Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre focuses on the life of a young orphan named Jane Eyre. In the beginning of the novel Jane is living with her aunt, Mrs. Reed at Gateshead Hall, where she is treated horrible by not only Mrs. Reed, but her children as well. Later in the story Mrs. Reed takes to Jane to the Lowood Institution, a charity school run by the a man named Mr. Brocklehurst. While at Lowood, Jane meets Helen Burns, who befriends Jane and ends up helping her learn how to endure personal injustices and believe in God. When Jane is 18 she starts to advertise for a job as a private tutor. After doing so, Jane gets hired to be a governess to the young Adele Varens at Thornfield manor where she meets the love of her life Mr. Rochester, the master of Thornfield manor. As the story progresses Jane is slowly but surely transforming into a new woman. From the beginning, Jane has always possessed a sense of her dignity. Jane integrity is constantly tested over the progression of the novel, and Jane must learn to balance the repeated conflicting parts of her in order to find contentment. During this era in England, women are viewed differently than they are today. In the 19th century women in England were expected to maintain a certain image or act in a certain manner which is referred to as the traditional woman who accepts her role in society. Men are the dominant ones in the society. Although women are expected to be a traditional woman, not all of them follow play the part. This is a woman who does not live by the standards of the society. A new woman does not sit back and do as she is told; she makes her own rules and determines her own success. These are all characteristics that Jane starts to gain. By the end of the story Jane is ... ... middle of paper ... ...s not used to this sort of thing happening. When Jane was young, her friend Helen Burns had a lot of impact on her. Helen taught Jane to have faith in God. Helen is definitely a traditional woman. For example when the Helen got in trouble and the teacher struck her, Helen accepts the punishment. Jane however is furious at the situation. “And if I were in your place I should dislike her; I should resist her. If she struck me with that rod, I should get it from her hand; I should break it under her nose.”(40) Jane cannot seem to understand why Helen is ok with be hit by the teacher. She feels she would do otherwise but Helen has other intention. Helen rather be struck by the teacher and do nothing about it than disgrace her family. This clearly shows that Helen has more of the traditional woman characteristics and Jane has a lot of the new woman characteristics.
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.
From an early age Jane is aware she is at a disadvantage, yet she learns how to break free from her entrapment by following her heart. Jane appears as not only the main character in the text, but also a female narrator. Being a female narrator suggests a strong independent woman, but Jane does not seem quite that.
Chapter 23 of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre Jane Eyre begins by telling us about Jane's strict and unhappy upbringing with her upper class Aunt, Mrs. Reed. She is then sent to Lowood School where her only friend Helen falls ill and dies. When Jane is older she becomes a Governess working for Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall. Jane and Rochester fall in love but neither of them express their feelings to each other.
She decides what she wants to do, and does not want to be interfered with by her husband. One of the reasons for this could be that a man is more understanding now, and wants to give his woman equal chance. They don 't feel ashamed if their wives earn more than them or have higher a position in a company. In the story Jane feels she is sick, but because her husband tells her she is fine and only need to rest she agrees with him. Since in the story she clearly says that she disagrees with her husband’s ideas and her brother’s ideas, she has to keep everything to herself. Jane’s husband would never let her go out so she created a story with the character she sees in the ripped wallpaper. Women are so sensitive, and use that characteristic to get her in favor. Women today are as smart and sensitive as they were at that time, but now she has more confidence and disagrees with what is not right. In opposite, in the story she agrees that her husband is right when her husband took her in his arms and called her a blessed little goose (Gilman
In the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses Jane Eyre as her base to find out how a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with her responsibilities. . Mistreated abused and deprived of a normal childhood, Jane Eyre creates an enemy early in her childhood with her Aunt Mrs. Reed. Just as Mrs. Reeds life is coming to an end, she writes to Jane asking her for forgiveness, and one last visit from her.
Through the duration of the novel, Jane grew and developed new characteristics that morphed her thinking and personality. Al thought she went through stages; being a person who is content, reasonable, and despises injustice stuck with her throughout her arduous journey. Jane's plain features and passion for reason helped her to be content with her life, but as she matured in her understanding of life, she came to the realization that balance of passion is also needed in life in order to obtain true joy.
In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Jane has lived a miserable life since childhood, until she met Edward Rochester. Living a miserable childhood after her parents passed away Jane had to live with her aunt and cousins. Ms. Reed detested her and resented because she was aware of the love that the late Mr. Reed had for Jane. On his deathbed he asked Ms. Reed to take care of Jane like if she was her own child. This angered Ms. Reed because his last words for Jane instead of her, Ms. Reed, or their children. Jane took all the pain and neglect that she felt and finally told Ms. Reed and the Reed children what she felt. Jane was soon put into a boarding school named Lowood. In Lowood the head of the school, Mr. Brocklehurst, mistreated the children. She lived there miserably until she met another student named Helen Burns and a teacher named Miss Temple. They both helped her get through her years at Lowood. After Helen passed away from Typhus fever and Miss Temple left Lowood because she got married, that’s when Jane then decided she wanted to leave Lowood and explore. After that...
Jane Eyre, written in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte, relates a tale of tragedy, mystery, and gothic romance. Covering the multiple issues of England in that time, Bronte writes about orphan treatment, social class, and Britain’s controversial law of prohibiting divorce in all circumstances. Orphaned at a young age and unwanted by her guardian Mrs. Reed, Jane searches for higher prospects in education at Lowood, eventually earning a position as a governess at Thornfield. Complications disrupt her life, when she becomes engaged to her employer, Mr. Rochester, and soon after discovers that he is already married to a lunatic. Leaving Thornfield, Jane finds a home with St. John and his two sisters.
"'The marriage can not go on: I declare the existence of an impediment'" (306). Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is the story of an orphaned girl who is sent to live at Gateshead Hall with Mrs. Reed and her three cousins, whom Jane doesn't get along with. At the age of ten, Mrs. Reed sends Jane away to Lowood Institution, an all girls' school, where she spends the next eight years of her life. At the age of eighteen, Jane leaves Lowood and accepts the position as governess at Thornfield Hall. Mr. Rochester, the owner of Thornfield Hall, and Jane fall madly in love and plan to get married, but little does Jane know, Mr. Rochester has a terrible secret that could ruin Jane's life. Throughout the novel, the theme of deceit and dishonesty results in unhappiness and suffering not only to those being lied to, but also to those people perpetuating the untruths.
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.
Jane Eyre’s continuous search for love, a sense of belonging, and family are all thoroughly displayed by Charlotte Brontë. Jane starts off as a despised orphan who is captivated by the thought of love, believing that it will help her achieve happiness. Throughout the novel, Jane attempts to find different substitutes to fill the void in her life.
First, the 1900’s is a time where women are trying to put away the homemaker image and obtain work. This causes many hardships between husbands and wives. Jane is on the verge of beginning to leave her homemaker image and begin a career in writing. “I am sitting by the window now, up in the atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing much as I please, save lack of strength” (Gilman, 1599). Jane is starting to recognize that she is loosing her feminism. John recognizes this and tries to do everything he can to stop Jane. John knows that Jane is putting aside her role as being a wife, homemaker and mother. In these times, husbands’ do not believe that women could balance both home and work responsibilities. Jane decides to oppose the homemaker life and branch out into writing. The feminist role is “The concept of "The New Woman," for example, began to circulate in the 1890s-1910s as women are pushing for broader roles outside the home-roles that could draw on women's intelligence and non-domestic skills and talents” (http:/...
She would continue to look for true love based upon equality and independence. This novel portrays the way Jane fought against the 1800s stereotype of a woman’s position in society.
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.
Jane grows up distinguishing her personality and voicing her unbiased opinion, but in McFadden-Gerber's opinion, Jane remains the same orphaned female in constant discord with elders and supervisors. Ms. Eyre is a heroine who refuses to blend into the traditional female position of subservience and who stands up for her beliefs. In the beginning, Jane at first de...