Charlotte Bronte wrote her classic book Jane Eyre during the Victorian Era in 1846.

Particular qualities of
this time period were found in Jane Eyre. In reading this book we find the social economics, moral
conditions, and literary elements of the Victorian Era. All these play a part in Charlotte Brontes
successful novel of that time.
The Victorian Era, which followed the Regency time period, is characterized by reforms in the
government, industrialization in the factories, economic prosperity, and moral decline. This time was
marked by reform troubles but also by technological progress from 1848 to 1870.

The novel criticized aspects of Victorian society such as child labor and abuse, the nature and
role of women, the Industrial Revolution and its resulting hardships and social developments &
With industrialization, new opportunities and challenges arose for women,

REFLECTION UPON THE SOCIAL ILLS OF THE AGE

Education system:

The most obvious example of a social issue can be found in the kind of education offered at
Lowood School and the physical and emotional privations suffered by the girls there.At
Lowood, Jane finds that life is harsh. During a school inspection by Mr Brocklehurst, Jane
accidentally breaks her slate, thereby drawing attention to herself. He then stands her on a stool,
brands her a liar and shames her before the entire assembly. The eighty pupils at Lowood are
subjected to cold rooms, poor meals, and thin clothing. Many students fall ill when a typhus
epidemic strikes. Jane's friend Helen dies of consumption in her arms. The epidemic of typhus
fever incites an investigation into Lowood's unhealthy conditions & Mr. Brocklehurst's neglect
and dishonesty are discovered, several benefactors erect a new building and conditions at the
school improve dramatically.

But the school is improved after the typhus outbreak, so that providential change comes about as
a result of an unhappy event

Wealth distribution

The issue of inherited wealth and the problems of the leisured gentleman are touched upon in
the lives of John Reed and in Mr. Rochester

Social class

The bad effects of class and snobbery can be seen in this novel. John Reed's fiery speech and
Mrs. Reed's treatment of Jane as someone outside their middle class standing sheds light on the
economic opportunities available to women in the Victorian era. Jane As a lower-class female
who is penniless yet decently educated orphan from a good family leads her to criticize some
discrimination based on class, though she makes class discriminations herself. Although she is
educated, well-mannered, and relatively sophisticated, she is still a governess, a paid employee
(middle class), and therefore relatively powerless. She respectfully defers to Rochester and his
guests from the upper class, but she asks Leah, the housemaid (lower class), to get her a candle
rather than get it herself, and has a servant girl when she is school mistress at the small village
school in Morton.

Related to this, the novel dramatizes the ambiguous social position occupied by governesses

Job opportunity for women

Womens status and rights were very miserable in the nineteenth century. For unmarried
Victorian women, society could provide them very few opportunities. The poor women could
only work as household servants, farm laborers, or factory workers to survive. The only
genteel professions open to the average middle-class woman were governess, schoolteacher or
companion to a wealthy lady with its awkward status between servant and lady. Middle-class
women could only expect a good marriage, which could provide them with a better social
position and economic security. Unlike most middle-class boys who received an education to
prepare them for a profession, most middle-class girls received a finishing school education,
such as playing the piano, drawing, or speaking French, to help them attract a good husband
because there were no proper professions open to them (Thaden, 2001, p.65). Married women
had far fewer legal rights and had no economic independence. No sooner had a woman married,
than she lost her legal rights and property, or the money she earned after marriage was
transferred to her husband. Womens financial dependence on men determined their submission
to men and the possibility of mens arbitrary abuse of women, which was likely to lead to
womens mental disorders. In the novel, Rochesters secretly concealed wife, Bertha Mason
represented the typically miserable status of Victorian married women. With the representation
of Bertha, Charlotte Bront pointedly exposed this typical Victorian social problem. In addition,
Victorian women could almost never divorce their husbands as the divorce cost was extremely
high and almost impossible to obtain. Married women could not own property to support
themselves without depending on their husbands until Britain passed The Married Women's
Property Act in 1870.

Poor conditions for orphans

Abused by her aunt after she is orphaned, Jane is sent by Mrs. Reed to Lowood where
the children are ill-dressed and underfed. Mr. Brocklehurst, a religious hypocrite and the
proprietor of Lowood Institution, is cruel and sadistic. In a subtle suggestion about the girls'
destiny, Bronte has Helen reading Samuel Johnson's Rasselas, a text examining the philosophical
question of a person's inability to change one's existence.
The nature and role of women

The role and standing of women in the Victorian era is considered by Bront in Jane Eyre,
specifically in regard to Jane's independence and ability to make decisions for her. As a young
woman, Jane encounters men during her journey, of good, bad, and morally debatable character.
However, many of them, no matter their ultimate intentions, attempt to establish some form of
power and control over Jane.

One example can be seen in Mr. Rochester, a man who ardently loves Jane, but who frequently
commands and orders Jane about. As a self-assured and established man, and her employer, Mr.
Rochester naturally assumes the position of the master in their relationship. He sometimes
demands rather than questioning Jane, tries to manipulate and assess her feelings towards him,
and enjoys propping up Jane through excessive gifts and luxuries that only he would have been
able to provide. Jane, however, believes in the importance of women's independence, and strives
to maintain a position in life devoid of any debts to others. Her initial lack of money and social
status unnerves her, as she realises that without the means to be an independent woman, she is
bound to either struggle through life trying to make a living or marry and become dependent on a
man. Even after Jane agrees to marry Mr. Rochester, and is swept up in the passion of the
moment, the feminist elements of her personality still show through. She is uncomfortable with
the showering of lavish gifts, as she resents that they will make her further reliant on and in debt
to Mr. Rochester, and thus tries to resist them. Furthermore, Jane asserts that until she is married
to Mr. Rochester, she will continue to be Adle's governess and earn her keep. This plan, which
was entirely radical and unheard of for the time, further illustrates

Jane's drive to remain a somewhat independent woman. It was for this reason she suddenly
remembered and wrote to her uncle who until now thought her dead. "... if I had but a prospect of
one day bringing Mr. Rochester an accession of fortune, I could better endure to be kept by him
now." This feminist undercurrent also presents itself Jane's interaction with her long-lost cousin,
St. John Rivers. St. John repressed Jane's feeling and controlled her excessively. She often felt
that he "took away [her] liberty of mind".[9] During her stay with her cousin, St. John proposes to
Jane, by claiming her "as a soldier would a new weapon".[10] Jane realizes that she cannot marry
a man who constantly forces her into submission and treats her like an object, and she refuses to
marry him. Once again, her need for independence shines through.

The only time Jane truly feels ready to marry a man is when she is equal to him. In the end of
Jane Eyre, Jane inherits a fortune from her uncle. This allows her to be economically
independent from Mr. Rochester. Also, Mr. Rochester becomes lame and blind after the fire that
ripped through his home. He now depends on Jane, rather than Jane depending on him. This
change in the power dynamic of their relationship unites the two of them once again.

While the significant men present in Jane's life throughout the novel all try to, in some form or
another, establish themselves as dominant over Jane, she in most cases remains resistant at least
to a certain degree, refusing to submit fully or lose all of her independence. The only time Jane
feels comfortable attaching herself to a man is when she knows that she is his financial,
intellectual, and emotional equal. This final adherence to her strong convictions on the
independence of women point out Bront's similar views on the patriarchal Victorian society of
the time.

Bronte's novel examines what the Victorians termed "The Woman Question"; this "question"
involves how women are regarded as members of society, and Bronte explores this
perspective as Jane examines herself as a girl, in her position as a governess trapped in a role that
makes her little more than a servant--the role she will play if she marries Mr. Rochester and later
her role if she marries St. John Rivers. Ultimately, as the heroine of this Victorian novel,
Jane depends upon her own intelligence and determination and principles to achieve self-
fulfillment. However, other characters such as Miss Miller, an "underteacher" at Lowood, does
not approve of Brocklehurst's methods, but is powerless.

The Rivers sisters, too, are governesses and are portrayed in a positive light.

Male female relationship

A particularly important theme in the novel is the depiction of a patriarchal society. Jane
attempts to assert her own identity within male-dominated society. Three of the main male
characters, Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers, try to keep Jane in a
subordinate position and prevent her from expressing her own thoughts and feelings. Jane
escapes Mr. Brocklehurst and rejects St. John, and she only marries Mr. Rochester once she is
sure that their marriage is one between equals. Through Jane, Bront opposes Victorian
stereotypes about women, articulating her own feminist philosophy:

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 XII)

It is also interesting to note that while most readings of Jane Eyre dwell on the fact that Bertha is
insane, it is not because she is insane that Rochester hates her (chap. 27). The two specific claims
that he makes against her, before she became insane, are that she was 'intemperate and unchaste'
and that he therefore felt degraded. Some feminist readings of the novel have taken this to mean
that the strictures imposed on women contemporary to the book were such that stepping outside
of them could have been construed as insane.

Other interpretations have seen this as evidence that Bertha was syphilitic, and that the
romanticism of the book neglects the truth that Edward Rochester would have been as well.[8]
The book may use the syphilitic condition as a metaphor for the sexual predation and narcissistic
projection of Edward Rochester; Edward says Bertha is "unchaste" in an attempt to relieve
himself of the psychic pain of his having the disease himself and his own likely role in Bertha
acquiring that condition as well as the fact he likely has the disease and risks infecting Jane. His
psychological projection combined with his position of power distorts reality such that it gives
Bertha no choice but to be "insane" (which may be combined with actual physical brain
deterioration from the syphilis) if any challenge to his veracity would cause her greater
problems, such as abandonment, starvation, etc.

Through the actions of Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers we learn that an aspect of the
Victorian romantic relationship was that of male dominance. Both Mr. Rochester and St. John
attempt to and often succeed in controlling Jane, both physically and mentally. Rochester is said
to have "seized [Jane's] arm, and grasped [her] waist... [she] felt, at that moment, powerless"
(323). The dominance in Jane's romantic relationship with Mr. Rochester is made especially
stark by Bronte because not only does he have control of Jane due to their romance, but also due
to the simple fact that he is her employer, and therefore she is expected to be subservient to him.
Thus, it is only natural for Bertha Mason, the embodiment of a Victorian woman, to be under the
strictest of male control, confined to an attic until her death. It is interesting that Bronte chooses
to give Bertha a female guard, Grace Poole, but in other ways it is appropriate. Grace Poole
cannot keep control of Bertha, and her irresponsibility and inability to do so lead finally to her
own death, the destruction of Thornfield, and the crippling of Mr. Rochester.

The area to which Bertha is confined is also representative of the life to which Victorian women
were resigned. Bertha resides in the attic of Thornfield, on the third floor where Jane is told
servants reside. Bertha is in this way likened to a servant, one who is lower in status and worth.
Bertha's room is also described as being "a room without a window" (297). Bronte describes it as
such to show that as a Victorian woman, Bertha Mason is shut off from the outside world, unable
to glimpse any other opportunities. it is not that there are no opportunities available for women,
Bronte simply believes that society is this windowless room where women cannot see what they
are capable of accomplishing.

By killing the Victorian female stereotype, Bertha, the domineering hand and closely monitoring
eye of one's husband, in this case, Rochester, can be destroyed.

Finally, Bronte hints at Bertha's status as a representation of the Victorian woman through her
familiarity to Jane. The first time that Jane knowingly sees Bertha, she states, "I recognized well
that purple face" (298). Why does Jane recognize and identify with a visage so alien to her own?
Subconsciously, Jane experiences a sense of camaraderie and kinship with Bertha due to their
shared label in the Victorian era: woman. Jane experiences this especially with Bertha because
Bertha is not only a Victorian woman, but has been protrayed by Bronte as the Victorian woman.

Charlotte Bronte was a strong believer in feminism, but also a realist. She realized that the
liberation of women from the shackles of society could not be accomplished within her lifetime,
and acknowledged this when she published Jane Eyre with a male nom de plume so that people
would read it without bias. However, as an isolated woman herself, Charlotte Bronte chose to
immortalize the pain of the Victorian everywoman in one of her greatest works. Bertha Mason is
not only a literary device and a plot element, but also Charlotte Bronte's gift and undying
memorial to the English women who endured so much for so long.
Endeavoring to portray a realistic view of life that reflected the modernity of the age, the
Victorian novel criticized aspects of society such as child labor and abuse, the nature and role of
women, the Industrial Revolution and its resulting hardships and social developments. With
industrialization, new opportunities and challenges arose for women, and some became writers,
teachers, and social reformers, who fought for femal workers and challenged the femme covert
laws in which women had to relinquish their property to their husbands as well as other rights.

REFLECTION UPON THE MORAL ISSUES OF THE AGE

Religious hypocrisy

Some of the most emphasized features in Victorian fiction were hypocrisy and double standards that
is only one way in which the Victorian period was described. Bront portayed religion in her novel as an
incoherent and hypocritical practice - preaching one doctrine and living by another. The character of
the sanctimonious hypocrite, Mr. Brocklehurst, is based upon William Cams Wilson, an
evangelical clergyman who founded a girls' school that provided only the poorest of conditions
Religion was used as an instrument of threat and punishment instead of being a way of providing love to
their fellowships .During her early childhood Jane Eyre lived with her Aunt Mrs. Reed at Gateshead.
After having been mistreated by his cousin John and being isolated for the rest of the house, she had a
meeting with a clergyman, Mr. Brocklhurts. It is important to realize that he used his clergymans
investiture and his religious knowledge to persuade and threat a ten year-old orphan child. Brocklhurts
started asking cunning questions to Jane such as Do you know where the wicked go after death? and
should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever? (Brontt,1994, p. 34). His cold,
distant and accusatory attitude was not the one expected of a man of God. Through the character of the
missionary Mr. St. John River, Bront is...

The cruel, hypocritical master of the Lowood School, Mr. Brocklehurst preaches a doctrine of privation,
while stealing from the school to support his luxurious lifestyle. After a typhus epidemic sweeps
Lowood, Brocklehursts shifty and dishonest practices are brought to light and he is publicly discredited.

Religious fanaticism

Jane's cousin, St. John Rivers desires Jane to marry him so that she can help with his missionary
work.

Women's morality

Because there were so few occupations open to women and because women so outnumbered
men in Victorian England (so many men were soldiers, or had been killed as soldiers), many
women turned to prostitution as a means of self-support. Bronte's Jane Eyre, however, refuses to
be the mistress of Mr. Rochester, citing a higher moral law as her justification as she tells
Rochester,
"Laws and principles are not for the time when there is no temptation; they are for such moments
as this, when body and soul rise against their rigor. . .

The immorality of Imperialism

While not mentioned overtly, Bronte does allude to the Jamaica Rebellion of 1865 with regard
to the characters of Bertha Mason and her brother and Rochester's arranged marriage to her in
Jamaica.

. Charlotte Bront used the image of ice ice throughout the novel not only to depict but also to criticize
religion, education and society during the Victorian era.

Poor conditions for orphans

In Jane Eyre, the main character, Jane, is a ten year old orphan. She was taken in to live with her Aunt
Reed. Janes Aunt was not a horrible person, but Janes cousins were. Specifically, Janes cousin John
Reed was cruel to her. John was never punished for his mean actions towards Jane, but Jane was. Jane
did not understand the unjust behavior toward her. Jane did understand that she was supposed to be
grateful to her Aunt for feeding her and giving a roof over her head. However, Jane never seemed
grateful enough for her Aunt to allow her to keep living with the family.

Abused by her aunt after she is orphaned, Jane is sent by Mrs. Reed to Lowood where
the children are ill-dressed and underfed. Mr. Brocklehurst, a religious hypocrite and the
proprietor of Lowood Institution, is cruel and sadistic. In a subtle suggestion about the girls'
destiny, Bronte has Helen reading Samuel Johnson's Rasselas, a text examining the philosophical
question of a person's inability to change one's existence.

The nature and role of women

Bronte's novel examines what the Victorians termed "The Woman Question"; this "question"
involves how women are regarded as members of society, and Bronte explores this
perspective as Jane examines herself as a girl, in her position as a governess trapped in a role that
makes her little more than a servant--the role she will play if she marries Mr. Rochester and later
her role if she marries St. John Rivers. Ultimately, as the heroine of this Victorian novel,
Jane depends upon her own intelligence and determination and principles to achieve self-
fulfillment. However, other characters such as Miss Miller, an "underteacher" at Lowood, does
not approve of Brocklehurst's methods, but is powerless.

The Rivers sisters, too, are governesses and are portrayed in a positive light.

REFLECTION UPON THE MORAL ISSUES OF THE AGE

Religious hypocrisy
The character of the sanctimonious hypocrite, Mr. Brocklehurst, is based upon William Cams
Wilson, an evangelical clergyman who founded a girls' school that provided only the poorest of
conditions.

Religious fanaticism

Jane's cousin, St. John Rivers desires Jane to marry him so that she can help with his missionary
work.

Women's morality

Because there were so few occupations open to women and because women so outnumbered
men in Victorian England (so many men were soldiers, or had been killed as soldiers), many
women turned to prostitution as a means of self-support. Bronte's Jane Eyre, however, refuses to
be the mistress of Mr. Rochester, citing a higher moral law as her justification as she tells
Rochester,

"Laws and principles are not for the time when there is no temptation; they are for such moments
as this, when body and soul rise against their rigor. . .

The immorality of Imperialism

While not mentioned overtly, Bronte does allude to the Jamaica Rebellion of 1865 with regard
to the characters of Bertha Mason and her brother and Rochester's arranged marriage to her in
Jamaica.

Jane was sent to a charity school for orphans called Lowood. Jane was not much better off at the poor
school which had little food or heat. But Jane worked hard at her school work through the hard winter
and the sickness of tuberculosis that took Janes friend Helen Burns. Jane excelled in her education and
after six years became a teacher at Lowood. After two years as a teacher, Jane advertised to become a
governess. She was hired by Mrs. Fairfax at Thornfield Hall and started a..

Many writers, and women writers such as Charlotte Bronte gave a voice to the emerging
independent spirit of women and a distaste for the smothering Victorian life. In the latter period
of the Victorian Age, literature often examined the burden of imperialism with its rebellions,
massacres, and wars such as the Indian Mutiny in 1857 and the Jamaica Rebellion in 1865. In
Jane Eyre, several elements of Victorian Literature are evinced:

REFLECTION UPON THE SOCIAL ILLS OF THE AGE

Literary Anlysis of Jane Eyre

Common themes of victorian literature are shared with Jane Eyre. Food was a reoccurring theme
of throughout many Victorian novels because of the hunger that many people faced in this time
period. This theme is reflected in the vivid description of under nourishment at Lowood School in
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Another common theme was women's morality and sensuality. Before
the publication of Jane Eyre, women were simple and genuine under the expectations of society, the
"wife and mother from whom all morality sprang" (Lowes). After this novel was published, the
"new woman" became predominant who was based off the main character, Jane, who was
independent, strong, forward, and radical in the sense of marriage and contraception opinions. The
theme of sex scandal goes along with women's morality and sensuality because it, also, went against
the prior conservative social expectations and beliefs for women. This theme started to become
common in victorian literature. An example of sex scandal is in Jane Eyre when Jane got involved
with Rochester, her wealthy boss, and ended up marrying him.

Jane Eyre is written in first-person from the point of view of Jane. The genre of Jane Eyre can be
classified as many different types; Romance, Mystery, and Gothic Fiction. It can be considered a
classic romantic novel because of the passionate relationship that Jane and Rochester form. It is a
mystery in the sense that throughout the book, Jane suspects something about Rochester and his past
based on the incident of Grace Pool accidently setting his bed on fire in a drunken state and not
getting fired for it. She then discovers the secret of his past that he has a wife, Bertha, who has one
mad and was the one who set his bed on fire. It is considered Gothic Fiction because of the
supernatural and fantasy elements that Charlotte Bronte includes (http://www.shmoop.com/jane-
eyre/literary-devices.html) Through Charlotte's unique writing style, she incorporates "fantasy
elements in Jane Eyre through references to fairy tales, prophetic dreams, mythic imagery, and
extraordinary plot twists," (Shwingen). An example of the mythic imagery is shown through
Charlotte's emphasis on the image of passion. Jane was always a passionate and emotional character
since she was a child. Charlotte writes about Jane after her cousin hits her with the book, "my blood
was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave was still bracing me with its bitter vigor." The image
of her warm blood and her intense anger compared to that of a revolted slave shows Jane's great
emotion even as a child. This image is emphasized through imagery when Charlotte writes of Jane's
feelings for Rochester as "fiery iron" and "blackness and burning". These figurative images of a fire
portray to the reader the intense passion that Jane has for Rochester. Fire is another image that
Charlotte writes about throughout the novel; "in the bedroom blaze which Jane saved Rochester from, in
the language that both Rochester and Jane use in describing their emotions towards each other, and in the final fire
 In Vaughon's opinion,
that destroyed Thornfield Hall, crippled Rochester, and killed Bertha," (Vaughon).
this imagery of fire and passion was Charlotte's way of emphasizing the unethical and sinful
love that Jane and Rochester shared with each other based on the fire of hell. As said
before, in Victorian times, this relationship would be considered scandalous not only based
on the difference in their classes, but also because they believed in purity. Charlotte goes
against the traditional beliefs with her imagery of passion and lust between Jane and
Rochester.

Charlotte's writing style is generally educated, complex, and emotion filled. Most of her
sentences are contain numerous adjectives and sensual images. Her unique style may be
overwhelming for some readers, but it's powerful and strong. The reader is able to identify
with Jane Eyre as a character through the complex sentence structure that is filled with
emotion and imagery. (http://reviewmaterials.tripod.com/english/jane_eyre.html)

Each setting of the book has it's own unique mood in strong relation to the characters present at
each place. For example,Robert B. Martin points out that the setting of Thornfield is much more
personal than the two preceding settings at Gateshead and Lowood because of the connection Jane
makes to Rochester and the connection Rochester has to Thornfield (George P. Landow). In chapter
11, Mrs. Fairfax first makes mention to Rochester when she says, "Great houses and fine grounds
require the presence of the proprietor". Because Mrs. Fairfax said this, Jane felt as though it was not
alive unless Rochester was present which is strongly connected to how Jane felt lonely and down
because when he was not there. This connection between character and setting reflects the complex
mood of Thornfield depending on whether Rochester is there or not. When he is away on a trip, the
mood is somber and desolate because the reader can understand and feel the longing that Jane has for
Rochester and the loneliness she feels in the huge, empty house. When he is there, the mood changes to
exciting and intimate because of the strong feelings that Jane has toward him and the liveliness that she
associates with the house.
 Rochester is depicted as the ideal hero of the Victorian times. He is very romantic and charming
which adds to the gothic style of this novel (Lowes). Despite his charm, there was much controversy
over Rochester's character in Victorian times. English law at the time said that a man whose wife
became insane could not get a divorce. To deal with his problem, he put his wife into confinement,
locked in a room with a servant to care for her. He then proceeded to almost partake in bigamy by
marrying Jane. Many Victorians of the time questioned why Jane would ever go back to such a man.
(http://reviewmaterials.tripod.com/english/jane_eyre.html)

The character of Jane isn't the traditional heroine of the time. In many romantic novels of the
Victorian era, the heroine was beautiful. Jane is described by Charlotte as "simple and plain". She
also differs from the traditional heroine in her strength as a woman. Charlotte created a woman
character that was equal to the male character. Jane is not equal in status or class, but in emotional
strength and maturity. This went against society's beliefs of the time because Victorians
traditionally believed that women were not capable of strong emotions.

This is not to say that her novels were completely free of social concerns, but she tended to
approach issues in terms of their impact on the personal lives of individuals rather than as
matters of institutional reform or legislative action. In Jane Eyre:

Charlott Bronts novel Jane Eyre, a narration in which the main character struggles to overcome the
oppressive forces that tried to destroy her. Since her early childhood, Janes life was
characterized by constant hardships and injustices. The author decided to write this
story from the first person point of view, allowing the reader to see into her soul and re-
experience the events of her life and feels them just as she did. For this reason, the
reader could easily perceive how the main character was in conflict with society all the
time.
The bad effects of class and snobbery can be seen in this novel. John Reed's fiery speech and
Mrs. Reed's treatment of Jane as someone outside their middle class standing sheds light on the
economic opportunities available to women in the Victorian era. Jane As a lower-class female
who is small in stature and does not possess Jane's ambiguous social position a penniless yet
decently educated orphan from a good family leads her to criticise some discrimination based
on class, though she makes class discriminations herself. Although she is educated, well-
mannered, and relatively sophisticated, she is still a governess, a paid employee (middle class),
and therefore relatively powerless. She respectfully defers to Rochester and his guests from the
upper class, but she asks Leah, the housemaid (lower class), to get her a candle rather than get it
herself, and has a servant girl when she is school mistress at the small village school in Morton.

beauty, "Jane's advancement from her position as teacher at Lowood to private governess signifies an
important development in the text's subversion of gender, since governesses served as a hole in the
invisible wall between working-class and middle-class gender identities. As governess, Jane bridges the
gap between the dangerous androgyny of working-class homogeneity and the fragile stability of middle-
class separate spheres" (Godfrey 12). Jane acts as a middle-class woman in that she is in charge of the
education of Adele at Thornfield, but continues to earn a wage and is under the control of the master of
the house. An interesting idea from Godfrey's work speaks about the uniqueness of the role of the
governess, explaining that "Because the governess was like the middle-class mother in the work she
performed, but like both a working-class woman and man in the wages she received, the very figure
who theoretically should have defended the naturalness of separate spheres threatened to collapse the
difference between them" (Godfrey). The roles of gender are blurred in Jane's case, as she is a female
who earns a wage and takes the place of the person responsible for keeping those same gender roles
clear and intact. Jane, as a governess, finds a way to ascend into a middle class style of life in being hired
to educate at Thornfield-an ascension that was extremely difficult for any person from meager
beginnings, especially a female, to achieve.

"Jane's advancement from her position as teacher at Lowood to private governess signifies an important
development in the text's subversion of gender, since governesses served as a hole in the invisible wall
between working-class and middle-class gender identities. As governess, Jane bridges the gap between
the dangerous androgyny of working-class homogeneity and the fragile stability of middle-class separate
spheres" (Godfrey 12). Jane acts as a middle-class woman in that she is in charge of the education of
Adele at Thornfield, but continues to earn a wage and is under the control of the master of the house.
An interesting idea from Godfrey's work speaks about the uniqueness of the role of the governess,
explaining that "Because the governess was like the middle-class mother in the work she performed, but
like both a working-class woman and man in the wages she received, the very figure who theoretically
should have defended the naturalness of separate spheres threatened to collapse the difference
between them" (Godfrey). The roles of gender are blurred in Jane's case, as she is a female who earns a
wage and takes the place of the person responsible for keeping those same gender roles clear and
intact. Jane, as a governess, finds a way to ascend into a middle class style of life in being hired to
educate at Thornfield-an ascension that was extremely difficult for any person from meager beginnings,
especially a female, to achieve.