Social Class in Jane Eyre
LifeStyle
Meeting Expectations
Mr Rochester
- Defies social norms
- Wishes to marry Jane
Blanche Ingram
- Dull personality
- Materialistic
- Wealthy
Life
- Mr. Edward Rochester
- Lives up to his status
- Uses his money whenever and however he wants
- St. John Rivers
- Lower class than Rochester
- Does not get the pleasure of spending his money like Rochester
Relationships
- Mr. Edward Rochester and Blanche Ingram
- They were both in the same class
- Did not love eachother
- Mr. Edward Rochester and Bertha Mason
- Married eachother because they could maintain their social status and keep their wealth
How does social class affect Rochester's lifestyle?
Does the novel criticize or reinforce Victorian social prejudices?
How does the contrast between Blanche and Jane furthur develop the theme of social class?
Quote
“You must see the carriage, Jane, and tell me if you don’t think it will suit Mrs. Rochester exactly.” (Bronte 263)
I saw he was going to marry her, for family, perhaps political reasons; because her rank and connexions suited him; I felt he had not given her his love, and that her qualifications were ill adapted to win from him that treasure. This was the point—this was where the nerve was touched and teazed—this was where the fever was sustained and fed: she could not charm him. (Bronte 174-175)
Why does Jane want to gain access to her inheritance before she marries Rochester?
Question
Why do you think Rochester feels the need to follow his status instead of following his heart?
How do you think social class affects Jane’s relationships throughout the novel?
Thesis
Jane Eyre Hangman
- Divided into 2 teams
- Ask questions throughout each subtopic
- There will be FOUR questions per topic
- The that team gives the most thought provoking answer gets to pick a letter that helps them solve the hangman puzzle
- Winning team gets a prize!!
Morals
Values
- Jane: doesn't have an overall opinion based on social class
- The Upper Class Characters
- Status
- Wealth
- Family
- Relationships
- Middle/Lower Class:
- Compassion
- Kindness
- Higher class: the power to look down on others; narcassistic
- Reed family and Miss Abbot
- Middle/Lower class: treats people like family; acceptance
- The Rivers family, Miss Temple, Helen Burns, etc.
The Social classes present in the Victorian Era influence Charlotte Bronte to criticize society’s hierarchy, and this is evident in Jane Eyre as characters must meet expectations and maintain an appropriate lifestyle according to social structure.
Quote
"But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it and foretold that I should do it. I wrestled with my own resolution: I wanted to be weak that I might avoid the awful passage of further suffering I saw laid out for me; and Conscience, turned tyrant, held Passion by the throat, told her tauntingly, she had yet but dipped her dainty foot in the slough, and swore that with that arm of iron he would thrust her down to unsounded depths of agony." (Bronte 282-283)
Question
Question
How has the morals in Jane Eyre's Victorian society changed over time, when compared to our present day society?
Do you think the values presented in Jane Eyre accurately represent the Victorian society at that time?
Writing Style
Jane Eyre
- Bronte portrays a different view on class
- Jane: socially ambiguous and does not remain within one class
- She does not follow the traditional character of protagonist; wealthy, high status, etc.
- Bronte does not follow the "expectations" - Jane is not in a high class society
Quote
"You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us." (Bronte 8)
Warped Class
- Author makes the rich but cruel characters eventually pay for what they have done
- Spoken by John Reed, shows how Jane started off as a desolate orphan
Writing Style Cont'd
- Bronte also stresses importance of character over social class
- Jane's "rich" relatives -the Reeds- are shown as antagonists
- This shows how status does not put you above justice
- Many of Jane's loved ones are lower class: Helen Burns, Bessie, etc.
- Shows her nonchalance towards status/wealth
Quote
[To Mrs Reed]
"I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to visit you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty." (Bronte 29)
Quotes Cont'd
How does Jane's early childhood experiences influence her view on social class as an adult?
[About Helen]
"I never tired of Helen Burns; nor ever ceased to cherish for her a sentiment of attachment, as strong, tender, and respectful as any that ever animated my heart. How could it be otherwise, when Helen, at all times and under all circumstances, evinced for me a quiet and faithful friendship, which ill-humour never soured, nor irritation never troubled? " (Bronte 80)
Quote
- Examples include: John Reed and Mr. Brocklehurst
Why do you think Bronte uses such a revolutionary view on classism in the novel Jane Eyre?
He got into debt and into jail: his mother helped him out twice, but as soon as he was free he returned to his old companions and habits. His head was not strong: the knaves he lived amongst fooled him beyond anything I ever heard. He came down to Gateshead about three weeks ago and wanted missis to give up all to him. Missis refused: her means have long been much reduced by his extravagance; so he went back again, and the next news was that he was dead. How he died, God knows!--they say he killed himself. (Bronte 209)
Victorian Era
Conclusion
Prompt
- Education is very imporant
Within Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte mocks the social class system in the Victorian era, making the characters fulfill the standards of their class, and live according to their society.
How do you think the Victorian audience might have reacted towards Jane Eyre and its ambiguous social structure?
Mid- Nineteenth century England was a time of great change as the old aristocracy and gentry were being challenged by a new elite made wealthy by the industrial revolution.
- Satirical/ Mockery version of social classes present in Bronte's story
Social Unrest
- Politics: Karl Marx - Marxism, Communisim, Materialism, and Socialism
- Religion: Charles Darwin "On the Origin of Species" - Scientific and evoultionary ideas produced
- British Imperalisim began
- Writers: Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell), Charles, Dickens, etc. - had the influence of their time period
How do you see social class in Jane Eyre?
By: Niya, TingTing, Elizabeth, and Pauline