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Oppression And Freedom In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

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In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte there are many themes of oppression and freedom. This theme is especially prevalent during her time at Gateshead. While Jane is at Gateshead she expresses her feelings of oppression by comparing the Reeds to slave owners and Romans. Furthermore, she gains freedom from this oppression by speaking her mind and freeing her thoughts. The oppression Jane experiences at Gateshead is expressed in terms of slavery. During one of our first encounters of John Reed we are given the impression of him being a slave driver. Jane exclaimed “You are like a murderer- you are like a slave-driver- you are like the Roman emperors!” (Bronte 13), from this quote we learn that Jane feels like she is treated as a slave
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Furthermore, Jane was never accepted by neither Mrs. Reed nor her children, as a child, she was constantly blamed and punished for problems that were caused by Mrs. Reed’s son, John Reed. They never believed a word Jane said. While Georgiana was always favored by her mother and the servants because of her beauty, even though she “had a spoiled temper… [and] was universally indulged,” (Brontë 16). People based their opinions about others only on the looks on the outside, instead of their personalities or tempers.

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290 Words | 2 Pages

In Victorian England, the rich were treated with class and respect, but if one was poor, they received harsh and unfair treatment. An example from the novel is when Jane is treated unfairly by Miss Abbott, she says, “And you ought not to think yourself on an equality with Misses Reed and Master Reed, because Misses kindly allows you to be brought up with them” (Bronte 12). Miss Abbott is saying that Jane is not equal with her adopted parents just because she was poor and without a home before she came to Gateshead. Jane is frustrated and does not understand why she has to always be beaten up and blamed for things that she never does. Jane says, “Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned” (Bronte 14).

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In Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, the name sakes principle of attaining and cultivating her independence and identity versus the pressure of what the world says her independence and fulfillment is found in, are the core source of conflict-internally and externally-extrapolating out Brontë's criticism of how women were and are regarded within society. Janes independence, unlike that of other women of the time, required "that she serve and sacrifice herself for a man whom she loves and who loves her in return" (Hagan 351). Throughout the book this mandatory need of hers gets partially filled by a few men and situations until the final encompassing of this comes to fruition in Mr. Rochester. However, complete submission to said situation or person

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386 Words | 2 Pages

Jane Eyre is an autobiography, written by Charlotte Bronte which was written in order contradict the beliefs during the Victorian era, therefore providing an insight into Victorian England social hierarchy and the human nature desire to be loved. To illustrate, throughout the novel there are events such as the following excerpt “ You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity” (Bronte 42), where Jane contradicts the views of how a woman should behave during the Victorian age, being Jane has had enough of the injustice from Mrs.Reed and stands up for herself. In addition, being that the novel was written in order to contradict the beliefs during the Victorian Era,

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1511 Words | 7 Pages

Overcoming Barriers Famous singer Tupac Shakur once stated that, “Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.” Shakur may have been talking about successfully reaching your biggest hopes, but this quote reflects a different meaning in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. As Jane has recurring strange dreams, she does not realize that her dreams foreshadow her future reality. Instead of trusting her symbolic dreams, Jane disregards them and instead focuses on her current life with Rochester, as everything seems in place for their upcoming marriage.

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783 Words | 4 Pages

When an individual is kept locked away from society for an extended period of time, said individual will rebel against his or her authority. In Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, it becomes evident that Bertha Mason and Jane Eyre share similar hardships and personality traits with one another. They have comparable pasts and the same extreme nature of passion which lead to each of their rebellion. In the case of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, protagonist Jane is in the custody of her Aunt Reed for just under a decade, chastised by her cousins and beaten by her superior.

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Discrimination against minorities has been seen throughout history. In Jane Eyre, because Jane is an orphan, the Reed family believes her to be less that a servant. In modern day, protests concerning police brutality have been seen throughout the U.S. Both jane and the protesters want justice for the wrongdoings their aggressors committed. Jane believes one should speak up to ensure they will never be mistreated.

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Peters offers insight into the depth of the novel through the way“Jane Eyre advocates an equality that society ignored. an equality founded upon the principle that all human beings are equal in God's eyes” (61). Jane believes in equality for all, likely because of her own experiences with

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

In addition, both Jane Eyre and The Tenant of WildFell, the male protagonists use oppressive idiolect to mentally oppress women, by obscuring them be seen as fragile winged creatures, predominantly birds, who were better suited to the reduced horizons of the domestic sphere. In the fourteenth century, the noun ‘Burd’ was used describe a ‘maiden, young girl (Burd, 2014)’, but later was adopted in Victorian literature as a play on words, to represent young women as birds. In turn, during the nineteenth-century, the animalization of women as birds transitioned itself into mundane dialect, and later in the twentieth-century, to colloquially describe “a young women or a man’s girlfriend”. (Dictrionaries, 2017)However, in Victoria Britain, the word

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To deliberate these points further, the setting of Gateshead, Lowood and Thornfield will be closely analysed. Additionally, it will discuss how Bronte used the setting of Jane Eyre, to demonstrate that women can go beyond the oppressive limitations of their gender, and social class and find fulfilment. It will also consider how the setting reflects the political and social conditions of the era. The novel opens with a vivid description of the setting at Gateshead, which epitomises the first stage of the protagonist’s Jane Eyre’s life journey and her childhood development. The passage declares that ‘the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre and a rain so penetrating’ (Bronte, Jane Eyre, [1847] 2000, 1.1, all subsequent page

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387 Words | 2 Pages

Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre contains, in its opening pages, what is seemingly a standout amongst the most noteworthy showdowns in English writing. Youthful Jane opposes the injurious treatment of her cousin John Reed, who is more established and significantly more effective, physically and particularly socially, than she can ever be. John's inevitable physical assault on Jane is "incited" by her declaration that he is "like a killer ... like a slave-driver ... like the Roman sovereigns!" (5).

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431 Words | 2 Pages

The titular Jane in Jane Eyre struggles to free herself from the power of others to achieve independence throughout the course of the book. As a child, she fights against unjust authority figures, and as an adult, she spurs multiple unequal marriage proposals. Bronte, through Jane asserts that a woman should be independent from others. When Jane was young, she tried to free and defend herself from unjust authority figures. When Jane 's aunt unfairly confines Jane to the Red Room, Jane launches into a verbal diatribe against her aunt.

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1022 Words | 5 Pages

Jane is constantly belittled and treated coldly by her extended family, making her feel unappreciated and miserable, yet like she should be grateful that she is not suffering on the streets. These external and internal conflicts are mirrored firmly in the harsh nature of Gateshead. And these conflicts are only confirmed through Jane’s interaction with Mrs. Reed after learning that she was to be

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1414 Words | 6 Pages

Charlotte Bronte takes us on a journey from the point which Jane Eyre, the protagonist lives with her aunt and cousins whom very much dislikes her in Gateshead to her going to a boarding school in Lowood, after which she becomes a governess in Thornfield where she falls in love with Mr. Rochester her employer whom she later finds out is married to a mad woman by the name of Bertha Mason, upon her discovery of this she picks up and leaves Thornfield, she then ends up at Marsh End where he meets her relatives. The novel carries us through ever important event in her life, which introduces us to new aspects of her personality, up until her eventual marriage to Mr. Rochester. The novel fits this theme as its protagonist chooses individualism as she refuses to take the role subservience as that of a traditional female of the Victorian era society, she stands up for her rights and want she believes in, she ventures in her own unique thoughts, and stands by her views even if it means disagreeing with those superior to her. Jane comments on the role of women in society and the greater constraint imposed on them. V.S Naipaul’s

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1485 Words | 6 Pages

Jane goes against the expected type by “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her rights, and venturing creative thoughts” (Margaret, 1997, p. 325-346). She is not only successful in terms of wealth and position, but more importantly, in terms of family and love. These two needs that have evaded Jane for so long are finally hers. Adding to her victory is her ability to enjoy both without losing her hard-won independence. Everybody has the rights to pursue happiness, to pursue the true spirit of life, which can be seen from Jane Eyre’s struggle for independence and equality.

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