Jane as an Unconventional Female Character in Jane Eyre

3066 Words7 Pages

How does Brontë convey Jane as an unconventional female character in

the novel Jane Eyre?

Jane Eyre was published in 1847, during the reign of Queen Victoria.

The novel was written by Charlotte Brontë, but published under the

pseudonym Currer Bell. Pseudonyms were used frequently by women at

this point in time, as they were believed to be inferior to men. The

work of female authors was not as well respected as those of male

writers; therefore many women would assume a fictitious name in order

for their works to get noticed. A well-known example of another female

author writing under a pseudonym at the same time was Mary Ann Evans,

who wrote under the name George Eliot. The reason for this oppression

of women writers lies in the belief that a woman’s place was in the

home. Domesticity and motherhood were portrayed as a sufficient

fulfilment. A conventional woman in the Victorian era was married with

children. She had no other career but remained at home continually

preparing the house for her husband and caring for her children.

Women were not thought to have views of their own and were certainly

not expected to express those views, so writing was regarded as an

unsuitable occupation for females. However, the introduction of such

novels as Jane Eyre aided in the establishment of feminism and the

fight for women’s rights.

In this period of time an increasingly popular genre was gothic. A

gothic novel contains mystery, doom, decay, old buildings, ghosts and

madness; but also subtler features such as courage, mysterious places,

a sense of place, dreams and weather, but mainly abnormal events and

unconventionality. Jane Eyre has a gothic theme all the way through

the novel and this aids the portrayal of J...

... middle of paper ...

...gothic elements such as the weather and specific themes throughout the

novel enhance Jane’s unconventionality as they reflect the themes

appearing in gothic novels. I also noticed how the language used

developed with Jane throughout her life; at the beginning when she was

a small child the narrative included advanced vocabulary as the

narrator was Jane as an older woman, however Jane’s speech was very

simple and childish. As Jane grew up her speech became more

sophisticated and religious as well, as she was taught at a religious

school; I believe Brontë used Jane’s language development to aid her

development into a woman with views that she could portray well. I

think Jane Eyre was written with the intention to change the way women

were portrayed in the Victorian times. Jane was a model of a modern

women becoming equal to her husband and being independent.

Open Document