The role of 19th century women in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Research Paper Example

Women in the 19th Century Manifested through the Life of Jane Eyre Introduction The novel en d Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte using her pen name Currer Bell, proffered the journey through various stages of personal development of Jane, from childhood up to the time she married the man she loved. Melani (2005) provided an apt background on the life of Bronte, who, together with her two sisters, realized that the role of women during their time, in the 19th century, focused on the popular image: “’the Angel in the House,’ who was expected to be devoted and submissive to her husband.

The Angel was passive and powerless, meek, charming, graceful, sympathetic, self-sacrificing, pious, and above all—pure” (Melani, par. 2). Desperate to put their writing talents to effective use, the sisters used pseudonyms “to hide their sex when they published their poems and novels. They chose names which were not obviously masculine: Acton Bell (Anne Bronte), Currer Bell (Charlotte Bronte), and Ellis Bell (Emily Bronte)” (Melani, par. 3). The research hereby aims to present a critical appraisal of the role of 19th century women in the novel through one’s personal perspectives and through the points of views of various scholars who analyzed this literary work.

Critical Review The prejudice and restrictions faced by women during their times provided the impetus for Bronte to relate the burning desire to assume expanded and challenging roles that encourage the use and enhancement of women’s skills beyond the home. The character of Jane Eyre, classified as a round character and a protagonist, focused on “the directness, even bluntness, of the young heroine's voice. Here is no prissy little-girl sensibility, but a startlingly independent, even skeptical perspective” (Oates, par. 4) – surprisingly unexpected to stem forth from a woman in 1847, the year the novel was written.

As Rosengarten averred, the effectiveness of the novel to ignite the readers’ emotions and solicit diverse reactions from the time it was published until contemporary generation could only be justified and validated through a closer examination of the narrator’s (Jane, speaking in the first person point of view) parallel experiences (Rosengarten, par. 1). Likewise, Rosengarten revealed the strength in Jane’s character and her “search for happiness as a kind of spiritual journey in which she must overcome a series of trials and obstacles” (Rosengarten, par. 6) that enabled her to emerge victorious.

Navarre’s analysis of the novel used Pamela Regis’ eight classic elements to determine its worth to be categorized as a romantic novel (Navarre, par. 1). Regis’ A Natural History of the Romance Novel identified elements that were verified to be present in Bronte’s Jane Eyre as she concluded that “the modern romance reader is fully engaged by the romance between Jane and Rochester, and fully satisfied with its happily-ever-after resolution” (Navarre, par. 13). But more than depicting the novel as a romance genre, the struggles of Jane from childhood abuse and cruelty from the hands of her auntie and cousins to her struggles to learn, become a teacher, a governess and an instrumental member of society has proven that women, during their time, felt the need to express more prominent roles than being typecast as homemakers and wives.

Conclusion The novel Jane Eyre had controversially received diverse reviews, especially during the time when women’s roles have been traditionally confined to tending household chores, being a devoted wife and mother. Bronte’s bold assertion that “women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a constraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer" (Oates, par. 5) justified her writing.

The acclaim and notoriety it has received through the years make it an exemplary novel worth reading. Works Cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Smith, Elder & Co., Cornhill. 1847. Print. Melani, Lilia. Charlotte Bronte: “Jane Eyre”. 29 March 2005. Web. 06 June 2011. < http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/bronte.html> Navarre, Laura. A Critical Analysis of JANE EYRE and its Deviations from the Modern Romance Novel. 26 March 2010. Web. 07 June 2011. Oates, Joyce Carol. Declaration of Independence.

29 September 1997. Web. 08 June 2011. < http://www.salon.com/sept97/oates970929.html> Regis, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2007. Print. Rosengarten, Herbert J. Teaching “Jane Eyre”. 12 June 2002. Web. 08 June 2011. < http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/rosengarten.html>