Charlotte Bronte’s character, Jane Eyre, is a heroine of her own era. She is a character of passion, integrity, and intelligence. She is faced with discrimination, oppression, and poverty, which obstructs her dignity, strong will, and her desire for freedom and still comes out strong in the end. She faces oppression, first, in her childhood home, discrimination throughout her life due to her plain looks, and poverty near the end of the novel. The development of Jane throughout these hardships is a crucial piece of the novel, as well as the women she associated herself with. The women in Jane’s life vary from an evil mother-creature to a kind housekeeper, and they all have an impact on her life in some way and to different extents. The way Bronte wrote this novel, most of the …show more content…
The beginning of Jane’s life was anything but easy. Due to the death of her parents, Jane moved in with the next of kin: The Reeds. Jane’s uncle was kind, compassionate, and merciful to her, unlike her aunt and their devilish children. Unable to catch a break, Jane’s uncle died soon after her transition, leaving her with her cold-hearted aunt and cousins. Most of the women Jane encountered at Gateshead (the living place of The Reeds) made Jane’s childhood very difficult. She did her best to do as she was told and stay out of trouble, but trouble came to her. Mrs. Reed, Jane’s aunt, despised Jane and treated her as if she were an animal. She despised her due to her late husband’s love for Jane, exceeding the love for his own children. On Mrs. Reed’s deathbed, she was still hostile towards Jane and couldn’t apologize to her for all of the hurt she had caused in her childhood. Though Jane fails to smooth things out before Mrs. Reed’s passing, she learns the lesson of forgiveness and moving on. “You have my full and free forgiveness…” (Bronte). Jane not only had to deal with Mrs. Reed, but her children as well. The saying goes, “monkey see, monkey do,” and that’s exactly
Mrs. Reed likewise separates Jane from the Reeds’ social circle by confining her to the nursery while her cousins spend their days in the drawing room (22) and calling Mr. Lloyd, the apothecary for “ailing servants,” instead of the family physician for Jane’s illness (15), thus placing her among the servants. However, the servants too reject Jane from their group—Miss Abbot told Jane that she is “less than a servant” because she does “nothing for [her] keep” (9). Jane thus
Jane’s ability to undergo an atrocious youth allowed her to gain her tenacity. Though she does question herself, ultimately, Jane pursues her own individuality and self-respect. Jane’s pursuit complicates itself when she encounters Mr.
Jane says of Mrs. Reed, “…(She) could discover by her own observation that I was endeavoring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition… she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children,” which perfectly illustrates the panoptic-disciplinary relationship between herself and Mrs. Reed; Mrs. Reed observes and judges Jane’s reticent behavior as a child and as a punishment, Jane is experiences alienation and deprivation of opportunities awarded to children who behave
It is ironic that Jane is seen as the guilty party in the incident with John Reed because John started the fight when he slapped Jane. Then when John’s sisters, Eliza and Georgina, go to “tattle tale” on Jane, their mother blames Jane for the whole situation. Jane compares John to a “murderer,” “slave-driver,” and “Roman Emperors” (Bronte 9). During this comparison, she is implying that he is a very cruel and awful person. That he would beat her and boss her around.
Jane requests to return to the Reed house, after learning about her cousin’s suicide and her aunt, Mrs. Reed’s, illness; however Rochester questions, “And what good can you do her… you say she cast you off,” Jane replies, “Yes, sir, but that is long ago; and when her circumstances were very different: I could not be easy to neglect her wishes now” (Brontë 227). Jane looks beyond that Mrs. Reed “cast[ed] her off,” implying that she has grown to let go of grudges and developed a mature mentality. The irony of Jane’s inability to “neglect her wishes,” infers how the injustice treatment of Mrs. Reed unaffectedly brings Jane to look past the situation by visiting the Reeds in a time of sorrow. In addition, Rochester attempts to convince his wedded Jane to stay with him, after learning about his mad wife; Rochester claims that his father had “sent [him] out to Jamaica, to espouse a bride already courted for” him but only so his brother and father to get “thirty thousand pounds,” Rochester further admits to Jane that “you know now that I had but a hideous demon. I was wrong to attempt to deceive you…
It is Helen who advises Jane to study the New Testament and follow Christ's example, in particular his injunction to "Love your enemies"--a counsel that clearly influences the forgiveness Jane grants the dying Mrs. Reed” (Lamonaca
Starting from the introduction after her parents pass away and leave her an orphan to be raised by her cruel Aunt Reed, Jane is not recognized as a member of the family. She is treated not as one of Mrs. Reed’s servants but just as equal to their rank. Jane experiences the same feeling while studying at the boarding school Lowood. From her abusive upbringing, she never believed that she was worthy of much, though she did not truly believe she was worthless. Jane more and more feels the need to belong somewhere.
Bronte 's Jane Eyre transcends the genres of literature to depict the emotional and character development of its protagonist. Although no overall genre dominates the novel exclusively, the vivid use of setting contributes towards the portrayal of Bronte’s bildungsroman (Realisms, 92) and defines the protagonist’s struggles as she grapples with her inner-self, and the social expectations of her gender. The novel incorporates Jane’s frequent conflicts, oppression, isolation and self-examination as she defends her identity and independence. Set amongst five separate locations, Bronte’s skilful use of literal and metaphorical landscapes, nature, and imagery, skilfully intertwines with the plot and denotes each phrase of her maturity.
At the young age that Jane is, she should not yet be self conscious of her appearance and concerned about her level of beauty, yet she becomes “humbled by the consciousness of physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed” (Bronte 7). The Reed family fits into the stereotype of inner beauty not matching outer beauty; they are extremely rich and beautiful, yet they lack basic levels of compassion.
First, Jane Eyre’s attributes displays women in our society who are still in search for meaning and love in their lives. Just like Jane’s spirit of passion despite abuse, these women continue to search for respect from other
Helen was always grateful and helped the immature Jane become wiser, grateful,forgiving and patient. She helped Jane forgive Mrs.Reed and not hold as much hatred in her heart towards her. Helen helped Jane view the world differently because she had a strong faith in God, and especially believed in loving your enemies. For example, Jane never liked their teacher Miss Scatcherd because she was always rude to Helen, but Helen always pointed out the good in their teacher, even when Jane saw the bad. Jane got upset with Helen for always being so collected, but when she saw that Helen was still calm, even after her outburst, she learned to also be more serene.
Reed is Jane’s aunt who permits her to live at Gateshead, but only under the condition that she promised her husband that she would look after Jane once he passed away. She treats Jane much worse than her other children and shows no affection towards her Jane . When Jane tries to stand up at her, she is treated worse and further isolated. For example, when Jane tries to stand up for herself and tell the truth about her fight with John, Ms. Reed punishes her without a second thought. She sends Jane to the room where her uncle passed away, knowing Jane is completely terrified of it.
Like Jane, Mrs. Reed is also subject to expected feminine roles, although unlike Jane, she adheres to the trappings of her gender. Despite the fact that Mr. Reed is dead, Mrs. Reed is still vulnerable to carrying out his wishes. This is demonstrated by how powerfully Jane’s reminder of Mrs. Reed’s promise to her dying husband about caring for Jane distresses Mrs. Reed: “Her usually cold, composed grey eye became troubled with a look like fear; she took her hand from my arm, and gazed at me as if she really did not know whether I were a child or fiend” (Brontë 35). Although Mr. Reed is dead, he still “...continues to dictate her behaviour even from the grave” (Anderson 1). Mrs. Reed’s son also portrays the role of male dominance in her life: John gambles away much of the Reed fortune and wrecks his own life with alcohol, while simultaneously devastating his mother’s life.
In the beginning of the book we learn that Jane is set apart from her cousins by her aunt, who is
Even there are some of them write exactly the same story of their experience, and Charlotte Bronte narrates her own story in Jane Eyre. There have been so many arguments about this case for many years, but the life of Jane has a lot in common with the author of the novel, Charlotte Bronte. In this paper, the researcher is going to try to find out the influence, similarity, and the relation between Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte’s character, their childhood, their relationships with parents, friends, and their suffering in living. Jane Eyre is a foundation of studying English literature courses in all universities around the world; this novel tells us a story of little girl “Jane” who struggle into life to reach assert of her own identity.