Jane Eyre

When taking into account feministic views in the book, Jane Eyre, it is important to connect with the time period to accurately understand the point of view the author is trying to express. The Victorian Era focuses on telling a story through a dramatic monologue. Their focus is to reveal aspects of human psychology and through Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte does so by showing Jane grow up and connect her with the importance of the changing views of children into adults in the Victorian Era. In relation to A Room of One's Own and The Subjection of Women, there are feministic views present throughout both poems but in Jane Eyre the feministic theme is challenged by Jane because she wants to overcome the obstacles in her life, which Bronte does an excellent job of expressing because she too went through a lot of the same experiences and can express her true feelings through this novel.

This novel takes place in England where in that time period the social classes were very strict, and if you were a women, well good luck. Although Jane has manners and is sophisticated she is still treated like a mere peasant because she does not have the family wealth. An example of a burden of the strict social classes is that although Jane may be in love with Rochester she is not nearly close to his social class, so therefore, the thought of marriage was unspeakable. Jane finally speaks out her feelings in Chapter 23 where she yells at Rochester and tells him that although she may not have the looks and the wealth she still has emotions. If she was as rich and had looks like him it would have been just as hard for him to leave her as it is for her to leave him. At the end she does end up marrying Rochester and some people think that is stereotypical of a woman to go crawling back to the men. And also some people think that goes against feministic views. But the catch here is that if Jane had not inherited that money from her uncle there would have been no possible way for the marriage.

In the Victorian Era sense of emotion is important and here in Jane Eyre, although you may not always get a sense of it because of Jane's rough past, she is constantly faced with the decision of whether to conform to the norm and marry into wealth even if she does not love the man, or wait patiently for the man she truly is in love with. Females are always connected with love, if you are talking about society back then or even today, what changes are the values that are considered important. Jane takes a lot of risks most women would never take when dealing with the complications of relationships. She tells Rochester she loves him first which is a huge step for any women since that is not typical because it's such a strong feeling. Jane expresses inner strength and desire when she does this. The saying is so strong that it's only right for the man to say it usually because women were thought to be less educated.

The second example of her strong feelings of love is when she takes another huge risk when she turns down the marriage with St. John. Here she takes the chance of that being her only proposal or chance to have a husband and start a family, which was imperative in that time period. Most women would succumb to him because they would be afraid they wouldn't be offered anything else.

The third example that she really shows compassion is when she goes back to Rochester although he is crippled and blind. Although he is a different man now she still loves him for the way he is. She is not concerned with the way he looks or if he can't see anymore. To compare this with today's society it is very rare for a women to not value wealth because today that is what is "considered" important. In relevance to back then social status was considered important, and still is now, and for a female to want to marry someone who is not wealthy and doesn't look handsome shows her true love for that man. This is the love that Jane shows for Rochester. Ultimately at the end of the book Jane expresses this love and happiness by saying:

I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest- blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine. No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am: ever more absolutely bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. I know no weariness of my Edward's society: he knows none of mine, any more than we do of the pulsation of the heart that beats in our separate bosoms; consequently, we are ever