Considering the attitude of the time, to what extent is Jane Eyre presented as both a victim and a remarkable woman?

This essay hasn't yet been marked by one of our teachers

You can view all our essays on Charlotte Bronte that have been Marked by Teachers

The first 200 words of this essay...

Considering the attitude of the time, to what extent is Jane Eyre presented as both a victim and a remarkable woman?

The character Jane Eyre is certainly not the archetypical Victorian woman. Bronte presents Jane as an extraordinary, independent and strong minded character, yet in her early life she was beaten, cast aside and ostracised. Throughout Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre overcomes her painful childhood and becomes a clever and inspiring woman who adheres to her morals and beliefs when denying herself love.

Bronte opens the novel with Jane's difficult and cold life at Gateshead which ensures that the reader sympathises with her.. Bronte creates a dark, sinister and dismal scene with her use of language and imagery which mirrors Jane's experiences up to that point in the novel. The use of pathetic fallacy is enforced in the first paragraph of the novel to set the mood as 'the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and the rain so penetrating'. Its melancholy and coldness staples itself to the reader and Jane's sadness and neglect portrays through this.

The reader further sympathises with Jane as she suffers 'coming home in the raw twilight' which