CHARLOTTE BRONTË’S JANE EYRE

Introduction to the author, historical context, and literary considerations

CHARLOTTE BRONTË – A BRIEF HISTORY

• 1816 – Charlotte Brontë born to an impoverished clergyman, Patrick Brontë,

and Maria (she is 1 of 6 children)

Children: Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne

• 1821 – Age 5, Charlotte’s mother, Maria, dies

• 1824 – her father sends Charlotte, Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth to Cowan

Bridge School… Maria & Elizabeth Brontë both die in 1825; Charlotte &

Emily return home

• 1831 – Charlotte (age 14), enrolls as a pupil at Roe Head School

• 1835 – 1838 Charlotte becomes a teacher at Roe Head, but is somewhat

unhappy; she begins to write

• 1839 - 1841 - employed as a governess; unhappy in this role; difficult social

status – not a servant, yet not the same social standing as the employing

family

CHARLOTTE BRONTË – A BRIEF HISTORY CONT.

• 1842 – Charlotte and Emily go to Belgium to continue their education; the

family is threatened by poverty at this time; the sisters begin writing

poetry & publish a selection of poems under the pseudonyms: Acton Bell,

Ellis Bell, and Currer Bell

• 1847 – Charlotte writes Jane Eyre while she cares for her father; it is an

immediate success

• 1848 – Branwell Brontë (the only brother), alcohol & drug addict, dies.

Emily later catches pneumonia, which develops into TB, & dies at age 30

• 1849 – Anne Brontë dies of TB at age 29

• 1852 – Arthur Bell Nichols proposes to Charlotte; she doesn’t accept until

1854

• 1854 – Charlotte becomes pregnant, but becomes ill and weak (varying

speculations of causes…)

• 1855 – Charlotte Brontë dies at age 39 (with unborn child)

Title page to the first edition - 1847

Some tidbits about the novel…

• Published in 1847

• Published initially as an “autobiography” – “edited” by

Currer Bell (Charlotte Brontë’s pseudonym/alias)

• Novel is not a true biography, but was influenced

substantially by Brontë’s life

• Jane Eyre was an instant success & there was much

speculation about the mysterious author – some claimed that

it could not possibly be a woman

• Some reviews were critical, calling it “anti-Christian” and

“coarse” in regard to perceived breaches of decorum and

morality

• In regard to the “Bell” pseudonyms, Brontë later wrote,

“we did not like to declare ourselves women, because…

our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called

‘feminine,’ - we had a vague impression that the

authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.”

THE LITERARY PERIOD:

• Industrial Revolution brings a lot of change to English social structure;

previously only aristocrats and gentry… Victorian Era sees the

emergence of a middle class

• Women were second to men in every social class

• Women’s rights become an increasingly important issue

• If a woman wanted to be “proper” and have a job, her only options were

teacher or governess (experience of Brontë and her title character, Jane

Eyre)

• Rare for a woman to achieve success as a writer

• The idea that women would should intellectually assert themselves went

against the established social order

JANE EYRE AS A SOCIAL COMMENTARY

As you read, be on the lookout for how Brontë depicts and

potentially criticizes these aspects of society:

Gender roles/relations

The English Governess

Social class

Evangelical religion

“Conventionality is not morality” - Charlotte Brontë

SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: GENDER DYNAMICS

• In 19th century England, men & women occupied separate

“spheres”

• men occupied the public (& political) sphere

• women considered better suited to the domestic sphere

• women had limited rights (e.g. education, career, voting, finances,

owning property, etc.) – all belonged to men

• Middle class women educated in accomplishments (playing piano,

singing, drawing, etc.)

• Being accomplished = better marriage material

• Marriage = financial security & social status

• Highly intellectual women were looked down upon & considered

“unfeminine”

• Mostly, women were expected to be meek, virtuous, and self-

abnegating… i.e. be pleasant, get married, have children

• 1840s – at the time CB is writing the novel - women’s rights &

suffrage are an awakening force Bowles’s Drawing Book for Ladies is a manual for

drawing or embroidering flowers. Drawing and

embroidery were part of a conventional female

education in the 18th and 19th centuries.

SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: GENDER DYNAMICS CONT.

• The title character, Jane, expresses emotion, passion, and discontent, thus

“challenging” conventional female propriety

• At one point Jane observes: “Women are supposed to be very calm

generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their

faculties…they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation,

precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow minded in their more

privileged fellow creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to

making puddings and knitting stockings…(129-130)”

• One particularly critical review from the publication, The Mirror, noted,

• “It is the boast of the writer that she knows how to overstep conventional

usages – how in fact to trample upon customs established by our

forefathers… [Jane Eyre] is one of the “many blows… aimed at our

institutions, political and social.”

SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS

• Young middle-class woman from an educated home responsible for

teaching anything from basic reading, writing, & arithmetic to music

& foreign languages, and moral lessons• Responsible for training older girls in accomplishments (to ensure

marriageability)

• Difficult & isolating role – the governess was neither servant nor

family • The Governess — "Ye too, the friendless, yet dependent, that find nor

home nor lover. Sad imprisoned hearts, captive to the net of

circumstance." — Martin Tupper.

• A “low” position for a middle class woman; often viewed as a

degradation, even though she was technically from the same social

level as the family

• Governesses were paid, which put them at the economic level of the

servants (the need to “earn” money was viewed negatively)

• One of few ways an educated, middle class woman could earn an

income without losing her “caste”

• The ability to employ a governess was a mark of social status

• Marriage was often the only way out

SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: CLASS VALUES IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND

• Industrial Revolution brings a lot of change to English social

structure; previously only aristocrats and gentry… Victorian Era

sees the emergence of a middle class

• Victorians were obsessed with class and placing people in

certain categories – there was great stratification between upper

and lower classes

• Many elite believed that members of the lower class were

deserving of their poverty because they failed to improve their

situations

• Jane Eyre largely focuses on a rural setting – Brontë’s criticism

isn’t as direct/obvious as some of her contemporaries (e.g.

Dickens)

• As you read, consider which class Brontë seems to sympathize

with? Who does she condemn? How does she portray different

classes through certain characters?

SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: RELIGION

• Recall that some critics were shocked by the novel and

considered it “anti-Christian” and having “vague creeds” and

“odd sorts of religious notions”

• The Evangelicals "stressed the reality of the 'inner life,'

insisted on the total depravity of humanity (a consequence of

the Fall) and on the importance of the individual's personal

relationship with God and Savior."

• Pay attention to the religious beliefs/views of characters in the

novel…

Consider how religious concepts such as faith, love, spirituality,

sin, morality, etc. are portrayed – and what differing

philosophies are evident? Through which characters? Where

does Jane seem to fall?

What is Brontë attempting to suggest about Christianity

through these characters?

JANE EYRE: GENRE CONSIDERATIONS

• Written during the Victorian Era (1837 – 1901), but the story takes place

earlier and tends to embody more qualities of literature written in the

earlier Romantic Period

• The storyline falls under multiple literary subgenres, including

• The Bildungsroman Novel

• Romantic Literature/Romanticism

• The Gothic Novel

Note that Jane Eyre will not meet every element for each genre – it’s a blend

We will briefly discuss the elements of each genre…

GENRE: THE BILDUNGSROMAN NOVEL

bildung = education + roman = novel (German: a novel of education or formation)

A literary subgenre that focuses on the psychological development & moral growth

of its main character from youth or adolescence to maturity, in the context of a

defined social order, to a point at which the protagonist recognizes his/her place and

role in the world

a “coming of age” novel; a novel of self-discovery

a individual’s search for meaningful existence within society

Protagonist usually gains maturity gradually and with difficulty

GENRE: ROMANTICISM

• ~ late 1700s – mid 1800s (dates may vary)

After the Enlightenment Era & before the Victorian era, but

continues with both

• IN LITERATURE & ART:

FEELINGS, EMOTION, IMAGINATION & INTUITION take

priority over logic & facts (the ideals at the heart of the earlier

Enlightenment Period)

Emphasis on NATURE… Nature is a source of beauty, truth, and

the sublime

Focus on the INDIVIDUAL/individualism

Reflects the importance of SOLITUDE, personal REFLECTION,

& INTROSPECTION

Many writers present a “solitary protagonist who is separated from

society because he has rejected it, or because it has rejected him.”

Interest in the MYSTICAL and SUPERNATURAL

GENRE: GOTHIC LITERATURE

• Gothic novels evolved during the Romantic Period

• These novels often reflect the “dark, irrational side of human nature

…beneath the controlled and ordered surfaces of the conscious mind.”

• SOME GOTHIC ELEMENTS:

Sullen landscape:

Barren countryside (think English moor), rugged mountains, dense

forests, etc.

Ominous weather – storms, lightning, thunder, fog, etc.

Sinister setting:

Decaying mansions or castles with dark dungeons, secret

passages, dark corridors, labyrinths, or winding stairs, spooky

basements or attics, etc.

Supernatural elements: omens, beings, &/or phenomena

Characters: Damsel in distress, villain-hero, villain

EXAMPLES OF 19TH CENTURY GOTHIC LITERATURE…

THE BYRONIC HERO

Character type popularized during the Romantic period by

the famous Lord Byron; a.k.a the Romantic hero

• Characteristics:

An anti-hero – rebels against conventional modes of

behavior/thought in some way; possesses character

traits that are not traditionally heroic

Dark, handsome appearance

Wandering, searching, or brooding behavior

Brilliant, but cynical & self-destructive (a “broody babe

magnet”)

Haunted by some secret sin or crime; sometimes hints

of forbidden love

Heroic in the sense that he appeals to society by

standing apart from society

Superior, but wounded or unrewarded

AS YOU READ…• Note the GENRE ELEMENTS we have discussed…

• Bildungsroman – consider how Jane’s character matures and evolves… what events

contribute to her development?

• Romanticism – how are Romantic ideals manifested in the novel?

• Gothic – what gothic elements are present? How do they contribute to the novel?

• Note CHARACTERIZATION, direct and indirect… consider character

relationships, contrasts, etc.

• Pay attention to LITERARY ELEMENTS and how/why/when they’re used

• Consider how the story is influenced by the narration/POV

• Note SETTING/changes in setting… consider how Jane changes/develops as her

environments change

• Note Brontë’s portrayal of various settings. Consider weather/seasons, descriptions, etc.

(e.g. the school)

• SYMBOLISM – many archetypes!

• Pay close attention to nature, colors, etc.

• SOCIAL COMMENTARY – what broader observations can be made regarding

women’s rights/roles, religion, social class, etc.

SOURCES CONSULTED

• http://www.victorianweb.org

• http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/gaskell/61n_s7.html

• http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.html

• http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html

• https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century

• https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/videos/the-governess

• https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/engl-145-fall2016/2016/09/19/200/

• http://jur.byu.edu/?p=713

• Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period vol. 2A Seventh Ed.

• http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/gothic.html

• http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/B/ByronicHero.htm

• https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=tenor

• The Brontës: Charlotte Bronte and Her Family by Rebecca Fraser