Sexism Exposed in Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre Essay -- Jane Eyre Essa

Sexism Exposed in Brontà «'s Jane Eyre       The Victorian era in England marked a period of unprecedented technological, scientific, political, and economic advancement.   By the 1840s, the English had witnessed remarkable industrial achievements including the advent of the railways and the photographic negative.   They had witnessed the expansion of the Empire, and, as a result, were living in a time of great economic stability.   Yet they had also seen thousands of people starving-and dying-due to the Irish potato famine and poor conditions and benefits in British factories and witnessed the entire order of society questioned as the working classes began to demand representation in Parliament.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The English also experienced biological and scientific breakthroughs that challenged the once universally accepted beliefs in the authority of the Bible, the divine ordering of nature, and the gross exploitation of women and people of other races.   It was a time of great achievement, yes, but it was also a tim e of great contradiction and uncertainty.       The Victorian era was also the age of the novel, as many English citizens now possessed the time and money to afford such a luxury.   Novels at the beginning of the Victorian era reflect the growing unease of the day; writers of the 1840s in particular responded indirectly to the social upheaval, writing personal, subjective novels.    Charlotte Brontà «'s novel Jane Eyre, published in 1847, is an archetype of the 1840s novel.   It tells the story of Jane Eyre, an orphan who eventually finds herself and happiness as a governess and, later, a wife.   Although this is a "personal" story that provides escape and entertainment for its readers, Jane Eyre most certainly, if some... ...ntinually low, to compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry, though the imprisoned flame consumed vital after vital" (429).   Further, she marries Mr. Rochester only after he is dependent and in need of her care, claiming that she likes him better that way (469).   Victorian women were supposed to be passive, idle, uneducated, and subordinate partners in marriage.   Readers are forced to realize that Jane conforms to none of these expectations.    Charlotte Brontà «'s Jane Eyre is representative of British novels in the 1840s.   Though she tells the personal story of a young governess, Brontà « also uses the story to address an important social issue of the Victorian era-sexism-directly and indirectly exposing the flaws and hypocrisies of the patriarchal Victorian society. Works Cited Brontà «, Charlotte.   Jane Eyre.   1847.   Oxford:   Oxford UP, 1993.