I would rather be happy
than dignified.
Brief Life Story of
Charlotte Bronte:
Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 in Yorkshire, England. Charlotte Brontë’s father was a rural clergyman. She lost her mother when she was five years old. Brontë’s two older sisters—Maria and Elizabeth—died from an illness that they likely contracted at their harsh boarding school. Though outwardly plain, Brontë had an active imaginative life, writing stories of an elaborate fantasy world called Angria. Brontë’s first of four novels— Jane Eyre — was immediately and widely popular, and brought her into London literary circles. Her pen name was Currer Bell. Her sisters Emily and Anne were also successful novelists. After losing all of her siblings to illness, Brontë married a clergyman she respected, but did not love. She died at 38 of complications during her first pregnancy in 1855.
Elizabeth Rigby's famous (scathing) review of Jane Eyre (March 17, 1849). You can also access an easier to read version at The Quarterly Review.
Victorian Research
Play this quick game to better understand the options available to women during this time period: "Women's Rights" Quiz.
Explore the Victorian Women Writers Project by Indiana University. Consider these Laws Concerning Women. You should also visit the British Library and read about "Gender Roles in the 19th Century" by Katheryn Hughes.
Look at the March 1850 issue of Godey's Lady's Book to better understand what was available to women in terms of fashion, literature, and even moral guidance.
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What generalizations can you make about Victorian culture based on Godey's?
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What is featured in the section entitled "The Work Table"? What does this say about a middle-class Victorian woman's perception of "work"?
Read "The Sphere of Woman" by Goethe and examine the accompanying illustration.
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How does Goethe define the role of the Victorian woman?
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How does he see the woman's role as having advantages over the man's role?
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On what is the woman "dependent"?
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How does the image complement the text?
How would you describe the ideal Victorian woman?
Activity: Write a poem of no less than 15 lines that reflects either the life of Charlotte Bronte or the life of the ideal Victorian woman.
Historical Background:
The Victorian Period brought sweeping changes across British society, and writers like Brontë explored its crises and progress. Abroad, the British expanded into a global empire that brought wealth from colonies. With the Industrial Revolution at home, manufacturing became Britain’s economic backbone. As the middle class found lucrative opportunities, a new laboring class struggled for wages, job security, and adequate working and living conditions. Jane Eyre includes themes of reforms that emerged from the crisis: better political representation, working conditions, and education. Few of these reforms came immediately for women, who had limited status in Victorian society. As Jane strives for economic and personal independence, she touches on the issues of class, economics, and gender roles that affected Victorian Britain at large.
RED ROOM ANALYSIS
Jane Eyre is considered by many to be the first truly feminist novel. As such, the novel offers a wealth of material for interpretation. Sandra Gilbert, for example, sees in Jane’s experience at Gateshead the three choices offered to Victorian women who were imprisoned by social conventions: flight (escape through leaving); starvation (escape through fading away); and insanity (escape through madness). Gilbert discusses Jane’s imprisonment in the red room and the consequences of that experience to illustrate these points. Other critics view Jane and Bertha as two halves of a whole person or see Bertha as Jane’s doppelgänger. These critics point out the way many of Jane’s experiences at Thornfield echo her earlier experiences in the red room. Still other critics concentrate on motifs of enclosure that recur throughout Jane Eyre and the way these motifs reflect the Victorian woman’s experience.
In assigned groups of no fewer than two and no more than three, reread the incident of the red room, then trace that experience through the Lowood, Thornfield, and Marsh End sections. Try to focus your textual research on one or more of the ideas introduced above. Take copious notes and be prepared to discuss your findings on Friday during class. This is not a simple assignment that can be completed quickly. DO NOT divide up the text and work individually. Reread the red room section together carefully, then slowly skim through the other sections, stopping to discuss connections that you notice, summarizing and explaining (in writing) your understanding of the connections, providing textual evidence to support your ideas, and noting the pages in the text where you find these connections. You have three days. If you think you have finished early, believe me, you have not been thorough enough. Scholars have written hundreds of pages on just these topics that I have given you. Be prepared to submit your group discussion notes for a grade.
Always keep in mind the SETTING and the significance of the setting to JANE EYRE:
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Gateshead: Jane's first home where she lives with her Aunt Reed and cousins John, Eliza, and Georgiana. Here, Jane lives until the age of 10. In her years of living here, she finds herself ostracized from her cousins on a daily basis.
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Lowood: The school Jane moves to as a child and eventually teaches at age 18. Lowood begins as a prison of sorts - low food quality, a terrible owner (Brocklehurst), humiliating punishments. Lowood, however, becomes better when Jane meets Helen Burns, the girl who changes her entire aspect of life. Lowood becomes a place where Jane fits, eventually.
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Thornfield: Where Jane lives and teaches young Adele Rochester and meets Mr. Rochester, the love of her life. Thornfield feels like home to Jane. She realizes this when she leaves to take care of her dying Aunt Reed, and, upon returning, is greeted with warm embrace from much of the staff and adoring Adele. She is accepted as she is by all staff members and Rochester.
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Moor House: St. John, Diane, and Mary's home. Another home-like place for Jane. She stumbles upon this place at her lowest point - on the brink of starvation and completely loveless. The relationships she forms here are benevolent and positive, reflection a home-like feeling for her. Then, she finds out these people actually are her family, further confirming its role as a home to her.
Fire and Ice Motif Essay
Authors often use reoccurring themes, symbols, or other ideas to explore a philosophical idea or to solidify a theory about humanity (a theme). The reoccurrence of those objects or ideas is called a literary motif. In Jane Eyre, Bronte uses the motifs of fire and ice to promote Romantic or Neoclassical ideas in her novel. In a well-structured essay, explain how Bronte uses ONE of these motifs (fire or ice) to make a SINGLE, SPECIFIC POINT, over the course of the novel, in connection with one character, several characters, or the environment (don’t choose environment and characters).
KEY REQUIREMENTS:
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Your thesis should address a single point connecting the influence of Romantic or Neo-classical ideas to the title character, Jane Eyre, through the use of fire or ice.
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You should focus on the motif of fire, or the motif of ice, not both.
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Either trace this idea through character(s) or environmental factors (natural or human-created), not both.
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You must have at least 3 separate pieces of evidence (quotes) over the course of several chapters (don’t draw all your evidence from one scene or one chapter alone).
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Page length is negotiable, but aim for 1½ -2 pages, typed. Handwritten would be longer. Quality of argument matters more than length.