Feminism In Jane Eyre And Dumaurier

Improved Essays
Both novels are in context with the elements of feminism itself. This includes making men subordinate to women, which can be done by either physically and psychologically. By the end of both novels, the heroines have overcome the hardships and became stronger. Both Brontë and DuMaurier have disparate views on feminism; the former stresses egalitarianism, while the latter stresses the peril of a woman’s subservient in a marriage. 19th century female characters tend to be depicted as reticent and delicate. This philosophy was in behalf to Queen Victoria’s embodiment of the way women was supposed to be. They are expected to be obedient wives, excluded from the societal relations and are heavily dependent on men. Marriage is laboriously inevitable in order for woman to attain economic …show more content…
It derives from European folk tales. Usually it is of a violent nobleman who marries several times who then murdered his wife one after another. This comes it his current’s wife attempt upon suffering the same fate. The male that acts as an anti-hero predominantly fulfills the role. In Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester indirectly fulfilled the role as a bluebeard character. He concealed his deranged and demented wife, Bertha Mason within Thornfield Hall. He did this in order to bury his dreadful secrets of an early marriage.
The connection of one’s search of love and independence are very close. Jane learns and discovers on how to find love without surrendering and tarnishing herself. She refuses Mr. Rochester’s marriage proposal on the grounds of the fear on losing her independence. As he is still legally married to Bertha, Jane was then merely considered as nothing but a mistress. She sacrificed her self-principle for the sake of her emotional contentment by marrying him.
This quote further proves on how Jane and Mr. Rochester’s love has been prominent through their relationship development. Through Jane, the latter learns romance, passion and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, love seems to be a strong aspect of Jane’s life. Throughout the tale, we can see Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship building up. From the time Jane first sees him in front of Thornfield to their wedding ceremony. Yet, during that period of time we get to see Mr. Rochester’s true colors and different personas towards Jane. We also get to know more about him and his past relationships as he tells Jane about them. But Jane doesn’t know everything about Mr. Rochester until she finds out that he already has a wife while at the altar. As Jane has begun to uncover Mr. Rochester’s secrets over time, she cannot trust him any longer; therefore, she must leave Thornfield, along with her past behind her.…

    • 1621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane’s description underlines the fact, that Blanche would never be the right match for Rochester, since he is looking for someone equal, who makes up his own mind to hold conversation. Miss Ingram does, as the quote above shows, in contrast to Jane, not fulfil these demands.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Reed, Jane Eyre, or even Bertha Mason. Mrs. Reed was able to control Jane’s life as she was defying societal norms by being the head of her house in her husband’s absence. Jane Eyre had power over countless people including Helen, Adele, and Mr. Rochester. She influenced Helen to be bolder in her beliefs before she tragically passed away, she was an example and handled her classroom and sessions with Adele with respect, and she had Mr. Rochester right under her wing- he wasn’t going anywhere. Additionally, Bertha also held power over Jane and Mr. Rochester. Once Jane learned that Bertha was Mr. Rochester’s wife, she refused to marry him, even if she was insane- she was not going to be his mistress. Also, readers can assume that Mr. Rochester still loved Bertha, but he was ready to move on; this would explain why he concentrated her in the attic, away from all others. Overall, women’s power is seen through many aspects of the novel and transforms from degrading to complete equality in Jane’s…

    • 1485 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rochester takes interest in Jane and Blanche Ingram. Informed about their wedding and overtaken by jealousy, Jane reminds herself that “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” (Brontë 322). Jane realizes that the need for another person in her life to rely on is optional and unnecessary to live contently. Jane hides her feelings for Rochester and lives on exercising independence and her need only for God and her Christian beliefs. Jane uses God to express her fortuity and independence and her “growing awareness of the importance of faith and Christian belief in strengthening and empowering her as a woman” (Griesinger 47). Griesinger contradicts her argument of Jane’s separation from Rochester by asserting that “Jane can find social and sexual freedom through breaking the chain of Christianity.” Her statement explains that Jane should express her love for Rochester and that Christianity is a weight that holds her down from her true…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • 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

    She inherited 20,000 pounds from her uncle upon his death. Also, Mr. Rochester was a rather wealthy man which made life easier with more stability in her home. Not having to worry about finances provided more stability to her home life. Even after ten years, in a letter Jane describes her happy marriage to Rochester who regained sight in one eye. Jane also explains that they have had a baby boy, that everything is well. In all these circumstances she found the family she always wanted.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Betrayal In Jane Eyre

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This betrayal pushes Jane to make the decision to leave Rochester and attempt to go on to find herself in the world. It was Rochester’s betrayal that was the driving force for Jane to finally try to search for her independence. Before this occurred, Jane had experienced hardship her whole life;however, she had never attempted to survive on her own. When Jane was at Thornfield, she experienced a sense of comfort which she had never experienced before. Rochester’s betrayal tampered the sense of comfort that Jane had with Thornfield. 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

    Adversity In Jane Eyre

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Following her retreat from Thornfield, Saint John and his sister find Jane and take her in. Drained from her long journey, Jane lacks the energy to continue on her journey and is left in a field. The siblings find Jane and nurse her back to health. He and his sister are kind to Jane, and the three become close. When John professes his wish of Jane becoming his wife, she could not accept. Jane knew she could never marry John, even though it is the right thing to do. Peterson comments that Saint John’s proposal to be a missionary in India is asking her to “...model her life on a new kind of women's autobiography...the life story of the heroic female missionary,” (Peterson). This coincides societally with what Jane should do, however, she knows she can only marry for love. When approached with this opportunity, Jane tells Saint John, “‘My heart is mute,-my heart is mute.’” (Bronte, 252). Chitham proposes another view as to why Jane could not marry Saint John. He says, “A psychoanalytic view of the book might see the...split between the immoral but good-hearted Rochester and the rule-bound pair Mr. Brocklehurst and Saint John Rivers. [Saint John] presents himself to Jane's sense of duty, and she is seriously inclined to marry him, until an incorporeal voice [of Rochester]...recalls her to her deeper emotional commitment.” (Chitham). When Jane returns to Mr. Rochester, she faces the challenge of his various infirmities and decides to stay with him. When Mr. Rochester questions Jane’s return and wanting to continue her life with him, she replies, “He is not my husband, nor ever will be.” (Bronte, 279). Jane goes on to explain the cold and harsh nature surrounding Saint John and how she could never be happy with him. Jane insists she must remain with Rochester to be truly happy. Many readers will see this act as weak, but Jane is…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While many of Jane’s moments alone in Volume One reveal her desire to explore the unknown, similar moments in Volume Two reveal why she does not take that risk and often remains in the familiar. As she falls in love with Rochester, Jane becomes more and more critical of herself and her social standing. After she learns of the possible engagement between Rochester and Blanche, Jane is especially critical of herself in a moment alone, imagining what Blanche might look like. This private moment of harsh truth reveals her inner insecurities, but it becomes vital in allowing her to maintain her composure in public.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved 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. He disdains the respectable gentleman’s life in which he ought to live at Thornfield Hall and tend to his tenants and his finances and his wife. Instead, when he could, he lived in Europe, living like the nobles of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s era did. But he also needs that society he so disdains. That society is the one in which he is respected as a gentleman, and which produced the wealth he needs to maintain his lifestyle, both in Europe and at Thornfield and Ferndean. That same society is the one which produced Bertha, whose inheritance saved the Rochester family fortune, and, indirectly, financed his leisurely lifestyle. Where Jane needs independence, Rochester is incapable of taking away her choices, and where both feel the need to be with another person, they have each other and their servants, and even Adele.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As Jane is visiting Gateshead at her dying aunt’s request. Mrs. Reed having lost everything gives Jane a bitter and regretful backhanded apology, hoping it will make up for everything and will allow her to die in peace. She gives Jane a letter from Jane’s only living relative and hope sparks up in jane. When Jane returns to Thornfield she is met by loved ones and is elated to be back. Jane and Mr. Rochester confess their love to one another in the garden and plan to be married, though some foreshadowing occurs when lightning strikes a tree as the two kiss. Thus an ominous tone emerges. Things start to go wrong when a supernatural figure appears wearing Jane's wedding dress and veil and the next morning it is torn to shreds. She tells Mr. Rochester and others if they knew anything of it but they brush it off, which makes jane fearful and nervous. Moods and tones that would best describe the situation would be suspicious, supernatural, anxious, and secretive. All of these moods and tones develop the underlying layer of suspense and helps build up the story for the climax of this section. The wedding day arrives and everything seems wonderful and happy and love is in the air! Until it is revealed that Mr. Rochester has already been married to an insane woman of the Mason family. Betrayal, loneliness, and heartbreak are moods and tones that come to mind when seeing the picture all laid out. Mr. Rochester becomes possessive of Jane when she makes the decision to leave him for a while. The moods and tones change slightly here and become muddle. While the mood around Jane is forgiving, sad, and loving, Mr. Rochester’s is hostile, possessive, and pleading. In the end she ultimately knows she must leave and find herself which shows how even through all of the mess she just went through she continues to keep her independence and stays true to herself and her standards; “Do…

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One relationship that exemplifies that need for love in successful marriages is the marriage of Mr Rochester and Bertha Mason. We see this clearly when he describes her as “mad”. Bertha, in Rochester’s eyes, is not seen as an equal or even fully as a person; he locks her in the attic out of shame. If Rochester truly loved her, he would not have done this.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Jane Eyre Quotes

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jane starts to fall in love with Mr. Rochester because both of are equal on a level of intellect, although Jane feels like she is not good enough for Mr. Rochester…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Religion In Jane Eyre

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Society nevertheless assails her with intoxicating dogma, which keeps her in its grip, precluding her from warmly accepting her one congenital gift--that of the soul. Therefore, upon receiving the opportunity to merge her divine aura with that of another, whose soul is entangled with hers, the rigid tenets drive her to a point of hopelessness, denying her of what her soul knows to be in such proximity. There is still opportunity for redemption, however; God, who, in Jane Eyre, has no reverence for the bigotry of humans, awakens Jane's soul, which immediately rushes to claim its rightful position in her mind. The ensuing action on Jane's part brings her to the natural and proper situation that her soul desires, which entails the consummation of the link that she possesses with Rochester. An enviable stat of happiness thus arises in Jane: she has achieved the most exalted position that a human can possible attain on Earth, her soul having carried out the whole of its wishes and entered a state of complete satisfaction. This final, perfect state, which exists thus, constitutes the realization of the soul's mission on Earth, as indicated by the consequences of failure. When Jane returns to Mr. Rochester after the year-long hiatus, he tells her, "I have little left in myself--I must have you. The world may laugh--may call me absurd, selfish--but it does not signify. My very soul…

    • 1606 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great 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. Jane Eyre inspires all people of each gender or class to voice their opinions, even if society does not yet acknowledge…

    • 1955 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays