Jane Eyer as a Female Orphan

...

far more complex than men. The middle class women could either get themselves married to wealthy men or could appoint themselves as governesses. For the lower class women they could either be “factory hands” [Hard Times, Charles Dickens] or prostitutes. The aristocratic ladies were not allowed to do any work, they might starve to death but they will not do any work as employment under someone was considered to be a disgrace to the family. The governesses were trapped in an indeterminate social hierarchy. The governess is a servant trapped within a rigid social function which demands industriousness and self-sacrifice but she is also an ‘upper’ servant and so furnished with ‘imaginative awareness and cultivated sensibility’ which are precisely her stock-in-trade as a teacher. Therefore the governess lives in an ambiguous world where she is neither one of the members of the family nor a part of the servant class.

The erudite middle class and upper class ladies could afford to become writers. But becoming writers were also not free from adversity. The Bronte sisters and George Eliot were some instances of female novelists. But these female writers took up male pseudonyms so that their writings were not eliminated just on the basis of their genders. Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte took up the androgynous pseudonyms of Curer Bell, Elis Bell and Acton Bell respectively. Mary Ann Evans took the male pseudonym of George Eliot. Mary Ann Evans selected very carefully her pseudonym as she wanted her books to be analyzed on the basis of their merit as the alternative would be to condemn her book even before reading. Incidentally Jane Austen did not take any pseudonym but published her works anonymously and hence earned the tag of ‘masculine writing’. These female novelists presented the lives of Victorian women through their protagonists or heroines. In Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility the mothers of the heroines are hankering after giving their daughters in marriage. Even Lydia’s elopement with Wickham in Pride and Prejudice is gladly accepted by Mrs. Bennett.

In Jane Eyre as well, Jane’s fulfilment comes in the form of marriage with Mr. Rochester. In the narrative of Mill on the Floss, the question of marriage is dealt with subtlety. Maggie’s mother can neither afford nor thinks of her marriage let alone having her wedded rich. Interestingly, Jane is not much affected by the societal pressures whereas Maggie’s life is doomed when she tries to follow societal norms and at the end gives her life prematurely. Initially a rebellious child like Jane, Maggie later gives into the societal norms and conventions of morality and immorality. Maggie’s world is her brother Tom whereas Jane finds her world in her suitor and husband Mr. Rochester. Moreover Jane is passionate in expressing her feelings whereas Maggie conceals her feelings and suffers most silently. Therefore, Maggie Tulliver presents the normative Victorian female who must be docile and submissive. Maggie despite of being the ‘angel in the house’ faces severe ill-treatment from the society and ostracized by her own brother Tom Tulliver. In contrast Jane is the ‘New Woman’, educated, passionate, and rebellious extrovert Victorian female. “Do you think”, she demands of Rochester, “I am an automaton? - a machine without feelings? ” She is almost the female counterpart of Victorian heroes like Oliver Twist or Philip Pirrip of Great Expectations.

In Jane Eyre apart from Jane herself we find Mr. Rochester’s ward Adele whose origin or birth is uncertain, that is, her fatherhood is uncertain and her mother is dead. Jane almost acts as a surrogate mother to her. Mr. Rochester takes her financial liability but hardly has any other connections with the girl except for bringing her gifts when he returns to Thornfield Hall after long intervals

People in Victorian age had the idea that people are not born equally, people in high rank despise people in low rank and men are superior to women. Consequently, women like Jane are treated unequally in every field. When Jane realizes the unfair situation, she rebels constantly for the basic right of equality. Jane, as she is a member of the lowest class, is always looked down upon by those potentates with money and power. For people like her, they have no dignity; the rich can treat them at random and need not bother to give them any esteem. But Jane Eyre never surrenders to those snobbish people who despise the poor and the weak parochially and ruthlessly. In her whole life, she plunges herself into struggling for esteem which in her mind is deserved by any human being rather than a privilege for the wealthy people. She puts all her strength to get the respect and admiration from people around and in every relationship, Jane rises from inferiority to superiority, and finally gains full independence through continuous struggle.

To conclude, Jane Eyre is not just a Victorian novel and Jane is not just an individual rather the novel brings to limelight the hard-core reality of the Victorian world and subsequently Jane represents the life and struggle of any middle-class, educated Victorian woman. The only caveat is all girls may not have and in most cases do not have a fairy tale ending that we find in the narrative of Jane Eyre with the reconciliation between Jane and Rochester. Moreover Jane’s persistent efforts and struggles to overcome the double marginalisation that she faces due to her class identity and gender, reflects Jane’s resolution as a self-confident Victorian woman. Therefore, Charlotte Bronte uses Jane Eyre as a conduct book to describe basic virtues that women should have and to criticize the marriage of convenience, declaring that only qualities of mind prove what a woman