By: Emily Warner
Before taking a class this semester called Iconic Heroines in Novel and Film, I’d never read Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. Brontë’s narrative, like many nineteenth century British literary works, focuses on a female character preparing herself for the marriage market and pursuing a proper man, while navigating strict social codes.
Jane Eyre is an unusual female character of the nineteenth century. Inwardly, she is furious at her mistreatment in the past, but occasionally chooses to express her emotions by blaming her aunt, insulting her, threatening to never return…
The passage I include below is one cited by men and women of different classes, races, and nationalities who are feminists, scholars, and psychologists, to name a few. They deem the following passage to be one of the first instances of expressed feminine opinion – written by a woman, from a woman’s point of view – in the modern era.
As Jane settles into her new role as governess at Mr. Rochester’s mansion, she never loses her sense of being and forwardness:
It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which peopleearth. Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; 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 on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.
When I first read these words, I tried to imagine how they were originally received in 1847, at the height of the British Empire, which was a completely patriarchal culture. In 1847, Charlotte Brontë was brave enough to challenge every norm, every stipulation, every rule and code for women of her time – if not gradually, entirely.
One hundred and seventy-one years past Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre, literature – whether that be thought-provoking online articles, in-print magazines, or dedicated novels – remains as a strong platform for women to express their opinions and share ideas. This blog itself is a platform created by two women eager to express themselves and include others in their dialogue, just as Brontë and countless others did.
The Blog Cooperative 