Jane
Eyre
was written by Charlotte Bronte who was one of the top novelists during
Victorian Age. The central character of this novel is Jane Eyre and all the
events happened around her. We find Jane from childhood and the novel ends with
the happy ending when she marries Rochester and lives happily ever after. So,
it can be said that this novel is all about Jane Eyre, an orphan girl. Life was
not smooth for her and she had to go through a lot of suffering and all these
things have been beautifully portrayed in this novel. It seems that there are
some fairy tale elements in the novel but the reality is that it was very
complex and sophisticated novel and criticized many of the things of the
Victorian Age. The thing that has been highly criticized of the age was the Victorian
notion of love and marriage.
Primarily
of the bildungsroman genre, Jane Eyre follows the emotions and
experiences of its title character, including her growth to adulthood, and her
love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall. Jane’s
moral and spiritual is also shown in this novel. The novel contains elements of
social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core. Narrator of this
novel is Jane Eyre. She narrates the story.
If
we look at Jane Eyre then we will notice that many things of an ideal heroine
are absent in her. First of all, she was not a pretty girl. On the other hand,
she was not obedient to Rochester. Instead she had some kind of independent
mentality and sometimes she used to get angry and sometimes she used to act
cold. Jane said, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being
with an independent will” (Charlotte Bronte 268). In short, Jane Eyre was not
at all a romantic heroine, but there are some exceptional qualities in her.
First of all, she was a very dedicated person and she was a dedicated woman. She
was a pure and good girl who was dedicated to her husband. She always stands by
Rochester through thick and thin. If we look at her from this point of view
then we will notice that she was better than many heroines of many novels.
In
Victorian Age, many people used to consider marriage as an act of duty and
responsibility and women used to be considered as a significant in a marriage.
The first duty of a girl should have been to become dependent on her father
then on her husband and be totally obedient to her husband. So, whatever the
husband says she must act or comply. She must not have an independent
mentality. However, Charlotte Bronte has challenged this idea in love and
marriage in this novel.
Jane
could not get married at first because Rochester had a wife who was mad.
Because the wife did not die, there was no divorce so Rochester could not
marry. Rochester was not a bad husband. We cannot find any indication in the
novel that he was bad to his first wife. He became mad for a pretty girl but
the girl did not have any good quality. The first wife became mad. Jane Eyre
was the woman that Rochester perhaps wanted as such for whole life but never
found. So, Rochester proposed Jane, but when the time of marriage came, the
first wife came to the scene and the wedding got destroyed.
In
this novel, a great deal of emphasis has been put on the idea of morality which
was very important to most Victorian people. The Victorian age society was
changing and there were new ideas related to morality but many people were
traditional or conservative and they wanted to hold on to past ideals. If Jane
Eyre wanted, she could have run away with Rochester but she gave importance to
morality and that is why she herself left Rochester’s house. However, if she
wanted, she could live in Rochester’s house as his mistress, but she did not do
it. Later, when she came to know that Rochester’s wife had died and also
Rochester had become blind, she came back to Rochester and tried her best to
take care of him. Jane said, “Reader, I married him. A quiet wedding we had: he
and I, the parson and clerk, were alone present” (Charlotte Bronte 474).
In
Victorian Age, the idea was that marriage was mainly related to men. The only
work of a woman is to get married and be obedient to her husband in her whole
life and the husband or man will control everything. They did not have any
freedom in the society. Their life was full of instability. Charlotte Bronte
challenged this idea seriously. She showed that getting married does not only
mean to take responsibility or take charge of a family. But love and equality
are related to marriage. Jane Eyre wants to be loved but she does not want to
sacrifice her freedom. She wants to be valued. Thus, Jane says to Helen Burns,
“To
gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly
love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a
bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at
my chest” (Charlotte Bronte 91).
Rochester
was a rich man but he was not happy with his first wife and life became
miserable for him. As he has already a wife, Jane Eyre refused her seriously.
Jane Eyre did not get tempted with the idea that he was a rich man. At the same
time, St. John Rivers was a clergyman and he wanted to marry Jane and take her
to India. But Jane knew that St. John did not love her and she did not love
John either. John only felt that Jane was a good girl and she would have been a
good wife to do his responsibility as a missionary in India. However, Jane did
not agree to this marriage. St. John used to love another girl called Rosamond
Oliver. But Rosamond was not a fit person to become a wife of a missionary. So,
John did not want to marry him and even he did not admit that he used to love
her.
We
see a lot of conflicts in Jane Eyre. Jane loves Rochester but on the other
hand, she wants to be a free woman. Rochester was not a bad man and he was a
very attractive man too. Jane wants to marry her but she does not want to
sacrifice her independence and honor. This conflict is very important for women
in Victorian Age. It was time that society was becoming modern in England
because of industrial revolution. Economic activities were changing and many
girls were becoming educated and at the same time, earning money by working in
factories. On the other hand, the society wanted girls to play traditional
roles. In Victorian Age, most people wanted to feel that a girl would be
obedient to her husband and she will not have any kind of independence. On the
other hand, it is a duty of a man to find a good girl who would take care of
the house hold matters. St. John wanted to do the same thing. St. John and
Rochester both wanted to marry Jane. However, Charlotte Bronte favored
Rochester over St. John. The real reason is that St. John was not a bad person
and in fact compared to Rochester, he had many good qualities. Still Charlotte
Bronte favors Rochester because Rochester really loved Jane Eyre and wanted to
become happy. On the other hand, St. John did not bother about love or
happiness. All he cared was that Jane would do her responsibility and this way
they will have a couple life.
Normally,
we can find that heroine is always very pretty. But Jane Eyre was not a pretty
woman. On the other hand, Rochester’s first wife and Rochester’s girlfriend
both were pretty but they were no match for Jane because Jane had inner quality
and inner strength. Charlotte Bronte wanted to say this thing that a man cannot
be happy with a pretty woman only. Instead a man should search for a wife who
has inner quality and inner strength just like Jane Eyre. Rochester’s first
wife was beautiful but he was not happy with her because the marriage was
entirely based on passion. Jane had another very good quality and it was that
she was a very courageous woman. Rochester’s first wife and his girlfriend
Blanche Ingram both were pretty but they were not courageous like Jane. They
did not know how to support their husband or boyfriend or lover in time of
distress. On the other hand, Jane was very good in it and Charlotte Bronte
wanted to say that life is a long lesson and inner beauty and strength are more
important than outer beauty or physical appearance.
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