Category: Jane Eyre

Published in 1847, Jane Eyre shocked Victorian England. Written in a form of a Bildungsroman, usually reserved for the male voice, the story follows Jane’s journey of maturation as she develops her own identity. We see her grow from a child with unfortunate circumstances into an assertive woman who is able to marry a man, Edward Rochester as his equal. Victorian England was in an era of rapid economic growth and social upheaval as the sharp divisions between classes began to be disrupted. Charlotte Bronte, who had written under the male pseudonym Currer Bell in order to be taken more seriously, was both criticised and praised as she challenged gender norms by putting the spotlight on a woman who was neither exceedingly beautiful or born into affluence, yet able to steadily reach happiness by being headstrong and independent. Bronte was able to speak a truth that let many Victorian women find relatability and comfort within this book, maintaining its popularity even to today.

It was surprising to see Jane Eyre front and centre on the sheet for text suggestions for this assignment. Many of the feminist values emphasized in Bronte’s work are still if not more relevant today. Prior to conducting research into different manifestations of Jane Eyre I was at a loss at how others could appropriate this story into something with new meaning. When I stumbled upon Wide Sargasso Sea I was honestly shocked at how Jean Rhys was able to give new purpose to the story Charlotte Bronte had begun. Published in 1966, over a century after Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea lends an outlet for the Creole Woman’s voice. The main character is not Jane this time but instead Bertha, the elusive bestial madwoman locked up in the attic and Rochester’s first wife. Jean Rhys writes:

‘The Creole in Charlotte Bronte’s novel is a lay figure- repulsive which does not matter, and not once alive, which does. She is necessary to the plot, but always she shrieks, howls and laughs horribly, attacks all and sundry – off stage. For me she must be right on stage.’

In Jane Eyre, Bertha is a menacing and sinister presence. She is described as a ‘clothed hyena’ and the reader never truly understands her as a person. She is only another one of Jane’s obstacles in her journey of self-empowerment. Delving into this project with minimal knowledge of the plight of the Creoles, Bertha was one of the characters I gave little thought to. Jean Rhys herself was a Creole and similarly to how Bronte weaved pieces of her own life into her story, Rhys was able bring to the surface a side of Bertha and Bronte’s work that is both uncomfortable yet critical in understanding women’s voices. Although Jane Eyre is still widely celebrated today for its feminist values, which challenged a context that heavily rejected and suppressed women’s self-agency, it lacks in intersectionality. Rhy’s post-colonial response to this has given a voice to a marginalized character and subsequently racial identity.

Wide Sargasso Sea exposes the circumstances that led the beautiful Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway to become Bertha Mason. It is revealed Rochester had married Antoinette for her hefty fortune, their union being one without love. As the majority of the story cover’s their honeymoon, the reader begins to realize Rochester is not what he seems in Jane Eyre. Antoinette’s struggle for a place of belonging stems from her delicate identity of being a Creole woman. Someone of European decent born into the West Indies, neither accepted by the black communities freed from Creole subjugation yet also unable to assimilate into European circles due the believed contamination of their blood due to the island tropical climate.

Antoinette confesses to Rochester: ‘’I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all.’’

Her sense of self is vulnerable due to her racial complications and unlike Jane who is able to further define herself as she matures, Antoinette falls deeper into uncertainty. The symbolism of the name is significant in understanding how identity is so important to characters like Antoinette who do not. Rochester renames Antoinette into Bertha upon realizing in horror she shares her name with her mad mother. Although Antoinette is indignant at first, she succumbs later when she feels hopeless. Antoinette’s renaming and censoring is evidently a metaphor for the subjugation of colonies. Rochester cannot and will not understand Antoinette and can only strip her of her last piece of identity and lock her away. Through Rochester and Antoinette’s relationship, Rhys reveals the imperialism that covertly lines the narrative in Jane Eyre and examines this acclaimed feminist story with new racial context. Jane, who is white, does not have to experience Rochester’s repulsion and xenophobia towards other cultures and her autobiography written 10 years after a happy marriage with him is pointedly named ‘Jane Eyre’. Jane escapes her husband’s control as she only agrees to marry him when her autonomy would not be compromised.

The use of voice and point of view is also significant in both texts in. In Wide Sargasso Sea, point of view changes multiple times throughout showing how difficult it for women and especially women with racially ambivalent backgrounds to sustain their own voice. Part 1 is written through the eyes of Antoinette, Part 2 is taken over by Rochester and Part 3 is told through Bertha, Antoinette’s new assigned fragmented identity. In this way Rhys is also to display Antoinette’s downfall. As Jane Eyre is an autobiography of sorts, Jane has full control over how her story is portrayed. She even is granted the power to address the reader with the line:

‘Reader, I married him’.

The way the two individual heroines’ use their voice is also indicative of the way they both develop into womanhood. As children, it is expected for their accounts to be somewhat unreliable, although Antoinette is more disjointed than Jane. However, from that point onwards, Antoinette’s only becomes more interrupted while Jane’s only becomes more sequential and organised.

Antoinette and Jane also seem to mirror each other. Jane has a similar experience of being locked up as a child where she also questioned her own sense of self. She faints from fright and awakens to a fire similarly to how Antoinette awakens to her own home burning as a result of the black community’s protests. They grow up with many hardships and the absence of familial love and also end up marrying the same man. In Jane Eyre, Antoinette seems to be a manifestation of Jane’s fear of Rochester’s ability to dominate and ruin her (mirror reference). The major aspect of themselves that is different is their racial background. This difference between them decides the fact that Antoinette must die in order for Jane to prosper even if their lives do seem to parallel each other.

Those familiar with Jane Eyre would already foresee the tragic ending awaiting Antoinette. Her fate is predetermined, only making her story more heartbreaking. Rhys makes use of foreshadowing to exemplify the hopelessness of her situation. On their honeymoon, Rochester already decides to hide her away in the attic as he says: ‘I drew a house surrounded by trees. I divided the third floor into rooms and in one room I drew a standing woman.’ Antoinette also seems to foresee the end as she dreams of her act of arson and suicide before committing to it: ‘Now at last I know why I was brought here and what I have to do’. She is still a character that cannot escape her death even when granted a voice.

Postcolonialism relied on an understanding of the drivers of colonialism to finally achieve momentum as a movement. Wide Sargasso Sea will inevitably be bound to the text it is so desperately trying to deconstruct. As I was doing some background research into the construction of each book, I thought that the title of Rhy’s work was brilliantly chosen and summative of the work as a whole. The Sargasso Sea is a calm area surrounded by more violent waters, resulting in it being overabundant in sargassum, a type of seaweed. However, it is within the confines of the stagnant waters of the Sargasso Sea where marine endangered species can breed and recuperate.

Sylvia Maurel says it best: ‘In its dormant waters, repetition has a creative function, both lethal and fecund, The Sargasso Sea is the seat of cyclical renewal, of creation within recreation.

Introduction

The relationship of mothers and their daughters has been brought out in many literary works by many authors. Feminist themes have been popular with authors because they are of high demand and they talk about the issues that affect women and try to bring these issues to the people concerned. Jean Rhys and Charlotte Bronte are among the many authors that have brought out a feminist theme in their books.

They have brought about the nature of the relationship between mothers and their daughters, the challenges that they go through and how they overcome these challenges. The two works by the authors are related in that one work is the rewrite of another or almost the duplicate of another and therefore almost all the themes are the same in both books

Thesis

This paper critically examines the nature of the relationship between women and their daughters in the works of Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea and the works of Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. It compares the relationships in the two books and brings out the similarities and the differences. It also examines the way the two authors have brought out the mother characters and the daughter characters

About the authors

Jean Rhys is an author from the 20^th century who was born in Dominica. Her birth name was Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams. She schooled in a convent school and later on in a girls school in England. She was criticized in the girls’ school and that could have formed the basis of the feminist themes in her works.

She moved quit a lot in different towns and cities and had a lot of struggles especially after her dad died. She had trouble getting her first novel published and therefore she had to pause nude for a Britain based novelist to get funds to publish her novel. Jean started her writing career by writing short stories under the supervision of an English writer called Ford Madox Ford. Ford stated that her viewpoint and her themes were fueled by her outsider status. Jean wrote many novels with feminist views and themes

Charlotte Bronte was born of an Irishman called Patrick Bronte. She was from a big family of six children where two elder ones died early. The remaining four were home schooled and therefore they developed a strong bond with each other. This bond led them to engage in artistic works together which included poetry, tales and a lot of fantasy stories.

Charlottes writing career started almost immediately after her mother died and it was fueled by her two sisters because they mostly used to write together. After their aunt died, they had finished their first novels. Charlotte’s first novel which was called professor was not published. Her first novel to be published was Jane Eyre which she wrote immediately after her first novel.

Jane Eyre was the breakthrough of Charlotte’s writing career because it was very successful and got so much attention from publishers and the literary community. Charlotte’s works was not only admired but also criticized. Many people criticized her of being very emotional and full of anger.

Her themes were also very feminist and she was applauded for her ability to bring out the female protagonists in her books. She was also recognized for her ability to bring out the human nature of their characters. This made her different and unique from other novelists and authors because they lacked the human aspect or humanism in their characters

Comparison of the relationship between mothers and their daughters in the novels

Plasa states that there are a lot of similarities between the two novels that compare the relationship between mothers and daughters in both of them which is portrayed in the theme feminine protagonist (Plasa 21). Both authors portray both characters as young women who go through a lot of struggles in their life from a troubled childhood to a troubled life and marriage.

They both were raised from religious backgrounds and they have both experienced criticism and have been looked down upon by the richer and better off people. The difference between these novels is that Antoinette character is more emotional, has gone through more stressing experiences and is less mentally stable than the Jane character

Both authors have written about two young women who lived with a lot of struggles in their early life in harsh environments. This is one striking similarity of the novels.

Jane Eyre is a novel that describes the life of a young girl called Jane and describes the stages that she goes through in her life from her childhood at Gates head where her aunt and cousins mistreat her physically and emotionally, her education, her social life and her career. It describes the early years of Jane and all the struggles that she goes through as a child until she becomes of age. Charlotte states that Jane is orphaned at an early age and she goes to live with her harsh aunt who mistreats her. (Chapter 1. pg. 8)

She is then sent to lowood institution which is very strict but with better treatment than her aunt. While at this institution, she makes friends who immensely influence her personality and her character. Jean states that Jane spends more than eight years at lowood and therefore having enough influence that enables her to be the governess of the area.

Jane starts to experience even more trouble and suffering in her older years after the death of her aunt. She experiences a lot of misfortunes with her love life and also with her career but she finally settles down with Rochester with whom she gives birth a baby boy and they live happily until her death. The main themes in this novel are female protagonist, gothic imagery and religion and morality. The feminist theme has however been brought out more in the novel

Wide Sargasso Sea is a novel about a young heiress who has had an unhappy marriage in the Caribbean which makes her to relocate to England. The novel is mostly about the female protagonist called Antoinette who brings out her story from her childhood to her marriage to Mr. Rochester which was an arranged marriage.

This novel is written in three stages that is the childhood of Antoinette in Jamaica where she also describes her mother’s mental instability. The other part revolves around the marriage of Antoinette in Jamaica. This part also describes the causes of the downfall of Antoinette and the unhappiness of her marriage. This part makes the bulk of the novel because many activities and events occur in this part. The last part is a short part and it describes the last years of Antoinette’s life in Rochester’s mansion

The relationship between mothers and daughters in the two novels is shown in the feminist protagonists and the feminist themes in the two novels. Womanhood in Wide Sargasso Sea is related to issues of slavery and those of mental instability. Feminism is shown clearly in the character of Antoinette when she went to the convent school. The friends that she makes in the convent school that is Miss Germaine and Helene portray the feminist values that Antoinette adopts for example she learns what beauty and chastity is.

In this book, the independence of women characters both legally and financially depends on men within them. Antoinette’s mother sees the death of her husband as a second chance to start a new and get away from all the struggles that she has been through. Charlotte Bronte has also portrayed a Feminine protagonist in the novel Jane Eyre.

Female protagonist is shown through Antoinette by her romantic and passionate side which makes her more mature than the other children in her age. This can be shown in the novel where she says “each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever proudly interesting” (Charlotte 1, pg. 7).

Female protagonist is also shown when Jane admits that she is so attached to Helen and that she loves her and needs her. These words show the passion in her. This is shown in the novel where she says “No; I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough; if others don’t love me, I would rather die than live… I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen.” (Charlotte 8, pg. 60) There are various other ways that the female protagonist has been brought out in the novel

The novel Wide Sargasso Sea was an attempt to rewrite the story of Charlotte’s Jane Eyre. They therefore have almost the same themes and the character Jane is almost similar to the character Antoinette. Both characters in this novel grew up in an environment with limited Love.

However Jane is able to find herself and be a woman of her own identity, Antoinette still struggles to find her real self and who she really is. The gender differences are brought out in Wide Sargasso Sea as women are shown to be going through financial constraints because of the dominance of men.

Both authors show the sufferings that women go through in a society that is dominated by men. Antoinette’s mother rejects Antoinette because of her vulnerability to the discrimination that she goes through in her relationship and she thinks that Antoinette has a second chance to start again when her first husband dies. This poor relationship between Antoinette and her mother makes her so distrustful of people around her and makes her more emotionally unstable.

Both novels have feminist themes although the approaches taken by the authors are different for example in Wide Sargasso Sea, Jane has an idea of the place of women in the society and what they deserve while Antoinette does not have any idea of what a woman is in the society and she has no idea of the actions to take to change all the discriminations that occur in her life.

Jane also has quite a stable relationship with her mother even though her mother dies at an early age. Jean states that Antoinette had a poor relationship with her mother because of the difference in their beliefs and in what they want. (Part 2, 25-30)Antoinette is therefore practically lost in life and she cannot be happy and find peace and a sense of belonging like Jane does.

Wide Sargasso Sea although written almost in the same time as Jane Eyre, it brings out the female protagonist in a modern way and therefore brings out the conceptions of a modern women despite the same experiences as those of the female protagonist in Jane Eyre. Modern feminism can be said to be infused in the older feminism of the works of Charlotte.

Charlotte writes that in Jane’s world, women are seen to be under strict circumstances and they cannot therefore participate in the society as men can while in Antoinette’s world this restriction and repression is not there and women are a bit freer. Rhys therefore tries to show ways of dealing with the oppressions that women go through in a different and newer style and voice and even the structure of narration.

In the novel Wide Sargasso Sea, it is hard to determine what type of mother that Antoinette will be because of the many repressions both emotionally and physically that she is exposed to from her husband and by the lack of exposure of her identity which is caused by the experiences that she went through and the lack of happiness that existed in her life

Jean Rhys also depicts lack of faith in women to stop the oppressions that they are going through. She states that a woman cannot be successful in finding peace and equality. (Part 2, 103-104) In Jane Eyre, Jane is brought out as being mature and more developed that she has the resources to defend herself from all the oppressions that she experiences. Antoinette on the other hand cannot defend herself because she has not found herself and her identity and she cannot protect herself.

Both characters are distressed by their experiences and the oppressions that they undergo. Jane approaches these issues in a more loving and old way while Antoinette approaches these issues in a more diverse and contemporary way. In Jane Eyre, the author depicts that women can achieve their goals despite the struggles that they have to go through for example Jane gets what she wants in the end and she is finally happy despite all the struggles that she goes through

Conclusion

These two novels therefore show that women go through a lot of struggle but their success will depend with the setting that these women are in and their beliefs and the approaches that they take to solve these problems. The feminist themes however have been inspired by the backgrounds of the two authors, their experiences in life and how they dealt with the problems that they had. It was also inspired by the kind of friends that they had

Works Cited

Charlotte, B. Jane Eyre-Signet Classic. New York: Penguin Books USA. 1982

Rhys, J. Wide Sargasso Sea: Jean Rhys- Introduction. England: A. Deutch Publishers. 1966

Plasa, C. Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: Macmillan publishers. 2001

Introduction

Jane Eyre was written by a famous English writer, Charlotte Bronte in 1847^[1]. The novel revolves around a woman named Jane Eyre and is more of an autobiography of the protagonist. Charlotte Bronte narrates the life of Jane Eyre from her childhood to adulthood and writes a detailed account of her whole life and the events that take place in it.

The novel has 38 chapters and Bronte narrates the five important stages of Jane’s life starting from her childhood at Gateshead to her reunion with her lover, Mr. Rochester. Since the novel covers most part of the life of Jane Eyre, the reader witnesses the growth of the character and the gradual change in personality. The paper will discuss the three personality traits of the main character, Jane Eyre.

Autonomous and Resistant to Abuse

The reader knows that Jane Eyre would grow up to be a self sufficient and independent woman because she shows these traits from the very beginning. Jane Eyre appears to have great self esteem even though she is an orphan and has a lot of negative energy and criticism around her in the shape of her aunt and cousins.

It is clear that Jane’s aunt despises Jane and leaves no opportunity to abuse her or make her feel worthless. Her cousins are no better and are always troubling her. Even though Jane is defenseless and lone in front of her aunt and cousins, she does not give in to the abuse. She rises above the cruelty and voices her opinion when she calls her cousin a “wicked and cruel boy!” and says “You are like a murderer – you are like a slave-driver – you are like the Roman emperors!”^[2].

Jane Eyre is independent from the very beginning of the novel and does not hesitate to say what is on her mind.

Freedom and Equality

An orphan child who does not receive much affection in the early years of life usually grows up to be rather timid and has a sense of inequality. However, Jane, even after having an abusive and affectionless childhood demands equality and freedom as an adult. She does not hesitate to fall in love with a man who is of a much higher status, Mr. Rochester.

She demands from him equal respect and is not willing to give up her freedom at any cost which is apparent when she refuses to be with Mr. Rochester and says “Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?…

I have as much soul as you, — and full as much heart!…it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both has passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal, — as we are!”^[3](Bronte 2008, 291). These lines reflect her desire for equality and freedom in society.

Genuine and Loving

Even though Jane Eyre has been through a lot of abuse and troubles in her life and has always had trouble relating to people, her heart is still warm and her affection for people is genuine.

The hard realities of her life and miserable life experiences fail to fill her heart with hatred and she is still able to fall in love with Mr. Rochester. The purity of her love for him is evident in the end when she reunites with Mr. Rochester even after finding out about his condition.

Bibliography / Footnotes

1. The Literature Network. “Charlotte Bronte.” The Literature Network.
2. Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Forgotten Books, 2008., p.9.
3. [2], p.291.

Each chapter in Jane Eyre, the novel written by Charlotte Bronte, performs the function of a significant brick the collection of which introduces the path that leads to the new old world of gender inequalities, duties, and feelings which could not be neglected.

The peculiar feature of the 25^th chapter of the novel chosen for the analysis is the author’s intention to make it as emotional as possible. In a variety of the events which happen to Jane within a short period of time, Jane cannot focus on the true facts and perceive the reality as it is.

This is why it is necessary to provide the character with the hints which will show her the right way and allow to enjoy her existence. Jane Eyre’s 25^th chapter is one of the most emotional periods in Jane’s life due to the necessity to interpret several symbols in her dreams and to realize which changes are approaching because of the marriage with such a person as Mr. Rochester.

At the beginning of the article, the reader gets to know that several days are left until the wedding between Jane and Mr. Rochester takes place. Jane is all about to see her future husband who had to leave the house recently. In order to occupy herself, Jane makes a decision to go for a walk and observe the chestnut tree.

With the help of such walk, the author underlines that something mysterious and unknown to Jane is waiting for her and she has to find more powers to discover the truth. Still, the arrival of Mr. Rochester deprives her of the possibility to plunge into the details of the house as well as the events happened before Jane’s arrival.

The night before Rochester’s arrival, Jane sees two strange dreams about her wedding, Mr. Rochester, and the baby. It seems like the author wants to warn the character as well as the reader that something important should happen soon, still, not all characters are ready to understand the events, this is why such warnings and symbols come while Jane’s is sleeping.

The image of a child crying in Jane’s arms becomes of crucial importance for Jane. She has to carry a baby and go far from Mr. Rochester as the baby wants it, still, the child is too heavy that makes Jane drops him. Such outcome of the dream makes Jane awake and be scared.

In order to find some explanations, Jane asks questions to Mr. Rochester, still, he continues keeping secrets admitting that these dreams may be connected to woman, Grace Poole. The point is that Mr. Rochester is not eager to give more names. It is clear that he has more to tell, still, something prevents him against doing this.

Such attitude to the dreams as well as to Jane’s interests is considered to be the main shift in the story. The characters have been already warned that something had to happen, and the result of such inabilities to talk directly was the conclusion of Mr. Rochester to tell Jane the truth after 1 year and 1 day will pass after their wedding. The deadlines prove that time is what Mr. Rochester actually needs and what Jane cannot understand.

In general, the main function of the chapter is to inform the reader as well as the characters about the mystery connected to Mr. Rochester. The time to disclose the truth is coming, and the characters are not able to hide secrets any more. Jane should understand that her life is not as safe as she thinks to be, and Mr. Rochester may become a person whom it will be hard to trust.

Charlotte Bronte and Jean Rhys use dreams to symbolize the destiny of the main characters. The dreams also present to the characters the premonition of the events that are about to take place in their lives.

In the novel Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette, the main character, experiences a number of dreams. The first dream occurs when she is a child. The dream is a premonition of danger that is ahead; although she dreams after fighting with her friend Tia, it also represents her conscience because her friend despises her during the ordeal. In the dream, Antoinette is lonely and her life is under threat.

However, this represents her past after having a misunderstanding with Tia hence the fears that their friendship is about to fallout. At seventeen years, Antoinette experiences her second dream. The dream foreshadows her future where her stepfather will force her to get married. She will have no choice but to accept the suitor’s proposal. The dream also foresees her suitor as a rude and disrespectful man who will push her around. Although she hates her fiancé, she will eventually take him to altar and recite the marriage vows.

Additionally, she has a white skirt on which is soiled, showing she will lose her virginity to a man she hates in her life. In the final dream, Antoinette remembers her childhood dolls and house; she sees her childhood friend Tia and her stepfather. When the two call her she declines their request showing that she hates them. The third dream represents her change of lifestyle from the cruelty in England to the comfortable land in the Caribbean after her marriage.

On the other hand, since childhood Jane, the main character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre experiences frequent dreams. Jane’s first dream is a premonition of problems that are about to happen in future. She wakes up screaming and in reality, her Uncle John pass on while her aunt is in critical condition.

This leaves her in a somber mood for a few days. In addition, she wants to marry Rochester who has a mad wife called Bertha. Bertha typifies the consistent problems that will characterize Jane and Rochester’s relationship hence she acts a barrier. The second dream also symbolizes the unpleasant events that are yet to happen to Jane.

The dream is a flashback of her childhood where she was lonely following the early death of her parents. She is carrying a baby, which tires her, but she is unable to put her down due to lack of a suitable place. This symbolizes the final state of Thornfield, which will be inhabitable due to destruction. Additionally, the dream represents Jane’s conscience and fear of marriage as a wife of Rockester.

Her inability to get her future husband foreshadows a barrier that is in between the two which hinders their marriage. Although she wants to marry Rochester, his present wife is an obstacle. Truly to her dream Bertha (Rochester’s wife) burns down the estate. After sometime, Jane has a third dream that foreshadows her change of residence from Thornfield to unknown place.

However, the dream is a representation of her emotions where she thinks her marriage to Rochester will not last. Luckily, in her dream there is a person with determination to bond her to Rochester, which eventually happens. The last dream typifies her emotions due to her daily encounters where Rochester is to marry another woman called Ingram. The dream is a presentiment of her relationship that is incurring frequent troubles that lead to their ultimate separation.

Introduction

“Jane Eyre” is a tragedy and romantic novel which was written by Charlotte Bronte. It was adapted into film by Robert Stevenson in 1944. “Jane Eyre” is partly an autobiographical novel which filled with romance and tragedy in the life of Jane Eyre. At the age of nine, Jane Eyre had lost her parents and was an orphan. She went to live with her aunt Mrs. Reed. (Bailey, 115)

Mrs. Reed was a sister to Jane’s father and her family was the only family Jane had so; she went to live with them. But the Reeds did not see Jane as a blood relation rather; she was treated as an outsider. While in the home of the Reeds, Jane was physically and emotionally abused by her aunt Mrs. Reed and her children. (Niemann, 214)

This comparative essay will highlight the differences between Stevenson’s 1943 film of “Jane Eyre” and Charlotte Bronte’s novel. Apart from Stevenson’s film not maintaining a first narrator as the novel does, it is arguably the best adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s novel.

A central theme that Stevenson’s film emphasizes which is not a prominent theme in the original story by Charlotte Bronte is Jane’s perseverance all through the story. Bronte’s original story narrates Jane’s story as an orphan who finds joy at the end of the story but Stevenson’s film tells the story of Jane as a person who went through a lot of pain and discrimination but did not give up.

The problems which Jane faced as an adult and a child will be discussed in this essay.

Comparing the film “Jane Eyre” to Bronte’s original novel

“Jane Eyre” is a novel which was originally written by Charlotte Bronte and it has been adapted into film 3 times. It was adapted into film in 1913, 1915 and 1921. Out of all the adaptations, Stevenson’s 1943 adaptation is considered the best because; his adaptation has a unique and slightly different pattern of the Jane Eyre story. (Rowland, 241)

In the original novel of “Jane Eyre” written by Charlotte Bronte, Jane was portrayed as an evil child and she was treated badly for this reason. (Rowland, 281) Jane’s extended family perceived her as an evil child and this same notion of Jane been an evil child manifested again when her employer stumbled from his horse. After Jane’s employer stumbled from his horse, he accused Jane of been an evil person and the reason why he stumbled from his horse. (Niemann, 302)

In Stevenson’s adaptation of the “Jane Eyre” story, the problems of Jane Eyre are shown as norms of a class-oriented society. People usually want to associate with other people who are of the same class to them. So, Jane was maltreated because her parents were dead, and she was seen as a poor girl. Life is usually tough and obstacles are always encountered in the process living. (Bailey, 400) There has never been life without problems.

With the examples given above, there is a slight difference between Robert Stevenson’s adaptation and the original novel by Charlotte Bronte. Apart from the film not maintaining a first person narrator, it also, ends a little happier that the original story and this is noticed when the adaptation is constructively compared to the original novel.

The ordeals of Jane as narrated by Robert Stevenson and Charlotte Bronte respectively

Jane faced a number of problems in her life as a child and an adult respectively. (Bailey, 510) In the beginning of the story, Jane lost her parents to a deadly disease known as typhus and she became an orphan at the early age of nine. After losing both parents to the cold hands of death, she was compelled to live with her uncle’s family. Although Mrs. Reed perceived Jane as an evil child and she abused her physically and emotionally. (Rowland, 321)

After leaving the home of the Reeds’ Jane goes into another world full of hatred in Lowood institution. While in Lowood institution, Mr. Brocklehust became Jane’s new tormentor. But, Jane soon finds happiness in Lowood Institution when she meets Helen. (Rowland, 212) Jane and Helen subsequently became friends but Jane’s happiness was cut short when she lost her only friend and confidant to the cold hands of death. (Niemann, 202)

After leaving Lowood institution, Jane works as a governess for a very wicked and selfish employer, Mr. Edward Rochester. (Niemann, 412) Jane experiences a tough and difficult stay at thornfield but she and her employer Mr. Rochester eventually fell in love but they were forbidden to express it. (Bailey, 401)

All these instances mentioned where the ordeals which Jane Eyre encountered during the course of the story. In spite of the fact that, Jane found happiness at the end of the story, it was a terrible and tough experience for Jane growing up. (Bailey, 615) There was no difference in her adult age and this made the story of “Jane Eyre” a tragedy.

A central theme emphasized in Stevenson’s film that is not a prominent theme in Bronte’s novel

Robert Stevenson produced the film “Jane Eyre” as a tragedy film but the central theme emphasized all through the film is the resilience and perseverance displayed by Jane. (Niemann, 815)

At the tender age of nine’ Jane had lost her parents to the cold hands of death due to typhus. This seemed to be the beginning of Jane’s turmoil. Been orphaned at that tender age, could have broken any child down but Jane persevered and overcame it. (Rowland, 116)

After the death of her parents, Jane went to live with her aunt Mrs. Reed. But Mrs. Reed had her own reservations about Jane due to her daring spirit. (Niemann, 356) Mrs. Reed had expected Jane to be a withdrawn and timid child due to the fact that she had lost both parents at a tender age. But contrary to Mrs. Reed’s expectation, Jane was a daring child and not even the death of her parents affected her. (Bailey, 444)

Mrs. Reed more or less discards Jane off to Lowood institution and she had already misinformed Mr. Henry Brocklehust that Jane was an evil child. (Niemann, 358) Mr. Brocklehust was in charge and ran the school. Due to Mrs. Reed’s accusation, Mr. Brocklehust harassed Jane in an environment which was already filled with impoverished and orphaned kids. (Rowland, 718)

For other children, this could have been the breaking point because of the pain and torture they had already encountered. But in Jane’s case, the pain and torture did not deter her. This type of resilience is what is needed in our today’s worlds to survive. (Rowland, 788)

While in Lowood institution, Jane for the first time in her life found happiness through her friend and only confidant Helen. But that happiness was cut short when Helen eventually died. After leaving Lowood institution to work as a governess, Jane was still faced the challenge of been considered as an evil person. But even in the face of such torment, Jane still manages to make her hostile boss fall in love with her. (Bailey, 623)

Conclusion

Charlotte Bronte’s novel portrays Jane as a character who went through a lot of pain and societal discrimination but eventually found happiness at the end of the day by marrying the man of her choice. But in Robert Stevenson’s film, the character Jane is portrayed as a person who in the face of adversary and abuse, never gave up or broke down but rather persevered and conquered. (Rowland, 514)

The central theme of the film “Jane Eyre” is resilience and perseverance. This is clearly expressed by Robert Stevenson as he highlights the problems of Jane and the things she lost while struggling to succeed. (Niemann, 611) During the course of the film, Jane endured the struggle between principle and passion.

Also, during that period, she endured and overpowered temptations of the flesh and spirit. While Bronte’s novel simply portrays Jane as someone who eventually finds happiness after societal and family abuse, Stevenson’s film portrays Jane as a character who had resilience and was never gave up even when it seemed like all hope was lost and this made Jane a conqueror and a hero who eventually finds her heart desire due to her inner strength. (Niemann, 800)

Works Cited

Bailey, Hilary. Mrs. Rochester: A Sequel to Jane Eyre. New York: Sloane hall, 2010. Print.

Niemann, James. A Novel Inspired by Jane Eyre: Jane Eyre told from the first person- perspective. New York: Blackwell, 2010. Print.

Rowland, Wiley. Jane Eyre. The Graphic Novel: London: Amy, 2003. Print.

The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and the short story Daisy Miller by Henry James center on independent women who lack a strong female model while growing up and, perhaps for that reason, develop their own ideas of how the world in general and men in particular should treat them. As a woman who must work to support herself it may be that Jane Eyre is the more heroic of the two heroines. Yet Daisy Miller is also a true heroine in choosing to die rather than settle for a conventional relationship. These two characters are aware of social conventions but put their own need for love before all else. As Q. D. Leavis says about Jane Eyre, she sees ‘the relations [between man and woman] as one of mutual need in which the woman is not idealized but is recognized as an active contributor’ (17), and the same can be said of Daisy. Jane is much more explicit about her needs, at least once she herself recognizes them. Daisy’s behavior, even though it mystifies everyone, also sends her chosen mate clear signals on how to proceed. It is left up to the narrator in each case has to bridge the gap between these women’s expectations and the social conventions they violate in the process.

Both stories are told with the benefit of hindsight. Jane recounts her life after she marries Rochester, describing her own development as a series of lessons she had to learn before she could enter into a true marriage. The narrator of Daisy Miller looks back at Frederick Winterbourne’s infatuation several years after the fact, when the young hero has settled back in his comfortable Geneva life of having affairs with older women. The narrative voice in Daisy Miller is that of a bystander who merges with Frederick Winterbourne, the rather stiff, conventional young man who admires Daisy without ever understanding her. The narrator uses the first person pronoun only now and then, preferring to present the story from Winterbourne’s point of view, as if to make her more mystifying. Jane tells her story as explicitly as she can and yet much of the substance of that story is given in the descriptive passages where she uses natural symbolism to convey the mysteries of her heart and her subconscious mind.

Jane Eyre was published in 1847 under Brontë’s pseudonym, Currer Bell. The narrator in Jane Eyre is the heroine herself, observant, critical of herself and others and very conscious of social boundaries. When Rochester has guests she accepts her status as the employee. When he condescends to her she acknowledges he has that right. Yet she does not doubt for a moment that she is his equal. She is a woman who knows herself well enough to free herself from conventional behavior patterns and to demand that the man she loves accepts her needs for what they are, and adjusts his behavior to them. It is Rochester she loves but he cannot be the superior, self-possessed and insensitive male she first met; rather he must be the ill, badly wounded and almost ruined wreck of a man she finds towards the end of the novel. At this point, says Sandra M. Gilbert, the injured Rochester ‘draws his powers from within himself rather than from inequity, disguise, deception … and now, being equals, he and Jane can afford to depend on each other with no fear of exploiting the other’ (177). In this way Rochester is brought up to Jane’s moral level, whereas before he operated on conventional social morality.

Daisy Miller, one of Henry James’s early stories and still one of his most popular, was published in 1878 and turned him into an international celebrity. Daisy is much younger than Jane at the telling, and is widely regarded as an innocent. For many critics, it is a tale about the role of convention and stereotyping in the human community, about our vulnerability to self-deception’ (Fogel 8) but it is much more than that. Daisy aspires to the same honesty and equality in marriage as Jane does and when compared to Jane she is actually far advanced in terms of her knowledge of herself and of men. During her first meeting with Winterbourne the narrator gives the reader the sense that she has come to an important decision about the stiff young man, perhaps recognizing that he could be the man who would make up for her absent father and absentminded mother as well as become the father to children who would not be like her anarchic little brother.

Daisy may be clear on what she wants but Winterbourne is conflicted. Consciously he focuses on her physical attributes yet he feels more for her than for the women he knows in Geneva. The narrator’s tendency to understate things fits in perfectly with Winterbourne’s character. He reveals, for example, that Winterbourne didn’t take his usual leisurely trip through Italy en route to Rome but ‘had stopped neither at Bologna nor at Florence, simply because of a certain sentimental impatience’ (165). His inability to define her, much as he tries, is shown by the narrator’s record of his and other people’s speculations on Daisy’s character which often include the trait of innocence matched with another quality. One example comes early in the story as Winterbourne observes Daisy and thinks she ‘looked extremely innocent. Some people had told him that, after all, American girls were exceedingly innocent; and others had told him that, after all, they were not. He was inclined to think Miss Daisy Miller was a flirt–a pretty American flirt’ (144). On another occasion ‘she seemed to him … an extraordinary mixture of innocence and crudity’ (160-161) and later he wonders whether she is innocent or ignorant. The innocence in this case refers to her unwillingness to abide by social conventions. The older women such as Winterbourne’s aunt and Miss Walker are appalled by her unorthodox behavior, which they regard as the sign of inadequate parenting and a lack of self-respect. In fact, Daisy is well aware of social boundaries but she places her own needs before those of others.

Daisy senses Winterbourne’s “stiffness,” his inability to understand her so that, even though she loves him, she will not give in to him. She herself has her passions well under control. The narrator comments on her monotonous tone and smile more than once and notes her unwillingness to respond to any comment or question that might take her out of her comfort zone. Yet even Daisy breaks down on two important occasions, giving the narrator if not Winterbourne a sign that she too feels deeply about this young man, and that she has been playing an elaborate game to bring out the man in the boy.

That game may be compared to the penance Jane forces on Rochester. Daisy likes to make Winterbourne say ‘such things’, as she tells him on page 159 but she also makes him do such things as seem designed to shake him out of his stiffness. A good example of this is when she asks him to accompany her to a meeting with her Italian suitor. Even before that, Daisy has shown a strange liking for the family’s courier, Eugenio, a formally dressed Italian who condescends to Winterbourne. On this occasion she asks Mrs. Walker if she can bring ‘an intimate friend of mine to her party, ‘without a tremor in her clear little voice or a shadow on her brilliant little face’, as the narrator says (166). Winterbourne does not react; in fact, for over a page the narrator does not refer to him. When he does reappear he stands ready to accompany her to meet her friend, ‘Mr. Giovanelli – the beautiful Giovanelli’, as Daisy says (167). They are driven to the Pincio along with the ‘ornamental courier’. When he tries to prevent her from meeting her suitor Daisy tells him she has “never allowed a gentleman to dictate to me” and continues on her way. Although Winterbourne wants to follow, regardless of the unconventional and embarrassing situation, he is dissuaded by Mrs. Walker who has come to take Daisy home. She refuses; and for the first time in the story shows that her emotions are running high through her ‘violent laugh’ in response to his gentle request for her to get into the carriage. Against his will, Winterbourne gets in instead and Mrs. Walker ends his speculations on Daisy’s character by describing her as ‘crazy’ (171).

Later, when Winterbourne runs into Daisy and Giovanelli at the Colosseum he makes the mistake that convinces Daisy he will never be the man she needs by shunning her. She calls him over but she has seen him act as so many others have behaved towards her and now understands that he is too conventional for her. At that point she stops caring about her own life; or, as she puts it, ‘I don’t care … whether I have Roman fever or not!’ (190) At her grave Giovanelli tells Winterbourne that Daisy would never have married him (Giovanelli), at which Winterbourne leaves Rome and returns to his old life.

The similarity between Daisy and Jane is not immediately obvious but these two rigorously honest women refuse to let social convention stand in the way of their objectives. In both cases the narrator creates greater sympathy for these characters than their society feels for them. Jane’s dreams, such as the one about the infant, give the reader an insight into her subconscious. Daisy’s chronicler notices the occasional contradictions in her behavior, with the same result. It becomes clear that Daisy’s casual relationships with ‘third-rate Italians’ were a mere diversion as she waited for Winterbourne to see her as she saw him. Jane’s spiritual detour served the same purpose. Perhaps Winterbourne did not hear Daisy call him to the center of the Colosseum but he was drawn there as surely as Jane was drawn to Rochester. The difference was that Rochester was ready; Winterbourne was not.

Works Cited

Fogel, Daniel Mark. Daisy Miller: A Dark Comedy of Manners. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990.

Gilbert, Sandra M. “A Dialogue of Self and Soul.” Modern Critical Interpretations: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.” Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.

James, Henry. Daisy Miller and Other Stories. Penguin Modern Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1963.

Leavis, Q. D. Introduction to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. 1847. London: Penguin Classics, 1985.

Introduction

Two novels, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys have been considered as seminal works in relation to feminism and the development of the female character. While Charlotte Bronte wrote her novel a few centuries before Jean Rhys wrote her novel in the 1980s and the work of Jean Rhys acts as a prequel to Jane Eyre. The paper provides an analysis of the two novels and presents some salient facts related to the character development and the era in which the two authors lived. In this paper, first, an analysis of both the novels is performed and a section that gives a comparison of the two works is provided.

Analysis of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte who lived in England from 1816 to 1855, set the story in Britain of the 1800s when societal disparities were at their peak, the industrial revolution was at its peak and the deprived lived under distressing conditions. Jane Eyre was an orphan who lived with her aunt, Mrs, Reed, and her cousins. Her immediate kin regarded her more as a burden and made her do all the hard work and she lived in a constant environment of scorn and hatred. After a few years, she went to Lowood School, which was a semi-charitable institution for girls, graduated with honors, and took up a job as a teacher.

After some years she went to Thornwood Manor, owned by Edward Rochester, to care for his ward Adele. Jane loved the place and gradually fell in love with Thornwood who proposed to her. Edward had hidden the fact that he was married and that his wife was a raving lunatic of Jamaican origin and imprisoned in the manor and though Jane heard the madwoman making noises, Rochester exerted his influence to dissuade her. Jane also discovers that she had an uncle who was ready to adopt her but Mrs. Reed revealed this fact as she lay on her deathbed and she had hidden this fact as she disliked Jane.

On the day of the marriage, the lunatic managed to enter Jane’s room and tore up her dress. The marriage was halted by a Lawyer who claimed that Edward was already married. A deeply distressed Jane left the manor and landed in Marsh End, the home of St. John Rivers and his two sisters, Mary and Diana. These people loved and cared for her. John proposed marriage and he anted Jane to go with him to India, but she refused and she had a vision of Rochester calling her. She goes to Thornwood manor to find the place burnt down, the lunatic wife dead and Rochester broken and crippled. She still loves him, marries him, and gives birth to their son (Signet Classics 1982).

Analysis of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Jean Rhys in her widely acclaimed novel, narrates the story of Antoinette or Bertha Mason, a white Creole heiress. Jean has based her character on the lunatic wife of Mr. Edward Rochester, who is one of the central figures in Charlotte Bronte’s novel. The tale relates the story of Antoinette as she grows up in Jamaica after slavery has been abolished in the country. Being of mixed blood, Antoinette belongs neither to the White group nor the blacks and she is in constant search of her identity. The blacks hate her and the white hold her in contempt. She marries an Englishmen who is not named but is implied as being Mr. Rochester from the novel Jane Eyre.

The couple has nothing in common and her husband begins to distrust her, her cultural and ethnic background since she is half Creole, her actions and gives her the name of Bertha. She is torn and mentally anguished with the suffering she undergoes, the alienation from her husband, the manipulation she sustains from her black brother, and her very sanity is in danger. Her husband continues his humiliation and distrust and calls her a madwoman and a lunatic, ultimately driving her insane (Signet Classics 1982).

Comparison of the Two Novels and Their Influence on Other Authors

The two works bring into strong contrast the willpower and psyche of the two women. Jane Eyre is portrayed, as an independent woman who can make her own decisions, is not cowed down by what men in her life want her to do. This can be seen in many instances such as when she leaves Thornwood Manor when she finds that her fiancés is already married and again when she rejects John the pastor who proposes to her. Jane is depicted as a woman who has been struck by misfortune but that she has a fighting spirit and can fight back (Maggie. 1995).

The Antoinette in Wide Sargasso Seas is an emotional cripple who is supplicating people for identity and kinship. The woman is struggling between her dual identity of being a part Creole and part White. She is manipulated and humiliated by the men around her, all of whom want to take advantage of her weakness. She is a mere pawn in the big game, easily manipulated, has all her self-respect taken away from her, and is totally at the mercy of fate. She is an exile within her own family, and regarded as a “white cockroach” by her scornful servants, and despised by her husband. She obviously cannot find peace anywhere and in any kind of setting (Rhys, Jean. 1999).

While Jane did have men who wanted to marry her for her strength of character, Antoinette is despised by her husband and she has no takers. Jane is an orphan who had a very difficult and hard childhood and was made to work as a menial and do all the hard work. While Jane had no one to take care of her during her childhood Antoinette at least did have a stepmother Christophine, who monitors Antoinette’s husband’s attempts to assert dominance. She is forcing the girl to make her own choices and advises her “woman must have spunks to live in this wicked world” (Schapiro, 1994).

In keeping with the concept of modern novels, Jean Rhys has examined the concept of female sexuality rather boldly. Antoinette is not depicted as a virgin but it is mentioned that she has already experimented with sex before marriage and the only thing that she and her husband want from each other is physical sex. The female sexuality is vigorously examined by Ryes without restraint and there are quite a few sentences full of symbolism and Antoinette is unfortunately not able to understand the difference between orgasm and pain she equates an orgasm as if she is dying and she says to her husband on one of the occasions when they have physical contact “Say die and I will die. You don’t believe me? then try, try, say die and watch me die”.

There is a dream sequence in the novel when Antoinette finds herself in a forest filled with trees and she says “the trees that jerks violently is phallic”. Charlotte lived in a different era when female sexuality was not even acknowledged and she shows great restraint in depicting sexuality. There is no mention of any activity between her Fiancée and later John the young pastor. All the men keep away at arm’s length and there is a total absence of physical relations (Thorpe, Michael. 1999).

The student of the paper would like to suggest that the story of Antoinette is of a woman who is imperiled in her own struggles and that she is a loser. Now Antoinette did have an estate, albeit broken down and she did have a household of her own and was financially secure.

She allowed people and men to control her life and sanity when she could have easily fought back. Her husband actually never physically beat her but tortured her mentally, isolated her, and drove her insane and she allowed this to happen even though she could have at least resisted. She had many choices ranging from freedom to enslavement and she chose the latter. The student of this paper would like to argue that Jane Eyre was a winner and though she underwent immense hardships, she resisted being overcome by her troubles and made choices that appealed to her conscience.

Conclusion

The paper has analyzed the works, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and after discussing the plot and story, has made comparisons of the two novels. Though Jean Rhys has based her heroine on the character of the lunatic wife of Thornwood from Charlotte’s novel, there are vast differences in the characters. Antoinette from Rhys novel is shown as a weak woman, a loser who is easily manipulated by the men in her life.

Jane Eyre on the other hand is shown as a strong woman, who makes her own decisions and has her own say in matters of personal interest. The two characters are the antithesis of their times as Jane is actually a character from Victorian England who is supposed to be weak and easily manipulated but is strong and independent while Antoinette, created in the 21^st century is shown as a weak character who would be found in Victorian England.

References

Signet Classics 1982. Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Signet Classic, Penguin Books USA Inc. New York.

Maggie. 1995. Third World Feminisms: Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea. Practicing Feminist Criticism: an introduction. Great Britain: Prentice Hall.

Madden, Diana. 1995. Wild Child, Tropical Flower, Mad Wife: Female Identity in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea.” International Women’s Writing: New Landscapes of Identity. Ed. Anne E. Brown and Marjanne E. Gooze. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Rhys, Jean. 1999. A Norton Critical Edition: Wide Sargasso Sea. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Schapiro, Barbara Ann. 1994. Boundaries and Betrayal in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea.” Literature and the Relational Self. Ed. Jeffrey Berman. New York: New York University Press.

Thorpe, Michael. 1999. The Other Side’: Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre.” A Norton Critical Edition: Wide Sargasso Sea. Ed. Judith L. Raiskin. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Introduction

Jane Eyre is a fictional character created by Charlotte Bronte. The character is the protagonist in a novel that gained commercial and critical acclaim 170 years ago. Jane Eyre’s character explored the challenges faced by a girl in a journey from childhood to adulthood. At the same time Jane Eyre symbolizes the struggle of the social classes in 19^th century England.

Social Classes

It is more than a coming-of-age novel. Jane Eyre wanted to explore the world on her own. The story traced the development of the ten year old child as a hapless prey in an oppressive household, to someone who returned with the power to change her fortune. A child went out of the door and a full-grown woman came back many years later to claim what was rightfully hers.

It is both a dramatic and romantic tale that follows a familiar pattern. But Bronte was not content with a simple storyline because she interspersed it with the struggle of the social classes (Shuttleworth 148). At the same time it is a story about “upward female mobility and flagrant female rebellion (Shuttleworth 148). These are ideas not yet accepted in 19^th century England.

It is also a novel that reflects the significant changes that had been occurring in 19^th century England. A modern world is about to emerge from centuries of traditions. This was remarkably illustrated in Jane Eyre through the evolution of a poor girl into a woman of influence. Her success was made possible only through dogged determination and hard work as described in the following commentary: “As with the productive working-class body, the reproductive energies of the female boyd had to be fully utilized, without transgressing the fine line of regulatory social control” (Shuttleworth 160). Hence, Jane Eyre kept on pushing but at the same time she is mindful of her limitations. But this did not bother her to destroy the hurdles set before her.

Jane Eyre mirrors the changes that occur during that period in English history. Through the rapid changes in technology there emerged a new class. The middle class reared its head in the 19^th century and Bronte simply wrote about its impact to society (Bell & Offen 271). The middle class are not slaves and servants. At the same time they are not part of the aristocrats. They are not rich but they have the means to improve themselves and made their existence indispensable to the wealthier members of society (Bell & Offen 271). This newfound power was the result of greater access to education. Jane Eyre’s character displayed the need not only of social mobility but to reach the ultimate goal of being a confirmed member of the gentry (Shuttleworth 150).

Jane Eyre highlighted the tension between the middle class and the upper class. In the beginning of the novel the author introduced the Reed family as part of the gentry (Peters 5). However, Bronte did not only focus on the tension between the rich and poor. She also highlighted the fact that women were treated disgracefully during her time. John Reed, his cousin, made her understand through the pain of numerous beatings that everything in the house belonged to him (Bronte 29).

Her years spent with the Reed family as well as his dealings with men also highlighted another social issue of that era. Women can never expect equal treatment in relation to members of the opposite sex. In the confrontation between Jane Eyre and her cousin the following insights can be gleaned “even at an early age, the dominance of the male heir as head of the family is never questioned” (Peters 5). This explains the reluctance of the Jane’s Aunt to discipline her son.

Jane Eyre provided a blueprint that inspired women in her time. By giving into a life of dedicated learning, she was able to change her status. She depended on no one but herself. She was an orphan and she was maltreated by those around her. She was knocked down but she refused to give up. Those who treated her kindly were few and they did not last long in the struggle towards self-independence (Shuttleworth 155).

Although she has found this new ability to take care of herself in a dignified manner, there is still one area of her life that has to be confronted before she can truly find happiness. This part of the novel is the most critical portion of Jane Eyre’s story. It seems that the servitude in the Reed’s home, the struggle to be accepted and succeed in school and the testing that comes along with being a governess pales in comparison to her final challenge (Bell & Offen 274). Her final test concerns her ability to find happiness and contentment without marriage.

She cherished her independence. She rejoiced in her newfound power to chart her own destiny because she can create wealth through hard work and self-determination. But the invisible forces of love and romance are uncharted waters for a young woman who is isolated in a society that does not know how to treat an orphan who ascended to the ranks of the middle-class. Jane Eyre was a mere reflection of the personal struggle that rages in the heart of the author. According to one biographer, Bronte desperately wanted to prove to the world that an unmarried woman can triumph in a world dominated by men “that there was no more respectable character on this earth than an unmarried woman who maker her own way through life” (Nestor 11). In the novel, Jane Eyre’s character has the strength to say no to marriage.

She was in the perfect position to marry and it was a tempting proposition because her struggle with life’s worries and unpredictability is supposed to have only one remedy. It is to marry someone with the ability to take care of her until the day she dies. But when she found out that it was dishonourable to marry the man she loves she is courageous enough to say no and left with a heavy heart. This setback is temporary because one day she is going to be reunited with the man she loves.

Women in Society

In the present time there is no denying the fact that this is a man’s world. This assertion can be supported by evidence coming from the entertainment industry up to the highest levels of political power. There are only a few women rulers and CEO’s. Women occupy different spheres but they are few and far in between. Most of the time women are seen in the bottom tier leadership roles and many are servants rather than serving in the position of influence. This is a male dominated world and more so in non-Western societies.

There are numerous horror stories coming from places like China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa wherein women are treated a little higher than beasts of burden. They are treated as if they are possessions of men. In some societies their value are closely linked to their relationship to the head of the household, a male relative that is responsible for her protection and upkeep.

Although much has changed in the Western world there was a time when women are not treated with the same respect as they are treated now. The idea of gender equality was a foreign concept. However, since time immemorial, women tried to find their place seeking not only equal opportunities but also respect. Women fought for their right to work and the right to vote. In the Western world changes were accomplished but the process was very slow.

There were many contributors. The work has to be done not only by one person but the cumulative effect of a group of women linked by the desire to reach their full potential. One of the most influential voices came from women writers. They have the ability to influence society in a profound way. The pen has always been mightier than a sword. However, putting ink to paper is easier said than done. It has to be pointed out that most women were not given access to education.

Education has always been considered as a source of political and commercial power. Therefore, access to this power source has to be carefully regulated. At the same time education is an expensive endeavour and in a typical family wherein the number of children exceeded the capacity of the parents to nurture them, the wise move has always been to educate the boys and the girls are supposed to stay home.

The longing of women to break free from the stereotype accorded them was beautifully rendered in the scene where John Reed bullies Jane Eyre. John Reed is depicted as a fat boy and it contrasted heavily with the poor sad state of the young Jane Eyre. The image of a fat boy with access to expensive and tasty meal symbolizes the privilege of class and the superiority of men. They have everything that they needed and more.

The fat face means the hoarding of resources. There are so many things that can be shared but their greed drove them to overconsumption. At the same time the fat boy is overly conscious of his status. When Jane Eyre casually asked him why she was called into his presence, John Reed harshly retorted: “Say, ‘What do you want, Master Reed?’” (Bronte 8). Arrogance is part of the privileged class and they wear it as if they expected people to cheer them for doing so. Aside from the haughty behaviour of his cousin, another important feature of the character is his indifference towards education.

John Reed is supposed to be in school but instead he is home eating, playing and bullying his poor cousin. It is a powerful imagery used by the author to clarify that the degree of women’s longing to study is matched by the carefree attitude of men. They have the privilege, and instead of using it to improve themselves, men waste their potential in their indulgence of the flesh.

It is therefore important to value the work of trailblazers like Bronte who help pave the way for the expression of women’s sentiments. However, they were conscious to tone down the voice of dissent. Bronte’s talent allowed her to develop a story that concealed a powerful statement; nevertheless, it was done with utmost care.

In other words, writers like Charlotte Bronte knew that although they have the ability to challenge the status quo they can only rock the boat in such a way that people are jolted awake but not to throw them overboard. Feminists in the 21^st century can point to Bronte as an early example of a woman’s courageous stand to challenge the status quo. But it is more accurate to say that she was an early pioneer and a reluctant fighter of women’s rights.

Best of Both Worlds

In real life Charlotte Bronte wanted to show the world that women need not suffer in a male-dominated world. She expressed her desire for independence and judging on her writing skills and the words that flowed from her pen it is easy to say that she burns with this desire to be free. She understood women’s rights in a time when it was not popular to talk about it. Her novel challenged the age old tradition that women can only find their value in marriage. Therefore, it is the most important thing in life. She also challenged the idea that women are supposed to live a life of servitude from the day they were born until the day they die.

In the beginning and middle part of the novel the same sentiment can be seen in the life of Jane Eyre. Readers empathise with her character and they understood that she longed to be free. Her decision to leave the oppressive household of the Reeds and her decision to transform her life by using every opportunity that came her way is a true reflection of the author’s life. Her readers cheer her every move.

The most critical part is when Jane Eyre stood in a place familiar to many women in the 19^th century. A man has proposed and this man is the answer to her prayers. A marriage means eternal bliss. But when she finds out that it is a dishonourable thing to do she shunned marriage earning the praise of feminists all over the world. But all of a sudden, the story goes back to an expected ending. Jane Eyre is back in the arms of her lover.

There are certain social forces that Bronte respected. She said everything in her heart but at the end she knew that the best way to proceed is to tone down her message. It can be argued that Bronte was worried about the success of her novel. It can be argued that her success as a writer depended on a novel that is widely received. However, it can also be said that she simply wanted to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Conclusion

Bronte’s skill is remarkable in the development of a complex character like Jane Eyre. But her characterization was downplayed by the social issues that she incorporated to her novel. A woman seeking to live independently in a male-dominated society certainly raised some eyebrows. But she was determined to prove her point. Nevertheless, Bronte realized that she has to tone down her rhetoric.

Works Cited

Nestor, Pauline. Charlotte Bronte. UK: Barnes & Noble, 1987. Print.

Literature can be used as a case in point for examining the different behaviors of people and learning about the potential dangers of some psychological disorders. In Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre,” Mr. Rochester shows clinical signs of narcissism. He appears to care little for the feelings of others, manipulates people, and even ruins lives. This paper will explore the notion of narcissism and use examples from Bronte’s s novel to prove that Mr. Rochester is a narcissist.

Narcissism is a personality disorder, which has to be treated by a professional since this condition predisposes individuals to affect the lives of others negatively. According to Campbell and Crist, narcissism “is about self-importance, antagonism, and a sense of entitlement” (10). Hence, narcissistic person is consistently focused on themselves, and they feel that others’ actions harm them. Moreover, narcissists usually use manipulation and deceit to receive what they want (Cambell and Crist 10). The lack of regard for others, entitlement, and a desire for special treatment are what result in narcissists harming others.

The common idea of a narcissist is that it is an individual who loves only themselves and who focuses on their appearance rather than good character traits. Although in some cases, this is true, clinical narcissism manifests in an individual’s lack of affection and compassion towards others. Campbell and Crist argue that there is a spectrum of narcissistic behaviors, ranging from harmful everyday actions to horrific events such as mass shootings (15). Moreover, Campbell and Crist note two types of narcissistic behavior, grandiose and vulnerable (16). Example of the first one is high self-esteem, arrogance, and grandiose behavior. The latter, however, are shy and depressed, which makes it difficult to recognize these individuals as narcissists (Campbell and Crist 16). Regardless of how narcissism manifests, the common feature that describes this condition is careless behavior towards others.

Although this condition is serious, it is neither admirable nor deplorable. Cambell and Crist argue that narcissists are a result of improper parenting and traumatic experiences during childhood (25). Moreover, as a condition, narcissism cannot be cured, and instead, through psychotherapy, they can learn to control some of their behaviors that cause harm to others. Hence, narcissism can be viewed as a neutral condition, but one should be cautious about the impact that narcissistic behavior has on others.

Throughout Bronte’s novel, Mr. Rochester shows many signs of vulnerable narcissism. During Jane’s first years at Thornfield, she saves Mr. Rochester from a fire. The latter says that this fire was a result of a servant’s recklessness, whose name is Grace Pool, but Pool continues to work at this mansion (Bronte 30). This points to the fact that Mr. Rochester did not disclose all the details regarding the estate and the inhabitants there. As Jane later finds out, the fire, and the second one that resulted in Thronfied being burned down and Mr. Rochester being injured, is a consequence of the latter’s wife’s unstable mental health. Considering that Jane came to work and live at Thornfield, not disclosing this detail about one of the mansion’s inhabitants was a selfish act that put Ms. Eyre in danger.

Bronte’s descriptions of Mr. Rochester’s character and behavior also hint at some narcissistic traits. For example, when Jane asserts her feelings for this man, she says that he “was proud, sardonic, harsh to inferiority of every description…He was moody, too…” (Bronte 67). Although Jane sees the excellent character traits of Mr. Rochester, she admits that he has many flaws, especially when considering his moral integrity. Throughout the novel, Mr. Rochester consistently behaves in a way that forces the reader to question the moral integrity of this character.

Mr. Rochester uses deceit to achieve his goals instead of being honest, which shows his entitlement and self-centeredness. During one of the interactions between Jane and Mr. Rochester, he makes Jane believe that he is engaged with another woman, Blanche Ingram (Bronte 90). In reality, he uses this information to provoke Jane and make her confess her feelings. When compared to psychologically healthy behavior, a man interested in a woman would confess his feelings directly to know if they are mutual. The use of manipulation instead of honesty is another characteristic of narcissism that Mr. Rochester shows.

His relationship with Janer is built on manipulation and counseling his true feelings. Although, in the end, the two get married, Mr. Rochester’s behavior towards Jane is questionable. Ultimately, in the novel, Mr. Rochester falls in love with Jane but cannot be honest with her. He tries to achieve his goal despite the impact that it might have on Jane’s life. Although he is married and his first wife is a captive at his mansion, Rochester asks Jane to marry him (Bronte 70). Considering the circumstances, their marriage would not be legal, and Jane would become Mr. Rochester’s mistress. The society during the Victorian era differed from today’s, and like a mistress, she would be excluded from social life. The sad circumstances of Mr. Rochester’s decisions can be seen when Jane decides to leave Thornfield and live and a street with no food (Bronte 70). Here, her superior moral qualities contrast greatly with those of Mr. Rochester, who remains at Thronfied with his first wife.

Mr. Rochester feels no compassion or empathy towards Bertha, his first wife. He describes her as a “filthy burden” since because they are married, he has to take care of her (Bronte 81). However, he keeps her locked in the mansion and hides her existence from everyone, including Jane. A more compassionate step would be to send Bertha to an asylum, where she would be cared for by professionals. However, Rochester chooses to avoid this step, perhaps because sending Bertha to asylum would mean that the general public becomes aware of her mental condition. Regardless of the reason, Mr. Rochester treats his first wife terribly and shows no remorse for his decisions regarding Bertha.

Mr. Rochester avoids direct discussions about his first wife and her mental health. While on the one hand, this subject is sensitive to him, and he does not want to address it even with people close to him, there are parts of the story that appear strange. For example, Mr. Rochester locked his first wife in his mansion, not allowing her to go out (Bronte 67). There is no definite explanation for this behavior and his unwillingness to discuss this situation. Mr. Rochester’s attitude towards Bertha is the best example of his narcissistic behavior since he cares more about concealing the truth about her illness than helping her live a quality life.

Overall, this paper explores the narcissistic traits of Mr. Rochester using examples from the novel. The relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester appears to be built on lies and the latter not telling the truth about his past. He does not care for his first wife, Bertha well-being, and chooses to hide her inside a mansion. Moreover, he uses deceit and manipulation to convince Jane to marry him, despite the impact that it would have on her social life.

Works Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2020.

Campbell, Keith and Carolyn Crist. The New Science of Narcissism. Sounds True, 2020.