Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre: A reconsideration
analytical Essay
2890 words
Few have looked into the different shades of "visibility" and "invisibility" and the "power of the gaze" in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. A brief look at some of the critical literature on Jane Eyre shows that there has been more focus on the personal than on the textual aspect of the novel. Moreover, "visibility," and "invisibility" as well as "the power gaze" have rarely been the target of rigorous academic research. A number of earlier studies used "The Brontes" as a part of their titles.1 Others have busied themselves with matters of "plot," "too much melodrama" and "coarseness of language."2 In this study I propose to focus on some textual aspects that have been less at the center of critical attention. However, this is not the only vantage point that characterizes this research work. Indeed, the very selection of these textual aspects may shed some new light on the possibilities of future critical reception of Bronte's text.
This study makes use of certain terms that draw the reader's attention to a new way of reading Bronte's Jane Eyre. The three key terms are "visibility," "invisibility," and "gaze." While "visibility" here stands for notions such as the "presence," "ability to see or to be seen, felt or noticed," "invisibility" stands just for the absence/lack of "visibility." By "the power of the gaze" I mean how most of the characters in this text fashion the world around them and are themselves fashioned by different ways of looking at things (i.e. in both the literal as well as the metaphorical senses of the word "looking": A more brilliant example here is Brocklehurst's accusations against Jane at Lowood). Indeed, the term "gaze" as I use it here is meant to subsume all senses of gazing, glancing, looking at,...
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...slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit (Ch. 7, p. 63)
Despite her claim to have "mastered the rising hysteria," Jane's pain, to borrow her own words, "no language can describe." This girl's particular "gaze" seems to have surpassed all other gazes.
The most pivotal incident in Bronte's text where the title of this study is evidenced is what Jane experiences in the red-room introduced as early as Chapter Two of the text. This is more likely an indication of the significance of the relationship between the power of the gaze and the question of visibility of petrifying scenes for such a young child like Jane. Of this experience, Jane tells us that she "never forgot the … frightful episode of the red-room." For it was in this room her aunt locked her in the dark and even Jane's "wild supplications for pardon" were not listened to (Ch. 8, p. 67).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how critical literature on jane eyre has focused more on the personal than the textual aspect of the novel.
- Analyzes how bronte's jane eyre uses three key terms: "visibility," "invisible," and "gaze" to connect events, characters, and themes.
- Analyzes how bronte's text is rich in shades of "visibility/invisible" and in the different roles of power associated with the term "gaze."
- Opines that a close reading of bronte's text invites closer look at the different roles "(in)visibility" and the "gaze" play in most parts of this long text.
- Explains that jane eyre presents different shades of (in)visibility and the power of the gaze. the research project relies on a close reading of textually selected materials.
- Analyzes how bronte's text attracts the reader into a short trip of visibility and invisibility.
- Analyzes how the words in the introductory pages connected themselves with the subsequent vignettes, and gave significance to the rock standing up alone in a sea of billow and spray.
- Analyzes the relationship between (in)visibility and (immobility in different parts of jane eyre.
- Analyzes how rochester's keenness to keep his weak points invisible to jane is related to his desire not to be "transfixed" by her.
- Analyzes how jane's escape from her cousin, st. john, changes the smooth relationship between them. jane, as she tells us in the next chapter, has "sisterly affection for him."
- Analyzes how jane eyre's power emerges from her ability to use her gazes to build her personality right from the outset of her journey into self-discovery.
- Analyzes how jane's torture at the hands of her cousin is partly attributed to the absence of the gaze of john’s mother.
- Explains that mrs reed was blind and deaf on the subject. she never saw him strike or heard him abuse me, though he did both in her presence.
- Analyzes how john reed's character is partly drawn by the absence of his mother’s gaze, and the lack of the passionate motherly gaze of her late mother.
- Analyzes john's order to jane to "show the book" and his reproach to her that she has "no business to take our books" may as well mean that he means to deny her the right to knowledge.
- Analyzes how jane tells us that miss temple's departure of lowood has changed her drastically.
- Analyzes how mr. broclkehurst tries to convince all attendants of the type of character he himself took jane to be.
- Analyzes how the focus on the power of the gaze and the issue of visibility is intensified in another incident in the text.
- Narrates how they wrote in conspicuous characters on a piece of pasteboard the word "slattern" and bound it around helen's large, mild, intelligent, and benign-looking forehead.
- Analyzes how jane reacts to the "visible" mark on helen's forehead, classifying her on the wrong side of the conforming folk at the institute.
- Recounts how they ran to helen, tore it off, and thrust it into the fire. the fury of which she was incapable had been burning in their soul all day.
- Analyzes how "visibility" is used as a disciplinary technique that takes the individual while aiming at the collective. jane's reaction is not exaggerated.
- Explains that miss scatchred's eyes are blind to the full brightness of the orb, which is a case of 'dysfunctional visibility'.
- Analyzes how jane regrets the accusations raised against her by mr brocklehurst despite her attempts "to be so good and do so much at lowood," and discloses to readers two more important aspects of victorian conditions for women's "visibility."
- Analyzes how helen burns sympathizes with jane's emotional injury and her broken heart. helen assures her friend that the gazes won her will make her "visible" to the gazers only for a short time.
- Describes how they were exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy, who had said they could not bear the shame of standing on their natural feet.
- Analyzes how jane's "infamy" is fostered by another incident that follows this immediately. the girl "lifted her eyes"
- Describes how a strange light inspired them i.e. the girl's eyes. what an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through them!
- Analyzes how jane's "gaze" surpassed all other gazes, despite her claim to have "mastered the rising hysteria."
- Analyzes the pivotal incident in bronte's text where the title of this study is evidenced is what jane experiences in the red-room introduced as early as chapter two.
Related
- analytical
- Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyesanalytical essayJane Eyre Analyse the methods Charlotte Brontë uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novel’s literary content. Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, was published in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Company, in London. This year is exactly ten years into Queen Victoria’s sixty-four year reign of the British Empire. The Victorian Era was renowned for its patriarchal Society and definition by class.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the methods charlotte bront uses to make the reader empathise with jane eyre in the opening chapters. reflect on how the novel portrays victorian ideology.
- Analyzes how jane eyre, written by charlotte bront, is a political touchstone to illustrate the period in which it was written.
- Analyzes how jane eyre is narrated in the first person by jane herself, looking back at the past retelling her story. jane is clearly an intelligent person if can remember such specific details of her childhood.
- Analyzes how bront employs literary devices to make the reader empathise with jane in "jane eyre."
- Analyzes how bront often refers to a shrub in places such as "leafless shrubbery" and "storm-beat shrub" to describe jane's feeling of solitude.
- Analyzes how bront contrasts jane's loneliness and depression with the pleasure and contentment in the living room of gateshead, the reed family’s official residence.
- Analyzes how bront's use of different shades of red symbolises royalty and heat, while the next paragraph contains a semantic field for coldness and solitude.
- Analyzes how bront adds dialogue, three paragraphs into the novel, to show another dimension to jane's true character.
- Analyzes how bront uses the theme of coldness to develop a semantic field of water and islands to represent escape.
- Analyzes how bront uses the metaphor of a tree during the opening chapter to pivot the reader’s thoughts momentarily from jane's sadness, to her wish to simply sprout and grow out of her current conditions.
- Analyzes how the theme of the power of books and story is a strong one in the opening chapters.
- Explains that they had read goldsmith's history of rome and formed their opinion of nero, caligula, &c.
- Analyzes how jane is a very opinionated girl who lets out her innermost feelings. she turns hysterical when she thinks that she has seen the ghost and cries out "o aunt!
- Analyzes how the power of books is brought out in other places in these two chapters. jane is a controversial character in this sense.
- Analyzes how bront used her as a critique of the victorian patriarchal society. she refuses to accept that she must deem herself below john.
- Analyzes how the reed children, eliza, georgiana, and john, intrude upon jane's room while jane is secretly reading within the warmth of the "folds of scarlet drapery".
- Narrates how he gorged himself at table, which made him bilious, and gave him dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks. his mama had taken him home for a month or two, "on account of his delicate health."
- Analyzes how bront uses bestial metonyms to convey to the reader that women are humans, not animals, and should not be treated as them.
- Analyzes how bront portrays john's character as a stereotype of victorian males. he is already head of the household and commands the fear of his siblings and servant.
- Analyzes how bront's preface to the second edition of the novel contains many personal thoughts that reveal her true beliefs and thoughts.
- Analyzes how jane's use of emotive adverbs adds to the drama, and john gives reasons and excuses for his beatings, despite the fact that he would hit anyways.
- Analyzes how jane refers to him as john reed, and not merely john. bront gives an extra characteristic to john — that of cowardice.
- Analyzes how bront is trying to explain the victorian convention of male superiority as wrong. the rich and ignorant victorian men who possessed the misogynistic discrimination against women are portrayed through john's character.
- Analyzes how bront is trying to tell the reader that the victorians thought themselves much superior to the romans in their sense of culture and morality.
- Analyzes how bront uses short sentences to create tension and atmosphere. they pity jane, as she is subdued to this attack and terror.
- Analyzes how bront reveals to the reader that jane is just about the only balanced thing in this novel. she manages to act intelligently, while at times she is hysterical.
- Analyzes how even the servants in the novel are shown as people who respect the patriarchal society. bront is trying to tell us that this system has been in form for so long and insists that it should not be so.
- Opines that charlotte bront's talent in writing and the literary devices employed in the novel were the most radical books of the victorian era.
3631 wordsRead More - Physical & Emotional Abuse in Jane Eyre: How This Affected Jane’s Evolution Into a Dynamic Characteranalytical essayBrennan, Zoe. "Reader's Guide: Bronte's Jane Eyre." Ebrary. Continuum International Publishing 2 2010. Print. April 28, 2014
In this essay, the author
- Opines that jane eyre is one of the best gothic novels in the victorian era with bronte's ability to make the pages come alive with mystery, tension, excitement, and a variety of other emotions.
- Analyzes how jane's life at gateshead is not far from miserable. she is bullied by her cousins, nagged by ms. abbot, and treated like a "mad cat."
- Analyzes how jane feels when she is out of the red room and in the care of mr. lloyd, the family apothecary.
- Analyzes how jane's last day at gateshead shows how happy she is to leave her abusive family. she realizes that there are even crueler forces out there.
- Analyzes how jane's future ability to be patient stems from her first conversation with helen burns, a student who has just gotten done being punished by ms. scatcheard.
- Analyzes how jane moves along in her education at lowood, a bright and observant student. she alters the way she handles it all by moving place to place, each environment reflecting her internal maturation.
- Explains that mr. rochester is a passionate man who is not afraid to speak his mind. jane sees his expressions as irritated, dark, and piercing
- Analyzes how jane's relationship with mr. rochester is the most interesting relationship in the book.
- Analyzes how jane shows her evolution as a forgiving and aware character in her thoughts while following bessie to meet mrs. reed.
- Analyzes how jane eyre grew from an oppressed, stubborn, impatient child, to a determined, confident, forgiving, and patient adult.
- Cites blackie, bonnie, and bloom, harold, in literary analysis the importance of journeys in jane eyre.
- Explains bloom howard margaret charlotte bronte's life. boston, twayne publishers 1997. print.
1183 wordsRead More - Jane Eyre Character Analysisanalytical essay“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte is a novel about an orphan girl growing up in a tough condition and how she becomes a mature woman with full of courage. Her life at Gateshead is really difficult, where she feels isolated and lives in fear in her childhood. Her parents are dead when she was little, her dead uncle begged his evil wife, Mrs. Reed, to take care of Jane until she becomes an adult. But Mrs. Reed does not keep her promise, no one treats Jane like their family members even treats her less than a servant. By the end of this essay it will be proven that Jane’s life at Gateshead has shaped her development as a young woman and bildungsroman.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how jane eyre's life at gateshead has shaped her development as a young woman and bildungsroman.
- Analyzes how jane eyre was happy before moving to gateshead. she had nice house to live and fine food to eat, but no one in the family treats her like a human, especially mrs. reed's son, john reed.
- Analyzes how jane is scared when she is locked in the red house where she sees a ghost and faints. her doctor, mr. lloyd, visits her and makes jane feel hopeless again.
- Analyzes how mrs. reed wants to kick jane out of her house as soon as possible. she sends jane to school to shape her mind to obey her order in the future.
- Analyzes how jane's life in gateshead shapes her to become a mature and independent young woman full of courage. she lives in dreadful condition where she gets bullied by her cousin and locked in the haunted room.
589 wordsRead More - Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontëanalytical essayIt is a monumental step for Charlotte Brontë during the Victorian Era, revolving around a female protagonist with a penchant for self-preservation despite societal opposition. Initially, Jane finds herself in situations where she feels excluded by those around her so she forms a mindset in which her truest desires come before all else while she ignores the judgements of her peers. Jane’s withdrawal from suppression and limitations transform her as a reflection of her strength as a woman and as a human being. It is a combination of moral clauses with the effects of societal pressures that creates her mission of individual fulfillment and allows Jane Eyre to flourish as a strong, independent woman of the Victorian Era.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the victorian era encompassed a time of great discrepancy between the sexes, especially for women. bront's jane eyre explores the significance of individual fulfillment in an oppressive society
- Analyzes how jane eyre encounters her first glimpse of social infrastructure beginning with mrs. reed and her children, primarily john reed.
- Analyzes how jane eyre collides with a struggle between passion and reason through the end of her stay at gateshead.
- Analyzes how jane's friendship with helen burns plays a crucial role in controlling her zealous manner. she is well-versed in the morals of forgiveness, forbearance, and love.
- Analyzes how jane eyre's third home at thornfield is her chance to grow her self-sufficiency to fruition though her life-long yearning for true love tests her inner peace.
- Analyzes how jane eyre becomes financially independent and self-reliant at moor house. the proposal from st. john rivers, jane's cousin, causes a mental war.
- Analyzes how jane eyre's second home at lowood spans a period of eight years during which she continues to face an inner battle between passion and reason.
- Analyzes how jane's time at thornfield draws to a close when the truth about mr. rochester’s past reveals itself.
- Analyzes how jane eyre's happy ending, ferndean, is a cumulative representation of the end of her journey for individual fulfillment.
1731 wordsRead More - Jane Eyre and Control Dramasanalytical essayBrontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J. Dunn. 2nd ed. Norton: New York, 1987. (5-398).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how jane eyre is an excellent example of how control dramas affect the individual.
- Explains that a control drama involves an individual want or drive to control power through actions, reactions, conversations, and all other facets of everyday life.
- Explains that the most active role one can assume is the "intimidator." the basic role of the intimidator is to steal power in a situation.
- Explains that although the intimidator is excessive, there is another active role that is less threatening. the "interrogator" is condescending, questioning, and intellectual.
- Analyzes how jane began as an intimidator with an active role in power control, but mrs. reed curbed this behavior at the beginning of the novel.
- Explains passive roles are similar in circumstance, but dissimilar in properties. the first is created either by the intimidator or the interrogator and is classified as "aloof."
- Explains the passive role of the "poor me victim," which controls power in a situation by making the others feel sorry for them. weakness is used to gain attention, to give the victim power out of pure sympathy.
- Describes how jane learned how to survive within the drama guidelines and assumed a more subdued role. she shut herself off from the reeds and began to live under the aloof and poor me divisions.
- Analyzes how jane's school, lowood, occupied the vacuum the reeds left. the script was flipped and she was now in the role of activity again.
- Analyzes how jane felt the absence of power at hillshire and was drawn to mr. rochester because of this state of equality between them.
- Analyzes how eagleton points out a realization in jane and mr. rochester's relationship "in terms of spiritual equality," but does not expound on the advantage to jane in this respect.
- Analyzes how mr. rochester's secretive wife obliterated the absence of control in the relationship. because rochester was already married, he once again assumed a powerful role.
- Narrates how jane stumbled upon a humble abode occupied by three women and one man, and discovered that she had to wield some active and some passive power to pacify the drama that existed within marsh house.
- Analyzes how the woman returned to mr. rochester after he had lost his eyesight, hand, and home. subconsciously, she entreated to return the equality and unfettered life that she once had with him.
- Analyzes how jane fell in love with mr. rochester because she felt no pressure to perform within a control drama. the unfettered relationship is successful because of their conscious effort to remain free of these dramas.
1630 wordsRead More - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronteanalytical essayCharlotte Bronte is, first and foremost, a storyteller at heart. She broke a mold for women at her time because there were not many occupations that were deemed acceptable besides ‘teacher’ or ‘governess’ in the mid-nineteenth century. Her imagination was far too creative to be left unwritten on a page. Charlotte Bronte’s writings reflect her opinions on women’s roles in society and such opinion is shown in Jane Eyre. Although Jane Eyre was considered radical for its time because women weren’t supposed to play the role of heroine, Jane Eyre rises up from her oppressors, fights for what she thinks is right, and above all stays true to herself and today is considered a true role model for heroine characters.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how charlotte bronte broke a mold for women in the mid-nineteenth century. her writings reflect her opinions on women's roles in society and such opinion is shown in jane eyre.
- Analyzes how jane eyre tells the story of an orphan who goes through her life with challenges and goes on to have an 'awakening'
- Narrates how jane's life involves overcoming the barriers the men of her time put her in.
- Explains that charlotte bronte was not the typical victorian lady. she was a novelist and was expected to marry and take care of her family.
- Analyzes how charlotte bronte's work was different from dickens or thackeray because a hero took over the story rather than the broad spectrum of everyday life.
- Analyzes how charlotte bronte made her mark in literature by not letting men or how society is to women of the time define her. jane gains inner peace, strength, and becomes a role model for feminists today.
- Cites bront, charlotte, and draper, james p.'s critical commentary on jane eyre.
- Describes the feminist ideals and the women of "jane eyre" hubpages, inc.
1176 wordsRead More - Feminism In Jane Eyreanalytical essayCharlotte 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how charlotte bronte's jane eyre is superficially read as a sweet romance in which jane ends up with the man of her dreams after overcoming many obstacles and challenges.
- Explains that in nineteenth century great britain, women's status and rights are almost non-existent. they are constrained into household servants, farm laborers, or factory workers in order to survive.
- Analyzes how jane eyre lives her life in a subjugated quagmire of male-dominated rules and roles. she exemplifies feminist traits that elevate her beyond the prison victorian gender roles
- Analyzes how jane eyre radiates confidence, and the ability to defend not only herself but her opinions. jane's first masculine oppressor, john reed, views himself as superior to jane.
635 wordsRead More - A Tale of Two Hearts in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyreanalytical essayA TALE OF TWO HEARTS While an artist uses a variety of colors and brushes to create a portrait, Charlotte Bronte used contrasting characters and their vivid personalities to create a masterpiece of her own. In her novel Jane Eyre, Bronte uses narration and her characters to portray the struggle between a society’s Victorian realism and the people’s repressed urges of Romanticism.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how charlotte bronte uses narration and her characters to portray the struggle between a society’s victorian realism and the people’
- Analyzes how bronte uses varens and reed to paint the contrast between the romantics controlled by emotion, freedom and imagination and the victorians who exhibit middle-class stuffiness and pompous conservatism.
- Analyzes how bronte captured the essence of two societies and illustrated the opposites in two opposing characters.
- Explains that mr. rochester, a victorian gentleman, has all the upper-class privileges expected, but lacks the deep conviction of moral and conservatism.
- Narrates how jane's search for freedom led them to each other.
- Analyzes how jane, a repressed romantic, and rochester find themselves deeply in love. their mild differences but underlying force to satisfy their soul’s longings make them the missing components to each other
- Analyzes how bronte proved in jane eyre that she is a master of literature. she was able to bottle two conflicting attitudes of society into the characters of her novel.
1170 wordsRead More - Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Pointanalytical essayIn Stephen Dunn’s 2003 poem, “Charlotte Bronte in Leeds Point”, the famous author of Jane Eyre is placed into a modern setting of New Jersey. Although Charlotte Bronte lived in the early middle 1800’s, we find her alive and well in the present day in this poem. The poem connects itself to Bronte’s most popular novel, Jane Eyre in characters analysis and setting while speaking of common themes in the novel. Dunn also uses his poem to give Bronte’s writing purpose in modern day.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes stephen dunn's poem, "charlotte bronte in leeds point", which connects itself to jane eyre in characters analysis, setting, and common themes in the novel.
- Analyzes how dunn connects charlotte bronte to jane eyre's character. she lives a quiet life and doesn't stir up negative feelings.
- Analyzes how dunn's poem addresses several themes from jane eyre, including the theme of finding a home.
- Analyzes how dunn and bronte believe that women still have a long way to go in the fight for feminist rights.
- Analyzes how dunn's poem puts bronte in a modern setting, and her themes and character connections relayed in the poem all go into giving her persona and novel new perspectives.
562 wordsRead More - Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyreanalytical essayCharlotte 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how jane eyre's inheritance, self-sufficiency, and role-reversal with mr. rochester enable her to gain independence from domineering authority figures.
- Analyzes how jane eyre begins her story without a true understanding of herself, which is illustrated by her years at lowood, and by much of her employ at thornfield hall.
- Analyzes how jane eyre's journey towards a truer understanding of self is fulfilled at ferndean grange.
- Analyzes how jane eyre spends most of the novel in unequal positions to the other, primarily male, characters.
- Analyzes how jane eyre has gained social and monetary equality with the formally suppressive masculine figures in her life. as a schoolmistress, she gains equality through the occupation of an influential, respectable, and worthwhile position.
- Analyzes how jane eyre comes to full maturity as an independent and fully realized individual, an equal to her husband and all those whom she knows.
- Opines that woolf, virginia, "the continuing appeal of jane eyre." bronte, charlotte.
- Analyzes how 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 monetary and psychological independence.
- Opines that the madwoman in the attic: the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination.
1754 wordsRead More