Discuss how   Charlotte  Bronte refuted the Victorian stereotype  of women with her character  “Jane Eyre”?

In Victorian Era women were seen as only wife and mother. There were strict rules about women and they were thought as pure and clean. Women were discriminated because of their sex. Moreover, women were thought   to be weak and helpless and also they are thought to be incapable of making decisions. They could make only decisions of selecting of menu and raising children who have moral values and the only career for women was marriage. All women had not got freedom whether they were married or single. Women were expected to provide a home   which is comfortable for their family.

Even if women were kept as mistresses by men they were expected to be faithful their husbands. If a woman fell in love with a man it was not accepted by public and even cut by society. On the other hand wealthy women are expected to spend their time reading,  receiving  guests and going visiting.

JANE EYRE

“Jane is raised by her aunt Mrs. Reed who is wealthy but cruel woman. Her aunt and her  cousins  do not  like her so her aunt send her a school called  Lowood and she stays there for a long time and she becomes a governess and she accepts a governess position at Thornfield and she teaches a French girl named Adele .In  Thornfield  there is a man whose name is  Mr. Rochester and Jane falls in love with him and after a while they decide to marry.

However, on wedding day a man whose name is Mason comes and says that Rochester has already has a wife and Rochester accepts this what he says. Jane is shocked  when she learns this true and she leaves from  Thornfield.

            She hangs around in the streets for a few days and some people take her to their home. Jane become friend with the children in the home. St. John Riverses who took Jane his home finds a job to Jane. One day Jane learns that her uncle left a large fortune  and she was shocked when she hears John Riverses was her uncle and his children were her cousins and Jane shares her  inheretence  with her relatives.

Jane decides to return Thornfield but she does not find anyone. Then, she learns that Mr.         Rochesters’ wife  died in a fire and Rochester lost his eyes an done of his hands. Jane goes Rochester’ s new house and finds him and they rebuild their relationship and decide to marry and after two years of blindness Rochester regained sight in one eye and he could see their first son.

When Charlotte Bronte decided to write Jane Eyre she was determined to create a main character  who is different from a Victorian Age women. With her character Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte rebelled against role of women in Victorian Age. Jane Eyre   avoides   the portrayal  of a "fallen woman". She has a   strong character and works as a governess although in Victorian Age women’s only career was marriage Jane Eyre has also independent character. She lives as she wants and she represent a woman’s rebellion against the limitation of her lot.

In the Jane Eyre it is stated that “women are supposed to be calm but women feel just as the man feel they need exercise for their faculties and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do and it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings ,to playing piano and embroidering bags It is thoughtless to condemn them or laugh at them if they seek to do more or learn more custom has pronounced  necessary for their sex”

Charlotte Bronte wants to state that women must have equal opportunities  as men have and women should not be condemn for their sex. They should have a job as men have and she rebels the idea that women’ s only career is marriage and supported that women can achieve everything if they are given a chance.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Nagihan CELEP