Jane Eyre Feminism Quotes

Feminism is inclusive of women of all backgrounds, races, and cultures, which Bronte fails to represent in the whitewashed Jane Eyre. In a rather opposite manner, various women in the novel are derogated and denigrated due to their different upbringings. When Jane first acknowledges Bertha’s existence, she reports her to Rochester as having “‘a discoloured face - it was a savage face….fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments! ...the lips were swelled and dark’” (Bronte 283-284). As Jane’s character is a reflection of the author herself, Jane’s ideas reflect Bronte’s in the same way. Bronte gives a rather racist depiction of Bertha’s appearance and behaviour, comparing her to a savage with dark traits, but also as having a discoloured face. Bertha’s face cannot be both dark and discoloured, yet, Bronte uses this oxymoron to project the old Victorian colonialist era’s racism and human idealism. Bertha’s discoloured face does not indicate a lack of colour or a paleness, rather a lack of whiteness, thus her depiction as being dark, which is not representative of the then socially acceptable and morally superior …show more content…
Although comprehensible when she is a mere child who lacks maturity and power, she is never on equal footing with any of them as an adult despite her character development. The first man she faces and develops a relationship with as an adult is Mr. Rochester, who although affirms that his “‘equal is here’” (254), and claims to love her, expresses this love in terms of power: you please me, and you master me - you seem to submit, and I like the sense of pliancy you impart; and while I am twining the soft, silken skein around my finger, it sends a thrill up my arm to my heart. I am influenced - conquered; and the influence is sweeter than I can express; and the conquest I undergo has a witchery beyond any triumph I can win