Jane Eyre, The Feminist Tract"
In 1837 critic Robert Southey wrote to Charlotte Bronte, "Literature
cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more
she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it,
even as an accomplishment and a recreation," (Gaskell 102). This opinion
was not held by only one person, but by many. Indeed, it is this attitude,
one that debases women and their abilities, to which Charlotte Bronte
responds with Jane Eyre. The purpose of Jane Eyre, not only the novel, but
also the character herself as a cultural heroine, is to transform a
primeval society, one which devalues women and their contributions, into a
nobler order of civilization (Craig ...
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successful in asserting her self-worth,
we are also given a warning about the possible outcome of failure to
realize self-worth in Bertha Rochester. This facet will also be discussed
briefly. Bronte uses the motivation of personal experiences to create the
life of Jane Eyre in which we see the quest for social betterment through
her relationships.
Bronte herself experienced the social limitations of the nineteenth
century. At this time "respectable women had few options in life beyond
marriage, education of children, and domestic service," (Magill 747). She
ventured to explore her own literary abilities and wrote Jane Eyre, a novel
which "served to articulate the new sense of self that in Bronte's time was
still emerging and developing against the background of a changing social
order," (Schact 423). This novel not only proved the capability of
Charlotte Bronte, but also, through Jane, gives readers hope as they view a
young heroine who has a strong desire and struggles for ...
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John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in the
drawing-room... Me she had dispensed from joining the group," (Bronte 9).
Not only did she face adversity in the relationship she had with her
aunt, Jane also had to endure the unpunished cruelty of her cousin John.
Jane was "accustomed to John Reed's abuse," and punished for defending
herself once when John flung a book at her, hitting her so hard she fell
and cut her head. Jane pitifully comments, "The cut bled, the pain was
sharp; my terror had passed its climax," (Bronte 13). Jane had to endure
this conflict for quite sometime, submitting, for she rarely resisted, to
the tyrannical relationship she had with both ...
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Jane Eyre, The Feminist Tract". (2005, July 26). Retrieved November 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jane-Eyre-The-Feminist-Tract/30648
"Jane Eyre, The Feminist Tract"." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 26 Jul. 2005. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jane-Eyre-The-Feminist-Tract/30648>
"Jane Eyre, The Feminist Tract"." Essayworld.com. July 26, 2005. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jane-Eyre-The-Feminist-Tract/30648.
"Jane Eyre, The Feminist Tract"." Essayworld.com. July 26, 2005. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Jane-Eyre-The-Feminist-Tract/30648.
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