Consequences Of Class Women In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Superior Essays
Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre (1847) predicts two possible outcomes of a woman’s future during the eighteenth century. Jane, the protagonist, represents a positive outcome of a woman who could have easily “fallen” because she is saved by a man’s protection and her class status – both provided her uncle’s money. Though Jane’s piety contributes to her ability to refrain from less than savory activities, it is her class that affords her the freedom to follow her religious beliefs – through autonomy. A woman’s class status could make or break the outcome of her life, and unfortunately, many lower class women were forced into prostitution, becoming mistresses, or subjected to worse treatment. In Jane Eyre, Jane teeters on the verge of becoming …show more content…
Without protection of a father or uncle, Jane’s life could have ended up very differently than where it does. Mary Poovy’s article “The Anathematized Race: The Governess and Jane Eyre” argues: “Jane is vulnerable to Rochester’s advances because, as his employee, she lacks both social peers and the means to defend herself against her attractive, aggressive employer” (136). He manipulates her because of that attraction and because she is a middle-class governess, and he has all of the power. She is susceptible to his whims; what if she had refused and he had gotten violent or turned her out? He is overbearing and places her in uncomfortable situations, but governess work was far and few between, according to Poovy, and Jane’s options were limited (127). Jane wouldn’t have had to means to take him to court, should some type of physical abuse occurred – must like the daughter of the sailor. Her class status as a governess severely limits Jane’s authority over her own life and in response to Rochester’s …show more content…
– You will not be my comforter, my rescuer? – My deep love, my wild woe, my frantic prayer, are all nothing to you?” (Bronte 271). He uses his words to try and manipulate Jane. He appeals to the ideals of a woman of the time – who is supposed to be a moral compass for her male companions, just like the sailor’s daughter is for her father. Rochester knows what a governess is supposed to be like – yet he asks her to abandon those morals in favor of becoming a fallen woman. If he knew or loves Jane, he wouldn’t have asked her to commit to such a betrayal of her own beliefs. Poovy talks about the dangers that come with being a governess: “Two of the figures to which the governess was repeatedly linked begin to suggest why her sexlessness seemed so important – and so unreliable – to her contemporaries. These figures are the lunatic and the fallen woman” (129). But as Poovy points out, Jane is neither of these two. Instead, she is able to resist the temptation and appeal of Rochester to move away from him in his attempts to make her his mistress. Rochester knows what would happen to her should he decide that he doesn’t wish to remain attached to her. Therefore, as a governess, her class makes her prey for her employer where she has no authority or control over the situation. She is totally in his control if she wishes to remain in his house. When she

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Gender Roles In Jane Eyre

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages

    19th century critics portray Jane Eyre both as a feminist and Chartist manifesto. Through the heroine’s character, Brontë expresses how feminine power and independence are important, and they are seen especially during the moment when Rochester and Jane are married, and she becomes “her own mistress” (Brontë 246). She claims at that moment that she will not depend on him. If we look at the end of the novel, the gender roles are somewhat reversed, by Rochester depending on Jane to be his eyes and his hands. At a time when the simple word feminism was never heard, through Jane’s character Brontë expresses the notion that “women feel just as men do” (Brontë 77), and the fact that women cannot live a life that is forged into “stagnation” and “rigid…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Betrayal In Jane Eyre

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In reality, Rochester’s betrayal on Jane was more beneficial than it was harmful. If Jane were married to Rochester like she had originally intended, she would have been tied down and restricted from being as independent as she intended to be, similar to many married women during this time period. Without Rochester, Jane was able to take charge in her occupation as a teacher for troubled students, and she was able to finally learn to live alone in the town of Morton. Jane has an awakening. In Morton, it is revealed to Jane that her uncle had left all of his inheritance to her, and…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    An effective way that a novel becomes timeless is through the social change that the story may prompt. Once a book influences thought or action, its validity and relevance increases. During the Victorian Era in which Jane Eyre takes place, women were forced by society into becoming simplistic and conforming without rebellion. Instead of allowing individuality and expression, men tended to suppress the freedom and personalities of females. To this day still, the lack of female empowerment in a patriarchal society takes prevalence.…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane is entirely dependent on Rochester for her own happiness which is not a healthy way to have a relationship. Walking into the marriage Jane knows that Rochester has had mistresses in the past but she seems to be okay with that. Then when Rochester is outed as having his crazy wife Bertha locked away she knows that she can not marry him while the wife is still around but she loves Rochester all the same. I think that all of this shows the repercussions of Jane not having a solid father figure during her childhood. She has no idea what to expect from a husband and she fell for the first man to give her attention.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “This life”, she passionately begins, “is hell [...] I have a right to deliver myself from it if I can” (355). One can vividly see the worthlessness of the wealth that would have firmed Jane’s shaky status upon wedding Mr.Rochester. The reason for this being Bertha Mason’s presence in her fiancé’s attic. Jane does not see herself as a mistress nor does she want to build a family with a man that belongs to another woman.…

    • 2060 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But to have companionship, she must enter a social contract, and to enter a social contract, she must relinquish some of her independence. In Rochester, Jane finds the solution to her dilemma. Rochester, scarred and blinded from the fire Bertha, Rochester’s mad wife, set after Jane abandoned him in the night after their attempted wedding, is, in many ways, her equal. His disability makes him as reliant on her as she would be on him, under Victorian marriage laws -- he cannot walk without assistance, let alone force her to bow to his will. And he is equally as torn between society and independence as she is.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane Eyre Snare

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In an era when man rules all, when he is in control, she is submissive. She cannot be free. She is under his demand. She is a bird in his snare. Jane Eyre, in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, is a Victorian era heroine.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Jane Eyre” written by Charlotte Brontë was published during the 1840s. “In many societies, women have long been viewed as less than fully human” (Nicodemo 11 October 2015). Gender inequality and isolation are two major themes in the book “Jane Eyre”. Throughout the book, Jane faces problems that are caused from gender inequality and isolation. At the young age of ten, plain Jane Eyre was already oppressed for her gender, status in society, and the fact that she was an orphan.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Who could have guessed there was a woman fighting back against the 1800s idea that women are always supposed to rely on a man? In the novel, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, there was a lower class woman named Jane Eyre, who interacted with, fell in love with, argued with, and learned from a multitude of different characters, such as John Reed, Mr. Rochester, and St. John. Jane started off as a poor orphan who then gained independence as she went through school, got herself a job, inherited money and became a wealthy woman. She then realized she would rather rely on herself and be independent, even when she had someone else to rely on. Jane learned how to be self reliant in quite a few aspects of her life throughout her struggles with John Reed,…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Or so it seems. When she first meets Mr. Rochester, who had a “frown, the roughness of the traveller” (Bronte, 134) that “set me at my ease” (Bronte, 134), she was not aware that he was Mr. Rochester, but thought that he was a mere stranger who seemed to be down to her level, which led to her feel of easiness, seeing as she does not have to act, or is forced to be, polite to him, thus making her unafraid to challenge him. If Mr. Rochester had been “a handsome heroic-looking young gentleman,” (Bronte, 134), Jane's behavior would have caused Mr. Rochester to “not have sympathy with anything in me, and should have shunned them as one would fire, lightning, or anything else that is bright but antipathetic.” (Bronte, 134). It was Jane's fire that caught the attention of Mr. Rochester, and he, in fact, encouraged and loved Jane's fiery nature.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Who Is Rochester A Hero

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mr.Rochester proves to be weak in other aspects. Although he is superior to Jane socially and economically, Jane is superior to him morally, for Rochester hides the secret that he is already married. Bertha Mason is an example that illustrates how women could be controlled and suppressed by a man during the Victorian era. However, Jane fends off marriage, for she knows that living with Rochester would mean the loss of her dignity and equity, and living with St. John River would sacrifice her emotional feelings. Finally she comes back for Rochester, but everything has changed.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rochester, but his past invaded their future, furthermore a marriage could not happen upon their first trial. For this treacherous knowledge of the past is an instigator of disembodying affections as she almost became a mistress. Alternatively when Jane reciprocates marriage is the only feasible thought, but now the situation has overturned. Whereas, Mr. Rochester is, “a crippled man, twenty years older than her, whom she has to wait upon” (Brontë 518), and now Jane has become an independent. In fact, Mr. Rochester brings forth in terms her delight of sacrifice, and Jane exclaims, “ I delight in sacrifice” (Brontë 518).…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Jane Eyre Research Paper

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Although Jane was inferior to Rochester, being the governess under the master of the manor, Jane remains prideful: “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!--I have as much soul as you,--and full as much heart!” Although Jane at first felt insecure from Rochester’s love and decides to leave Thornfield as soon as she realized Rochester marrying Blanche Ingram, in the dialogue between Rochester and Jane, Jane expresses her pride despite of her inferiority. Several inequalities exist between Rochester and Jane--age difference, social status, and wealth. Jane’s principle of equality and independence inspired her to resist from marrying Rochester.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During the Victorian period in England, the evangelical movement present led to an incline in the worshiping of God as a guiding figure and impacted the spread of the feminism that subsequently led to an increase in woman’s spirituality and desire for independence. The feminist ideals portrayed by women in England came about by the first wave feminism in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. Emily Griesinger describes God as the apparent figure for the strengthening of feminism in her work, “Charlotte Brontë's Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre.” Griesinger explains in her article that Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre uses God to serve as prominent motivator for Jane feminist beliefs of splitting off from the traditional gender roles. Although Griesinger portrays God as a medium through which Jane can express her independence as a woman and break traditional roles, she contradicts her own argument by establishing…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Gender Issues In Jane Eyre

    • 1955 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Jane’s nonconforming views towards love, marriage, and womanly independence in addition to her development of individual moral standards portrays Bronte’s cynicism towards the Victorian society. This topic appeals to me because Jane believes that she should be seen for her personal qualities and not for what society wants her to be as a woman. This was a prime example of someone who had an idea before their time, which is why the novel received various criticisms from conservative reviewers. Jane called for a strong social reform, and the changes that she wanted occurred much later. Although there are still instances of women’s repression in the workplace, on the playing field, or in the home, social attitudes and gender roles have modernized significantly since the 19th century.…

    • 1955 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays