Role Of Birds In Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre a novel written by Charlotte Brontë is set during the Victorian period and written in the form of an autobiography. The novel follows the life of a young woman named Jane Eyre who has to undergo many challenges, during both her childhood and womanhood in order to gain independence from those around her who expected to the average Victorian women. During the Victorian period women were expected to focus on marriage, domestic duties and to be submissive to men. Women at this time would just accept their lifestyle, the main female character in Jane Eyre wanted to do the opposite of what is expected of her. When Charlotte Brontë began to publish her writings she wrote under a pseudonym to easily gain popularity that writing under

The image of birds is a recurring one in Jane Eyre. During the Victorian period comparing women to birds was common because birds can be either trapped or free which is similar to how women 's lives were. Jane says “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” this image assure the reader that she is not going to resort to the traditional ways of a Victorian women of being trapped like a bird (Brontë 293). The Red Room the Jane 's aunt Mrs. Reed plays a big role in enabling Jane to be able to stand up to those who are constantly putting her down. When Jane describes the Red Room she says “This room was chill, because it seldom had a fire; it was silent, because remote from the nursery and kitchen; solemn, because it was known to be so seldom entered” (Brontë17). The image that is created here is a hostile room that dramatically scares Jane and “causes her to grow overnight and having experienced true fear she is no longer afraid to stand up for herself”(Andersson). Jane 's first impression of Mr. Rochester causes her to fall in love with him when she hasn 't even spoken to him. But the reader can see that she is holding on to her religious love ways when she says “I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much case in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference” about Mr. Rochester appearance ( Brontë 155). A women of this time would not belittle a man especially not based off of looks. Imagery in this novel makes it easier to identify Jane’s want of