Jane Eyre Seminar

Social class

John Reed
Mr.Brocklehurst
St.John

- negative impact to society
- contradicts their action
- difference from the book and victorian concept > Charlotte Bronte > Jane wants to be "Angel in the House", but fails to be one > hides behind the curtain to read > she is passionate > Rochester wants to marry Jane regardless that she is in a lower social class position.
- Money causes one's character to change > Jane inherits money from John Eyre
- social class can creates one's identity > Blanche ( not original -> fashion , parties, treats lower class badly) >Rochester (marries bertha for money) > Brocklehurst (treats badly on the low class students) > St.John (refuse to marry Rosamond)
- social class changes one person's choice > Jane rejects Rochester because of the social class difference > After she is rich, she returns and marries Rochester
- Social class takes advantage of the low social class > Brocklehurst (treats badly on the low class students) > Reed (treats Jane [her father is a low social class] badly > low social class

Thesis: Charlotte Bronte has a different perception of the importance of social class in the Victorian era, which contributes towards the growth and development of one's character and place in society.

1, Victorian concept compare the novel (Bronte's ideas)
2, Social class affects identity/character > original > Blanche ( not original -> fashion , parties, treats lower class badly) >Rochester (marries bertha for money) > Brocklehurst (treats badly on the low class students) > St.John (refuse to marry Rosamond)

3, social class changes one person's choice > Jane rejects Rochester because of the social class difference > After she is rich, she returns and marries Rochester
4, Social class takes advantage of the low social class > Brocklehurst (treats badly on the low class students) > Reed (treats Jane [her father is a low social class] badly > low social class

You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us. — John Reed

"Wicked and cruel boy!" I said. "You are like a murderer -- you are like a slave-driver -- you are like the Roman emperors!" (Bronte 5)

One, I rather like; the other, no free-born person would submit to, even for a salary.

" I don't think , sir, you have a right to command me , merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience"

Paid subordinates! What! you are my paid subordinate, are you? Oh yes, I had forgotten the salary! (Bronte 142)

I grant an ugly WOMAN is a blot on the fair face of creation (Bronte 190)

Whenever I marry," she continued, after a pause which none interrupted, "I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a foil to me. I will suffer no competitor near the throne; I shall exact an undivided homage: his devotions shall not be shared between me and the shape he sees in his mirror." (Bronte 190)

'Yes, Bessie, I can both read it and speak it.'
'And you can work on muslin and canvas?'
'I can.'

Oh, you are quite a lady, Miss Jane! I knew you would be (Bronte 95)

"Doing well! He could not do worse: he ruined his health and his estate amongst the worst men and the worst women. He got into debt and into jail: his mother helped him out twice, but as soon as he was free he returned to his old companions and habits. His head was not strong: the knaves he lived amongst fooled him beyond anything I ever heard. He came down to Gateshead about three weeks ago and wanted missis to give up all to him. Missis refused: her means have long been much reduced by his extravagance; so he went back again, and the next news was that he was dead. How he died, God knows!--they say he killed himself." (Bronte 237)

"You have a very bad disposition,' said she, 'and one to this day I feel it impossible to understand: how for nine years you could be patient and quiescent under any treatment, and in the tenth break out all fire and violence, I can never comprehend.' (Bronte 257) - Message to rich people: shouldn't hate, everyone should be equal

“Jane, you look blooming, and smiling, and pretty,” said he: “truly pretty this morning. Is this my pale, little elf? Is this my mustard-seed? This little sunny-faced girl with the dimpled cheek and rosy lips; the satin-smooth hazel hair, and the radiant hazel eyes?” [I had green eyes, reader; but you must excuse the mistake: for him they were new-dyed I suppose." (Bronte 277)

'I will myself put the diamond chain round your neck, and the circlet on your forehead,--which it will become: for nature, at least, has stamped her patent of nobility on this brow, Jane; and I will clasp the bracelets on these fine wrists, and load these fairy-like fingers with rings.' (Bronte 278)
- doesnt want to give up her spiritual identity

" Don't address me as if I were a beauty; I am your plain, Quakerish governess" (Bronte 278)

"'Because I disliked you too fixedly and thoroughly ever to lend a hand in lifting you to prosperity. I could not forget your conduct to me, Jane--the fury with which you once turned on me; (Bronte 256)

"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; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. 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." Chapter 12, pg. 96

Leah is a nice girl to be sure, and John and his wife are very decent people; but then you see they are only servants, and one can’t converse with them on terms of equality: one must keep them at due distance, for fear of losing one’s authority."

'Once more, why this refusal?' he asked.
'Formerly,' I answered, 'because you did not love me; now, I reply, because you almost hate me. If I were to marry you, you would kill me. You are killing me now.' (Bronte 447)

"God and nature intended you for a missionary's wife. ' (Bronte 437)

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Victorian concept

Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre was controversial at the time of its publication in the mid-nineteenth century for its portrayal of a woman struggling against forces that would limit her autonomy. Victorians were encouraged to marry within the same social class. Courtship was also considered more of a career move than anything else.. Love wasn't a very big deal in the Victorian Era, especially for the lower class. The lower class women did not have many choices to choose who they wanted to marry. The novel’s portrayal of a woman seeking her independence challenged Victorian society’s conception of femininity and women’s role in society. Not only marriage within the same social class, the lower class people consider as not equal to the higher class people. The upper class consisted primarily of nobility. They are superior than the middle and lower class. The lower classes performed physical labor and served the upper class. In Victorian era, people did not think everyone was equal. The lower class should be treated poorly, and they should never fight back the higher class.

Charlotte Bronte shows her distaste on social class by giving a bad ending to the people who are in a high social class. An example is John Reed, who is the only male character in the rich family, but ended up commit suicide. Charlotte delivers a message that social class is not as important as being virtuous. A second example is Georgiana, who is beautiful and born in a rich family. However, she cannot marry to the man she wants and ends up living an unpleasant life. Charlotte Bronte also breaks the concept of marriage within the same social class by pairing up Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre. Mr Rochester does not choose Blanch Ingram, who is in a higher class and prettier than Jane. The protagonist, Jane Eyre, does not allow her goals to rest solely upon marrying. Jane represents the voice of the author Charlotte Bronte, that she regards her independence as more important than being in a high social class. When Mr. Rochester lavish her with jewels and expensive garments as an attempt to shape her as an upper class woman, she refuses because it is against her natural identity. Charlotte Bronte wants to emphasize that upper social class should not dominate the lower social class. One of the reasons that Jane leaves Mr Rochester is she does not want him to control her freedom.

1, " One, I rather like; the other, no free-born person would submit to, even for a salary."
- Free-born = low social class
- Free born will do anything for money.
This is the Victorian concept of social class , that the higher rank /class can order the low class to do anything.
Rochester is being informal with Jane - but this could be dangerous since he could abuse his power
- she is asserting her free born status and implying she has rights

2, " Leah is a nice girl to be sure, and John and his wife are very decent people; but then you see they are only servants, and one can’t converse with them on terms of equality: one must keep them at due distance, for fear of losing one’s authority."
- Victorian concept
- servants are considered a lower class than governess. They have a different meaning of equality. They need to keep distance with the different rank people to be "equal"

3, " Missis refused: her means have long been much reduced by his extravagance; so he went back again, and the next news was that he was dead. How he died, God knows!--they say he killed himself." (Bronte 237)
- Charlotte gives a bad ending to those who are in a high social class
- This quote > John Reed kills himself

-gender identity, the nature and the role of men and women

http://www.victorianweb.org/history/Class.html
- orphan = low social class

Looking back at the Victorian period, even the works of famous female artists present the familiar male-dominated, patriarchal view of proper society. The characters in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre portray clearly the gender roles expected of males and females in Victorian society; the characters of Jane and Mr. Rochester demonstrate the expected characteristics and personalities expected of males and females, respectively, while Bertha, the antithesis of Jane, represents a disruption of the gender balance and must be detached from normal society.

- Victorians were encouraged to marry within the same class

- higher social class didnt get what they want - John (died) -Mrs Reed (died) - Geogiana (didnt marry to who she wants)
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Choice

- if she had money of her own, or a social position equal to Rochester's, her decision might have been quite different.

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