Jane Eyre Women In The 19th Century

This paper will examine how women lived in the 19th century compared to today’s women, in particular focusing on the English novel Jane Eyre.

For many years, women have been considered inferior to men and, as a consequence, they have been subservient to men and to their own families. In the 19th century, for instance, they had to be obedient, sympathetic, powerless, they could not go out when they wanted or dressed as they liked, but they were supposed to stay at home and dedicated themselves to the domestic cleaning and to the education of children.

In the history of the United Kingdom, an important period that contributed to the subsequent independence of women was the Victorian Age. During this era, we can identify three types of women:

- Upper class women; they were educated and they had the opportunity to enjoy a luxurious life.

- Middle class women; one of their main goals was to marry a noble man in order to become upper-class women.

Reed who sent Jane to Lowood Institution, a school for poor and orphaned girls. Time passed and after eight years, Jane left Lowood and found a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall where she fell in love with the master of the house, Edward Rochester, who proposed to her; however, the day of the marriage Jane found out that Mr. Rochester was already married to Bertha, who was mad and locked up in the attic of Thornfield. After that disillusionment, Jane’s trip continued to Moor House, where she was told that her dead uncle left her a great inheritance, and she also decided to give a second opportunity to Mr. Rochester after hearing his voice in the wind. The history ended in Ferndean with the marriage between Jane and Mr. Rochester, who after losing his eyesight in a fire, progressively recovered it just in time to see their firstborn