Jane vs. Women

Jane is very different from all the characters in her novel, and when comparing her specifically with other females her age, the differences are even more clear. She, unlike most other women in the novel, wants more for herself than what she has. She wants excitement in her life, change in her routine, and does not want to be silenced by authority or by people who believe themselves to be above her. When she is young, she is constantly being compared to her two cousins, Eliza and Georgina. In the eyes of her aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is a nuisance and a burden and her two little girls are angels. But from the reader’s perspective, we see early on how Jane has to fight and stick up for herself, and how from a young age she has to learn to take abuse from others, while these other girls get everything and anything they want. Aside from her strength, we also get a sense of her unwillingness to succumb to punishment and authoritative rule through her comparison against Helen Burns. Helen is a reserved girl who, although doesn’t always agree with the rules set in place, accepts punishment when the time comes, and she accepts it quietly and with no argument whatsoever. Jane could not be further from this. She is astonished to see Helen relinquish her dignity so easily, and cannot understand why there isn’t more rage inside of her. Jane seems to be filled with fiery passion, especially when we put her next to Helen. Through this, the reader gets a deeper understanding of Jane and how she desires for more, and how, unlike many women in this time period and especially unlike Helen Burns, she does not want to be silenced and believes it to be wrong for others to walk all over her. Another important character that is frequently compared to Jane is Blanche Ingram. The two are essentially pitted directly against one another, and this accentuates the differences between them. Some might even say Blanche is the foil of Jane – highlighting her important characteristics by being such an opposite to her. We see how Blanche doesn’t care for much past riches and fortune, and this is very clear when she hears the rumor that Rochester is poorer than she thought, and she is visibly depressed by this. Jane is not nearly as shallow as Blanche is. By contrasting Blanche to Jane, we see just how much more depth and personality Jane has. She is a very complex person, with many layers below her surface one. She is passionate, intelligent, thoughtful, determined and many more things; she is far more complicated and three-dimensional that Blanche will ever hope to be. All of these comparisons and more reveal many different sides to Jane. Without these, we, as the readers, might not have had as clear an understanding of who Jane Eyre really is.