Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre was written in 1847 by Charlotte Brontë. Clearly the context

in which an author writes will have a profound effect on the portrayal

of society. Jane Eyre was written to reflect a contemporary view of

the way young women's lives could be affected, if they were

unfortunate enough to be born without money. Middle-class women

without income had very few options open to them.

At the beginning of the novel at Gateshead, Jane Eyre is an orphan who

lives with her aunt, Mrs Reed and cousins, Eliza, John and Georgiana.

Her aunt and cousins constantly abuse Jane mentally and physically

while she is living there. At Lowood, she puts up with physical

hardship, and lives in tough conditions, including poor clothing, poor

nutrition and more mental abuse. Jane loses people whom she loves and

the abuse she suffers at a young age develops her character, this

prepares her for the difficulties in life.

Jane's relationship with her aunt and her cousins is terrible. Her

aunt and cousins abuse her mentally and physically: "…without

speaking, he struck suddenly and strongly." Here Brontë explains that

John Reed has thrown a book at Jane because she was reading one of his

books. Jane is not accepted as part of the family: "you ought to beg,"

says John. This shows that Mrs Reed and Jane's cousins treated Jane

with no respect and not as a member of their family. They treated her

as a servant who was not worthy of looking after. She found that she

was not loved as Mrs Reed's own children and is treated as an outcast

or outsider. In the 19th century society women had little power in the

class system. For exampl...

... middle of paper ...

...he cannot live a lie.

Overall, at Gateshead and at Lowood Jane has experienced abuse and

physical hardships. She has suffered from the poor nutritional food,

poor clothing and mental humiliation. Jane's character strengthened

over the years because she had to be able to deal with this and with

the loss of her loved ones. At Thornfield Jane was able to control her

emotions and feelings because she has learned to believe in her

religion and accepted that she must sometimes control her emotions.

However, Brontë suggests that Jane's passionate and independent

character is something to admire. Even now that she has learned to use

her strengths for good, she teaches Mr Rochester about humility and

treating others with respect. Jane shows self-confidence and we admire

Jane for what she has been through and what she earned.