How Jane Eyre portrays women in the Victorian Era

I don’t know if you know this, but throughout history women haven’t been treated as equals in society. This is certainly true during the Victorian Era, the time period when Jane Eyre takes place. Treated as second-class citizens, women were supposed to be dependent on men and settle down as soon as possible. Like the titular character, Charlotte Brontë was a governess who eventually settled down.

            As a “plain looking” individual, Jane wants to find love along with continuing a love for life and being an individual. Her independence is striking in the course of the novel as she’s contrasted with other women, such as Blanche Ingram. As a proper lady, Blanche is cold and discourteous. She’s self-absorbed, which seems to be a statement by Brontë on the dangers of succumbing to the times. Blanche may be more attractive than Jane, but her properness and narcissism makes her a less attractive person in Brontë’s eyes.

            As a strong, independent woman, it is frankly a bit stunning when Jane becomes infatuated with Rochester. Jane admits that “my future husband was becoming to me my whole world,” which is odd, however her ability to maintain a bit of her independence is evident (316). The reason that the pairing becomes so entangled is strictly due to their love of each other’s boisterousness and brashness. Their ability to argue back-and-forth and listen to one another stands out to Jane in a world where men seem to expect her to be passive and docile.

            Like Blanche, Jane compares herself to many other women throughout the story. The River Sisters, in particular, show the good in caring about being kind and seeking knowledge. Like Jane, they are not naturally beautiful, but their ability to be good people probably gives Jane hope that she can be similar to these role models.

            With that said, like in Little Women, there comes a point where too much independence is a bad thing. That can be seen in the distinction between Jane and Bertha, the woman in the attic. They are both wild at times, but it seems to drive Bertha to near-madness, whilst it makes Jane rebellious and the right amount of passionate. Bertha’s “bloodshot eyes” are of anger, which can be seen as a fear of Jane. Bertha is Jane, but on a larger scale. A scale that shows how dangerous being too driven can be. Even though Jane is known as a feminist icon, theer are still points that she can’t reach comparitiavely to a modern woman protagonist like Hermione or Katniss in Harry Potter and The Hunger Games respectively.