A Marxist/Feminist Critique of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

             From the opening of Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, we can tell that Jane is not a "normal" Victorian girl. From the first chapter of the story we are presented with two themes. The first theme being that there is great tension and conflict between the classes. The second theme we are presented with is that of the oppression of women during the Victorian age.
             In chapter one we are told that Jane is a poor orphan living with her Aunt. She has no immediate family and the people who are supposed to be her "family" are cruel towards her. John Reed, Jane's cousin, says to her, "You are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you out to beg, and not live here with gentlemen's children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mama's expense."(10) John obviously feels as though Jane is not worthy of his family. He implies that she is of a lower class because she is not of "gentlemen's children". While Jane is technically not of the poor class, she is not of the wealthy class either. She is almost in a limbo between servant and master. This is also a recurrent theme throughout the story as she becomes a Governess, a woman who is held in higher regard than a servant but not the master of the household.
             Chapter two is also contains a great example of Jane's apparent limbo between the classes. While she is being dragged to the red room, one of the servants says calls her a "rebel slave" and says, "What shocking conduct, Miss Eyre, to strike a young gentleman... Your young master!"(11) Jane responds to this with, "Master! How is her my master? Am I a servant?"(11) The servant replies, "No; you are less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep."(11) The servant is right in some regard, Jane does not have any type of property or independent wealth so therefore she is no...

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A Marxist/Feminist Critique of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 09:56, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/27921.html