Subject: Women literature

Submitted by: Rida

Roll no # 16001
Submitted to: Ma’am Iqra nazish
Topic: position of women in Victorian society according to novel Jane Eyre

 Women in Victorian society

‘Jane Eyre’ is an authentic captivation of the Victorian era and the social standings of its
time. Victorian novel “Jane Eyre" which was written by Charlotte Bronté in 1847. The
novel, Jane Eyre is one of the best examples to show situations of woman as a writer and
a reader in Victorian period. Especially three women characters; Jane Eyre, Bertha
Mason and Mrs. Reed reflect situation and position of being woman in Victorian period.
Three women characters were analyzed with feminist perspective. Charlotte Bronte’s
Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an
insight into the lives of women from all social classes.
Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane
Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society. England, in
the eighteenth century, was driven by class distinction and wealth. In the lower class
there was always a desperate struggle to survive which contrasted to the life led by the
upper class, socializing with people like themselves. The servant trade, made up by the
lower class, allowed the upper class to live their desired life whilst constantly maintaining
superiority based on their position in society. class to live their desired life whilst
constantly maintaining superiority based on their position in society.
The novel has an undeniable appreciation for the role of women and recognises the
importance of a woman’s quest to find her true identity. The plot of the novel is based
upon the form of a Bildungsroman, in which the story reveals the narrative path of the
protagonist’s life from child maturation to their development in adulthood. This
chronological structure focuses on the emotions and experiences of the character which
helps create and sculpt their personality in the novel. In the novel, there are five vital
stages in the development of Jane’s maturity into a woman. It is from these experiences,
that Jane is able to find her true identity and therefore retrospectively narrate the novel.
Charlotte Bronte first published the novel under the decoy name of “Currer Bell”, in
order to conceal her true identity from the public and critics. In the Victorian era, as
women were considered to be the inferior sex, the idea of a woman being a published
author let alone the writer of such a controversial novel, would have been considered a
social outrage. Victorian women were considered to be one whom dedicated her life
solely to the home, her family and most importantly her husband. She obeyed both her
earthly master as well as her heavenly and understood her place in the sexual hierarchy.
Charlotte Bronte, however; created Jane Eyre as an unorthodox manifest against the
society of her time.
‘Jane Eyre’ is a critique of the importance of the strict social class hierarchy in Victorian
England. The novel highlights the significance of class consciousness and the
subjectiveness one particular class may face at the hands of the dogmatic elites. The
derogative attitudes regarding social class first occur when Jane suffers horrible
mistreatment from John Reed. He violently torments Jane and constantly reminds her that
she is an orphan and a dependent of the Reed family, forcing into her mind that to be
without a class is to be without worth. He inflicts fear into Jane and reminds her that he is
her superior;
“You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mamma says; you have
no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with
gentlemen’s children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our
mamma’s expense. Now, I’ll teach you to rummage my book-shelves: for they are mine;
all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years.”
This quote expresses John’s power and authority over Jane as he abruptly informs her
that she is beneath him in social class and uses this fact as his justification to ostracize
her. Jane rejects her birthright as an orphan and uses this as her ammunition to be treated
as an equal.
Lowood Institution is a regimented environment in place to suppress any unconformity
from young women. Jane, however, sees this as her chance for a new beginning in a place
where she won’t be judged by material worth. Unfortunately, in the beginning this is not
the case as Jane suffers oppression from Mr Brocklehurst; a vicious and deceitful man
who gains at the misery of the orphaned children. Oppression is a key theme in the novel
and is closely linked to class structure as the other characters in the novel use this to
victimise Jane and inflict power over her. When Mr. Brocklehurst publicly humiliates
Jane in front of the whole school, Bronte is expressing the unfair dominance of the upper
classes. She uses opposing language to describe Mrs Reed in relation to Jane to highlight
the social ideology that is created by a class system. Mr Brocklehurst uses positive
connotations to portray Mrs Reed with compliments such as “charitable, kindness”
merely because she is upper class and contrasts this by posing Jane, who is of lower class
as “dreadful, bad.” Jane then has to fight against any negativity about herself because of
 her class and force people to accept her for her personal attributes. The education Jane
receives that Lowood helps to enhance her social class mobility as she gains the same
educational knowledge and mannerisms that is associated with the aristocrats. This
highlights the importance of the social boundaries that are constructed in society and how
insignificant they are as they are no reflection of a person abilities or potential.

Bronte’s portrayal of governesses is one of the most important positions when exploring
the theme of social class. Life in 19th century Britain was controlled by social class and
hierarchy and people very rarely moved from the class in which they were born. As Jane
was an orphaned child yet then received a high standard of education to become a
governess, she holds no definitive social status and is therefore “in between” classes. She
has an ambiguous social standing as she both lives and converses with all classes of
people, from the working class servants to the upper class aristocrats. Jane is therefore a
cause for extreme tension as she holds the sophistication of the upper classes yet she has
a lower class background. Governesses of this time were expected to uphold a high
standard of aristocrat ‘culture’; however they were often still very poorly treated by their
employers.
Bronte has created Jane Eyre’s character with social mobility in order to help develop an
extensive network in the novel, therefore allowing the story more flexibility to unfold.
Bronte challenge’s the restrictions of the social class system in England and creates
problematic situations and events in the novel to highlight the social pressures of
conformity inflicted during this time. She is cleverly pushing the boundaries created both
for women and the lower classes by creating a character that stereotypically is in
opposition to the norm. Jane, however, does not break every social rule as she refuses to
marry Mr. Rochester when she finds out the truth about his marriage. Despite the fact that
his marriage to Bertha is indeed loveless, Jane is adamant that she will not expose herself
to such demoralization and takes pride in herself for recognizing that even throughout the
eyes of love, this act would make her a social outcast. This dedication to her personal
morals emphasizes Jane’s self empowerment that she will not give in to the pressures of
marriage for social status and wealth.
Women in Victorian England - Traditions and changes in their role and education

The image of middle-class women in early nineteenth-century England is based on the

assumption that women naturally differ from men in every sense: not only physically but
especially intellectually. While men are granted physical strength, women are weak creatures
.through and through. As John Burgon pointed out in 1884, “Women’s strength lies in her
essential weakness” (Burstyn 1980: 33), according to him, women are said to be men’s
conscience and their strength is pureness in spirit.Inevitably, men’s and women’s tasks are
likewise clearly distinguished. A man is expected to earn money, make it available to his wife,
mother, daughters and sisters. Women’s tasks on the other hand, are overseeing the education
and care of their children, shopping, organizing the household and by providing tranquility in a
peaceful and comfortable home. A woman’s work is performed inside the sheltering house: it is
spiritual and educational as it consists of teaching good virtues and moral values through her
tenderness - the woman is to be the “moral guardian of society” (Burstyn 1980: 99).

A woman in the Victorian age who does not have to work is a status symbol for husband and
family. The more well-off a family and the greater its economic success are deciding factors in
how much leisure a woman can afford. Working middle-class women who had to make their
own living came from socially deprived families and were treated with contempt.

Excluded from the financial world, women depend completely on men. The denial of women
being capable of experiencing passion and of having the natural ability to learn and to be suitable
for a higher education leads to a general captivity of women, that many do not realize at all.

That Jane cannot identify herself with the traditional ideal of women proves her utterance:
“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; […] they
suffer […] precisely as men would suffer” (Brontë 2005: 141). While more and more women
become conscious of their situation and slowly start to take action, other circumstances
accelerate the progress towards equality of men and women in English society when the “woman
question” comes up.

To understand the social situation in which ‘Jane Eyre’ is set and why Jane is such an
extraordinary and revolutionizing character, one needs to briefly examine how society is
constructed at that time.

Starting in the 1850s, the English middle-class society has to confront a serious problem that
eventually changes the role of women and their position in society. In the middle of 19th century
England, more and more women remain unmarried. That dilemma results from a general lack of
men. Inevitably, fathers and brothers have to provide life incomes for all unmarried daughters
and sisters. This is too heavy a burden for many families. Women at the time are extremely
costly. “Without money or the possibility of earning for herself, she was reduced to being
dependent on her male relatives”

Despite this convention, that girls and women of Jane’s time receive little or no education at all,
Jane is sent to school. This is significant in so far as Lowood School is the first stop of Jane’s
pilgrimage towards maturity and self-fulfillment. For the second time in her short life she
experiences degradation and the limitations of society. Mr. Rochester later notices that Jane
“lived a life of a nun” (Brontë 2005: 158). Jane concludes many years later when telling her story
that “the privations, or rather the hardship, of Lowood lessened” (Brontë 2005: 95). Unjustly
shown up by Mr. Bocklehurst and through suffering from malnutrition, illness, weakness and
cold, Jane forms a strong character that does not, despite many reasons to do so, submit.

Learning, it is claimed, is only of relevance to men. Girls are educated in entertaining such as
dancing, playing the piano, singing, details of drawing-room etiquette and most especially in
passing on moral principles to male family members and children. Higher education is thought
superfluous because women are never confronted with difficult intellectual work. Children are
usually taught at home by either their mother or, if the family can afford it, by a governess.

 Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-
dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by
hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below
one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the
society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a
housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional
for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane
Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered
extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man
of great wealth.
 Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is set in the mid nineteenth century, during the Victorian era
where class and gender roles are clearly defined in the patriarchal society. The general
ideology of the era expresses the idea that if gender categories were not maintained as
binary oppositions, catastrophic chaos would likely ensue (Gill, 109). Throughout the
novel, Jane is faced with the issue of oppression. The typical characteristics of an ideal
female in Victorian society would include submissiveness, simple dress, low ambition,
longing for a male love interest and passiveness. Bronte clearly shows her stance on this
Victorian ideology as Jane often challenges those social institutions and changes her
place in society, although she often settles for the status quo for certain periods of time.
Jane plays the typical role of a Victorian woman through much of her life, but through
subtle shifts in power Bronte challenges these Victorian norms by way of Jane’s
education, unlikely rise in social status from teacher to governess and her relationship
with a seemingly unattainable man.
 Women in the Victorian Era were treated as second-class citizens in society and they
had very few rights and little control over their own lives