Critique of Jane Eyre - Essay Example

Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is one of a kind story about women in that Victorian Period. The main character, Jane Eyre, growing as a humble, polite, orphan girl who was always under oppression from her guardian, Mrs. Reed and school teacher, Mr. Brocklehurst, managed to become an autonomous lady. In a society where women always became oppressed and their voices could not be heard, the author, Jane Eyre, tried to bring out the plight of women by the use of the character, Bertha Mason. Jane Eyre, by using Bertha Mason, present her own plight and other women through anger, feeling of entrapment and madness. Jane Eyre, in using the character, Bertha Mason, tries to talk about the issue of oppression to women in the society. Jane always felt entrapped in her life, since she always dreamt of achieving autonomy in her life. Bertha Mason on the other hand represented a woman who had broken loose from entrapment and causing havoc (Gilbert 23). As Jane grew up, she was orphan, but she was not accorded the warm love she expected from her guardian, Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed at one point punishes Jane after she was caught fighting her cousin, John Reed, a bully. It is ironical that Jane got punished instead of the bully. That clearly implied that women in that society were expected always to be under men’s authority, explaining Mrs. Reed punishment. In the punishment room, when Jane faints after claiming to see her dead uncle’s ghost, Jane is shocked when Mr. Llyod suggest to her aunt for her to be taken to school, and she agrees without hesitation (Gilbert 67) That clearly showed how women in that era made decisions based on what their male counterparts said. Women were oppressed not to make important decisions. In regard to the character, oppression is brought out by her representation that Bertha Mason was always entrapped in a room and always ran away at the slightest opportunity she got, “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?” (Bronte 154). Grace Poole, a drunkard, is in fact placed to guard Bertha Mason from not escaping to cause havoc. In the society, women always became oppressed and the society feared what might likely become of them of women became empowered, just as represented by the fire case. In as much as Bertha Mason used to be a rich and beautiful woman, she reached a point she wanted to get out of the oppression other women underwent, thereby becoming a vicious, angered, mad woman (Gilbert 134). These were the same feelings Jane had after the numerous years of living in oppression, but used Bertha Mason to represent her plight on oppression of women in the society. At the end of the story, Jane manages to acquire autonomy in her life as she marries, Edward Rochester, and she becomes treated like an equal. Jane at one point is reported to have said "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you ” (Bronte 78). Jane always wanted to break herself loose from the oppression she felt to become autonomous. Jane used the character Bertha Mason to present the anger she had to the society. From the critic book by Sandra Gilbert, Mad Woman in the attic, Bertha Mason is represented as an angered, violent woman ready who had the capability of burning Thornfield on any slight opportunity she got (Gilbert 234). Sandra criticized that Bertha Mason representation of anger, is what all women, including Jane Eyre felt towards that society that continuously oppressed them. In regard to charlotte’s writing, Jane was angered at how other women supported their oppression, for instance, her aunt, Mrs. Reed. She was angered at how her cruel headmaster, Mr. Blocklehurst, openly was hypocritical towards girls. “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 … 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” (Bronte 135). During the wedding day to Edward Rochester, Jane discovered of her husband’s past clandestine lady, Bertha Mason. This woman is attributed as a violent and angered lady. She was angered at the society in which she lived in, that why she had the intention of burning it down. It is that anger that eventually led Bertha to burn down Thornfield together with herself. Jane ran away after discovering David Rochester, other wife to go and stay away from him since she was angry. After Bertha Mason burnt Thornfield, it’s when Jane returned, and started a new life with David Rochester, and that time, felt no anger (Gilbert 345). The burning of Thornfield, symbolized the eradication of inequality and oppression of women in the society. Jane Eyre used Bertha Mason in a way to express her feeling of turning mad in a society that was not welcoming to women. Bertha Mason, who once was a rich and beautiful woman, turned mad and became unattractive to her husband, as she behaved like an animal. She even became locked in a room and guarded all throughout (Gilbert 256). "In the deep shade, at the farther end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards.  What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight tell: it groveled, seemingly on all fours: it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair wild as a mane, hid its head and face" (Bronte 345). Jane Eyre faced a lot that at some point thought she was becoming mad, for instance, after she ran away from her wedding when told of Bertha story, she went into poverty and became a beggar. Throughout her life, she was mad at how women became oppressed in the society and nothing became done. In using the character, Bertha Mason, a strong representation of the plight of women becomes evident as Bertha Mason becomes driven by the society to an extent that she turns mad, and wants to burn it down. Eventually, her madness overcomes her and she burns Thornfield including herself (Gilbert 320). In conclusion, one could evidently deduce that the character, Bertha Mason, represented the psychological double of Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre, the narrator, in fact uses her character to present some of the plights of women in the society, therefore, Bertha Mason acts more so for Jane. Through Bertha Mason, one could see how Jane represented a woman who had been under oppression for so long, and wanted to be autonomous (Gilbert 49). Bertha wanted to free herself from the bondages society had placed on her, on the bigger scale, women in the Victorian Era. She eventually ended up becoming violent, angry, and mad to an extent of burning Thornfield down (Gilbert 319). As the story ends, a situation of equality which Jane had always wished for creates itself when she ends up marrying a disabled David Rochester and lived a happy life “I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest - blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband's life as fully as he is mine” (Bronte 689). Works Cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Forgotten Books, 2008. Print. Gilbert, Sandra. The Madwoman in the Attic. New York: Yale Nota Bene, 2000. Print. Read More