Compare how Charlotte Bronte presents Jane Eyre's oppression and her ability to overcome it at Gateshead with that at Lowood
Jane Eyre is a young orphan who lives at Gateshead with her Aunt Reed and her three cousins John, Georgina and Eliza. She is placed in an unusual situation as her Aunt only looks after her because of her late husband's final request which was for her to treat his niece as her own child. Aunt Reed, however, has not kept her word and instead excludes Jane from her family. The first nine chapters of Jane Eyre follow Jane through her childhood as she leaves Gateshead and attends a school named Lowood. In both of these places Jane is made to feel alone and is looked upon as a charity case. At Gateshead Jane's Aunt Reed locks her on her own in the Red Room and similarly, at Lowood Jane is forced to stand on a stool to be humiliated in front of the other girls. These methods of punishment both isolate Jane and put her in a position that she cannot escape. However, at Lowood Jane becomes more mature and learns how to overcome oppression instead of retaliating as she would do at Gateshead. Being able to accept criticism allows Jane to enjoy her time at Lowood whereas she thoroughly disliked her years at Gateshead.
One of the reasons Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre was to question the prejudice views of Victorian society and to fight for women's rights. When Jane Eyre was first published it was written under the name Currer Bell because no one would accept a woman's novel and interestingly Charlotte Bronte is sometimes known as one of the first early feminists. She relates to her own life in parts of Jane Eyre through drawing on her own experience at her own school of Cowan Bridge to create Jane's school named Lowood. This makes the novel semi autobiographical and adds a degree of authenticity.
At Gateshead, Jane experiences oppression through the physical abuse she receives from her cousin John Reed. She says that 'he bullied and punished me ... continually' showing how he beats her regularly and is never challenged by his mother Mrs Reed. He does this to show his position in the house and to prove his higher authority over her. Jane is extremely scared of John's physical power and 'every nerve' she has 'feared him'. She tells the reader how she was 'dreading the blow' moments before he hit her to emphasise the extent to which he terrorizes her.
Jane Eyre is a young orphan who lives at Gateshead with her Aunt Reed and her three cousins John, Georgina and Eliza. She is placed in an unusual situation as her Aunt only looks after her because of her late husband's final request which was for her to treat his niece as her own child. Aunt Reed, however, has not kept her word and instead excludes Jane from her family. The first nine chapters of Jane Eyre follow Jane through her childhood as she leaves Gateshead and attends a school named Lowood. In both of these places Jane is made to feel alone and is looked upon as a charity case. At Gateshead Jane's Aunt Reed locks her on her own in the Red Room and similarly, at Lowood Jane is forced to stand on a stool to be humiliated in front of the other girls. These methods of punishment both isolate Jane and put her in a position that she cannot escape. However, at Lowood Jane becomes more mature and learns how to overcome oppression instead of retaliating as she would do at Gateshead. Being able to accept criticism allows Jane to enjoy her time at Lowood whereas she thoroughly disliked her years at Gateshead.
One of the reasons Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre was to question the prejudice views of Victorian society and to fight for women's rights. When Jane Eyre was first published it was written under the name Currer Bell because no one would accept a woman's novel and interestingly Charlotte Bronte is sometimes known as one of the first early feminists. She relates to her own life in parts of Jane Eyre through drawing on her own experience at her own school of Cowan Bridge to create Jane's school named Lowood. This makes the novel semi autobiographical and adds a degree of authenticity.
At Gateshead, Jane experiences oppression through the physical abuse she receives from her cousin John Reed. She says that 'he bullied and punished me ... continually' showing how he beats her regularly and is never challenged by his mother Mrs Reed. He does this to show his position in the house and to prove his higher authority over her. Jane is extremely scared of John's physical power and 'every nerve' she has 'feared him'. She tells the reader how she was 'dreading the blow' moments before he hit her to emphasise the extent to which he terrorizes her.
