Jane Eyre and the Hardships

Women have been deemed inferior to the male sex since the start of civilization and to this day, women around the world are still held captive by the prison that society forces them into. Although society in first world countries has evolved since the time that Jane Eyre was written, it was a very different story from what it is now. Charlotte Bronte was a female writer in a white man’s world and in order for her voice to be heard she had to create a pseudonym to be perceived as a serious author.

(Markley) In Jane Eyre, Bronte writes of a strong-willed woman growing up in 19th century England and how she deals with the inequalities and hardships of being an unmarried, working-class woman by the people with total control of their lives: the white men. Throughout the novel, there are issues of prejudice and emotional abuse within a “marriage-obsessed” society that present themselves and it is up to Jane to make the decisions that are going to benefit her in the long run.

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The novel begins in Jane’s childhood and describes her time living with her aunt, Mrs. Reed, her cousins, and the workers of Gateshead Hall. The issues that are presented in this portion of the novel are of class differences. Jane is an orphan and has no money of her own because her parents did not leave her any. Even though she lives with her wealthy relatives, she is considered inferior to her family members which results to the constant mistreatment of her well being by her neglectful aunt and villainous cousin, John Reed.

“He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in a week, nor once or twice in a day, but continually.” (4) Jane is being harmed by the only male in power. John Reed knows that he will inherit his family's fortune thus becoming the patriarch of the family. This scene seems to infer that Mrs. Reed takes no notice to her dismay not only because Mrs. Reed does not really care about Jane but it perpetuates the idea that “boys will be boys”. As a child, Jane was notably more “rebellious” than the children in her household. When she tried to defend herself from John Reed, Bessie and Miss Abbot punish her for striking “a young gentleman”(7). His bullying could not even be penalized because he was the male power. Girls at this time were to be quiet and at the feet of their male counterparts. Instead of justice being brought, it only brought shame and torture for girls and women.

Mrs. Reed decides to send Jane to an uninhabitable boarding school, Lowood Institution, and leave her there until she finishes her education. Mrs. Reed saw this as an opportunity to get rid of the responsibility her husband left for her as his wish on his deathbed, not because she cared about Jane’s education or quality of life. The education of women in the Victorian era was concluded unnecessary because women were meant to only be good wives to their husbands. It was a worse situation for working-class women because they could only receive the most basic type of education. Hence, schooling was majorly based on the class one belonged to and gender. “Victorian attitudes toward education differed considerably from those prevalent in modern America. For one thing, the level of one's schooling was determined by one's social class and also by one's gender.” (Gale) The way girls were taught were extremely different from the way boys were taught. When Jane arrives at Lowood, she is explained by a girl what her classes are and who will teach her. “The one with the red cheeks is called Miss Smith; she attends to the work, and cuts out- for we make our own clothes, our frocks, and pelisses, and everything; the little one with the black hair is Miss Scatchard; she teaches history and grammar, and hears the second class repetitions; and the one who wears a shawl and has a pocket-handkerchief tied to her side with a yellow riband, is Madame Pierrot; she comes from Lisle, in France, and teaches French.” (52) This reflects what girls were being taught subjects that would most likely not lead to a career while boys were taught subjects that could further their educational careers. “In the traditional curriculum of the time, girls and young women did not study such 'serious' subjects as mathematics, science, or classics. However, they were taught grammar, history, geography, and French. Art, music, and sewing or embroidery were also considered appropriate subjects, and young women were all expected to have a knowledge of the Bible and basic Christian teachings.” (Gale) Jane eventually leaves Lowood after Miss Temple leaves to be a housewife and advertises her services as being a governess where she obtains a position at Thornfield.

When Jane’s mother figure Miss Temple leaves Lowood to be a wife, she gains more perspective as to how Miss Temple has affected her life. Miss Temple’s abandoning of her career for marriage is an indication of how women would have to leave her career behind to become a wife. She could not do both or would be negatively branded as an “old maid” or “maiden aunt”. In a society where this was the expectations of all women, many women with any type of career had to make a choice. “Women's roles in the Western world during the 1800s were highly restricted and centered around husband and family. A woman was expected to find a man to marry and then raise a family. Single women were labeled, ‘old maids.’” (Shultz) As they had to choose between being a working woman or wife, there were not many opportunities for women to work in diverse fields. “Women and girls had few avenues for supporting themselves financially if they weren't married or their husband died or ran off. Without education or job skills, some relied on a handful of charitable organizations, such as the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, for bare-bones necessities.”(Shultz) Because of the lack of effort into girls’ education, women could rarely advance to vigorous careers.

Jane becomes a governess to Adele, Mr. Rochester’s unofficially adopted daughter. The relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester begins professional but it soon escalates to something more. Throughout Jane’s time at Thornfield, she falls more in love with Mr. Rochester every day and the feelings of Mr. Rochester seems to be unreciprocated to Jane. Mr. Rochester distrusts of everyone around him, even Jane. Mr. Rochester does see Jane as his “ intellectual equal” and offers her everything she could ever want. “Although Rochester is Jane’s social and economic [superiority], and although men were widely considered to be naturally superior to women in the Victorian period, Jane is Rochester’s intellectual equal.”(SparkNotes) Jane sees why they could possibly never be together. Mr. Rochester is higher in class than she is but later on, discovers another reason why they could not possibly together. Mr. Rochester’s mind games distraught Jane mentality. As a man, he believes that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He uses threats to frighten Jane into staying with him. 'The vehemence of emotion, stirred by grief and love within me, was claiming mastery, and struggling for full sway, and asserting a right to predominate, to overcome to live, rise, and reign at last: yes, – and to speak' (222). Rochester knows that by doing this Jane will believe that she could not be able to live without perpetuating the idea that women need men in order to survive in the world. Jane becomes vulnerable to his games and is caught off guard when Mr. Rochester proposes marriage. Because of the constant emotional abuse by Mr. Rochester, she accepts his proposal without really thinking about what he has done to her to belittle her into accepting. Jane falls for his trap because she has always wanted what she is finally being offered: a family. “‘Sir, your wife is living: that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself. If I lived with you as you desire- I should be then your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical- is false.”(350) She then finds out that he is still married to Bertha Mason, his lunatic wife who he has kept imprisoned in order to keep his reputation and decides to not marry him because she does not want to be seen as a mistress.

In the end, Jane finds that her uncle has left her as heiress to five thousand pounds. This was the thing she needed in order to be with the one she truly loves. She learns that Mr. Rochester has become blind because of a fire in Thornfield and demands to see him again in Ferndean. The tables have turned in the end because she is the one who provides for her and he needs her help to live comfortably. “Mr. Rochester continued blind the first two years of our union: perhaps it was that circumstances that drew us so very near- that knit us so very close: for I was then his vision, as I am still his right hand. Literally, I was then his vision, as I am still his right hand.” (523) The significance of this occurring is a man is truly in need of a woman. She ends up as a self-made woman without the real need of a man but she decides to marry him because she is in love with and sees that Mr. Rochester has changed his ways since the last time she saw him.

Jane Eyre was notably a pro-feminist novel during times where feminism was not an idea yet. The obsession of marriages and social constructs during the Victorian era reflected in the novel by presenting a situation that women of that time went through and how Jane contradicts the idea that a woman needs a man in order to be living a happy life.