Representation of women in Jane Eyre, Great Expectations and the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales In Victorian culture, Women were Idolized, Protected and Oppressed

During the Victorian era from the year, 1837-1901 there was a definite gender role in England. During the period, women and men had very different roles in the society. Women and men perceptions were ideologically different. Men were superior to women during this period. It was a believe during the Victorian era that men had the capacity to reason, had their own self-interest, had the right of choice, as well as independence. This was not the case for women since women did not enjoy such rights (Goldhill, 2011). A woman of this era had to portray her feminine characteristics, which meant that one had to be emotionally dependent on their men, and had to be submissive.

Following such outlook and perception of the society at the time, the view of men by the society was rational compared to women. This meant that they were dominant thus governed sex and all activities of women. Additionally, women's sexual orientations influenced their interactions and were to follow the norms of the society that meant they were second to men. The society at that time regarded women as being sensitive, dutiful, and irrational. From ancient times, women governance was solely based on their reproductive roles. One can clearly have a picture of the ancient times by relating to the Roman, Hebrew, Babylonian, and Christian cultures. These cultures depict women as subordinates to men, which takes the social and legal context. In this age, women's desires are dependent on their men.

Historical Perspectives

Ancient information about the role of women and their position in the society brings a reader to the realization of how women performed their duties to the society, and in a family setting. In Ancient Greece, as well as Britain, women had very little chances to education. Women during these times were property of their men, and they lived in segregation only to leave their houses with the permission of their men. Women legally had fewer rights than men. A woman of these periods had no right to own or sell land. Raped women did not have the right to wear jewelry, and their husbands were forced to either divorce or lose their citizenship (Griffin, 2012).

The English law on women during the Victorian period borrowed from ancient cultures, which includes the Roman and other cultures. Under the Roman law, husbands had a lot of power over their wives to the point that they could kill them. In relation to the Persian culture, a man was supposed to govern his wife by either using threats or giving her a large sum of money thus making her a mistress of her expenses. In the English law of the period, women's legal identity disappeared as soon as they got married. All of her legal rights were under the control of her husband; this meant that she could no longer sue or contract without the authority of her husband. All of her property; whatever she inherited and her dowry belonged to her husband. The only exceptions to these were her jewelry, plates, bed linen, and clothes. From this representation of the life of a woman during the Victorian period, an extension of other cultures provides the oppression women underwent. Women had to remain faithful to their husbands to the point where they were required to wear chastity belts. Women also had no right in determining their marriages (Goldhill, 2011). Their parents arranged most of the marriages during the period. It was a norm for girls of tender ages of up to four years to have their marriages arranged, and it was possible for a girl of as young as seven-year to agree to marriage. However, such marriages were not acceptable until the girls reached twelve years of age.

Roles of Women

The role of a woman during the Victoria era had a striking discrepancy to the role of women in today's era. During this era, women had no rights to sue, to own property as well as suffrage rights. It was also during this that the industrial revolution had an impact on women. Women during the period started working in factories for pay. With their increased participation in the industrial revolution, women got a chance to education and thus an increase in feminist ideas. Feminist ideologies were common with the middle class educated women...

The role of a woman during the Victorian era, were to provide their husbands with food and other comforts, raise children and clean their homes.
Oppression of Women at this era was extensive since it meant that once a woman got married; she would lose several rights, including property ownership rights, as well as other rights. Once a Victorian woman was married, all her rights moved to her spouse. Under the law of the time, marriages meant a union, which became a single entity, and in this entity, the man became its head. This gave men a right to control all earnings and property thus women lost the rights to ownership of money and other properties to their husbands. During this era, a woman was the property of her husband; these rights bordered on sex and even domestic labor. A woman was supposed to give birth to children and women were sexual objects to men since they had no right to consent sexual intercourse with their bodies. Since their men owned women's bodies, men had the right to intercourse with multiple women and their wives as they desired. It is not wrong to equate marriage to slavery at the period since it was an expectation for women to fulfill the desires of their men without complaint. Both married and single women in the Victorian era faced same challenges. They were both disadvantaged sexually and financially; their status was horrible.

To a Victorian woman, marriage was a contract that robbed them their rights and freedoms. This contract was difficult for any woman escape, in case of disagreements. Over the period, women underwent many challenges, but they endured while making strides in fighting for equality. Women of this era endured sexual abuse, husband control, verbal abuse, cruelty from their husbands. Women were supposed to have sexual relations with only one man, during the Victorian era, while men would have multiple partners (Palmer, 2011). They had to endure such abuses and cruelty since divorce was not an option. Divorce, in this era, was a taboo that any woman would not have wished to break.

Representation in Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is the title of a novel, which portrays the life experiences of a woman in the Victorian era. The novel wishes to depict to the world the aspects of morality, as well as social criticism. With the character of Jane, the books explore aspects of sexuality, religion, and issues of class. The story begins by representing the life of a Victorian woman from their childhood. It uses the character of Jane to show the life experiences of a typical Victorian woman (Bloom, 2009). From the narrative one gets to understand how her cousins, physically and emotionally abused her. Although the girls went to school at Lowood School and met friends and role models, she still faced oppression.

The novel portrays to the reader how Jane gets treatment at her uncle's homestead after her father died when she was ten years old. It was only her uncle Reed, who liked her to be around home. His aunt felt that Jane was a burden to her and that discouraged his children from associating with her. Therefore, Mrs. Reed and her children abused Jane physically and emotionally; thus making her befriend a servant by the name Bessie (Bloom, 2009). Abused and oppressed by her aunt and cousins, Jane finds solace in a doll and books, and she looks herself in her room when Mr. Reed dies. However, perhaps the most joyous moment comes when she gets admission to study at Lowood School after a physician convinces her aunt to send her away.

After being in the school for over six years, Jane decides to leave the school, advertises for her services, and takes the task of teaching a young French girl. It was while doing this task that she met her love. Jane meets her love Mr. Rochester after an incident where she helps him climb up his horse after slipping off. During these events, Jane gets a call that her aunt is mourning the death of her son. This forces her to move to mourn with her, but while she returns, her boyfriend proclaims his intentions to marry her. However, during the wedding ceremony the clergy conducting it declares that Rochester could not marry again. Nevertheless, the man explains that his first marriage was due to his father trick of making him marry the woman for her money (Davidoff, 2013). This perfectly shows that once a woman was…