The Victorian Era had lasted from the years 1837-1901. People in this era were known through their social class and how efficiently they were able to present themselves. Those who were obligated to carry themselves is such a proficient manner, were the women of Victorian Era. Although they had been expected to perform and execute many tasks, they were never recognized just as equal to the men in society. They were never acknowledged to make judgments or decisions, rather were best known for marriage, prostitution, and motherhood. As the men, dominated and took control of every decision possible. They were known for their aggressive and independent attitude. This led an extraordinary women named, Charlotte Brontë to begin a revolution of change and improvement in the social standings. As her living in the Victorian Era, set her upon a journey of many hardships but her well-known classics, Jane Eyre, depicted her strength and courage to step up for women equality and portray who she truly was in society.
Throughout Charlotte's life, she had faced many downfalls, which were some intentionally and subconsciously infringed in her writing. Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, and was the third child of six children to Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë. She had lived a sheltered in life due to her father, who was a "poor clergymen" (Brontë). Her mother died of cancer in 1821, only when Charlotte was 5 years old. This impacted her and her siblings deeply, as in 1824, Brontë and her sisters "were sent to study at the Clergy Daughters School in Cowan Bridge" (Stacey). There, the poor conditions led Maria and Elizabeth to their death, "both of whom succumbed to tuberculosis" (Stacey). The school depicted Jane's situat...
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...d Rochester. All of whom who showed some sort of established power and control over her. One way or the other, they tried to overpower and take complete dominance over her, however, she never allowed such an act to take place. She followed her heart and the faith she had in God. She strived to maintain a position in life, regards the debts of others. Jane followed her own path and stood up for justice and women equality. Therefore, the struggles in Charlotte's life, foreshadowed strengths in her novel to depict the moral values and principles of all women during the Victorian Era and after. As Charlotte's novel served as a model and opened up the eyes of many. The novel had become a turning point, as her true and genuine piece of literature, created a legacy for the women and their right to be independent and fairly equal to the men of society.
Maria Brandwell Bronte gave birth to Charlotte, her third child out of six within the span of seven years, on April 12, 1816 in Bradford, Yorkshire. Charlotte began her schooling at the Clergy Daughter’s School on August 10, 1824, but due to harsh conditions at the school she returned after only one year. Upon returning home she was schooled by her aunt, and then attended Roe Head in 1831. Charlotte struggled finding an occupation that she enjoyed. She became a teacher at Roe Head, but she hated the way it was run and left shortly thereafter. She also tried to be a governess twice, but due to her shy nature and the fact that she missed her sisters so dearly, she returned home. Charlotte’s thirst for knowledge took her to Brussels with her sister Emily, where she learned French, German, and management skills.
Bronte is known as one of the first revolutionary and challenging authoress’ with her text Jane Eyre. The society of her time was male dominated, women were marginally cast aside and treated as trophies for their male counterparts. Their main role in life was to be a mother and a wife, “ Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life……the more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” A quote from a letter Robert Southey wrote to Bronte. A clear sign of the mentality and opposition Bronte was up against. A woman’s “proper duties” of course being to tend and wait on her “master’s” every whim and need. Women during Bronte’s time had no clear voice, none that was of any merit, they were a silent category of society, silenced by their male oppressors. Bronte’s book was in fact written before the first women’s rights movement had happened, yet it puts forward an image of an independent strong character, of a passionate and almost rebellious nature. A character “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her right’s, and venturing creative thoughts.” I put forward that Bronte throughout her text not only revises the themes of male power and oppression, but reconstructs them also. The text is a female bildungsroman of it’s time, sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly tackling the patriarchal view of women.
This novel was one of the most radical books of the Victorian Era. It portrayed women as equals to men. It showed that it was possible that men could even be worse than women, through John and Jane. It taught the Victorians never to judge a book by its cover. The novel would not be as successful were it not for Charlotte Brontë’s talent in writing, and were it not for the literary devices employed.
The Victorian era, spurred a momentary sequence of both women and men in search of a prosperous relationship regulated by the demanding etiquettes of the Victorian Society. If these desired qualities were not in possession, a man or woman could be labeled as ‘unsuitable’ in the positions of a husband or a wife. Women suffered mostly throughout the Victorian Era as rights were ceased and the rules and guidelines of society were placed. The Victorian Era caused the rights of women to escalate when the Vision of the “Ideal Woman” was introduced amongst society; producing segregation between men and women to last for years to come.
women joined the ranks of spinsters and old maids due to this imbalance in the
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.
19th-Century Women Works Cited Missing Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail, as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so. One of the most common expectations for women is that they are responsible for doing the chore of cleaning, whether it is cleaning the house, doing the laundry.
Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in
Throughout history women have struggled to become equal with men. Even though women are not exactly equal with men today because of things like unequal pay, they are closer to being equal than in other periods of history. Particularly, women now are much closer to being equal with men than in the Victorian Era of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë. In the Victorian Era, women were largely expected to obey men, while in modern times, women are expected to be independent. Furthermore, now that women have more rights than in the Victorian Era, they rely less on men and therefore spend their lives very differently from the Victorian Era. If Jane Eyre took place today, many of the characters would have made different choices based on the way gender roles have changed and affect society. Women Jane Eyre are forced by society to act certain ways while relying on men to support them much unlike modern women.
The development of Charlotte Bronte's character, Jane Eyre, becomes vital to her novel Jane Eyre, and the other characters in which she is involved. She is an intelligent, plain featured, honest young girl whose reaction to her situations brings more depth to her personality. She is forced to deal with oppression, discrimination, and at times poverty, which disrupt her strong will, dignity, and desire for freedom. At the beginning, Jane possesses a passion for pride and the idea of freedom and these characteristics, along with her integrity, are tested continuously throughout the novel by the many personalities with whom she encounters. Living in a male dominant world Jane is expected to remain obedient and docile and her passion sometimes keeps her from being able to do this. She is a rarity among obeying female characters and we see this throughout the book.
In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the main character, Jane, painted a colorful life for women in the 1800s. Being a book in the Gothic Romanticism era, Jane Eyre seems to be more than a ‘cinderella’ type novel. Yes, Jane grew up in an abusive household and she was lower class until she met Mr. Rochester, but she also exemplified a woman climbing the social ladder. Although, many women of the time could not move up in social rank without a man, Jane seems to defy those odds, like the gothic romance leading character she is. Within the book, social justice reoccurs in a timely fashion. After getting past the fact of the genre and ‘classic love story’ that shines throughout the novel, the character speak clearly of women and the social class.
Bronte’s Jane Eyre is brimming with feminist ideology rebuking Victorian-Era gender-roll ethics and ideals. As a creative, independent woman with a strong personality and will growing up during this period of female repression, Bronte wrote Jane Eyre as a feminist message to society. She criticizes the average, servile, ignorant Victorian woman, and praises a more assertive, independent, and strong one. She does this through her protagonist Jane, who embodies all of Bronte’s ideal feminine characteristics. She is a strong woman, both mentally and physically, who seeks independence and is in search of individuality, honesty, and above all equality both in marriage and in society in a world that does not acknowledge women as individuals.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is set in the mid nineteenth century, during the Victorian era where class and gender roles are clearly defined in the patriarchal society. The general ideology of the era expresses the idea that if gender categories were not maintained as binary oppositions, catastrophic chaos would likely ensue (Gill, 109). Throughout the novel, Jane is faced with the issue of oppression. The typical characteristics of an ideal female in Victorian society would include submissiveness, simple dress, low ambition, longing for a male love interest and passiveness. Bronte clearly shows her stance on this Victorian ideology as Jane often challenges those social institutions and changes her place in society, although she often settles for the status quo for certain periods of time. Jane plays the typical role of a Victorian woman through much of her life, but through subtle shifts in power Bronte challenges these Victorian norms by way of Jane’s education, unlikely rise in social status from teacher to governess and her relationship with a seemingly unattainable man.
The 19th century was a period of oppression for women. The patriarchal system that dominated the Victorian period in England's history, was one during which Charlotte Brontë wrote and set the novel, Jane Eyre. Brontë denounces the persecution that women suffered at the hands of a society that placed faith in a belief that men were emotionally, socially and intellectually superior to Victorian women.
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.