Jane Eyre

The Victorian period saw the emerging idea of feminism -- or rather, to avoid all connotations which that word has taken on вЂ" the equality of men and women. This simple proto-feminism surfaced quite slowly, mostly through literature and other forms of public discussion. The Quakers were the most active group purporting equality, however they were a small group and, for the most part, not influential, except as a novelty to the greater population.In 1966, R.B. Martin stated that Jane Eyre was the first major feminist novel, "although there is not a hint in the book of any desire for political, legal, educational, or even intellectual equality between the sexes." Rather, Martin supports the idea that Jane (BrontÐ"«) merely wants recognition that both sexes are similar in "heart and spirit." Nowhere in the novel is this sentiment more obvious than in the passage in chapter 23, when Jane responds to Rochester's callous and indirect proposal:

Do you think I am an automaton? a machine without feelings?...Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong вЂ" I have as much soul as you, вЂ" and full as much heart...I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh; вЂ" it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal, вЂ" as we are (252)

A clearer voicing of a plea for simple human equality could hardly be imagined.

What makes Jane's speech so easy to sympathize with is BrontÐ"«'s adept use of the first person point of view. Often, when an author wishes to further his or her own cause, the identity of the speaker can either be lost in the course of an ideological tirade, or never even be established outside of the plot. What