As an adult, Jane comes to certain realizations about her life and the world in which she lives. First she realizes that men and women are basically the same in that "women feel just as men feel" (117) and it is "thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex"(117). Jane is aware of this fact but there is little outside her own mind that she can do about it. It should come as no surprise that Jane hears Bertha's outburst after conceiving such unconventional thoughts. Here we can see how the two women are living parallel lives in that they are both strong women that do not wish to be held back by the constraints of a male-dominated world. Nina Auerbach maintains this idea, noting how Thornfield and Rochester share many features that are a "reflection of Jane's inner world" (Auerbach 49). When a conflict arises with either of these subjects, one of these two characters will act. If these characters are indeed living in parallel universes, then Bertha's uninhibited fervor is the result of "Jane's own fire" (Auerbach 49). While a grown up Jane would never step out of line, a younger Jane in the red reacted differently. Here we can see how Bertha comes to reflect Jane's world early in her life. Jane even senses this when she sees her reflection in a mirror. She says of the one she sees:
All looked colder and darker in the visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit. I thought it like one of the tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp. (9)
Here we see that Bronte is preparing us (and Jane) for the turbulent events that will occur in her life. This also lets us know that Jane has this tumultuous side to her personality. In fact, we know that Jane is fiercely independent for her time. Jane retains her composure through most of the novel but it is important to note that the women are different in their ability to act independently. Jane can and...
Jane Eyre: 1996 Movie Assessments The novel Jane Eyre ends, not with a reference to the love of Jane and Rochester, but to Jane's cousin St. John River. Jane's distant cousin is a missionary who has exorcized his passion for a worthless woman from his heart and stripped himself clean of all worldly desires in the pursuit of his faith. He dies, a faithful man in a far-off godless land, filled
1847, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is structured like a puzzle. The title page reads Jane Eyre: An Autobiography but the work is credited to Currer Bell, an apparently male pseudonym. The author's involvement with the text is therefore signposted from the moment we open the book -- what does it mean for a work to be described as an "autobiography" but ascribed to a different writer? Obviously an autobiography
Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre have captured the imagination of successive generations of critics, from the time they were published till today. Widely acclaimed, these two novels continue to literally mesmerize scholars as the harbingers of a unique literary genre of romance in a gothic drama setting, which is related with harsh vitalism and lack of moral zeal. More than their technical aspects, however, a review of the critical literature on
' "You should hear mama on the chapter of governesses: Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen at least in our day; half of them detestable and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi -- were they not, mama?" says the beautiful Blanche Ingram, with whom Mr. Rochester is rumored to be in love (Bronte 179). Instead, Rochester says chooses Jane for her character. However, there is always
Did Bertha not subscribe to the "cult of true womanhood" in which a real woman was believed to be without any sexual feelings, to be responsible for the man's sexual behavior, to be religious, obedient to her husband, and to provide a serene haven for him? After all, the man had to do business in a dangerous and corrupt world and needed rest and regeneration in a serene and
Bronte and Rhys An Extended Conversation Most conversations we hold in person, sitting next to another as we travel on a train to an unknown or familiar destination, or as we enjoy a coffee break at work, or wait at a busy corner for the light to turn green. And then there are long-distance conversations, some by phone, others by instant message or email. And still others through more literary methods, with
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