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Mind Control In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

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Essay 1 summary – mind control

Essay one, “From the red room to Rochester’s haircut: mind control in Jane Eyre.”, by Judith Leggatt and Christopher Parkes, is an essay analyzing the book “Jane Eyre” and the different aspects of control within it. The main idea of the essay is how “the control of the imagination is at stake”. Jane Eyre’s imagination is indeed in jeopardy because some of the people in her life take away her freedoms and turn her into a servant. In the beginning, she escapes by imagining that the outside world is free and wonderful, taking her away from her reality. However, the longer she is in captivity, the more difficult it becomes to imagine that world.
With the Reeds and the red room, Jane is just beginning to learn who …show more content…

A few of the characters in the book Jane Eyre represent different aspects of religion and how they effect Jane’s spirituality. There are many different opinions on how each character affects her. St. John is often seen as a rather angry Christian-type with his belief that suffering in necessary when it comes to following God’s word. He is also usually seen as a dominant male who cares little for Jane’s feelings or desires. Jane then obeys God’s will by not being with St. John because she feels that he is trying to own her. This shows a side in the book that shows Jane being more independent, which hints at feminism being a theme in this book. The fact that she ends up marrying Rochester once they are equals shows that she is way before her times and is thinking about marriage as a bond between two equals rather than a man being her superior. This was also seen as a critique towards women in that time period who were okay with being dominated. Emily Bronte was questioned after writing this novel because a woman and a man being equal disagreed with her religious upbringing, which was

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