The Exposure of Feminist Critique in 19th Century Literature: a Look at Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Resistance is the action of fighting back against an unwanted force that may be deemed oppressive in ones life. It is created for different causes and comes in many forms; it may be made verbal, explicit, implicit, physical, and even made humorous or satirical. Charlotte Brontë, a 19th century Victorian feminist wrote her novel Jane Eyre as a means of exposing the confining environments, shameful lack of education, and pitiful dependence upon male relatives for survival (Brackett, 2000). Charlotte Brontë used literature as a means of feminist cultural resistance by identifying the underlying factors of how the Victorian ideologies, gender and social construction of that time was limiting, and brings to light barriers that faced women in the early 19th century, and these same barriers that continue to face women today. Her feminist writings during this time period explored the depths of feminism and the ideas of limitations through class distinctions and boundaries in a hierarchal, classist, and sexist society during the time of Victorian England. Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre is a prime example of the use of feminist long fiction, which features female characters whose quest for self-satisfaction causes conflict within a traditionally patriarchal society (Brackett, 2000).
Victorian ideologies in Brontë’s work and life are highly evident. In Jane Eyre, Brontë introduces and constantly refers to Jane as plain and stresses her lack of requisite beauty as the heroine of the novel. Presumably in male Victorian literature, the heroine or more so, damsel is presented as a fair maiden, with rosy cheeks and flashing eyes. Brontë uses this mould and opposes it by creating a female who is “puny, with irregular features whose unpromising physical attributes never fail to be remarked upon by everyone she encounters and by herself” (Brackett, 2000). Brontë purposely illustrates Jane as this “un-ideal” heroine to poke at the typical ideological female heroine. She
Victorian ideologies in Brontë’s work and life are highly evident. In Jane Eyre, Brontë introduces and constantly refers to Jane as plain and stresses her lack of requisite beauty as the heroine of the novel. Presumably in male Victorian literature, the heroine or more so, damsel is presented as a fair maiden, with rosy cheeks and flashing eyes. Brontë uses this mould and opposes it by creating a female who is “puny, with irregular features whose unpromising physical attributes never fail to be remarked upon by everyone she encounters and by herself” (Brackett, 2000). Brontë purposely illustrates Jane as this “un-ideal” heroine to poke at the typical ideological female heroine. She