decisions without aid from her male counterparts. Many events in the younger years of Jane’s life where ones filled with hate towards her and towards herself, she would fill these voids by reading of faraway lands filled with excitement and with the great tales of the past which ravished and enthralled her young mind...
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.
The novel starts begins with Jane’s childhood years at Gateshead, the home of the Reeds. At Gateshead, Jane is emotionally and physically abused by her aunt Mrs. Reed and her cousins. Mrs. Reed makes her dislike for Jane obvious by treating Jane like a burden and keeping children from interacting with Jane. In her absence, Mrs. Reed’s children, particularly John, continue to bully poor Jane. In the beginning of the novel, Jane defends herself against John, but this act ends up getting herself sent up to the red-room. In this red-room, Bronte shows how much those years of mistreatment affected Jane:
Jane Eyre has a rough start to her foundation, to begin she is orphaned at a young age. This sets up many problems for the young girl and her fragile identity. The people around worsen the situation as Jane grows. They challenge her patience, integrity, and intelligence. As a female Jane must deal with the caste system of her time as a threat, and as an orphaned child she must deal with the cast system as an obstacle. The family of Reeds that she lives with reminds her everyday of her low position. “She suffers precisely because she knows the value of caste; She may be poor, but she does not want to belong to the poor” (Bell 2). This makes Jane want to thrive more because she realizes the odds against her. Originally, Jane comes from a middle-class family but when her father dies she is left to the pity of the Reeds. The Reeds mistreat Jane and she grows to long the outside world. Jane clearly shows her position when she says, “ It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, as submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved”.
Whether it is because of the obligation, out of love, pity or kindness, Jane believes she visit Mrs. Reed and fulfill her last wishes. “Forgive me for my passionate language; I was a child then; eight, nine years have passed since that day.” (253) Putting the hardships behind her Jane gives her full apologies to Mrs.
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre may be superficially read as simply a sweet romance in which Jane ends up with the man of her dreams after overcoming many obstacles and challenges. But doing so misses the much deeper—richer—messages of Bronte's lasting masterpiece. A more thoughtful reading reveals this novel, especially its heroine Jane, challenging centuries-old gender roles which assume male supremacy, characterizing men as the dominant, more privileged gender, while women are oppressed into inferior and submissive roles. Of course this Victorian novel portrays the expected gender roles of both men and women in 19th century England, but Jane rises out of the patriarchy challenging the social roles assigned her with a personality marked by sass and self-assurance . Ms. Bronte, through Jane, ultimately demonstrates that women can live their lives on equal terms with—or independent of—men.
Jane makes her journey from Gateshead to Lowood at the age of ten, finally freeing her from her restrictive life with her aunt, who hates her. Jane resented her harsh treatment by her aunt. Mrs. Reed’s attitude towards Jane highlights on of the main themes of the novel, the social class. Jane’s aunt sees Jane as inferior, who is less than a servant. Jane is glad to be leaving her cruel aunt and of having the chance of going to school.
In the novel, ‘Jane Eyre’ Charlotte Brontë focuses on the life of Jane, an unwanted orphan who can’t do anything right in the eyes of her aunt. When she is about nine she is sent to Lowood Institute where she is also treated as inferior by Mr Brocklehurst. Although Jane is treated so cruelly and unfairly all her life she proves everyone wrong in the end by making something of herself.
posts, this was felt to be a women's job as it is the mother who would
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.
There are many stages throughout the book in which the reader can feel sympathy for Jane Eyre; these include when she is locked in the Red Room, when Helen Burns dies at Lowood, and when she and Mr. Rochester are married the first time.
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
Jane Eyre’s Journey to Independence In the outstanding novel of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront, the story is told of a romantic heroine named Jane Eyre who pursued independence during an era in which women were inferior to men. Jane proved her independence by demanding self-respect, becoming socially independent, and pursuing true love based on equality. Jane Eyre was an orphan left to depend on unsympathetic relatives who mistreated her. As Millicent Bell explains in her article “A Tale of the Governess,” “With the Reeds she suffers not only the dependency of childhood and female hood, but the excruciating humiliation of the poor relation.” The cruel treatment she received from her family members caused her to have no sense of belonging.
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, it was love, and not age or education, that led Jane to mature and grow as a person. With the help of Helen Burns and Miss. Temple, Jane Eyre learned what it meant to love someone. Both these people influenced Jane to mature into a young lady by showing Jane their love and affection. When Jane left Lowood to become a governess, she met the love of her life, Mr. Rochester. With his love, Jane Eyre eventually matured fully and grew into a self-sufficient woman and left the hatred and anger behind.
Influential female characters in literature reflect the struggle for equality women have with men. Much like reality, these characters seek individualism and liberty from, or equality with, men in a society dominated by men. These seekers are called feminists and many feminists see Charlotte Bronte’s titular character Jane Eyre as a proto-feminist icon of the Victorian era. Not only does Jane Eyre show the struggle of one woman under one man it represents the struggle of women in a male-dominated society. Reading Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre through a feminist perspective reveals Jane’s fight for independence, individuality, and equality in a society controlled and dominated by men.