Features of Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is written in the style of an autobiography and through the powerful first person narrative with very direct references to the ‘readers’, Charlotte Bronte explores the strict social structures and attitudes predominant in the Victorian era. In my opinion, the social hierarchy of that period is crucial in the novel as it helps to develop the plot because if Jane wasn’t poor and an orphan, she would never have been brought up in the traumatized and distressing way as she was. It is these circumstances which shaped her as a person and fueled her individuality and fiery spirit. Perhaps Bronte uses Jane as a vehicle to show her own aggravation at society’s narrow-mindedness and prejudices towards women and people in lower socioeconomic classes. Through Bronte’s book we receive a very vivid image of what life of a woman in the Victorian era was like and experience all of Jane’s struggles. The author intended the readers to empathise with Jane and feel her pain so that society could change their outlook on gender equality. It can be said that women in this period were oppressed and seen as inferior beings and Jane Eyre is one of the first feminist novels. Firstly, it is written in the female narrative which was not very common at that time, additionally from the perspective of a middle class woman; a governess. The fact that this book is so unconventional and such a daring book for that time alludes to the fact that Charlotte Bronte was trying to get a message across here to the society which immediately renders the society’s attitudes one of the most key issues addressed in the novel.

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