Caoimhe McWilliams
Considering the social, historical and literary context of Jane Eyre, would you proclaim Charlotte Brontë as the champion of feminism of her time?
I do agree with the idea that Charlotte Bronte was the champion of feminism of her time, and this is reflected throughout her novel Jane Eyre. She uses Jane’s development from passionate child to independent woman to express her views on feminism. At the time that Jane Eyre was written, everything was changing. In the society of Bronte’s time, women were greatly oppressed, as were many other people (e.g. the poor). This oppression was emphasized, and partially caused by, the obvious class distinctions. However, things had begun to change. The first notable indication of this inevitable change was the French Revolution which occurred late in the 18th century. It was a period of major changes to the political and social structure of France, which spread to every corner of Europe, including England. During this revolution, the French government, a prime example of monarchy and ‘unfair’ privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent a series of radical changes based on the ideas of democracy, equality and citizenship. The country’s motto was changed at this time to the current motto of ‘Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité’ which means ‘Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood’. The main things which led to this uprising were resentment of royal absolutism; the privileges granted to nobles; the dominance in public life by the richer and more ambitious classes and, finally, the high level of unemployment, high bread prices and food scarcity. The period of the revolution (C. 1789-1799) and its aftermath altered the way people all over Europe thought. This radical change meant that people realised that they could do something similar, and the omnipresent oppression needn’t exist much longer. Another example of this change was how the position of women was in society was changing. There was an ongoing campaign for women suffrage led by Emily Pankhurst, and these women paved the way for generations of feminists to come. They had revolutionary ideas; the suffragettes resorted to violence, and the suffragists used politics. It would have been unthinkable for a woman to partake in either of these things before hand. Their campaign was successful, and many more laws were passed to make life more fair and enjoyable for women. We can see society’s gradual acceptance of women as the equals of men by looking at how the law changed. By 1919 women could enter most professions; by 1923 women could divorce their husbands if he committed adultery; by 1928 women over 21 could vote; by 1967 abortion was legalized and by 1970 there was equal pay for equal work.
In the first section of the book, Jane is living with her cousins and Aunt Reed in Gateshead. The reader gains an idea of Jane’s life in Gateshead and her attitude towards her relatives from the very first page. Bronte begins the book with a negative statement, ‘There was no possibility of taking a walk that day’. She then goes on to describe the weather using the terms ‘cold winter wind’ and describing the clouds as ‘somber’ and ‘penetrating rain’. The use of the word penetrating makes the reader think of the sadness associated with rain penetrating into their very selves if they had been exposed to it as she was. However, in the next paragraph she then goes on to say she was glad of it. This suggests that she felt comfortable in this dreadful weather which would have given others so much grief. Bronte uses this weather and Jane’s affinity with such discomfort to symbolize the sorrow and hardship in her life. During this section we see that Jane is treated unfairly, and this is due to her lower status in society. She was an innocent child, and felt saddened when she was chided by her nurse, Bessie, and felt inferior to her cousins. This is not to be wondered at, as they were clearly favored by their mother and the servants in the house. This is simply an example of how their wealth compares to Jane’s poverty throughout her life. In the drawing-room, Mrs. Reed had her children around her, and they looked happy – however, even though Jane lived with them and was supposedly part of the family, she was dispensed from joining the group because Mrs. Reed thought that she should try harder to achieve a ‘more sociable and childlike disposition’. When kept from joining the group, Jane went to the breakfast room’s bookshelf to read a book. She chose one about British Birds, and Bronte included some excerpts from this book. The book included descriptions of the bleak surroundings the birds inhabited ‘the solitary rocks and promontories’ that only they inhabited. This symbolizes Jane’s own outlook on life at this time. She saw herself as alone in a bleak world, and felt an affinity with these birds. The social order of the time, so prominent in this household, is basically summarized in this section. Jane’s attitude towards the structure of society and to how unfairly she is treated because of it is shown through the Red Room. This is used as a metaphor for this repression. Her cousin, John Reed, quarreled with her and through a book at her. When she tried to defend herself by comparing him to Roman emperors, a slave driver and a murderer, he simply beat her harder. Yet she was still the one who was punished by being sent to the Red Room. On the way up to the Red Room, Jane resisted all the way, showing her to be a passionate young child and she was referred to as being passionate at this time. During their scolding, Miss Abbot referred to John Reed as Jane’s ‘young master’ to which Jane replied, ‘How is he my master? Am I a servant?’ and was in turn told that she was, indeed, less than a servant due to her place in society. Her place in society, in Miss Abbot and many other’s eyes was summarized in Abbot’s short speech, ‘And you ought not to think of yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed, because missis kindly allows you to be brought up with them. They will have a great deal of money and you will have none: it is your place to be humble, and to try to make yourself agreeable to them.’ Incidences such as this cumulated to result in Jane’s fierce resentment of the structures of the society she was living in. When she was shut in the Red Room this was a metaphor for this repression she was suffering from society. The principal of her being locked there for fighting John Reed and receiving speeches about her place in society on the way there are the more obvious clues to this deduction, but it is also shown through the language and images in the description. The bed was supported on ‘massive pillars’, there were two ‘large’ windows and she thought the chair near the bed looked like ‘a pale throne’. The emphasis on how big the room seemed was an image of repression and intimidation. It was so big, yet she, a child, was so small. The room, despite its grandeur, was cold, silent and solemn much like how she was feeling and how others wanted her to be.
