Gender in Jane Eyre

Men

A Victorian gentleman meant that they did not need to work in order to earn money or perform any manual labour in order to live and survive. Also, this type of man was classified by owning their own land and having a particularly generous income.

He has a good reputation in his work place and with the people he interacts with and he was extremely well presented. Most likely did not have a hair out of place, his presentation was always to be kept at the upmost of appearances and regarded as extremely important. Not only to himself but to all of those who beheld his gentlemanlike manner and appearance.

The ideal Victorian male should have certain characteristics such as honor, loyalty, intelligence, moral uprightness and it certainly doesn't hurt to have a good income.

Women

Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere.

The only duty cast upon a Victorian woman was to keep her husband happy and raise her children for which they groomed right from their childhood days. The rights which the women enjoyed were similar to those which were enjoyed by young children whereby they were not allowed to vote, sue or even own property.

Women

Bronte's Veiw

Despite the rebellious spirit flowing through Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte was not overtly radical in her social views. Whilst she approved of arguments for women's rights to work (she herself worked as a teacher - the only occupation deemed respectable for a women with no family - and had hated it), she didn't believe they should vote and felt feminist protestors were lacking in 'heart.'

In the novel Jane makes a passionate plea for women to be allowed to use their talents, and not be confined at home 'making puddings and knitting stocking...playing on the piano and embroidering bags.'

Bronte's Veiw

John Reed

John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; [. . .] large and stout for his age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin; thick lineaments in a spacious visage, heavy limbs and large extremities. He gorged himself habitually at table, which made him bilious and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks. [Jane Eyre Vol. 1, 4]

Mr Brocklehurst

When we first meet Brocklehurst, we aren't even presented with a man. We are given a statue. "I looked up at Ðark black pillar!-such, at least, appeared to me, at first sight, the straight, narrow, sable-clad shape standing erect on the rug: the grim face at the top was like a carved mask, placed above the shaft by way of capital" (Bronte 34).

Mr Brocklehurst

'I have a little boy younger than you, who knows 6 psalms by heart' - Brocklehurst compares Jane to his son saying he's superior and then declares Jane has a wicked heart.

'and you girls probably worshiped him as a convent full of religiousness would worship their director'

Mr Rochester holds the belief that all the girls must've worshiped the Mr Brocklehurst as he was a man.

(Unlike the long-suffering heroines in Bronte's early writings, who pine away for the dashing, immoral men of authority, Jane demands equality and respect: 'Do you think' she demands of Rochester, 'I am an automaton? - a machine without feelings?' She speaks to him as one spirit to another, 'equal - as we are' (Ch. 23).

Furthermore feministic parallels have been shown between the angry child in the red room, and the mad wife confined to the attic, both being passionate forms of womanhood. Such images of vigour and fire run through the novel, symbolised most forcibly in the fire that burns down Thornfield.

'The Little Sprite'

The Ending...

Jane can always match him blow for blow when they argue; their witty banter brings both characters alive, develops their mutual respect. Fate leaves him blind, forcing his vulnerability and humility. Jane returning brings him great pleasure, and he accepts her sole help, valuing her with love, as an equal.

The Ending