In the passage from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Brontë uses self-centered diction, extended metaphor, and details about society to demonstrate that although Jane experiences jealousy towards Mr. Rochester’s relationship with Blanche Ingram, she understands the importance of having high social status due to societal standards. At the beginning of the excerpt, the egotistic diction reveals the unlikable traits of Blanche Ingram. Jane thinks that Blanche’s “rank” and “qualifications” are what made her seem charming to Mr. Rochester, and she describes Blanche as “privileged” and says she “smiles so lavishly.” Jane believes that the only reason Mr. Rochester and Blanche are going to get married is due to the high social status of Blanche’s family. The word choice gives a negative …show more content…
Rochester and Blanche to that of an arrow being shot at someone’s heart. Jane describes Blanche as believing that “each shaft [she] launched hit the mark” and the arrows often “fell harmless at his feet.” By referring to an unsuccessful shot of an arrow into a heart, Jane describes her belief that Blanche fails to be worthy of Mr. Rochester’s love. With Blanche as the archer, her arrows of love are continually thrown at Mr. Rochester’s heart but never truly strike him in the way that love should. Jane seems to be envious and thinks that if she were the one launching the arrows at Mr. Rochester, they would strike him with true love that could fix his sternness. Finally, the details about society show that Jane recognizes the standards of her victorian society and needs to abide by them. After Jane had thought awhile, she no longer “felt justified in judging” Mr. Rochester and Blanche for “acting in conformity to ideas and principles instilled into them.” Though Jane wishes to be loved by Mr. Rochester, she comes to the realization that rich men do not marry lower-class women in her
At the same time Bronte provides us with many examples of figurative language and symbolism. The most powerful symbol and motif is fire and ice. Fire and Ice keeps coming up throughout the book. One example is on page 21 of Jane Eyre. It first start in the Red-room, where the fire and Mr. Reed’s ghost knock Jane down from fear.
Jane in this instance again becomes a masculine character. Jane becomes this masculine character by being Rochester’s link to the outside world, and caring for him. Jane states that it would a “delight [to] sacrifice” her life in order to take care of Rochester (555). In the masculine sense, Jane controls what Rochester does by being his only true link to the outside world, while, in a feminine aspect, she is still devoting her life to take care of Rochester. Rochester becomes extremely thankful to have someone to care for him, and insists that he and Jane “become one flesh without delay” (556).
Jane requests to return to the Reed house, after learning about her cousin’s suicide and her aunt, Mrs. Reed’s, illness; however Rochester questions, “And what good can you do her… you say she cast you off,” Jane replies, “Yes, sir, but that is long ago; and when her circumstances were very different: I could not be easy to neglect her wishes now” (Brontë 227). Jane looks beyond that Mrs. Reed “cast[ed] her off,” implying that she has grown to let go of grudges and developed a mature mentality. The irony of Jane’s inability to “neglect her wishes,” infers how the injustice treatment of Mrs. Reed unaffectedly brings Jane to look past the situation by visiting the Reeds in a time of sorrow. In addition, Rochester attempts to convince his wedded Jane to stay with him, after learning about his mad wife; Rochester claims that his father had “sent [him] out to Jamaica, to espouse a bride already courted for” him but only so his brother and father to get “thirty thousand pounds,” Rochester further admits to Jane that “you know now that I had but a hideous demon. I was wrong to attempt to deceive you…
Her only saving grace as a lower middle class is her education and with that is she is able to move forward to a governess job at Thornfield Hall where she meets her future husband. Throughout the novel, Jane is confronted by her sense of honor and pride. She has firmly believed for most of her life that the greatest wish she can aspire to attain is that she lives a contended and somewhat independent life. As it so happens, Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester during her stay. Mr. Rochester being of upper class status, it was looked down upon in society that the two of them be matched and Jane is in disbelief that he would be willing to lower his stature on her account.
Through painting the two pictures, Jane struggles to see herself as inferior to Blanche and undeserving of Rochester’s love; she struggles to adopt Victorian class attitudes and accept that she will never triumph over Blanche. Despite her initial struggle with the idea of Blanche, upon meeting Blanche, Jane realizes that while socially inferior to Blanche, she has better Victorian morals than Blanche will ever have. Blanche’s lack of proper morals is demonstrated when, in the drawing room, she calls governesses “a nuisance” and describing how she tortured the governesses of her youth (180). In this display, Blanche’s true colors are revealed and her lack of proper, Victorian morals comes to light, as a true Victorian lady would not insult anyone, especially not when they were in the room. In contrast, Jane’s morals are upright and a point of superiority over Blanche, allowing her to defeat Blanche and win Mr. Rochester’s affections because Mr. Rochester cares more for the mind than for the body.
Where as Jane, like any Victorian woman, consistently conceals her passion for the expectations of the time period, Mr. Rochester flourishes his ego with the exposure of his passion. Moreover, Brontё displays how Mr. Rochester begins to grasp his role as a male in the Victorian Era when he learns to free his expression of his passion and devotion. Mr. Rochester wishes for the promise by Jane “‘say nothing about it’” (Brontё 179). Evidently, Brontё indicates Mr. Rochester’s fear of being exposed for the passion he senses from someone like the past, beautiful Bertha.
In addition, Gilbert and Gubar compare Jane to Jesus in order to describe her as a Christ figure. Jane is an outcast whom society unfairly sees as an inferior. Society casts her away similar to the persecution of Jesus. Even when conversing with Rochester, who claims to see Jane as an equal, he understands Jane’s jail-like existence as a female servant. Rochester describes
Jane Eyre has been both praised and denounced for its portrayal of gender roles. While some critics argue that Charlotte Brontë fails to shatter the misogynistic idealism that trapped women, others contend that she broke traditional gender stereotypes/biases replacing them with feminism. Through the development of Jane as a passionate, rebellious heroine, the creation of a complex power dynamic between Jane and Rochester, and the representation of Jane’s repressed passion through Bertha, Brontë counters sexist prejudice against women ultimately concluding the novel with a strong argument of feminism. Oppressive relationships in Jane’s early childhood fueled the development of her passionate and rebellious disposition. As an orphan reluctantly
This notion is continually explored by Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre through the inherent depiction of Mr. Rochester as an intellectual and emotional outlet for Jane. Additionally, the establishment of a dichotomized social hierarchy between the two characters highlights the way in which Mr. Rochester financially assists Jane. This notion is further reinforced when one analyzes Jane’s conclusive marriage to Mr. Rochester, which inevitably provides her with a sense of financial security, particularly due to the patriarchal constraints of the Victorian era. However, it’s
In this moment of despair, Mr. Rochester tries to convince Jane to stay and bursts forth and says, “‘Jane! Will you hear my reason?’ (he stopped and approached his lips to my ear); ‘because if you won’t, I’ll try violence’” (349). In addition to retaining this secret from Jane, Mr. Rochester is not sympathetic towards her feelings and does not understand why she is so upset. Unfortunately, he never truly admits that keeping this secret from Jane is wrong.
Because of being orphan, she was looked down upon by those around. In addition, although Mrs. Reed and Blanch Ingram are egoistic and vicious women, they are highly respected from society, because of social standing. This provides to people question to the class system. Although Jane takes part
Jane did everything for herself when she was growing up and wasn’t dependent on anyone. When she left the care of Mrs. Reed and started to oversee herself she became very independent, and once she is comfortable with herself and her status that she worked hard for, she settles down. Mr. Rochester does not lavish Jane with expensive clothes and jewelry, per her request because she has no taste for those things because she didn’t grow up with it. She is smart and very opinionated, and she refuses to be silenced by men who feel they have more power over her simply because they are
She rejects Mr. Rochester’s plan of being his mistress. Jane is looking for an equal relationship instead of a relationship built with lust and sin. The inequality between Jane and Mr. Rochester is not only social but also financial. The story does not resolve only with Bertha’s death and but also with Jane’s heritage. It is because even if Bertha is dead, Jane still could not enjoy an equal relationship with Rochester since she would need to depend on his financial support.
She ends up falling in love with two men, who love her, (at least that’s what she thinks) who have two different ways of showing love. Mr. Rochester was more mysterious which Jane realizes because he does not want to express his identity to her. Jane does not push Mr. Rochester away just because he will not show his identity to her. Mr. Rochester expressed his love for Jane. He proclaimed, “My bride is here,” he said again drawing me to him, “because my equal is here, and my likeness.
Once Jane accepts and moves to Thornfield, she is told that Mrs. Fairfax is not the owner of the great estate, but rather Mr. Rochester, a major character, is. Mr. Rochester soons returns home and Jane is able to interact with him more. As time goes on and the action of the story rises, Jane finds herself falling in love with Rochester. There are a number of obstacles in the way of this, namely the fortune and class of Jane and Rochester. Jane’s thoughts on the matter create a theme of social class and wealth being of utmost importance in marriages during the