Independence And Free Will In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Decent Essays
Jane Eyre becomes a more independent woman throughout the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, set in 1800's England. She proves her independence and free will in many ways throughout the novel, but she also changes in many other ways. Jane Eyre changes mentally, physically, and spiritually throughout the whole novel.

Jane Eyre changes in three major ways; mentally, physically, and spiritually. She changes mentally when she changes her mind set about needing someone to support for her. She proves this when she lets Rochester go, and tells him that she no longer needs his support nor him in general. She changes physically as she makes a name for herself and proves to everyone around her that she is strong. She does this when she breaks out

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

    The change in her personality are shown when she begins…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Who’s Jane Eyre? Jane is an orphan from England. Her parents died of typhus, a skin disease. Her uncle reed took her in. Sadly he died as well.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, a young orphan girl named Jane Eyre is unfairly and unequally treated by Mrs. Reed. Jane feels inferior compared to Mrs.Reed’s children and is spoken to as if she is a misfit child. This chapter of the novel has imagery and dialogue that expresses how Jane is being constrained and imprisoned by Mrs.Reed. Jane introduces this chapter with an imagery that describes her emotions. She describes that particular day with “the cold winter wind ...with its clouds so somber and rain so penetrating…”, which expresses her inner feelings of loneliness and helplessness.…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë uses tone to establish Jane's personality. The tone of the novel is very blunt and direct, much like Jane's character. Such an example is during a conversation with Mrs. Reed. Jane says, "I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world." (48) Jane addresses her dislike towards Mrs.Reed outright, telling her very clearly and almost nonchalantly that she does not care for the Reeds and is happy to move away and attend Lowood.…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jane’s experience with oppression starts at a young age. While living in Gateshead with Mrs. Reed and Mr. John, she faces criticism and is seen as inferior even to her adoptive sister Georgianna, who is around the same age. While at school in Lowood she was taught to take heavy criticism from teachers and other authority figures she interacted with. “...I am, as Miss Scatcherd said, slatternly, I seldom put, and never keep, things in order; I am careless; I forget rules; I read when I should learn my lessons; I have no method; and sometimes I say, like you, I cannot bear to be subjected to systematic arrangements,” (53). Jane’s teachers, like Miss Scatcherd, and other authoritative figures she should be looking up to, are explicitly pointing…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She continues to be changing a lot throughout the story from the beginning to end from her personality by accepting her…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Jane Eyre's Foster Family

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Throughout the novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, Jane’s experiences and the loving characters who she meets make her stronger. As Jane Eyre grows at Gateshead, she is constantly tested by her foster family and the situations she is placed in. Jane Eyre, an orphan, is hated, neglected, and beaten by her foster family. After John abuses Jane, she states “He bullied and punished me-- not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but continually…” (14).…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent 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

    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

    The book Jane Eyre was written by Charlotte Brontë in the 1800s. In literature this time was known as the Gothic Romance period. Many books written in this time included many elements that were related to the supernatural world. In the story Jane had many occurrences with unexplained events; Like the time Mrs. Reed locked her in the very mysterious Red Room as a child (Brontë 9). Jane had a quote in the chapter explaining, “I can now conjecture readily that this streak of light was, in all likelihood, a gleam from a lantern, carried by some one across the lawn: but then, prepared as my mind was for horror, shaken as my nerves were by agitation, I thought the swift-darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world” (Brontë…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Charlotte Bronte wrote her book, Jane Eyre, based on her own life. She grew up very lonely and experience a lot of loss in her life. Jane Eyre, the main character in Bronte’s novel, experienced many of the same challenges…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her works the inner experiences of her struggles can be seen to be the subject of her novels. For instance, the solitude of the governess occupation helped inspire her literary classic, Jane Eyre. As one reads Bronte’s works they can see (1) events in her life shape her depression; (2) the way she was treated as a governess made her very feel vulnerable, sensitive, and lonely; (3) her fight to influence the justice and equality for…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Betrayal In Jane Eyre

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Bronte portrays her theme of the importance of women's’ independence and gender equality by employing betrayal throughout her novel. In particular, Bronte portrays how betrayal propelled the character of Jane Eyre to attempt to find herself and how betrayal affected the character of Bertha Mason. Throughout most the novel, Jane never feels settled into where she stays. In the beginning, Jane feels tormented by her cousins and her aunt in Gateshead.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oppression In Jane Eyre

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Jane Eyre He or she who thinks they have had it rough cannot begin to imagine what others have gone through. Unfortunate Orphan child Jane Eyre, main character from the novel: “Jane Eyre” written by Charlotte Bronte, after losing her parents and getting stuck with her abusing aunt: Mrs. Reed, has no other choice but to stay at Gateshead with her and put up with her mistreatment. Ascribable to Jane’s parent’s death, becoming an orphan was the least of Jane’s upcoming problems. Overcoming issues such as her social class, oppression and most importantly, finding love; however, not just romantic love , but also for a sense of being valued, and belonging when it seems impossible, was a journey that Jane Eyre was yet to enlist in.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays