Imagine a girl growing up at the turn of the 19th century. An orphan, she has no family or friends, no wealth or position. Misunderstood and mistreated by those close to her, she is sent to a school where the cycle of cruelty continues. Alone in the world, she seems doomed to a life of failure. What's a girl to do? Does she remain passive and accept her fate, as is the common belief of the time? Or does she stand up for her rights and fight for the successful life she deserves? If the young girl is Jane Eyre, the heroine of Charlotte Brontë, she chooses the latter path. Although it may have shocked readers at the time, Jane's actions would open the door to a new interpretation of the woman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay Jane Eyre showed that it was possible for a 19th-century woman to achieve independence and achieve success through it -even, whatever the difficulties. her. The following article will examine the stereotype of women that Jane and her creator, Brontë, sought to disprove, explore the obstacles Jane encounters in her struggle, and show how she is able to overcome them to achieve the life she has always dreamed of 'to have. During the 1800s, the time period in which Jane Eyre was written and the context of the novel, women were stereotyped as "submissive, dependent, beautiful, but ignorant" (Harris 42). They were seen only as trophies, meant to hang on the arms of men, but never meant to develop minds of their own or venture out on their own. This stereotype has proven difficult for women to take seriously. Dissatisfied with this interpretation of her gender, Brontë attempted to change it by creating a heroine possessing the antithesis of these traits. Indeed, Jane may be a simple woman, but she is intelligent; she is also self-confident, strong-willed, and morally conscious (Harris 42). She not only has confidence in her ability to make decisions, but also in her freedom to do so. Such traits will be necessary to guide her on her journey to personal fulfillment. The first obstacle Jane encounters is her own past. Usually, one can rely on family or position to move forward in life; Jane has neither. Since childhood, she has carried the label not only of orphan, but also of lower class: her mother was disinherited from the family fortune during her marriage to Jane's father, a poor clergyman. Jane also faces discouragement in not one, but two environments in which she grew up. In Gateshead, she is looked down upon by her aunt Reed and her cousins ​​John, Eliza and Georgiana. They never let him forget his lack of wealth or position, nor their abundance of both. They only see her as a servant and treat her as such (Eagleton 41). At Lowood School, Jane finds the ultimate “monument to the destruction of the most fundamental human unit, the family” (Blom 87). Stationed with other girls like her, under the watchful and merciless eye of Reverend Brocklehurst, she further realizes how much she is missing. Perhaps the most important of these is love. Jane's cries of love are mistaken by Aunt Reed and Reverend Brocklehurst as explosions of evil. A constant obstacle that appears throughout Jane's life is oppression. Women of the time often faced oppression due to the stereotypes imposed on them; it's no different with Jane. Whenever she tries to speak up for herself and her needs, she is always met with some form of resistance. Thatbegins with Aunt Reed and Reverend Brocklehurst, who interpret her as being willfully disobedient. This continues with St. John Rivers, who views her as selfish and unworthy of God. Even Edward Rochester, the love of her life, finds fault with Jane's need to express herself; it's the only thing that keeps her from being totally possessed by him. Ironically, it is perhaps Brontë's decision to tell the story in the first person point of view that most emphasizes the constancy of this obstacle in Jane's life. This technique allowed Bronte to tell her heroine's story with an intensity that drew the reader into Jane's thoughts, feelings, and passions, an opening Jane was often deprived of in her own life (McFadden-Gerber 3290). faces are masculine power. The four men Jane must contend with throughout the book symbolize the sources of male power over women. There is John Reed, Jane's tormentor in Gateshead, who represents physical strength and the patriarchal family. There is also the Reverend Brocklehurst, Jane's executioner at Lowood; it signifies the social structures of class, education and religion. Rochester represents the moral and spiritual attraction and authority of St. John (Mitchell 302). The first two attempt to take advantage of Jane's apparent helplessness as a child; the latter two attempt to take advantage of her apparent powerlessness as a woman. Jane is able to overcome her past mainly through two means: distance and chance. By leaving for Lowood, she escapes Gateshead and all its disorders; by leaving for Thornfield, she escapes Lowood and its disorder. Jane's subsequent return to Gateshead is a victory in that it not only shows how successful she has been on her own, without the Reeds, but it also reveals that as she once needed them, they now need her (Eagleton 39). As for her state of poverty, Jane triumphs over it simply by chance. It was during her stay with St. John and his sisters at Whitcross that she became aware of her relationship with them and the great legacy of their uncle that they now all shared. This is Jane's first step in achieving the wealth and family that have been denied her for so long. The next obstacle to overcome is oppression. Before Jane is sent to Lowood, she tells Aunt Reed that it is she, not Jane, who willfully disobeys: "People think you are a good woman, but you are bad, bad-hearted." You are deceiving! It is with this statement that Jane first feels her soul begin to "expand, to exult, with the strangest feeling of freedom, of triumph" she has ever felt (Bronte 30). It is this feeling that motivates her in the confrontations she has with Reverend Brocklehurst, Rochester, and St. John over their hold over her, and it is a feeling she is determined never to lose. With this feeling in mind, Jane makes full use of her privileges as narrator. She freely comments on "the role of women in society and the greatest constraint placed upon them" and recounts how she is able to overcome both (McFadden-Gerber 3290). Jane's triumph over male power is her greatest of all. His first victory is to defeat his tormentors. She surpasses John Reed by succeeding in the one area where she was expected to fail: life. It is Jane, whom he believed to be powerless and fragile, who ends up surviving him. Jane wins her fight against Reverend Brocklehurst by refusing to live the rest of her life in Lowood under his orders. His departure from Lowood symbolizes the abandonment of his old life for a new one. Leaving Lowood also brings Jane to her toughest challenge. Throughout his life,, 1987: 5-14.