Gender Roles In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Nineteenth century women were no strangers to strictly defined gender roles and lack of basic rights men of that same time period enjoyed. In Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”, the outlook on the restraints women faced was transformed through the development of her main character, Jane, as the author focused on the different aspects of imprisonment experienced in her life through the character interactions at different stages in the protagonist’s life, expression of views on societal norms, and comparison of parallel characters to deviate from a society’s belief that a woman’s place was not in the world creating her own success, but instead being confined in the home, creating the perfect picture of domesticity. Even from the very start of the
Seeing how Jane is treated and the nonexistent support from bystanders show how Jane has no choice but to allow herself to be beaten down because, due to the untimely deaths of her parents that left her orphaned, her living arrangements are her only option that promise meals and shelter. She is imprisoned in the household and must adhere to the norms in place as she is a guest with rights hardly equal to those of the other children residing in the home. Mrs. Reed, Jane’s aunt, is the head of the household and is constantly reminding Jane of her unfortunate situation and her lack of importance in the family. After a physical encounter involving her cousin John, Jane is forced to be locked in a room alone where she is further isolated and alone. In this room is where she experiences some sort of spiritual incident leaving her in shock and weak. “[The] little drama enacted on “that day” which opens Jane Eyre is in itself a paradigm of the larger drama that occupies the entire book: Jane’s anomalous, orphaned position in society, her enclosures in stultifying roles and houses and her attempts to escape through flight, starvation and-in a sense that will be explained-madness” (Saundra M. Gilbert and Susan
After describing Jane in this way, she is imprisoned to be viewed as a troubled child who cannot be trusted among her fellow students. After being persecuted publically, her first friend at this new school is Helen Burns. Helen is seen by Jane as the girl who is severely reprimanded for any and all faults she may show to those in charge but does nothing to retaliate against the punishments. Because Jane has experienced this type of treatment, Helen brings out Jane’s passionate feelings about injustice and cruel punishment. As she shares her personal anecdotes and opinions to Helen, Jane is given a different kind of response to the unfair treatment as Helen poses the question, “Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” (Bronte 67). Helen is another representation of the imprisoned lifestyle, however she deals with the