Gender, Madness and Class in Jane Eyre - Research Paper Example

? Gender, Madness and in Jane Eyre In her novel Jane Eyre, published under a male pseudonym Currer Bell, Charlotte Bronte uses plot and form compositions used by her male contemporaries to transmit the reality with which all women of her era had to struggle with. In many aspects, her protagonist’s fate denotes a dream of many 19th century women who desired to be self-sufficient, who dreamt of the power to be the maker’s of their own life. Unfortunately, most of them got lost on this path, because the oppressive, male dominated Victorian England did not take kindly to liberated women and found any and every excuse to label them insane on the grounds of their behavior which did not comply with the generally accepted dogma of how women of certain class were to behave. Thus, through the use of what was then known as a typically masculine form of expression, Bronte presented her readers with a novel which spoke about all these things: gender roles, class issues and the resulting “madness.” Female writers of the 19th century were forced to create in isolation and hide their writing activities. This mostly male profession of a writer deemed women who would make an attempt at writing “unsexed” (Gilbert – Gubar 51) and sometimes, even insane, leading them to feel alienated: Eighteen and nineteen century foremothers struggled in isolation that felt like illness, alienation that felt like madness, obscurity that felt like paralysis to overcome the anxiety of authorship that was endemic to their literary subculture. (Gilbert – Gubar 51) Thus, they sometimes invented mad heroines who served not only as a counterpart to their main protagonist, but who also had the role of being “the author’s double” (Gilbert – Gubar 78), a figure who symbolized women’s rebellion, anxiety and rage. This was their sole outlet, their means of escape from the imposed gender differentiated reality. In addition, madness can is usually depicted as a state, over which one has no control, just like anger. This is why female writers were “projecting their rebellious impulses not into their heroines, but into mad or monstrous women” (Gilbert – Gubar 78), who in choosing the lesser of the two evils, chose madness over suppression. The most obvious reference to madness in Jane Eyre is of course, Bertha Mason, the locked secret of Rochester’s life: "That is my wife," said he. "Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know — such are the endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have" (laying his hand on my shoulder): "this young girl, who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon. I wanted her just as a change from this fierce ragout. Wood and Briggs, look at the difference! Compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder — this face with that mask — this form with that bulk; then judge me, priest of the gospel and man of the law, and remember, with that judgment ye judge and ye shall be judged. Off with you now. I must shut up my prize." (Bronte 339) Bertha is the symbolic representation of the trapped Victorian wife, who is nothing more but a plaything and a doll for public showing. She has no business going out, unless it is at her husband’s request, but is only to stay inside and do “womanly” things. She was once a free spirited woman, who now sits behind a lock and key, shamefully hidden from the eyes of the world. Furthermore, her husband’s behavior is completely justified in the eyes of the society, because Bertha apparently poses a threat to others. Walter Bernhart finds it interesting to notice that Bertha’s appearance in pantomime passages shows very little madness or confusion as she mainly laments about her captivity, and because her speeches reveal no madness, it is hard to see why exactly she poses a threat (326). It appears that her being Creole and her experiences in the West Indies deem her sexuality too open and unrestrained. It is exactly this that frightens the Victorian man: a woman of liberated sexuality, because he loses the power over her and is not the dominant one, something that was a requisite in a Victorian household. In addition, Bertha represents the outward manifestation of Jane’s inward state of mind: “just as the middle class, white Jane Eyre cries for her freedom, she hears the cries from the attic of the “mad” Mrs Rochester” (Evans 62). While Bertha, considered the madwoman, has no need for any restraint, it is Jane who constantly has to keep reevaluating her feelings and desires. Bronte writes what is generally accepted by the Victorian society, but at the same time, her work carries within itself a deeper meaning. Her protagonist Jane differs greatly from for example, Richardson’s Pamela, who reaches a higher social position in marrying her master due to her unbroken virtue. Because, the life Jane choose is one of work and modesty, but nevertheless, hers and independent, but still, as a governess, she is “a threat and a scaring memento to the young middle class woman” (Braesel 291). She occupies the position in between, an undesirable social limbo. She is not a part of the family due to her financial position, though in her manners and education she is their equal, and yet, she is neither a part of the servants’ quarters, due to the fact that she was so painfully above them. She is a stark contrast to Blanche Ingram, a beautiful socialite who shines in stunning dresses and enjoys a superior life style, but who is obliged to marry a rich husband of high social ranking (Braesel 291). She poses a serious threat to the conventional Victorian household, being young, beautiful and readily available, a highly unfavorable position that might result in her being labeled insane, which is obviously the opinion of Blanche Ingram on governesses. Even in the beginning of her employment, it is obvious that Jane is not a typical woman. She is being referred to as a “mad cat” and is reproached for her “shocking conduct” (Bronte 15). When she is to be punished at the red room, she surprises even herself: “I resisted all the way, a new thing for me… I felt resolved, in my desperation, to all lengths” (Bronte 15). Jane faints in the horrors of the red room, but nonetheless, her stay in it leaves an indelible mark on her consciousness, which symbolizes her desire for a “disciplined and subdued character” (Bronte 100). However, all she manages to do is turn her anger inwards which is, as was already mentioned, an upside down projection of Bertha’s rage. While the rage of one boils underneath the surface, the rage of the other turns objects to ashes. The red room symbolizes what she has to overcome to advance, because if she is not strong enough, the madness will consume her and she will stay locked up forever, just like Bertha. Consequently, one is led to deduce that women, especially those of lower class, have a tendency to step out of the boundaries prescribed by Victorian society and thus, be labeled inadequate and undesirable members of society who are to be shunned in disgrace. But, if one turns one’s attention to the behavior of Edward Rochester, which is excused only due to his class and gender, the oddity of his behavior is more than evident. His temper tends to be unpredictable and dangerous, and he shuts his wife in a living grave. His behavior is shocking, to say the least. Yet, no one seems to be questioning his decisions and he continues to be regarded as a respected and valuable member of society. In explaining the events surrounding his wife to Jane, he uses the “operatic, fairy tale route and presents her – in more or less simplistic terms – as a representative of evil” (Bernhart 327). In addition to possessing what were usually considered female traits of unpredictability and dangerous behavior, he also suffers from melancholy, which he claims is not innate, but rather a result of his life with Bertha. His actions as well as his odd behavior can easily put him right next to the previously mentioned mad women. He, too, has characteristics of a person with a weak psyche, whose only answer to problems is to “sweep them under the carpet” instead of solve them and move on. He begins with lacking many traits that make him a true gentleman and worthy of the position he enjoys, but as the novel progresses his spiritual rebirth becomes complete. The novel offers a plethora of symbolic imagery buttressing the idea of female madness, the strongest of which is the moon. Before that fateful night of leaving Thornfield, Jane dreams of a moon that “broke forth as never moon yet burst from cloud” (Bronte 367). Also, while Jane is leaving Thronfield, “the starry night contributes to set off the strikingly white dress and veil Jane is wearing, metonymic of her cancelled wedding the previous day” (Ferreira 306). As the sun’s opposing force, the moon is symbolic of the dark side of the human psyche, and it is in this evocative, surreal landscape that Jane flees through, not unlike Hamlet’s Ofelia running to her doom. But, it is apparent that the moon appears in every instance when Jane’s life is to take on a new direction and it is necessary for her to make difficult decisions. The moon is evocative of her distinction from other women, of her “madness” to make decisions that do not comply with the society’s rules, but with the rules of her own heart. She does not want to blend in and be the sun, which according to a critic Eleanor Ty is in a “hierarchized opposition” to the moon, that favors the sun as the privileged term (103). Another important instance of symbol is Rochester’s house, which harbors dangerous secrets, resembling Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” where the house influences its characters’ mode of conduct and eventually, the cracked house that’s symbolic of the mind-body dichotomy of the two sibling inhabitants, destroys itself and its dwellers. Equally, Rochester’s house can be perceived as a place of unhealthy influence on a young, well mannered, chaste woman of the 19th century, even up to such an extent as to make her go insane. This gothic house is added as a detail to make the events taking place in it even more mysterious and unnerving, and to put the sanity of the female protagonist even more in question. It is plain that the issue of female sexuality was a taboo topic, especially for a lady to discuss it, which is why female writers did not discuss this subject directly, but had to resort to creative symbolism. Bronte imaginatively reflects the desire of women to elevate their position, liberate themselves from the oppressive patriarchal system and create their own social and gender roles. Some, like Jane, managed to achieve their goals, while others like Bertha who were not fortunate enough, were forced to stay forever locked up in a tower, playing mad princesses. References: Bernhart, Walter. “Myth-Making Opera: David Malouf and Michael Berkeley’s Jane Eyre.” A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and Intermedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre. Eds. Margarete Rubik and Elke Mettinger-Schartmann. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi B. V., 2007. Print. Braesel, Michaela. “Jane Eyre Illustrated.” A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and Intermedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre. Eds. Margarete Rubik and Elke Mettinger-Schartmann. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi B. V., 2007. Print. Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2006. Print. Evans, Mary. Introducing Contemporary Feminist Thought. Cornwall: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1997. Print. Ferreira, Aline. “Paula Rego’s Visual Adaptations of Jane Eyre.” A Breath of Fresh Eyre: Intertextual and Intermedial Reworkings of Jane Eyre. Eds. Margarete Rubik and Elke Mettinger-Schartmann. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi B. V., 2007. Print. Gilbert, Susan and Sandra Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984. Print. Ty, Eleanor. “Desire and Temptation: Dialogism and the Carnivalesque in Category Romances.” A Dialogue of Voices: Feminist Literary Theory and Bakhtin. Eds. Karen Hohne and Helen Wussow. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994. Print. Read More