¶ … Cultural Reflection of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
In Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, we are introduced to a timid, insecure orphan child who is set extraordinary odds to find happiness and eventually love in 19th Century England. Jane Eyre is the story of a reluctant and fairly plain woman who believes that she is unloved because of these physical traits, yet she is strong-principled, intelligent and possesses a desire to do better in life and become independent. Of her greatest obstacles to overcome, the crude Victorian society is the hardest, and Bronte pits her character against many Victorian taboos and religious fervor that she herself must have witnessed in her own life.
Charlotte Bronte herself was born and raised in Victorian England, one of three sisters who all became published authors. "The prejudice against women in the nineteenth century was such that the three sisters were forced to adopt male pseudonyms for the initial publication of their novels because they knew that their books were unlikely to be published if they had used their own names" (Longman Literature, viii). Bronte had plenty of material therefore to fall back on as she wrote Jane Eyre, though chose to show the stringent lifestyle of Victorian England through the story and characters rather than preach the injustices against women and social bias.
Jane Eyre was an orphan in Victorian England who went to live with her uncle and his family in Gateshead. Before she does, she contemplates the possibility of being sent to a 'poorhouse'. "You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poorhouse" (Chapter2, pg7). Poorhouses were notorious for their ill-treatment and diseases that spread through these institutions designed to tuck away the socially unacceptable and poor away from the rest of society.
At one point, when Jane Eyre is forced to walk instead of taking a carriage,...
While mirrors often symbolize the contrast between reality and appearance, Bronte utilizes mirrors as a way to reflect upon the other characters in the story. Blanche Ingram, for instance is a reflection opposite of Jane Eyre. She is confident and rather an accomplished woman who is also very self-centered and elitist compared to Jane. Blanche pursues Mr. Rochester merely for the social stature and wealth that marrying him would bring, while Jane realizes true love and despite his physical appearance and loss of sight after the fire, still loves him and wants to care for him. In this regard, appearance also plays a part in defining the real meaning of love, a theme that is intertwined with that of marriage.
Marriage was as lifelong career for women in the Victorian Era. Women were also taught to think of sex as a "shameful necessity to be endured for their husbands' sakes" (Longman Literature, xv) while direct references in novels to sex were never made in Victorian novels as they were deemed upsetting to readers. Sexual references and passions were always hinted at rather than explored and announced. Women were on a much lower social rung…
