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The Role Of Women In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

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Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the pseudonym of a masculine name, Currer Bell. Jane Eyre’s views on how women should act was seen as an overthrow of social order. Comparing Brontë’s early work to Jane Eyre, it is in stark contrast to the rest of her works as Jane demands respect and equality ‘’ Do you think’, she demands of Rochester, ‘I am an automaton? – a machine without feelings ‘’ (Brontë, 416). The novel centres on the contrast between the strong figure of Jane to the animalistic qualities of Bertha Mason, who was Rochester’s first wife. Jane is a very confident heroine, she speaks the truth against the very powerful dominant male figures, against her aunt, which allows Jane to find her own voice and identity. While Jane Eyre contains criticism on the social roles and the treatment of women, it also highlights that women can live their lives on an equal footing as men. The novel is pro women without being anti men. Certainly, the role of women and me are distinguishable. A man is expected to earn a wage and make it available to the women, essentially provide for his family. On the other hand, women oversee their children’s care and education, organising the house, shopping, etc. For a woman in the Victorian era, her work determines to social status of her family and husband. When completely excluded from financial security, women completely depend on men. The range of work that is made available to women of the nineteenth century is

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