'Reactions to Patriarchal Oppression in Jane Eyre\r'

'In C bawdte Brontes Jane Eyre, the characters Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason atomic number 18 both crush by the elderly system of the ixteenth century Britain. to distributively one wo spellhood refuses to conform to a aged company, but the manner by which each rebel against culture determine a very different future. By interpret opposing reactions to the heaviness, Bronte successfully depicts the plight of women in the nineteenth century. By the time Jane Eyre is nine years old, she has built up a large(p) deal of resentment of the blemish she receives at Gateshead Hall. She decides to rebel against the harsh sermon that she receives from her family.\r\nThey consider her desire to learn and her self-sufficient thoughts to be disobedient and her penalizement becomes so intolercapable that she could no longer check herself. She attacks the rich and spoiled John Reed, behaving â€Å" same a mad cat” (475) and is locked extraneous in a remote, haunting bedroom kn possess as the red room. At Lowood Institution, under strict rules and regulations, and with the help of other orphan, Helen Burns, Jane learns that it is wrong to rebel against society. Helen states, â€Å"It is weak and airheaded to say you can non bear what it is your fate to be required to bear (506)….\r\nIt is not madness that best overcomes hate-nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury”(508). Jane learns to conform to societys rules patch belt up maintaining her sense of independence. In the nineteenth century, women do not have a great deal of personal freedom. There are few options available for them other than weding and having children. Janes stemma as a governess represents one of the completely representations a respectable char could support herself. As an educated and utilise woman, she uses her intelligence to earn a bread and butter for herself, rather than relying on a man. She is commutative and does not need a man to survive.\r\nEve n after Rochester proposes to Jane, she free demands that she celebrate to be Adeles governess, earn her ingest boarding, and chip in for her own clothing. The entire novel portrays few women as strong, intelligent, and yet still feminine. Jane is at long last convinced that strictly adhering to the rules will help her in achieving what she wants. Bertha is depicted in a totally different manner. She has no fire in social acceptance or self-respect. Un worry Jane, she has not learned the consequences of noncompliance and ultimately the value of conform to the expectations of others.\r\nShe is brought up in extravagance, as her family is wealthy. By adulthood, her come realizes that her behavior is not acceptable and cannot be tolerated in a woman. Although he has reared her, he now realizes that she is beginning to show tendencies exhibited by her mother, who was locked up in an insane asylum. He quickly decides that she must be conjoin off as soon as possible. Rochesters own family rushes the marriage as wellspring, for their own financial gain. Bertha is hurriedly wed to Rochester, and it is not until after the wedding that Rochester learns of his mother-in-laws â€Å"illness” and of his wifes â€Å"appetite. ”\r\nBronte reinforces the suppressive sexual values of Victorian society through Bertha world confined for her bring out of excess passion. In the nineteenth century, excesses in sexuality, especially those of females, are considered signs of insanity. Bertha is therefore undercover away. Her very existence is deemed a threat. Rochester considers Berthas passionate sexual appetites improper and deviant. Her tastes were obnoxious to Rochester, her â€Å" slog of mind common, low, narrow, and singularly incapable of being led to anything higher… whatever national I started immediately received from her a turn at once agate line and trite, perverse and imbecile… er excesses had prematurely developed into germs of insanity… no professed harlot ever had a fouler vocabulary than she. ”\r\nIt is lucid that Bertha does not have intent to lead within the arrangement of a handed-down marriage or to conform to the expectations of her husband, practically less society. Rochester ultimately decides to confine her, as a member of the patriarchy he has the power and authority to judge and punish her. He im prisons her for unladylike, aggressive sexuality and the refusal to kotow to the patriarchal expectations of women.\r\nAfter being locked up for ten years, Rochester admits, â€Å"she [Bertha] had lucid intervals of days, roundtimes weeks. ” This task aggravates Berthas condition, and she attempts to escape from her prison. On separate occasions, she stabs her brother, attempts to flame up Rochester in his bed, and visits Jane in her room while she is sleeping, destroying Janes wedding veil. Rochesters confinement of Bertha ultimately becomes the want for her final esca pe, resulting in the destruction of everything that symbolized her oppression, including her prison within Thornfield Hall.\r\nBecause she refuses to use up to her husband and the oppression of a patriarchal society, the only way for Bertha to escape is in death; she kills herself by jumping off the roof of Thornfield Hall. To the end, Bertha refuses to be controlled by her husband or to submit to societys opinion of proper female behavior. â€Å"We perceive him call ‘Bertha! ‘ We saw him approach her; and indeed maam, she yelled, and gave a spring, and the next minute she invest smashed on the pavement. ” Berthas death allows Jane to marry Rochester.\r\nAs long as Bertha was still alive, Jane refused to deviate from what society deemed right by life history with Rochester as his mistress. Jane efficaciously uses her configuration not only to maintain her own self-respect, but her compliance with societys rules for a woman allows her to achieve her most des ired goal. Jane was a model for women readers in the Victorian period. She encourage them to train their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals.\r\nBronte allows Jane to reside acceptable to society as well as true to her own self. As an orphan left with a family who did not really love her, her survival depended upon her complying with the wishes of those in charge. However, even in an oppressed state, she was able to take advantage of the benefits of living with spate who were privileged, like reading available books and erudition social graces. Bertha, on the other hand, was not subjected to restrictions as a child and has not learned to channel her energies into more conforming ways.\r\nShe was oppressed due to the social usage of the time; however, she was also without direction or instructions as to how to act like a responsible adult. In conclusion, by presenting two opposing reactions to oppression, Bronte is mor e effectively able to detail the plight of women in the nineteenth century. She states that strong, directed women can make the most of their situations, even in an oppressed society, if they remain focused. No doubt much(prenominal) a mindset contributed to women eventually neat more purpose-driven and educated, which empowered them to have some control over their own lives.\r\n'