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Thesis: The changing society of the 19th century reflects the differences between the hierarchy in England and the social classes presented in Jane Eyre during the Victorian Era, through social unrest, unequal distribution of wealth, and status based relationships.

...you are of middle class!

...you are of high class!

...you are of low class!

If you received a...

Queen or Jack...

10 or Below...

King ...

Media Component - Pin the Crown on the Queen

How to PLay

Cards will be distributed that will represent what class you will belong in. There will be a representative chosen by their assigned group. The player is given a crown and is blindfolded. The screen will show alternating pictures of the Queen and a peasant. The player then pins the crown, unaware of who he/she has put the crown on. If you pin the crown correctly on the Queen, you win.

In Relation to Jane Eyre

People do not choose to be born in a certain class. The player is blindfolded which shows the unfairness of the society. In Jane Eyre, those who are of higher class have more advantages than those of a lower class. Within the game different rules apply to each group, demonstrating the inequality in Victorian society.

A depiction of a London Corresponding Society meeting at Spa Fields, 1795

The Spa Fields Riots

Relation to Jane Eyre

  • After the Napoleonic War in France which ended 1815 people were left with low wages, high taxes and rising food costs.
  • Radicals lobbied the government for reform.
  • Those in power refused to make any changes.
  • In December 1816, protesters organized a meeting in Spa Fields, near London.
  • Protesters broke into a gunsmith's shop and marched to London.
  • 300 rioters were arrested by the army.

"I set out for the Continent. I shall take up my abode in a religious house near Lisle--a nunnery you would call it; there I shall be quiet and unmolested. I shall devote myself for a time to the examination of the Roman Catholic

dogmas, and to a careful study of the workings of their system"

-Eliza (chapter 22)

  • The Spa Fields Riots in London was a result of the war in France.
  • Coincidentally, In the novel "Jane Eyre", Georgiana Reed, Jane's cousin and one of Ms. Reed's daughters, goes to London to live with her uncle.
  • Eliza, Jane's other cousin and sister of Georgiana embarks to a nunnery in Lisle, France.
  • Both Ms. Reed's daughters go to the locations in which the Spa Fields Riots have taken place.

Intro: Social Classes

Analysis:

Eliza says that she will move to London and learn the ways the Roman Catholic Church. During the Spa Fields Riots in London, there was violence and outrage amongst the people. Charlotte Bronte creates the character Eliza to represent those who traveled to London to assist in those affected and injured during the social unrest.

Napoleonic War in France

Social Unrest

Income does not define what class you're in, what your job is does

Conclusion

LOW CLASS

Middle Class

UPPER CLASS

Made up 15% of the population

The Low class was split up into two categories

High Class

Royal Class

The Under Class

The Working Class

- Ms. Temple and the people at Lowell

- Hannah and Grace Poole

Characters in Jane Eyre who fitted into the Lower class were:

- Consist of the Royal Family

- England follows the Monarchy governance

- Queen Victoria inherited the throne from George III

- Carried out important work of England

Characters who fits into this class are:

- Popular jobs of the Middle Class include; shopkeepers, doctors, nurses, a schoolmaster, or parish priest

- Sometimes associates with people of the Upper class for business purposes

- Women were commonly maids

- Some could afford to send their child to school

- Other families chose for their children to get jobs at a young age instead

- Had strong beliefs on family, togetherness and other virtues

- Did not have to work

- Money from invested land or family background

- Were served by the lower class

- Etiquette was very important to them

- Were wealthy and usually flaunted it

- Live a life of pleasure because of their wealth

- Did not associate with the lower class if not necessary

Edward Rochester

Adele

Bertha

Reed family

Mr. Brocklehurst

Blanche Ingram

- Were employed in lower tier jobs

- Half of the employed women of this class were servants

- Had a steady income, but did not earn as much as the middle class

- Do not mingle with higher classes

- Lived in better conditions than the Working Class

- Were the poorest

- Did not have a well paying job

- Could not afford homes

- Lower income than the minimum wage

- Were unemployed

- Close to poverty

- Jobs involved physical labour

- They were ignored by the government

Later on Jane, St. John, Dianna and Mary moved to this class

The only character who fits into this category is Ms.Fairfax

Mid- Nineteenth century England was a time of enormous industrial expansion. This boom in the economy was great for the middle and high classes but caused a great loss of jobs for the low class as manual labor soon turned to technology. The result of the large gap between social classes created conflicts and riots. "Jane Eyre" was written during this time and the social gap within the novel reflects those during the conflicts.

It is apparent that Bronte reflected the hardship citizens of this era received due to the changing industries.

The threshing machine in the 19th century took away many jobs as less people were needed for labor.

The

Reference to Jane Eyre:

- Many times in the book it would mention the loss of employment due to the chaning society.

The Swing Riots

As a result from the industrial revolution, the social gap widened between the lower class and the upper classes

In reference to Jane Eyre:

- There was a huge social gap between the wealthy, upper class characters and the ones in the lower classes for ex. Ingram and Jane

  • High taxes and low wages hurt farm laborers.
  • unemployment increased from the introduction of the threshing machine
  • few men were needed to carry out work
  • unemployment and starvation
  • People took frustration out on farm machinery
  • This was the cause of industrial revolution
  • In the 1820's and 1830's, the Swing Rioters smashed the threshing machines and threatened farmers who had them.
  • Consequences were harsh as protestors were hung and some transported elsewhere.

Relation to Jane Eyre

A contemporary etching of a swing riot.

Through the characters' choices in Jane Eyre, Bronte displayed the popular view that people in this era had on relationships.

The loss of employment for farmers is also evident in the novel. The author Charlotte Bronte indicates in the story that there used to be farm laborers in the village but have moved into different jobs :

"What was the chief trade in this place? What did most of the people do?”

-Jane

“Some were farm labourers; a good deal worked at Mr. Oliver’s needle-factory, and at the foundry.”

-Village Lady

(Chapter 28)

Analysis

When Jane asked what most of the villagers do, the women replied that there use to be many farmers. However, now many of them work in factories and at the foundry. It is evident that in the story, the affect of industrial revolution has decreased the number of farmers because of progressing technology. The idea of advancement creating unemployment for laborers and causing them to find work elsewhere is reflected in the novel.

In conclusion, the social classes presented in Jane Eyre are accurate and matches the social order that were in the Victorian Era.

Unequal Distribution of wealth

In reference to Jane Eyre:

- Jane agrees to marry Rochester in the end because she finally possesses the same amount of status and wealth he has.

Relation to Jane Eyre

  • Lowood constantly reminded their students of their low social status through harsh treatment
  • Education became a barrier because of class and gender
  • Jane is able to widen her education in her relationships with Ms. Temple, Mr. Rochester and the Rivers family
  • "In the calm with which you learnt you had become suddenly rich, I read a mind clear of the vice of Demas:--lucre had no undue power over you..." -Ch34, pg355

Education: Upper Class

Men

Women

  • During the Industrial Revolution, only the middle and upper classes profited from the economy (business, trades)
  • Your amount of wealth represented the amount of power you had
  • Education was taken almost entirely at home, where drawing, dancing and music were taught
  • Boarding schools were available, but no universities
  • The only practical skill taught was sewing
  • Women had no chance to develop public relations
  • It was not legally mandatory for men to attend school
  • Access to education was seen as a sign of wealth, as you had to be wealthy enough to attend
  • Going to school helped to develop a man's public relations
  • They learned skills in all areas

Paying Jobs

  • High class: did not work, inherited investments and land
  • Middle Class: mental, "clean" work
  • Low class: physical labour, "dirty" work

Widening Social Gap

Middle Class

Men:

  • Judges
  • Solicitors/Barristers
  • Clergies
  • Engineers
  • School teachers
  • Physicians
  • Craftsmen, blacksmiths

Women:

  • Governesses
  • Needlewomen

Low Class

  • Miners
  • Mill workers
  • Railway porters
  • Construction workers
  • Rat catchers
  • Crossing sweepers
  • Agricultural labour (harvesters)
  • Lowood is a representation of poverty, while Rochester's house signifies wealth
  • Ingram's character holds a high status, which in contrast, lowers Jane's status
  • The Rivers family started off poor but moved to a higher status at the end of the book because of their inherited wealth
  • "...poverty for me was synonymous with degradation." -Ch.3

Relation to Jane Eyre

  • The population growth during the Victorian era left the lower classes forced to fend for themselves, while upper classes stayed at ease
  • Many people needed jobs, and even then, wages were extremely low.
  • When men were laid off, they had no savings to fall back on.
  • Lower class families did not earn enough money to advance themselves
  • Technological advancements during the Industrial Revolution created competition between middle class businessmen, increasing the wealth of the middle class while the lower class stayed the same

"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 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, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. 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."

-Jane Eyre

Status-based Relationships

"I saw he was going to marry her, for family, perhaps political reasons, because her rank and connections suited him; I felt he had not given her his love, and that her qualifications were ill adapted to win from him that treasure."

-Jane Eyre

  • In the Victorian era, people searched for an "ideal" or "compatible" partner that met the expectations and standards of society
  • Wealthy men and women usually married into other wealthy families to maintain their high status and benefit financially from each other

"I have not yet said anything condemnatory of Mr. Rochester’s project of marrying for interest and connexions. […] All their class held these principles: I supposed, then, they had reasons for holding them such as I could not fathom. It seemed to me that, were I a gentleman like him, I would take to my bosom only such a wife as I could love; but the very obviousness of the advantages to the husband’s own happiness, offered by this plan, convinced me that there must be arguments against its general adoption of which I was quite ignorant: otherwise I felt sure all the world would act as I wished to act."

-Jane Eyre

The British Monarchy- Queen Victoria

  • Queen Victoria married Prince Albert and had nine children
  • The majority of their children married into other Royal families of Europe
  • Edward VII, married Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Marie of Russia. Arthur, Duke of Connaught married Louise Margaret of Prussia. Leopold, Duke of Albany married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Victoria, Princess Royal married Friedrich III, German Emperor. Alice married Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Helena married Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Louise married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll. Beatrice married Henry of Battenberg.
  • Distinct differences in gender roles within relationships from 1837 to 1901. Men were dominant, independent, and intellectual whereas women were the opposite. Women were expected to have the stereotypical traits that “defined” femininity: submissive, defenseless, innocent, and dependent.
  • The status of a woman depended heavily on marriage and therefore was not optional. Women were not able to make their own living to support themselves due to society itself. This being, women had to depend on their husbands.
  • after a woman is married she is under the total supervision of her husband by law, having little rights, property, and identity.
  • Courtship in the Victorian era was more of a business than actual romance
  • Ex. The purpose of Rochester's marriage to Bertha was to inherit a large sum of money

Social Class in Jane Eyre and the Victorian Era

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