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Seminararbeit / Hausarbeit

The Role of Women in Charlott­e Bronte`s Jane Eyre

3.279 / ~9 sternsternsternsternstern Juliana S. . 2014
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Seminararbeit
Englisch

Leibniz Universität Hannover

2,3, 2013

Juliana S. ©
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The Role of Women in Charlotte Bronte´s Jane Eyre


1.     Introduction

2.     Women in Victorian England

3.     Women in Jane Eyre

4.     Conclusion

5.     Works cited


1.    Introduction

The role of women in society has changed significantly the last 200 years. This changing has not stopped until today. Topics like women´s quota, women´s emancipation, and sexism are mentioned in nearly every kind of informational media. For this current cause it is interesting to know more about the beginnings of changing women´s role in society.

The initiation can be traced back in the Victorian Age where women began to revolt about undervaluing and disrespect in front of them. Many female writers tried to express themselves in literature, in which they find a helpful medium to advice people of the drawback in society. Women in Victorian England were treated unequally towards men, and had almost no rights.

Discussion about women in Victorian Age in our seminar course piques my curiosity for this topic. After reading the book “Jane Eyre” of Charlotte Bronte the idea for my term paper came to my mind. I will try to depict the role of women in the Victorian Era with the help of “Jane Eyre”. My term paper will centre the middle class of society, because this is the main part of the book.


2.    Women in Victorian England

The Victorian Age was affected by conspicuous differences in the treatment of men and women. Between 1837 and 1901 the different duties and responsibilities of men and women can be separated in spheres: the public and the private sphere. The public sphere was in control of men which belonged to politics and business whereas women with their overly emotional, dependent, and selfless given behavior hold the private sphere at home.

The role of men represented rationality, power of decision, independence, and selfishness (Kent 30). Thus men were dominating the society and women were subjected by their sex. It was expected that women had to be submissive towards their husbands and men in general who restrained women into a silent shell of a perfect housewife with no ability for making own decisions.

This loss of independence was created by the society which impeded women standing on their own feet. Women´s dreams and self-realisation was something unknown in the Victorian Era. Even law was against women by taking her rights in marriage. By law a wife stood under the control of her husband who was actually allowed to beat and rape her without any consequences. The whole family was supervised by the husband, everything was owned by him, even wealth and financial property of his wife.

Every decision, thought, and action of a man was doubtless the truth (Perkin 73). Therefore the marriage could be compared with a contract between master and servant (Kent 86).


Although many women felt like a slave in their marriage, it was the most important aim in a life of a Victorian woman, because without a man by their side there was generally no income. In consequence women needed a husband for survival. Men had also the opinion that women´s duty was to be married and saw their wife often as an object which belongs to their household like furniture (Kent 91).

Husbands did not realise the importance of women for the household and the family. Women used to take a back seat, but they managed the household in being servant, housewife, and mother in one person. They even supported and helped with business of their husbands. Nonetheless for men was a woman just “the Sex” without any sanity and reason (Vickery 389).


The established thinking of a mother as “angel” of the house seems to be a quite dignified position for a woman in the given time, but there were also inequitable requirements towards housewives. Although motherhood was obvious connected with a sexual act for reproduction, sex on its own was seen as something naughty and outrageous.

Victorian society expected of a mother to be pure and chaste even though a woman with children apparently had sexual experiences (Holmes and Nelson 2).Therefore being the “Angel” of the house was not always as positive as it sounds like. Being a mother and a housewife was often contradictorily in reference to sexuality and motherhood which also degraded the role of women in Victorian´s society.


The opposite of the perfect and pure housewife was the prostitute who stood for demoralisation and impureness. Prostitution was a widespread phenomenon in Victorian England, because of the “economic dependence upon men” (Kent 68). For middle class´ women getting pregnant was often a good possibility to escape from prostitution.

The “fallen” women were used for fulfilling men´s natural necessities, but also seen as the scum of the society. As the only profession for women protected by law it was an inherent part of Victorian society, and thus tolerated in order to protect the purity of housewives and mothers. It degraded women again to their sex (Kent 66)


In poor families every member of the family had to work, even women and children. Women in lower class had not only to look after their children and manage the household, it was also necessary to go to work for example as a seamstress in order to save the survival of the family. Bad living conditions, disease, and hard working was part of the life of a working class` woman.


The only way for an unmarried woman of the middle class to be respected in some degree was becoming a governess. In middle and upper class families employing governesses to educate their children came into fashion, because they symbolised wealth and power of the family. In Victorian England a governess could be a female teacher in school, a woman who came to a family to teach the children in their house, or a so-called “private governess” who lived in the house of the family in order to educate and busy the children.

Girls usually had not the privilege to get formal education in school like the boys until the age of eight, because the expectation of getting married focused learning refined manners and gentle behaviour (Vicinus 5). A governess should been a role model in genteelness for the looked after girls in order to furnish them moral and values. Despite their responsible duties governesses were often despised and treated with contempt.

A governess was neither a part of the family nor belonged she to the servants, thus she frequently lived in isolation and suffered from indignity and reclusion. Any kind of approaches between men and governesses were prohibited. It was expected to appear reserved and demure, which was also the reason for the cliché of governesses being prudish and boring (Vicinus 12).


All in all every women of all different existing classes and professions in Victorian England had to carry their burden. Female writers used literature to express their dissatisfaction about the position of women in society. So the first emancipated steps might be done in Queen Victoria´s reign.


3.    Women in Jane Eyre

The book “Jane Eyre” from Charlotte Bronte is about the orphaned Jane Eyre, who should live with her uncle, but he dies soon. After his dead she lives with her despiteful aunt Mrs. Reed until she is sent to Lowood School in order to be trained as a governess. In the poor conditioned school she finds friends and finally leaves with her completed apprenticeship.

She gets an appointment as governess for a young girl named Adele at Thornfield. Edward Rochester is the master of the house, but rarely at home. Jane spends most of her time with her student Adele and Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper. After some conversations with Mr. Rochester and rescuing him from a fire in his room she notices unwillingly that she has more feelings for him.

Mrs. Reed tells her that she has a relative, John Eyre, who once offered to adopt Jane, but she lied to him that Jane had died. As she returns in Thornfield Mr. Rochester asks her to marry him, but after her affirmation she finds out that he is already married with a mad woman called Bertha. Jane runs disappointed and shocked away. She is accommodated by Reverend Rivers and his two sisters who turn out to be her cousins.

While she is staying in the Rivers´ house her relative John Eyre dies and bequeaths her his property. Reverend Rivers wants to marry her, because he thinks she would be a good housewife and missionary, but Jane returns to Thornfield. The house is burnt down by Bertha and Mr. Rochester lost is eyesight in the fire. Jane decides to stay with him and marries Mr. Rochester.


A woman in the mid-nineteenth century was restrained in a role which society had created. This role was affected by dependence, indignity, and no possibility of self-fulfilment. In the novel “Jane Eyre” from the author Charlotte Bronte are different female characters mentioned which describe and contrast the role of women in Victorian Age.

Charlotte Bronte developed with her novel a first step in the direction of feminism which was just beginning in the given time. There were a few other female writers like Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Barret Browning who took the same direction and inspired many young women to think about their situation in the given time. Female readers might get an incentive by reading Jane Eyre to achieve self-determination (Seelye 13).

One thought, which confirms her rebelling, would be about Mr. Rochester´s exuberant presents for the wedding: “the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation” (Bronte 236). Although the common knowledge was that the worth of a woman was dependent on her ability to marry Jane leaves Rochester after finding out about his marriage with Bertha.

This is one action which strengthens her feminist streak, because she is aware of the expectations of the society. Thereby she shows her pride and her persisting dignity, which she does not want to lose. The returning to Thornfield at the end of the book is no desperate act of an overemotional woman, quite contrary it is an act of self-realisation and freedom of choice.

After getting independent, because of her uncle´s inherited wealth, she decides on her own to stay with Mr. Rochester, because true love is the only way to achieve real happiness, and she really believes to “become a wife without sacrificing a grain of her Jane Eyre-ity” (Rich 474). In her mind both women and men should have the right to act out their identity and seen as equal.

At this given time her attitude towards a relationship between man and woman is unusual and pretty advanced, which also confirms her emancipated way of thinking. Her doubts about the forced marriage with St. John represent her personal importance of her individual fulfilment: “I felt daily more and more that I must disown half my nature, stifle half my faculties, wrest my tastes from their original bent, force myself to the adoption of pursuits for which I had no natural vocation” (Bronte 326).

Another significant feministic point in Jane´s life is her ambition to be independent. Since her horrible childhood in her aunt´s house she was inspired to achieve independence in order to leave the loveless home as soon as possible. Jane´s experiences as a young girl with Mr. Brocklehurst and the head-teacher of Lowood School activate in her the desire to stand up to the male sex.

Both of them try to domineer over Jane and compel her to be the minor gender. Jane´s development into a self-conscious, independent woman is also influenced by a female teacher in Lowood School, called Miss Temple. Miss Temple´s behaviour is affected by her forthrightness and amiability and she is also an independent unmarried woman. Referring to her grandness, she becomes a role model for Jane.

Though Jane cannot understand Helen´s resignation to her fate, Jane is influenced by her with her intellectual development. These early experiences help Jane with forming an opinion and later making decisions on her own which was no natural ability for a woman of the Victorian Era. Diana and Mary Rivers are also important women in the novel, because they support Jane in her thinking.

When Diana advises Jane not to leave to India with St. John she demonstrates her agreement with Jane´s aim to be an independent woman. Even though the sisters are not as ambitious as Jane they impress Jane with their intellect: “They were both more accomplished and better read than I was; but with eagerness I followed in the path of knowledge they had trodden before me” (Bronte 308).

The demand of women on intellect is also a sign for the feministic desire of being self-sufficient. There are other women in the novel who are in a manner of speaking the opposites of Jane and her feministic role models. One of them is Blanche Ingram who wants to marry Mr. Rochester in order to gain his wealth. Even in her appearance she is the contrary to Jane with her conventional handsomeness.

Blanche is totally conducted by expectations of the society about marriage and therefore she is the very reverse of Jane whose greatest aim is being independent. Thus Blanche can be seen as negative role model for Jane. Even though most of the upper class female characters are represented in a negative light, there is the exception of Rosamond Oliver. Rosamond is rich, beautiful and chartable as she donates money to St.

John´s charity school. She represents the rebellion within the stereotype of the upper classes and conventionally women in the novel. Another woman of big importance is Bessie Lee. Bessie Lee is the maid at Gateshead, who treats her always affectionately in her early childhood. Although her caring behaviour towards Jane she is also rather a contrary to her, because other than Bessie Jane completes her training as governess, and has the chance to marry in an upper class of society.

However Bessie marries in circles of her present social class and has no really changing in her life, whereas Jane achieves the opportunity to rise into a higher class with prosperity and wealth. Furthermore Mrs. Fairfax, widow and daughter from a vicar, plays a relevant role in the novel, because she is in a similar situation as Jane. Her incomes are dependent on an employment and she is in a higher position than the servants.

All these meetings and Jane´s experiences with Mr. Brocklehurst, St. John and Mr. Rochester awake in her the desire of keeping human dignity and independence. Although society´s coercion was really tight Jane does not lose her aim. The mid-nineteenth century was a difficult time for woman and Jane embody her willpower and persistence, because she is not misled by society´s expectations.

The similarities and the contraries between Jane and these mentioned female characters strengthen Jane in her way of thinking and acting. Some of them are acting as role models for Jane. The others contrast her feministic attitude, but simultaneously confirm her in making the right decisions. This is what Jane should be for female young readers in the Victorian Age: a role model for an open-minded and self-conscious woman, who remains true to herself.

4.    Conclusion

In Victorian Age women were seen as subordinated and treated without any rights. Particular in England the female gender has almost no liberties and possibilities of self-realisation. During this time women had very few options in life beyond marriage, teaching children, and becoming Governesses. With Jane Eyre Bronte creates a useful character for demonstrating the situation of women.

It was a long way to achieve gender equity and without these first steps of female writers in the mid-nineteenth century we might not enjoy the advantages of today. The novel acts as a reminder of the dependence of women on men at a given time.


5.    Works cited


Primary Source:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, New York: 1987.


Secondary Sources:
Holmes, Sumner, and Claudia Nelson. Maternal Instincts: Visions of Motherhood and Sexuality in Britain, 1875-1925. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997.

Kent, Susan. Sex and Suffrage in Britain1860-1914. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.

Perkin, Joan. Victorian Women. New York: New York University Press 1993.

Seelye, John. Jane Eyre's American Daughters: From The Wide Wide World to Anne of Green Gables, A Study of Marginalized Maidens and What They Mean. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2005.

Vicinus, Martha. Suffer and be Still. Women in the Victorian Age. First Midland Book Edition 1973.

Vickery, Amanda. “Golden Age to Separate Spheres? A Review of the Categories and Chronology of English Women’s History.” The Historical Journal. 36.1 (June 1993): 383-414.



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