Patrick DePeters

Ronald McDonald

AP English Literature

#4 Jane Eyre                                                                                    November 13, 2005

            In the novel Jane Eyre, the protagonist Jane Eyre overcomes a great amount of adversity in her quest to be independent and free. The Victorian society that Jane confronts places women at a subordinate level to men in almost any circumstance. The society values money, property, propriety, and education among other things. Jane confronts society’s notions head on, and in many instances she is penalized for her rebellious disposition. Despite frequent setbacks, Jane perseveres through numerous hardships and trying circumstances. Her values and perceptions about life and happiness never alter. She struggles with passion, derived from her heart, and principle, pressed upon her by society. Jane is a heroine in many ways because of her courage and tenacity to find independence and happiness.

Jane Eyre lacked everything that her society valued most. She had no family who cared for her, no friends, no money or property, and therefore she is treated as if she were an emotionless object. From the beginning of the novel, Jane was put at a complete disadvantage compared to her cousins Georgiana, John, and Eliza. She is told by Miss Abbot that it is “her place to be humble, and to try to make [herself] agreeable to them.” [1] John Reed tells Jane that she is a “dependent.” He says, “You have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mama’s expense.” (10). Jane is not welcome at Gateshead, but she doesn’t understand why. Jane realized that one’s character hardly influences their status in society, but rather one’s innate gifts ultimately decide whether or not someone is treated properly. She thinks to herself, “Unjust!—unjust…resolve instigated some strange expedient to achieve escape from insupportable oppression.” (14). She became cognizant of the unjust circumstances omnipresent in English society at an early age. She thinks it is foolish that women are assumed to be homemakers and subordinate themselves to men. In opposition, Jane does not conform to society in any way. She does not comb her hair, wear pretty dresses, or play will dolls as other girls her age would do. Instead, she avoids a provincial outlook and physical imprisonment by reading books and observing nature. Although Jane’s manners are initially very appropriate, she is treated very harshly for being a poor orphan. She continues to question the mindset of her acquaintances. She says:

“Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, for ever condemned? Why could I never please? Why was it useless to try to win any one’s favour? Eliza, who was headstrong and selfish, was respected. Georgiana, who had a spoiled temper, a very acrid spite, a captious and insolent carriage, was universally indulged. Her beauty, her pink cheeks and golden curls, seemed to give delight to all who looked at her, and to purchase indemnity for every fault.” (14)

In Jane’s feelings of helplessness and lack of understanding, She garners strength and determination to get what she wants.  The Victorian society was superficial in that it valued physical beauty and wealth highly—both of which Jane lacked.

Jane courageously condemns those who mistreat her—most notably John and Mrs. Reed. She greatly offends John, calling him a “murderer” and a “slave-driver” (10). Jane openly denounces Mrs. Reed, which is considered rude not only because she is an orphan, but also because it is disobedient to an adult. Jane forcefully tells Mrs. Reed, “I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty” (36). Jane’s moves on from Gateshead in pursuit of an education and independence. Her heroine qualities began to shine through the blockade that this Victorian society has set up. Although most Victorian age women would simply accept their class status, Jane nobly dejects her own status, and strives for something much higher.

            As Jane served as a governess at Thornfield, the boundaries between social classes began to drop. She started to talk to Mr. Rochester on a personal level; an interaction that most men and women of their time would have deemed improper and preposterous. This relationships in and of itself was not heroic. When Jane found out about Bertha Mason, she found it impossible to marry Mr. Rochester because she had self respect. She wanted to follow her own passions and find true happiness, but she wasn’t willing to sacrifice her self-respect in order to comply with a man’s wishes for matrimony. Her willingness to leave everything she treasured, including her only mutual love, was courageous, and in many ways heroic. “I must leave Adele and Thornfield. I must part with you for my whole life: I must begin a new existence amongst strange faces and strange scenes” (308). The reader sympathizes with Jane because her whole life has been in “strange scenes” and consisted of “strange faces.”  “Mentally,” Jane said after deciding to leave Mr. Rochester, “I still possessed my soul, and with it the certainty of ultimate safety” (323).  At the beginning of the novel she was viewed as an emotionless, worthless little pest; now she was making her emotions and self worth known. Feeling betrayed, lied to, and sorrowful, Jane needed to escape. Because she ventured into unknown territories by herself, all in the name of self respect, she is certainly heroic. The other characters of the novel suggest that no other women would have acted in the same courageous way that Jane did. In distancing herself from the notions of society, Jane had become a self reliant individual, divine in her own right. Although she embraced the few people who treated her justly, she did not lean on anyone for support, and she was able to get up and go at any moment.

Charlotte Bronte is implying that early 19^th century society was chauvinistic and superficial. Bronte evidently thought that women and men were equals. In showing the struggle that Jane underwent to find happiness, Bronte has highlighted the faults of her own society. Bronte employs a few stereotypical characters to help develop her main thesis. For instance, Blanche Ingram was a woman who sought wealth, beauty, property, and status as opposed to love and happiness. Jane says, “She was very showy, but she was not genuine: she had a fine person, many brilliant attainments; but her mind was poor, her heart barren by nature…she was not original” (188). Mr. Rochester is a more complex character because he once was trapped into marrying a woman he did not love; and the results of the marriage were obviously unfortunate. On the rebound, he nearly fell for Blanche Ingram—a representative of marriage for convenience and propriety, but there was “an absence of passion in his sentiments towards her” (189).  Jane’s observation about Mr. Rochester and Blanche Ingram was synonymous with Bronte’s idea about the mass of England. She says, “I saw he was going to marry her, for family, perhaps political reasons; because her rank and connections suited him; I felt he had not given her his love, and that her qualification were ill adapted to win from him that treasure” (189).  Most of Bronte’s characters are used to bring attention to the absurd customs of Victorian society. Bronte writes this novel is if she were raising a flag to draw attention to women. In her own society, women were not considered equal to men. Most women worked in the home, and upon marriage, the women’s property would switch to the possession of the male. Through Jane’s atypical actions, Bronte calls for reform and equality among men and women.  

            A free bird at last, Jane conquered all of the adversity that plagued her. She arose from every instance as a stronger, wiser, more eloquent woman. She married the man she loved, and followed her passion instead of principle. In the end, Mr. Rochester relied on Jane, a rare occasion for the time period. She never went against her intuition, and for that reason she was much better off. In staying true to herself, she received a fortune, found her family, and married for true love. She did not boast the ideal female physical attributes, nor did she seek to be a highly esteemed member of society. Jane’s beautiful and persistent spirit guided her to a harmonious and equal life with Mr. Rochester. Because of Jane’s obdurate stance against a superficial 19^th century society and her quest for independence and dignity, she should be regarded as an unforgettable heroine.

[1] Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Signet Classic. 1848. pg. 12