Jane Eyre Written Exercise

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre novel of 1847 was set in the beginning of the Victorian time, a period of a very diverse and complex society referred to as a time of racism, corporal punishment, prudery and double standards. Slavery and entrapment also played an important role in the Victorian society and this is clear not only for the character of Jane Eyre but also in the actions of Rochester. A big part of it plays off in the argument between Rochester and Jane in chapter 24 while they are in town in preparation for their wedding.

“I’ll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved – your harem inmates amongst the rest. I’ll get admitted there, and I’ll stir up mutiny; and you, three-tailed bashaw as you are, sir, shall in a trice find yourself fettered amongst our hands: nor will, for one, consent to cut your bonds till you have signed a charter, the most liberal that despot ever yet conferred” (Chapter 24) 

What Jane means by it is that if Rochester goes out to purchase slaves she will sacrifice her self-preservation and go out and teach religion to spread the word, through sermons, of freedom from captivity and slavery to them that are slaves, even to those that are part of the Muslim house occupied with women. She will be allowed to enter and she will encourage them to refuse to obey their masters and to take the persons of importance, like Rochester, and chain them by the feet like prisoners and refuse to let them go until they initialise a document that will allow the slaves to have rights and privileges equal to that of their rulers.

Jane says this when she got terrified as soon as Rochester started planning to buy her dresses and jewellery because she feels as if he wants to befit her for her new social status. She feels as if Rochester wants to turn her into a fantasy figure, which she feels she is not. Everything quickly starts feeling like a day-dream to Jane and she starts getting the feeling that the wedding will not happen, her reason mostly being that she is not his equal and will never be able to share in his status. Jane also realises that getting married will tie her down as the freedom of a marriage could also mean entrapment, she feels this marriage will influence her self-worth and dignity as she already feels dependant on Rochester.

“By positioning herself as a missionary, Jane empowers herself with the moral superiority of British civilisers at the precise moment that her own morality is undermined. In other words, an assertion of racial superiority discursively revolves Jane’s class and gender inferiority in relation to Rochester.” (Sharpe, 49) 

Brontë uses this as a type of symbolism to increase and strengthen the argument between Jane and Rochester, the image of the slaves which will be purchased by Rochester is symbolic to the emotion that Jane has towards the power he will have over her in their marriage. The slavery is thereby placed as an example of the idea of the slavery of marriage Jane will soon enter into. Jane feels that, like the slaves, she will not be able to have any rights or privileges until she is on an equal footing with Rochester which will also allow her to feel less uncomfortable.

“Although Jane expresses sympathy for harem women, she does not identify herself as one but positions herself as a missionary woman who will save them. But more than that she distinguishes herself from Hindu women by declaring her refusal to burn on her husband’s pyre.” (Sharpe, 52) 

Slavery in the Victorian time was strongly based on the paterfamilias of the early Roman society. The slaves, wives and children were only seen as property and the head of the family, which mostly consisted of the father, had full legal rights over the whole family and the dependants had no legal rights. The head of the family could sell, exchange and even condemn them to death if he pleased. In the Victorian time the slaves were also seen as a racial impurity even though they were regarded as “white”. They slaves could be purchased and even though those who did purchase them had to depend themselves as it was something that was starting to be frowned upon. 

“You will give up your governessing slavery at once.” “Indeed! Begging your pardon, sir, I shall not. I shall just go on with it as usual...as I have been accustomed to do” (Bronte, 230)

Jane still feels that she will not be comfortable to enter into this marriage with Rochester until she is of a more equal status and this is why she has the thoughts of writing to her uncle which could adopt her and thereby guarantee her a higher social footing. It will allow Jane to feel more valued as an individual in the marriage with Rochester. She feels that it is important to still do as she has done to prove to Rochester that she is not the fairy-tale he is expecting, therefore to the end of the chapter she continuously acts unkind and stern towards him to make him understand that she is maybe not what he wanted and fell in love with, especially due to the inequality of their class and gender.

Discrimination based on racial superiority, class and gender are strong features of the society of the Victorian time. Charlotte Brontë clearly introduces these principles into Jane Eyre through various arguments and activities in the novel, she creates an image with the reader through the eyes of Jane which allows the reader to feel more emotionally involved and understanding of the situations. Slavery is very cleverly used by Brontë to enlighten the differences between Jane and Rochester which is an important aspect of the reasoning behind Jane’s emotions and therefore it is one of the most important features of the success of Jane Eyre.

Micheal Fassbender's interview on Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre's dreams & paintings, and the effects thereof...

Dreaming is a natural part of our being and it can predict many things and also go deep into your past. Dreams are often related to life memories and situations that your conscious mind might not even remember or be aware of, therefore dreams is something that is uncontrollable and unpredictable. The novel, Jane Eyre, has various references to the dreams of Jane and this tells the reader a bit more about the plot itself but also allows the reader to touch upon the narrative point of view.

The first reference in the novel is in Chapter 3: "The next thing I remember is, waking up with a feeling as if I had had a frightful nightmare, and seeing before me a terrible red glare, crossed with thick black bars." This is the moment Jane wakes up after she passed out in the red-room, and carries on to be a touching chapter through the manner in which Jane and Bessie's relationship develops.

The first reference we have to any of Jane's paintings is when Bessie visits her in LowoodLowood and Jane replies: "'That is one of my paintings over the chimney-piece.' It was a landscape in water colours, of which I had made a present to the superintendent, in acknowledgment of her longing just before she leaves for her job as governess. Bessie questions her about all her qualifications and skills she had gained through all her years in mediation with the committee on my behalf, and which she had framed and glazed."(79). Bessie makes the first judgment of one of her pictures in the novel, which was one of positive response.

The next time we read of any of Jane's paintings is when Rochester comes across some of them when Adele brings them to him. At first he did not want to believe that it was hers and could not see how she found the time to do them, "He deliberately scrutinised each sketch and painting."(106). Rochester seemed very impressed with them as he was in disbelief that she could make such beautiful art, this then makes it clear to the reader that Jane had some true skills and talent as to drawing and painting.

Then there is the reference to the assignment that is given to Jane to draw as her 'sentence':"'take your palette, mix your freshest, finest, clearest tints; choose your most delicate camel-hair pencils; delineate carefully the loveliest face you can imagine; paint it in your softest shades and sweetest hues"(137). Which serves of prove that it was a challenge given to Jane as to test what she could do and to see if she could do her best by creating something beautiful.

The next time we read of some of Jane's paintings is when she perceives the stature and look of Blanche and Mary, "First I wished to see whether her appearance accorded with Mrs. Fairfax's description; secondly, whether it at all resemble the fancy miniature I had painted of her; and thirdly - it will out! - whether it were such as I should fancy likely to suit Mr. Rochester's taste."(146-147).

Jane then continues to have a few strange dreams as to someone tearing up her veil before her and Rochester's wedding, she then grows suspicious as to what the meaning of all these strange dreams, noises and situations are. This is some proof of Jane's subconscious that is picking up on certain things she consciously is trying to ignore or just does not realise. Jane then asks Rochester as to what all these things mean, and he then promises to tell her after they are married for one year. This makes Jane even more uncomfortable because she is now certain that something is really not in place. This allows the reader to also become suspicious and to be intrigued by the complex and unresolved mystery that Rochester is keeping form Jane.

At Jane and Rochester's wedding it all becomes clear that Rochester is in fact already married to someone else but Rochester immediately then tries to explain and justify all that he has kept from her. Jane's reaction is something the reader only understands due to the fact that the narrative's point of view allows for it. Jane's subconscious allowed for some of the clues as to what the mystery was and therefore it also becomes a relief to the reader to know what the secret is. 

The paintings in Jane Eyre is proof of Jane's capabilities, talents, and point of view of people but it also allows a ground for Rochester to challenge and test Jane. Jane's dreams are proof of her emotions and a preview as to what goes on in her subconscious, it also allows the reader to have a wider understanding of what the plot introduces and therefore is of much more importance to the reader than to the characters.

Charlotte Bronte made clever use of paintings and dreams to introduce the reader to another side of Jane and also to provide the reader with certain clues as to what the novel was attempting to portray.

Interview with Mia Wasikowska for Jane Eyre

3.3. Excerpts from Poovey

Poovey makes states a strong argument based on the role of Jane Eyre as a governess in a Victorian society. He clearly emphasises on the contrast between the elements of expectation and temptation that existed within the view the aristocracy had of governesses.

"The governess is also significant for [an] analysis of theideological work of gender because of the proximity she bears to two of the most important Victorian representations of women: the figure who epitomized the domestic ideal, and the figure who threatened to destroy it." (Poovey,"The Anathematized Race" 236) 

Governesses was an important part within the existence of the Victorian era, and therefore had a great influence upon the development thereof. Every privileged household made use of a governess to educate their children within their own house, this meant that governesses were accepted as part of the staff but more importantly the household itself. They had rooms within the house and permanently remained close to the family, which sometimes lead to conflict because in a way it threatened the existence of it. Often there was heard of masters and their governesses that became involved with one another and therefore it became important for governesses to prevent any display of temptation and sexuality.

"The governess was therefore expected to preside over the contradictions written into the domestic ideal - in the sense both that she was meant to police the emergence of undue assertiveness or sexuality in her maturing changes and that she was expected not to display willfulness or desires herself." (Poovey, "The Anathematized Race" 236)

Poovey makes it clear that he is of opinion that the responsibility rested with a governess to constrict herself in such a manner that she could not tease or tempt any males. Jane Eyre is proof of this as she felt like she had to constrict herself even more after Rochester proposed to her. To Jane it was important to not allow herself to show Rochester how she felt about him because it was not her place to do so, Jane definitely felt that she should not display any desires for Rochester.

"Not a mother, the governess nevertheless performed a mother's tasks; not a prostitute, she was nevertheless suspiciously close to the signalised women; not a lunatic, she was nevertheless deviant simply because she was a middle-class women who had to work because she was always in danger of losing her middle-class status and her 'natural' morality" (Poovey, Uneven Developments 14)

The role of a governess was complex and integrated as they were constantly just one of many things. The line between right and wrong were faded and sometimes not fully understood by the aristocracy. They were women that had to work in a society where it was not accepted for women to be 'respectably' employed, and they had to be a mother-figure to the children without getting personally involved within the family. This was something that Jane personally also struggled with, especially because Adele was an orphan and because Rochester seemed not to have a wife. These perceptions caused Jane Eyre to be in constant battle with herself and thereby distancing herself in fear that she would contradict the domestic ideal that would cause her to lose her morality.

Poovey has a very direct approach to this situation in which governesses put themselves in, and therefore he makes it clear as to why Jane Eyre sometimes reacted the way she did and thereby allows the reader to more fully understand the novel itself. Governesses was a difficult process and situation to be involved in and that is something that can drawn from the character of Jane Eyre.

3.2. All references relating to being governess

 - Governessess were expected to fullfill the roles of a distant mother and friend, and they were expected to be qualified to educate others.

Chapter 10:

"Miss Temple, through all changes, had thus far continued superintendent of the seminary; to her instructioon I owed the best part of my acquirements; her friendship and society had been my continual solace: she had stood me in the stead of mother, governess, and, latterly, companion." (71)

"The testimonial I accordingly recieved in about a month, forwarded a copy of it to Mrs. Fairfax, and got that lady's reply, stating that she was satisfied, and fixing the day fortnight as the period for my assuming the post of governess in her house." (76)

 - They were expected to be grateful for what they recieved and to act noble, they were not allowed think that they should be respected or treated as royalty.

Chapter 11:

"A more reassuring introduction for a new governess could scarcely be concieved: there was no gradeur to overwhelm, no statelines to embarrass; and then, as I entered, the old lady got up, and promptly and kindly came forward to meet me." (81)

"'She treats me like a visitor,' thought I. 'I little expected such a reception; I anticipated only coldness and stiffness: this is not like what I have heard of the treatment of governessess; but I must not exult too soon.'" (82)

 - Governessess were excpected to dress in a specific way and they were expected to take care of the children.

Chapter 16:

“He stopped, ran his eye over my dress, which, as usual, was quite simple – a black merino cloak, a black beaver bonnet; neither of them half fine enough for a lady’s-maid. “ “Ah, the governess!” (135)

“what are you about Miss Eyre, to let Adele sit up so long? Take her to bed” (149)

 - society frowned upon governessess that had a relationship with their masters and they were meant to act as a worker for the master.

Chapter 24:

"Try and keep Mr. Rochester at a distance: distrust yourself as well as him. Gentlemen in his station are not accustomed to marry their governessess." (226)

"You will give up your governessing slavery at once." (230)

 - governessess were expected to be calm and caring, not to have a temper or have arguments with others.

Chapter 27:

"to avoid fluctuations of feeling, and cintinual combats with recollections and associations," (256)

 - they were expected to be clever and educated if they wanted to work for upper class families.

Chapter 32:

"she is clever enough to be a governess in a high family, papa." (315)

A Jane Eyre Summary - stop go style

Research Task 3.1. The Woman Question

The fate of an intelligent woman in the middle of Victorian England is mostly what Jane Eyre represents. The voice of Charlotte Bronte as a feminist narrator made makes it clear to the reader how difficult it was for women the the society of the Victorian era. The changes and developments of the status and roles of women within the aristocracy of the 18th century forms part of the plot, form and structure of this bildungroman.

'What do women want?" was the question that still needed a revised and disputed awnser. Jane Eyre identifies some of these elements, such as education, law , property, religion, service and family. The opening of the Queen's College in 1848 and Bedford College in 1849 higher education and 'respectable' employment was made available for women. There was also the first organised feminist committee that worked hard at having women's rights legally recognised and thereby allowing a more equal footing with men. Laws that allowed women to have the right to a will, a right to children and divorce and also rights to separate property.

Women also undertook various activities which removed them from the traditional domestic habitat, moving towards various employment forms. Women also started to question the conventional restrictions upon them within society and thereby made more radical improvements to their situations.

Jane Eyre clearly represents some of these women, and the changes that they wanted and required within society. Jane herself as an independent woman also refused to fall within the conventional and traditional entrapment of women and this has an enormous effect upon the plot of the novel. Women struggled throughout he Victorian era just to get what they wanted and that was merely as simple as being treated equal with men.

2.3. Sandra M. Gilbert's "A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain Jane's Progress"

"For the little drama enacted on 'that day' which opens Jane Eyre is in itself a paradigm of the larger

drama that occupies the entire book: Jane's anomalous, orphaned position in society, her enclosure

in stultifying roles and houses, and her attempts to escape through flight, starvation, and ... madness.

And that Charlotte Bronte quite consciously intended the incident in the red-room to serve as a

paradigm for the larger plot of her novel is clear not only from its position in the narrative but also from

Jane's own recollection of the experience at crucial moments throughout the book: when she is

humiliated by Mr. Brocklehurst at Lowood, for instance, and on the night when she decides to leave 

Thornfield. In between these moments, moreover, Jane's pilgrimage consists of a series of 

experiences which are, in one way or another, variations on the central, red-room motif of enclosure

and escape." (Gilbert & Gubar, Madwoman 341)

I agree with Gilbert's argument based on the fact that the things that Jane Eyre experiences in the red-room had an effect on many of her choices that followed. The larger plot Gilbert is referring to is the plot of Jane's subconscious decisions and the manner in which she reacted in certain circumstances. The emotions Jane Eyre went through within the red-room affected her throughout her lifetime, due to her circumstances in the very emotionally abusive hostile household. Throughout the novel Jane has the struggle of entrapment and escape and the red-room was where all this became clear to her, this therefore had an influence upon her choices each time she came into a similar situation.

The red-room is the single stem of the whole theme of entrapment and escape within the novel and therefore the red-room is of utmost importance. The effect of the drama on 'that day' would appear in each analysis of a decision Jane Eyre made throughout the rest of the novel and therefore I agree that it is the single consistent motif Jane Eyre had in all situations.

2.2. Adrienne Rich's "Jane Eyre: The temptations of a Motherless Woman"

In Section 3 of Rich's article she clearly states that it is her belief that the moment in the red room was the true turning point of Jane Eyre. As if Jane was framed as a character through the scope of the things and emotions she went through within those four walls.

"[i]t is at this moment [in the Red Room] that the germ of the person we are finally to know as Jane Eyre is 

born: a person determined to live, and to choose her life with dignity, integrity, and pride" (471)

Rich states that the incident with John Reed was the first temptation of Jane Eyre as a powerless little girl in a hostile household. The moment at which she snapped at John Reed was merely the choice to overcome her victimisation of his psychic and physical violence against her. Even though she was punished and told to ask forgiveness, Jane still feels as if her actions were justified and that she is merely the scapegoat of the household. 

Even though her time in the Red Room reaches a climax through manner of her hallucinations and the powerlessness through her illness she still hangs on to the realisation she had in the Red Room. Her dependency on the sharp-tongued but gentle of heart Bessie allows her to experience true affection, Bessie becomes an alliance to Jane that makes her believe in hope and a future which prevents her from any further self-destructive actions.

When Jane verbally attacks Mrs. Reed through an outburst of anger of her powerlessness she is only pulled out of it by the appearance of Bessie due to the sense of respect the maintain. Bessie still encourages Jane to act in a manner that will not cause others to dislike her and thereby allows her with some advise just before she left for Lowood Institution.

Yes, I agree with Rich's argument that the Red Room was the critical moment at which Jane Eyre's perspective of life and how to approach it changed and was the reason behind many of her choices that followed from that moment.

Jane Eyre official trailer 2011

Research Task 2.1. The Red Room Scene - Chapter 2

A brief summary from Bessie's perspective:

Miss Abott and I took Jane away to the red-room on the demand of Mrs. Reed as punishment for attacking Master John. She was very resistant and we threatened to tie her down but she refused and thrusted herself upon the stool. Miss Abott and I then gave her some advise for her own good and told her she should take the time to think and pray about what she has done. We then left her and locked the door behind us.

A few minutes later we hear her pulling on the door and screaming and Miss Abott and I run down the passage and unlocked the door. When we entered she was crying and begging to be let out of the room, she seemed frantic. She claimed that she saw a light and thought a gost whould come. She held my hand as Miss Abott suggested that it was just another one of her naughty tricks. Mrs. Reed came in and asked why they were in the room because she ordered that only she was allowed to let Jane out of the room. I tried to explain to Mrs. Reed what had happened but she did not want to hear anything of it as she believed that Jane was only faking an act to come out of the room. Just as Mrs. Reed left the room Jane blacked out and we were ordered to take her to the nursery.

1.3. Class, gender & feminism, and ideology

 Revisiting the diffirent definitions of these concepts helps the reader to understand the novel, Jane Eyre, more clearly. With reference to Warwick’s “Key Critical Concepts” for Victorian Studies and a few other links these definitions became more clear to me.

Class:

Class can be defined as a group’s relation to the means of production, made up of workers or owners which share a specific level of wealth through the nature of their work. It has an effect on their experience of their existence by confining and limiting them to a certian class level within society. The concept of classes in some extent emerged from the Victorian ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels with their perspective being that human beings could fulfill their cooperative roles within society without fear of exploitation.

The Victorian era had three broad classes in which society was divided within. There was the upper class which was the highest rank of aristocracy. It consisted of dukes, earls, and viscounts and they were associatd with the commercial expansion and with the idea of leisure. Proffesions which concerned with banking and finance allowed them their wealth which was sustained by wealthy families often related to royal families.

From professions such as bankers, merchants, manufacturers, doctors and teachers came the middle class which was sharply divided from the lower class. The middle class made great fortunes in the early days of the industrial revolution and converted economic success into political power in the 1832 Reform Act. The Victorian middle-class was largely associated with the growth of cities and the expansion of the economy.

Even though there were only three broad classes the commrcial expansion of the economy produced the lower middle class. With profession such as insurance, banking, accounting and trading they faded the line between the middle and lower classes. They valued merit, respect, competition and effeiciency.

The extremely poor group made up the lower class as they were the lowest rank of society. They represented disease and criminality and was the objects of pity and charity within the spheres of society due to their lack of education. The lower class was later also identified within a specific  race and this was applied thorughout the rest of the centuries.

Gender & feminism: 

Gender is usually a term used to denote the social role of men and women. It lies deeply rooted in other assumptions about the physicial body and its influence on the self. In the beginning of the Victorian period there was a certian set of beliefs that clearly seperated men from women. Women had to present a passive, nurturing and emotional character while men had to be active, aggressive and rational in nature.

Through the century there was a change in ideas about what that difference signified within a class-conscious society. This created the idea that women had to be seen as a leisured and decoratie wife as marker of her husband’s success and status. Home was idealised as the place of morality and women’s purity was threatned by association with the body and her weakness which meant that women had greater danger of moral ‘fall’ through temptation. Where men on the other hand, by the nature of their occupation, were comprised by their exposure to the world.Working-class women appeared not to be women at all through the nature of thier level within society and by the manner in which they had to sustain life.

Times changed and women were gradually gainning access to education and ‘respectable’ employment through the underlying recognition of the right to independance and self-determination, even though it was still limited. This caused a shift in the notion of masculinity as the ideal man was a hard-working provider and head of the family. The ‘gentlemen’ ideal was no longer limited to the men of the upper class esspecially after men of the upper class became the subject of suspicion of being morally weak and potentially corrupting after a series of homosexual scandals rose within the society.

By the end of the Victorian era masculinity and feminism was seen to be seperated from concepts of the body and biology and lead to a renewed vision of ideas for men and women of all classes.

Ideology:

Ideology is a set of beliefs that guides an individual to their ral conditions of exictence. It is not only ideas but they are given in a concrete form in the practices and social institutions that govern people’s relations and the nature of subjectivity. It communicates the impression of something that is internally connected and consistant. In the Victorian society the middle-class ideology was often contested and in the process of being defined which meant that society constinuesly disputed and revised it.

 

Here are some useful links:

Definition of class: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/class

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Victorian era:  http://www.victorianweb.org/philosophy/phil2.html

Classes in the Victorian era: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Class_structure_in_the_Victorian_era

Definition of ideology: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ideology