Discuss how "Jane Eyre" and the works of Robert Browning subvert gender stereotypes.

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Discuss how the texts you have read subvert gender stereotypes.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, and Robert Browning’s poems Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess, are works written in the Victorian period in which traditional gender stereotypes are both subverted and reaffirmed. As the works progress, a pattern of initial subversion followed by eventual domination and conformity is discovered. It is thus made clear to the reader that Victorian women could find ways of being that went against the patriarchal society in which they lived, but that ultimately they were still subject to male oppression.

In the Victorian period, women and men were not considered equal – a concept which can be difficult to envision for the modern reader. Women did not have the franchise, classed amongst convicts and lunatics in the legal system, and it was believed that a woman’s purpose was merely to bear children: “Female energy expended in reproduction was not available for psychic and intellectual growth” (Conway, 1972, p.140). Although the works of some female writers were being published, such as that of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, women were seldom celebrated unless they were of elite standing. Regardless of social standing, women were seen and treated as second-class citizens who should be subservient to men (Booth, 2006). They were expected to be polite and docile creatures, taking a passive role in their own lives by allowing their husbands to make household decisions. Furthermore, female sexuality was heavily oppressed as Christian belief was of high importance: women were to be beautiful and chaste. Gender stereotypes were therefore a prominent part of Victorian society that dictated every aspect of a woman’s life.

In Jane Eyre, the character of Jane is introduced to the reader as an outcast child, and is thus immediately set apart from the other characters. As her aunt describes: “… I don’t like cavillers or questioners … there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders …” (Brontë, 2010, ch.1). The upfront manner in which Jane speaks to her elders, and later to Mr. Rochester and St. John, was shocking in the Victorian era due to the expectations that women were to be quiet and respectful at all times. Jane herself recognises this when in conversation with St. John, when she says: “He had not imagined that a woman would dare to speak so to a man. For me, I felt at home in this sort of discourse.” (Brontë, 2010, ch.32) Furthermore, Jane speaks openly to the reader on traditional gender roles, stating:

        ‘It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it … Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel …’ (Brontë, 2010, ch.12)

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This manner of speaking immediately sets Jane apart from the other women in the novel, coupled with the fact that Jane does not ‘pair’ with any other female: the reader is continually presented with women who are coupled with another, such as Jane’s cousins Eliza and Georgiana Reed, and Diana and Mary Rivers. Therefore, Jane is set apart from other women both in the novel, and in Victorian society.

Gender stereotypes are further subverted in the novel through the relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester. When the two meet for the first time, she effectively ‘rescues’ him, challenging the ...

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