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Essay / A feminist approach to Jane Eyre: fighting for self-realization
The story of Jane Eyre tells us that in a male-dominated society, a woman must fight for decency and dignity. Facing such difficulties in life, a courageous woman must be courageous enough to fight against these difficulties and self-esteem is the main thing to protect. And feminism has learned to defend itself. Whenever we are helpless in bad conditions, we must try to survive. As for a happy marriage, you need a certain amount of wealth. While for the lover, independence and equality as a human being are the first task. A marriage without love is lifeless, so a perfect marriage is based on love, equal status and good fortune. Jane goes against the expected type by refusing submission, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her rights, and daring her thoughts. She is successful not only in terms of wealth and position, but most importantly in terms of family and love. Charlotte Brontë depicts the image of Jane Eyre in three stages. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The first step is that her feminist thinking begins to sprout from her struggles in her poor childhood life and the second step is that her feminist thinking is formed from the miserable experiences at boarding school. The awesome part is the third stage of her quest for true love, independence and equality, where feminist thought grows and matures. Jane's main goal is not to get married, but to preserve her identity and freedom in a society ruled by men. This is the reason why Jane has the courage to stand up, defy the rules of her society and speak out whenever she feels treated unfairly, regardless of whether it is her aunt, her harassment. cousin, the cruel school principal, or even the man she is in love with. Jane is confronted with a great discordance with the social environment of the time. Even if she dares to fight against conventional ideas of marriage, which well reflect the voice and wish of all feminists for true love. During this time Jane covered her name, she wanted to make a living. While working as a teacher in a small village, she became friends with John and his sisters. Although John seems to be a good-looking guy and has proposed to Jane, she cannot accept him, it is a reflection of his iron determination to pursue love. She doesn't want love without affection. An honest and handsome man like John, Jane Eyre, cannot accept her because his love would be “that of duty, not of passion”. She knows very well that humiliated marriage is not true love. He makes Jane an offer of marriage because he thinks Jane is a good choice for a missionary's wife. He finds her docile, firm and tenacious. Because John just needs that kind of assistant. Jane says that if she joins St. John, she will give up half of herself and if she goes to India, she will die prematurely. She insists that true love must be based on equality, mutual understanding and respect. She therefore refuses John's proposal. In Jane's life, the quest for true love is an important representation of her struggle for self-realization. For his love is pure and divine, it cannot be measured by status, power or property. Having experienced a helpless childhood and a miserable adolescence, she expects more than true consolable love. She suffers a lot in her quest for true love. However, she obtains it thanks to her long and hard quest. As a feminist woman, she represents insurgent women hungry for esteem and without esteem,women like Jane cannot achieve true emancipation. In most people's eyes, no one would want to marry a man who loses his sight and almost all his wealth. But as for Jane, she is different. In his mind, pure love is supposed to be the meeting of the hearts and minds of two people. Jane doesn't think she's making a sacrifice. She says: “I love people if love is to make a sacrifice? If so, then I certainly appreciate the sacrifice. At the end of the novel, Jane returns to Ferndean Manor and marries Rochester. At this time, Mr. Rochester loses his sight and becomes disabled. Under these circumstances, Jane returns to Mr. Rochester only caring about this man. She said: “I find you alone, I will be your companion, to read you, walk with you, sit with you, wait for you, be your eyes and your hands. Stop looking so melancholy, my dear master; you will not be abandoned as long as I live. » (Bronte 618) She wants recognition that both sexes are equal in terms of heart and mind. Jane Eyre defines herself as a spiritual human being, the proof of her free spirit and feminist ideals is her relationship with Rochester. Although she is a governess, she does not consider herself inferior to him. Do you think that because I am poor, obscure, simple and small, I am soulless or heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you and as much heart! And if God had blessed me with some beauty and much wealth, I would have made it as difficult for you to leave me as it is for me to leave you. I am not speaking to you now through customs, conventions, or even mortal flesh: it is my spirit that speaks to your spirit; as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at the feet of God, equal as we are! (Bronte 356) Jane's relationship with Mr. Rochester is a constant struggle for her to maintain her own individual identity; she plays the role of servant while making it clear to him that she does not consider herself beneath him in terms of spiritual qualities. She insists that she represents much more than her social status: “Jane's departure from Mr. Rochester demonstrates her courage. Through this act, she both defies the Victorian expectation of submission to the will of man and shows that she can break away from the emotional power that Mr. Rochester exercises over her. Jane's refusal to become a mistress shows that she has retained a certain dignity. Although she had a deep affection for Rochester, she could not stand any compromise in her marriage. She is her own person and others cannot make fun of or argue about this aspect, she would not give up her independence and self-respect. So she decided to leave her beloved Rochester and wanted to start a new life. I take care of myself. The more lonely I am, without friends, without support, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God, sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by men when I was sane, and not crazy as I am now, laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation, they are for moments like this when body and soul mutiny. against their rigor, they are rigorous, they will be inviolable. (Bronte 447) The time Jane spends in the Thornfield Room is the most splendid part of the entire book. Meeting Rochester and falling in love with him reflected Jane's feminism and new thoughts. She loves Rochester with all her heart, but Rochester's wealth and status make him so high that Jane can approach him, although she never feels inferior to Rochester. She is a humble family teacher. She believes that they are fair and must respect each other, it ishis righteousness, his haughtiness and his sincerity which touch Rochester. He feels from the bottom of his heart that Jane is the spiritual partner he dreams of. When the heroine is moved by his enthusiasm, they fall deeply in love. But at the time of the marriage, she discovers that Rochester has had a legal wife. Jane is heartbroken by this news and it puts her in a dilemma as to whether she should stay or go. She tells Rochester: Jane Eyre's rebellion against Mrs. Reed and John represents her feminist conscience in esteeming others as a decent and respectable person. Little Jane was sent to Lowood boarding school where she learned a lot and became much stronger and independent. During Jane Eyre's stay at Lowood Orphanage, she is aware of the fact that even when faced with powerful and authoritarian people like the Chief Inspector of the Brocklehurst Charity School, as long as her self-esteem and dignity are ruthlessly harmed , she will never submit. but resolutely rebel against it. How dare I, Mrs. Reed? How dare I? Because it's the truth. You think I had no feelings and that I could do without a little love or kindness, but I can't live like that and you have no pity. I will remember how you brutally and violently pushed me back into the red room and locked me up until my last day. Even though I was in pain, even though I screamed, have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed! (Bronte44) Jane should be grateful to her Aunt Reed rather than being rude. When Jane was about to leave Gateshead for the charity school. Mrs. Reed thinks she can scare Jane with her status and decides to give a hypocritical and sanctimonious speech to guide Jane into expressing her gratitude in front of Mr. Lloyd. But Jane Eyre refuses to be the doll of this rich lady treated without emotion and shameless. She retorts directly and forcefully: Jane was very young when she lost her parents, unfortunately her uncle Mr. Reed also dies after a few years, Jane could live a good life if her uncle was alive. Her aunt, Mrs. Reed, considered Jane a curse and allowed her children John, Eliza, and Georgina to neglect and abuse Jane. They don't like Jane's plain look. These only parents of Jane do not show any sympathy or care towards this pitiful girl, they always criticize and bully her. Aunt Reed still treats Jane like a lesser burden than a maid. Finally, one day, little Jane got into an argument with her cousin and was beaten. Locked in a room for a night, Jane was ill by the time her early feminism came out. Facing Mrs. Reed, Jane refuses to be treated as an inferior being and denounces the discrimination against her with cold and acerbic exposition. When Mrs. Reed criticizes Jane for lying for no reason, Jane defends herself: “I'm not deceitful. If I were, I should say I love you, but I declare that I don't love you. I don't like you the most in the world, except John Reed, and that book about the liar, you can give it to your friend, Georgina, because she's the one who lies, and not me. (Bronte43) Jane Eyre did not take to the streets with her feminist ideals, but she expressed her vision of women's equality subconsciously, in word and deed. Jane, however, is an orphan without fortune and is repeatedly described by her author as unattractive, but she is still capable of breaking the conventions of her age. She faces difficulties with great determination. First raised by Mrs Reed, a cruel aunt, she is then sent to Lowood, a gloomy charity school run by the tyrannical Mr Brocklehurst, where she leads a lonely and sad life. Jane faces the perspective of a young woman..