Jane Eyre Theme Essay (rough draft)
Independence, the capacity to manage ones own affairs, make one’s own judgments, and provide for one’s self. Jane Eyre herself is a very independent woman. Throughout her life she has depended on very few people for very little. Charlotte Brontë wants the reader to learn that independence can open many doors of possibilities.
Jane in her younger years was practically shunned by everyone and was shown very little love and compassion, from this throughout her life she searches for these qualities through those around her. Due to Jane’s mother’s disinheritance she was disowned by Mrs. Reed and her children, and was treated like a servant consistently reminded that she lacked position and wealth.
“I do this real moron thing, it is called thinking, and I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.” This was said by George Carlin, which really applies to Jane Eyre’s situation, whose opinions are not considered or even heard of. There was always some form of resistance against Jane whenever she tried to stand up for herself or her needs, and when she did she was put back into her place as being one of a troublemaker.
Throughout Jane Eyre, Jane manages to achieve success over the male power, which seems to be her largest accomplishment. Jane overcame those who caused her much bane. Jane had to overcome many obstacles of male power; one was of when she lived at Gateshead and was tormented by Jon Reed. John constantly wreaked so much havoc and turmoil on Jane. He constantly told her she was destined to fail in life, which in the end it ended up being the other way around. In due time John Reed dies, leaving Jane exceeding him in life which no one thought would t...
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...m my own mistress.” (pg. 416) In stating this, Jane Eyre recognizes her independence and embraces in it. She started out with little and was mistreated but then she ended up becoming rich, embracing her inner beauty, and being loved by many. She accomplished this by becoming independent; in doing this she opened many doors of opportunities for herself.
It is important for Charlotte Brontë to leave the reader with such a lesson because she wants to show the reader that everyone can look at Jane Eyre as a role model for being and becoming independent. With this she shows that in order to become independent you must believe in yourself and not let others bring you down and withhold you from achieving your aspiration. In letting others withhold you or keep you back from accomplishing great things you give them vast pride in being a roadblock in your life.
In the novel, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses symbolism and characterization to show the theme of independence.
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.
During the era were Jane lived it was thought to be a selfish for women to show desire, it was a bad emotion that women were expected to control and keep quite. To perform one's duty to society was thought to be respectful and should be put before anything else. Desire is a term to want something or someone very strongly no matter what the outcome is. Duty in contrast, is a moral obligation to something that somebody is obliged to do for moral, legal, or religious reasons , which is thought to be selfless. The decisions made regarding these emotions are significant throughout Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte shows us Jane’s integrity helps her find the balance between duty to herself, and desire to stay.
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.
The story begins with a young Jane Eyre who is essentially neither loved by anyone nor independent in nature. At this point in the story, the reader discovers that Jane is an orphan and is being supported by the Reed family. This discovery is made through the portrayal of John Reed when he is taunting Jane about her social status. John claims that since it is his family who supports Jane, it is their choice to dictate the circumstances under which she lives. In this case, Jane is not allowed to play with the younger Reed children or read a book that belongs to the Reeds. The fact that6 Jane is an orphan living under someone else's roof displays that she has not yet gained her independence.
The novel starts with giving an outlook on how the lower classes were being treated. The young Jane Eyre lives with Mrs Reed, who was the woman married to her uncle. Jane’s uncle adopted her, and when he died she had to take care of her. Jane is ambiguous i...
At the start of Jane Eyre, Jane is living with her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her family after being orphaned. Jane is bitterly unhappy there because she is constantly tormented by her cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana. After reading the entire book you realize that Jane was perfectly capable of dealing with that issue on her own, but what made it unbearable was that Mrs. Reed always sided with her children, and never admitted to herself that her offspring could ever do such things as they did to Jane. Therefore, Jane was always punished for what the other three children did, and was branded a liar by Mrs. Reed. This point in the book marks the beginning of Jane's primary conflict in the novel. She feels unloved and unaccepted by the world, as her own family betrays her.
The story of Jane Eyre is very much about the status of women in the
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.
The single greatest conflict of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is Jane's struggle between submission and revolt. At times it is difficult for her to know which of those two actions to choose-- she is a spirited woman who cannot accept oppression but sometimes has no choice but to submit. As a little girl she had no knowledge that there was a medium between the two. Eventually she learns moderation and she doesn't need to choose submission or revolt; she comes into her own money by the end and escapes from the oppression she suffered as a child.
Similar to many of the great feministic novels of its time, Jane Eyre purely emerges as a story focused on the quest for love. The novel’s protagonist, Jane, searches not only for the romantic side of love, but ultimately for a sense of self-worth and independence. Set in the overlapping times of the Victorian and Gothic periods, the novel touches upon both women’s supposed rights, and their inner struggle for liberty. Orphaned at an early age, Jane was born into a modest lifestyle, without any major parent roles to guide her through life’s obstacles. Instead, she spent much of her adolescent years locked in imaginary chains, serving those around her but never enjoying the many decadences life has to offer. It is not until Jane becomes a governess that many minute privileges become available to her and offer Jane a glance at what life could have been. It is on her quest for redemption and discovery that she truly is liberated. Throughout Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre, the story’s protagonist Jane, struggles to achieve the balance of both autonomy and love, without sacrificing herself in the process.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.
It is very obvious now that Jane has matured and grown from a little girl with little self-confidence, to a mature and successful woman with self-confidence and experience. The obstacles she had to encounter throughout some of the stages of her life had made her stronger and her self-confidence had grown, also because of certain people in her life. Jane believed in herself and her morals, and as a result was so successful in her life and she was able to achieve a high position of self-confidence at the end of the novel. She developed self-confidence and maintained it my knowing her self-worth, and having faith in what she believes in.
The construction of Jane Eyre as a seemingly flawless and strong character serves two purposes in the text. The primary purpose is to display the Victorian struggle for women against patriarchal dominance. The patriarchal systems of dominance and control within the Victorian society were the sole machinery that advanced the colonial interests of the male gender against the female gender. In Jane Eyre, the female gender is portrayed as particularly weak and lacking in the necessary strengths that are required to pursue their interests. Jane Eyre becomes a rebel within the system by articulating open and consistent defiance against the status quo. Her travails, challenges, successes and final triumph signify the determined shift by the author in portraying women as different beings other than the weak and fragile characters that were consistent with the Victorian meta-...