In the Victorian Era, like many other time periods (including modern day), women have been dominated and suppressed by the patriarchal society in which they live. Women of the time had few roles which were considered acceptable by the general public. In Jane Eyre’s Quest for Truth and Identity, Inge explains how a woman’s goal in life was to marry a man and bear children, “happily confined to the home” (Inge 14). As an orphan, Jane is given even fewer options, either becoming a governess or a beggar on the streets. Jane rejected her fate, however, and went on to make her own path. In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, Jane resists the temptation to succumb to the different archetypes society has laid out for her, instead creating her own unique identity.
Along her journey, Jane meets many different people who try to define her by their own terms. One of the first obstacles Jane must overcome in her journey for independence is Mr. Brocklehurst and his school, Lowood. Jane, as well as the other girls going to the school, are meant to become pious women, grateful for the school and its teaching of orphans and other poor folk, in order to become a governess. Jane soon feels oppressed in this role, noting that she was “surrounded with walls so high as to exclude every glimpse of prospect” (Bronte 46). Lowood is described as a prison, with dreams and potential seemingly always out of reach. Mr. Brocklehurst’s idea of organized religion, which was forced upon the students, was unappealing to Jane. Instead of being called “Worse than many a little heathen” or similar names by those who want her to follow Christianity, Jane creates her own religious path (Bronte 63). Jane is very religious, but she worships in her own way, not how the church, or Mr. Brocklehurst, wants her to.
Mr. Edward Rochester, the owner of Thornfield, is one of the many male characters who try to define Jane. While at the manor, Jane feels trapped in her role as a governess. She continuously “walks along the corridor of the third storey, backwards and forwards”, like a caged animal (Bronte 104). Words such as “restless” and agitated” are also used in the passage to emphasize the feeling of captivity.
Mr. Rochester does not help with these feelings, making her feel like an unequal, albeit unintentionally. When Rochester asks Jane, “You never felt jealousy, did you, Miss Eyre? Of course not: I need not ask you; because you never felt love” It shows how he feels superior to Jane due to his experience, thereby making him wiser (Bronte 134). Rochester also refers to her as his “little friend”, belittling her and reminding Jane of her status as nothing more than a servant (Bronte 205). Jane addresses this imbalance, saying that he thinks her an “automaton- a machine without feelings” (Bronte 238). Rochester is incapable of realizing that she is a human as well, not an object that will do whatever he wishes.
Even after Rochester and Jane become engaged, he treats her more like an object, which Inge describes as “coercing her into conformity to traditional concepts of female beauty by dressing her elaborately” (Inge 16). Rochester wishes to turn her into just another housewife, meant to look pretty and obey him. When Jane leaves Thornfield, she encounters even more people who wish to oppress her and her own identity.
Once Jane leaves and heads to the Moor House, she encounters another man attempting to define her identity for her. St. John’s marriage proposal proves to be tempting for Jane, offering her an opportunity to do good work as a missionary’s wife. He attempts to convince Jane to accept his proposal by saying, “You are formed for labor, not for love. A missionary’s wife you must- shall be… I claim you- not for my pleasure but for my sovereign’s service” (Bronte 376). St.John’s argument reveals his view of Jane as an inferior companion, not an independent woman. His dominant nature turns Jane away from him, unable to sacrifice love and passion for what St.John wants her to be. She describes him as “beautiful in their harmony, strangely formidable in their still severity; at his brow, commanding but not open” (Bronte 380). Her description of him is filled with contrast in order to show the inner struggle within herself over him. Although he was conventionally more attractive and kind, his domineering nature was too much for her. Jane notes that he wanted a wife who “Accommodates quietly to his manhood” and “was at his side always, and always restrained, and always checked” (Bronte 382). This is unappealing to Jane, of course, who would rather be independent.
When Jane finally rejects St. John, he is both surprised and extremely unhappy. He could not fathom that she would say no to him, and would rather be alone. Jane realizes that, “He had not imagined that a woman would dare to speak so to a man. For me, I felt at home in this sort of discourse” (Bronte 351). This shows the sense of entitlement St. John, as well as all men felt at the time. Like other characters in the novel, he attempted to control Jane, only to get upset when she escaped the oppression he was forcing on to her.
It is not until Jane receives her uncle’s fortune that she is able to feel secure in her own identity. She returns to Rochester not as his child’s governess, but as his equal. She knows that she may only be his mistress, yet she still returns to him by her own choice. The decision to start the epilogue with the words, “Reader, I married him” was intended by the author (Bronte 419). With Jane taking the active voice in announcing their marriage, it shows that she has a much higher degree of power than before. If Bronte had decided to instead write “He married me”, then it would show that Mr. Rochester still has a hold over Jane. She is finally confident enough to say, “I am my husband’s life as he is mine” (Bronte 420). They finally reach a balance in the relationship that they could not achieve before. Jane is now aware of the feat she has achieved, noting that “no woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am”, showing how no power is held over the other in the relationship (Bronte 421). It is in this way that Bronte shows that Jane has finally become truly independent and content in her life.
Throughout the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte depicts the challenge many women faced during the Victorian Era. A woman either followed the generic path that was already laid out for her, or go in a different direction and face shame and ostracization from the rest of the society. The pressures of society was a “direct threat to the integrity of [one’s] true self” (Inge 16). Jane had the courage and strength to go against the norm, not falling into the archetypes expected of her like other characters such as Blanche Ingram. Although this novel did take place in the 19th century, these archetypes are still very much present in the modern day. No matter how hard they try to push back, it seems that this male dominant society will always get in the way of women’s freedom, independence, and full potential. But it is up to women to break this boundary between men and women, and fight for equality, just as Jane Eyre does throughout her life.