Research Task 4: Jane’s Dreams and Paintings

Jane’s paintings and dreams play an important part in the novel by revealing to the reader the character of Jane, what occupies her subconscious and her spirituality. Jane’s paintings indicate her well-developed artistic skills which receive admiration from their viewers even the tough critics such as Mr Rochester and Mr Rivers. It is a skill which she is better at than her accomplished cousins Diana and Mary, thus it sets her apart.  The dreams and paintings give Jane depth allowing the reader to fully comprehend different aspects of her and to what extent certain situations in her life affect her.

The watercolour pictures which she shows Mr Rochester in their first meeting are peculiar to the modern reader but they make an impression on Mr Rochester who commented on their distinction from people of her age. In all three pictures the main subjects were women. This should come as no surprise throughout Jane’s whole life it has been women who had been the  greatest influence, first Mrs Reed, Helen Burns and Miss Temple. These women are surreal, tinted at the edges showing how unsure she is of herself and the part she is to play in the big world she had not experienced.   The portraits which she did of her and Miss Ingram show how she saw herself as honestly as possible in relation to women in the upper class. It was a way of keeping her passions in check. Through these portraits she was able to discipline herself with matters concerning Mr Rochester. She does more portraits of the people she sees around her such as Miss Rosamond Oliver, Mr Rivers and Mr Rochester. These are interpretations of how she personally sees them. Thus the portraits are a way of reflecting on her life and the people in them.

Some of her paintings were a result of her dreams she was experiencing. Her water colour drawings were interpretations of her dreams. These things are those which she sees with a “spiritual eye”. She is in tune with the spiritual side of herself so much so that she can paint what she sees. Her dreams also precede bad things that are to happen to Jane. Jane had been dreaming about an infant the night Mr Mason’s attack by Bertha. These dreams continued for the next week. This worried Jane as she had once overheard Bessie telling someone that dreams of infants were signs of trouble. It had already been confirmed by Mr Mason’s stabbing on the night she was having a dream about an infant. She also hears the news about John Reeds death and Mrs Reeds’ illness. Her dreams play a role in showing her worries and how in tune she is with the supernatural in her life. This serves to show that though her ideas about the position of women may be unconventional, it does not mean she is a heathen.

Two of her other dreams were of Mr Rochester leaving her whilst Jane was carrying a child with her. These were an indication of their separation of the future and her fears of having happiness, she felt she did not deserve, snatched away from her. She woke up to seeing Bertha tearing up her veil indicating her marriage will not go through. When it becomes apparent that Mr Rochester is married, Jane dreams of a female figure.  This women in her dream tells her to resist Mr Rochester which testify to Jane's emotional turmoil over the situation and she does what the dream told her to do. This shows her reliance on her intuition rather than her passions. After she has settled in Moor House she dreams of Mr Rochester and of being with him in many romantic situations, this shows how she still was in love with him. This shows the amount of passion Jane Eyre has even though she is very morally grounded.

It is through these pictures which Jane shares with her audience that the reader can see how conflict within Jane is played out, especially when it comes to matters concerning Mr Rochester. The superstition of the Gothic era and her spirituality play an important part in the way Jane views with the world and how she deals with situations. Her dreams give her depth and her paintings are an outlet for what she sees both in her dreams and in real life. Jane’s excellence in drawing distinguishes her and her maturity in her spirituality helps her navigate her through her life thus both the dreams and painting serve as effective characterisation and narrative tools.

Research Task 3

Women Question

“The Woman Question” refers to the roles of women within their social context. It refers to the choices and opportunities available to given the restrictions of the law and the attitude towards women. “The woman question” in the novel is raised by the focus on Jane’s life, how she is bought up to act in a certain way, the way she is judged both what she says and does not just by the content of her or the degree of her actions, but because of she is a woman. When Jane refuses the proposal of Mr Rivers and tells him bluntly that she will not marry him, he is more surprised by the bluntness of her words and insists that this set up is the best for Jane. Mr Rochester tries to make Jane into something that he wants her to be by buying her expensive clothes and jewellery. Jane on the other hand refuses this, she is certain of herself and stands her ground in order to retain the identity she has forged for herself. He as a Victorian man had every right to and saw no problem with trying to turn Jane to a version of Miss Ingram, the Victorian ideal woman, Thus women were burdened by the pressures of being what society thought they roles should be.

References to being a Governess

Jane Eyre’s profession is of a governess. The first time Jane introduces the idea to herself one sees her wanting to leave Lowood and discover the world outside her comfort zone. In order to do this she sees it appropriate according to being a woman with her expertise and her low class position in society, being a governess is a way in which she can survive and escape dependence from people. When she is considering being a governess, she also describes it as being servitude. This illustrates how governesses were viewed by society despite their education. The second time is when Jane arrives at Thornfield. She as Adele’s governess is supposed to groom her into the ideal woman of the upper class society. Adele is said to have little talents and Jane’s job is to improve her, so she is able fit and be admired by Victorian society. Miss Ingram and her mother also makes a reference to governesses as they have a general dislike for them. They found them a nuisance and had an inherit mistrust for governesses because they were from a lower class than them. Miss Ingram’s mother stated that she was glad to be rid of them. Later in the book the reader is introduced to Jane’s cousins, Mary and Diana, who are both governesses. They have to leave their homes which they love in order to become governesses as their father had not enough fortunes to give them. The position as the governance, as we can observe, is therefore not taken up by wealthy people. All references in the Jane Eyre to governesses are seen as negative because of their position ion society.

Comments on Poovey Excerpts

Poovey excerpts focus on the dual roles of the governess: the roles which the governess occupied amongst her working class peers and with the families which she worked with. Poovey’s first excerpt seems to say that governesses perpetuated the gender roles in which women in Victorian society had to play. They had such an influence on young girls’ minds and how they were to view the world. This was done as that was their mandate from the parents of their pupils. The irony was that though Jane was in a way a feminist, the only job which could serve to give her a form of independence continued the values which she stood against. The fact that Jane was still able to find love contradicts Poovey’s statement of her being lack of temptation to men as Jane received two marriage proposals. Jane Eyre shows that though the role she as a governess played may have been complex, and made her an outcast to the working and middle class, she was still a woman with feelings equal to those who shunned her.

Research Task 2: The Red Room

1.      Bessie’s Perspective

I have never seen Jane act in such a way- viciously attacking the young Master John. It took all the strength of Miss Abbot and me just to get her to the red room. Her words were very passionate and full of defiance, unlike the enduring girl I have come to know. Just as we had decided to make use of Miss Abbot’s strong garter to tie her down to the chair, she seemed to have decided to stop fighting and stay. I tried to warn Miss Eyre of her position in Gateshead then we left and locked the door behind us. Later our evening routine was disrupted by Miss Eyre’s hysteria in the red room. At first I was worried she had come down with a kind of illness, and enquired as to what was wrong. She desperately grabbed a hold of my hand and muttered something about ghosts. The hysteria had also caught the attention of Mrs Reed who was angry about us disobeying her orders. She commanded that Jane let go of my hand and accused her of using underhanded ways of getting her attention.  It was at this moment I retreated to my duties.

2.      Response Adrienne Rich’s “Jane Eyre: The Temptation of a Motherless Woman”

I do not agree with Adrienne Rich’s argument that we see the “germ of the person we finally know as Jane Eyre is born.” Jane Eyre as we know her is born before in the rebellion against the authority of Master John. She saw herself as being able to fight him, showing how she had come to the realisation that they were equals.  She is standing up for herself showing her determination to live and to lead a life with dignity, integrity and pride. Master John’s abuse represented her worthlessness and degradation thus standing up to it was choosing to live a life as mentioned above. The red room is a space where Jane could organise her thoughts and gives an opportunity for self-reflection. It was where she could resolve what she could do in her situation. Her ability to sort out her thoughts and seek out alternatives is very mature. The clear thing and pragmatic Jane Eyre is that the reader knows can be recognised in that girl. But it is not the germ, as it is only after her first rebellion that we see  her again gathering the courage to speak to Mrs Reed as an equal and stand-up to her just as we saw her stand up to Master John. We also see a rebellion of this sort in Lowood. Thus then it can be concluded that the germ of the older Jane Eyre was developed when she had had enough of the abuse.

                                                              

3.      Response to Sandra M Gilbert’s argument

The argument presented in the quotation states that the red room was an important scene in that it introduced the larger context of the book: the victimisation of the poor and women. The red room is the beginning of a series of challenges that Jane faces. These are similar in that they are situations where Jane is trapped and has to escape. They are situations where she is forced to reflect on herself, her position and make a decision on how to conduct herself. This explanation is too simplistic. The red room is an important scene which sets up Jane and what the reader can expect from the ten old, but the issues that Jane deals with are much more complex and different to the ones which was facing in that room. They are a different kind of reflection and escape from different situation which the red room does not prepare the reader for.  The paradigm which the red room sets up extensive enough to prepare the reader for the treatment that Jane has to endure the presence of Mr Rochester’s guests or at Lowood. 

Research Task 1: Introduction

Research Task 1: Introduction

1.      Definitions

Class: it is the division within society based on how much wealth one owns and the financial history of one’s family.

Gender: The different roles men and women occupy in society

Feminism: The demand of equality of women in the eyes of the law and society by women.

Ideology: It is a particular belief system which guides the way one views and reacts to life. 

2.      Preface of second edition of Jane Eyre

·  Bronte was motivated to write this preface to thank the people who supported her controversial book but furthermore to make a point to the harsh critics of her books, mainly the members of the higher class,  about the ideology they live by.

· The argument that Bronte presents is on the issue of conservatism and the religiousness that would accompany it.  She is very direct in her criticism and uses the Christian and bible references illustrate the points. Her rhetoric style indicates her frustration at the ideology she is standing up against.

·         Bronte writes as Currer Bell as she did not want her book to be at a disadvantage due to the prejudice against women at that time. She wanted the book to be judged on how good it was and she believed that it was as good a book as written by any man.                                                                                                                   

Victorian Class and Gender ideologies

The Jane Eyre reviews found in “The Christian Remembrancer” and “The Quarterly” reflects Victorian class and gender ideology.  Jane Eyre was a controversial book in that it was critical in the way it portrayed upper classes; mainly the way they lived their lives and how they mistreated the working class. The reviews criticising Jane Eyre are based on these class and gender ideologies which she opposes and this can be seen throughout their text.

From such a title such as “The Christian Remembrancer” one can gather a conservative nature in their publications. It first argues the sex of the writer, and it insults women by stating that “Who indeed but the a woman could have ventured, with the smallest prospect of success, to fill octavo volumes with the history of a woman’s heart.’ Thus indicating that only a woman would be lacking enough in sense to publish what she deems as important to her though they may be little success. According to this review it is an emotional risk rather than a practical one. The other publication “The Quarterly Review” also has this undermining view on women stating that “No woman trusses game and garnishes with the same hands” and “Above all no women attires another in such fancy dresses as Jane’s ladies assume”. These quotations show how society viewed women as being unable to master or concentrate on more than one skill and having inherent base qualities such as jealousy. The publications then are reflectors of the paradigm of the Victorian Society.

Women were not the only victims of Victorian ideology; the working class were also perceived in a derogatory manner. The Christian Remembrancer states that if the author had not been part of the working class, “[the reader] fear[s] [Jane] is to whom the world has not been kind”, thus showing how the society then thought that the working class deserved the poor lives they led. The Quarterly Review also emphasises how “it pleased God to make her an orphan, friendless and penniless” elaborating this idea of how the poor deserve their low status in life as it was ordained by the unquestionable will of God. In this regard of similarity one can assume that these were the current ideologies of the Victorian era.

The class and gender ideologies discussed above were the basis upon which these reviews were written. These ideologies can be detected throughout the article not only in words written in these reviews but also the general sarcastic and condescending tone found. Therefore it can be concluded that Jane Eyre was successful in disrupting the general societies what of thinking and living.