Patriarchy In Jane Eyre

Beginning with Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre is one of the most iconic works in Victorian literature that highlights the struggle of women in a patriarchal society – something which can be considered ahead of Brontë’s time. Jane’s character is the embodiment of the enlightened female consciousness, and represents women’s desires and ambitions for emancipation. With the novel being written in a time when the patriarchy served as the dominant power, the themes that were portrayed through the text were concerned with women’s social position, society’s regard for physical beauty, and gender inequality. Brontë also expressed women’s desires for education, economic independence, liberation, and equality. The characters portrayed in Brontë’s novel

While women remained conservative and subservient, this novel roused the spirit of feminism which led to the change in women’s social status by the end of the nineteenth century. Through Catherine, the main protagonist, whose strong and rebellious character was evident throughout the novel, she was able to portray the female consciousness that rejects and abhors the male-dominated society she lived in. She also possessed a strong sense of independence, and sought for happiness through her struggles and battles against the patriarchy. Despite the idea of women being depicted as weak and incapable of thinking for themselves, Catherine’s persona showed that the gentle grace and civility of a Victorian woman did not suit her – she grew up to be wild and unrefined – unlike her sister-in-law,

It also presents the early conceptions of the vampire; this served as a precursor to the modern vampire tales that is familiar to most, except that the predator for Le Fanu’s novella is a female. Le Fanu depicted the vampire as a reflection of cultural issues found in society, and by using the female body as the malicious figure, he imparts the idea that the empowered female poses a threat to Victorian society. With vampires being traditionally male, Le Fanu shows the shift in the cultural dynamics wherein males are not the only dominant species. Women are slowly discovering their power and are realizing that they are equal to men in various aspects. However, the tale establishes the role of the patriarchy in suppressing the passions of the dominant woman