Jane Eyre 3 Essay, Research Paper

In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte portrays one woman’s desperate struggle to attain her

identity in the mist of temptation, isolation, and impossible odds. Although she processes

a strong soul she must fight not only the forces of passion and reason within herself ,but

other’s wills constantly imposed on her. In its first publication, it outraged many for its

realistic portrayal of life during that time. Ultimately, the controversy of Bronte’s novel

lied in its realism, challenging the role of women, religion, and mortality in the

Victorian society.

In essence, Bronte’s novel became a direct assault on Victorian morality. Controversy

based in its realistic exposure of thoughts once considered improper for a lady of the

19th century. Emotions any respectable girl would repress. Women at this time were not

to feel passion, nor were they considered sexual beings. To conceive the thought of

women expressing rage and blatantly retaliating against authority was a defiance against

the traditional role of women. Jane Eyre sent controversy through the literary

community. For not only was it written by a woman but marked the first use of realistic

characters. Jane’s complexity lied in her being neither holy good nor evil. She was poor

and plain in a time when society considered “an ugly woman a blot on the face of

creation.” It challenged Victorian class structure in a strictly hierachal society. A

relationship between a lowly governess and a wealthy nobleman was simply unheard of.

Bronte drew criticism for her attack on the aristocracy who she deemed as hypocritical

“showy but … not genuine.” She assaulted individual’s already established morals by

presenting a plausible case for bigamy. Notions which should have evoked disgust and

outrage from its reader. Yet its most scandaless aspect was its open treatment of love.

Passionate love scenes which were for their day extremely explicit but by today’s

standards are less than tame.

Bronte’s choice of a strong independent heroine depicted feminist ideals that would later

lead to the overhaul of Victorian culture. By making Jane an educated woman, Bronte

gave her impowerment in a patriarchal society that denied women education. However,

Jane became a woman who demanded a say in her own destiny. During her courtship, she

refutes Rochester’s need to “clasp… bracelets on her wrists” and “fasten a diamond chain

around her neck.” These become symbols of female enslavement within a male

dominated world. Jane’s will power and integrity prevent her from succumbing to

Rochester and becoming just another of his possessions. For if she can not preserve her

individuality, she “shall not be … Jane Eyre any longer, but an ape in a harlequins jacket.”

With her refusal to become Rochester’s mistress, she demonstrates her inner strength.

Strength that will enable her to face the possibility of hunger, poverty, and even death. It

is in her decision to not marry St. John that Jane finally liberates herself from the bonds

of male suppression. All this has been in effort to maintain some semblance of self-

worth. “Who in the world cares for you?” “I care for myself. The more friendless … the

more I will respect myself.” Even in her ultimate marriage to Rochester, she is in no way

surrendering to convention, for she has entered their union not only with independence

but emotional equality. If anything her actions resemble a feminist adaptation of

Sleeping Beauty, one in which the woman rescues the prince. Essentially Jane has

sacrificed nothing, rather gaining a loving marriage in which they are equals; equality