Book Review
Understanding Gender Relations in Jane Eyre
Title of the book: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Year of publication: 1847
Publisher: Smith, Elder & Co. London
If you’re a passionate reader, I’m sure you have not missed the title of Jane Eyre from one of the most prominent books of the Victorian Era. This gothic romance novel was written by Charlotte Brontë, who wrote under the pseudonym, Currer Bell. Since the Victorian Era is known for the specified boundaries between the private and public spheres, Brontë was compelled to write under a false name. Yet her novel stood in bold opposition to the same. The story follows a young orphan, Jane Eyre who is abused by her cruel aunt and eventually sent to Lowood School. In the school, she matures from a timid student to a much loved teacher. Later, she becomes a governess to a French girl, Adele, in the Thornfield Hall and finds herself falling in love with her employer, Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester. However, the romance is more complicated as a dark past haunts the couple.
What fascinates me the most about the novel is the protagonist’s passion for freedom, the relentless struggle to establish herself independent of all shackles of masculinity. Given her past, she is also in constant search to be loved. But she places dignity above love and that is why Jane refuses to marry Rochester till the troubles of his past are solved. Mr. Brocklehurst, St. John and Mr. Rochester are revealed to support the traditional belief of male chauvinism. For a woman to want freedom this passionately and description of the prime male characters, was very unique to the existing societal norms. This proves why Brontë chose to write under a false name. In the context of tensions regarding religion in the nineteenth century, Brontë also highlights the significance of Catholic Church by portraying the protagonist to be devout Catholic. That she rises from a state of absolute poverty to a state of considerable wealth after inheriting her uncle’s money, is also an example of the progress she makes in the social hierarchy. Nevertheless, Brontë prioritises virtues of humanity first before class through the example of Rochester, a wealthy man courting a governess, whose personality leaves him in awe. The most gothic element in the novel is that of Bertha Mason (let’s not reveal who she is!), whose image is very supernatural.
Regardless of these countless themes, Jane Eyre stands a major source of inspiration for the young women of the time. It brings out the innermost desires of a typical Victorian woman and perhaps, even Brontë’s own wishes.
In December 1836, Brontë wrote to the Poet Laureate Robert Southey asking him to encourage her career as a poet. Southey replied, famously, that “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.” By 1850, Brontë and her sisters proved this statement wrong as they all became eminent figures in the English literary circles.
