Frishcosy 1
Kendra Frishcosy
Abigail Heiniger
GSW 2500-001
9 December 2013
Research Analysis
During the time period that Jane Eyre was written, there was a major imbalance in the
population amongst men and women in England. The percentage of women had increased to
being six percent above the male population. This caused some issues amongst Victorian morals
because of the ideal that women must be married. Due to this excess of women, women were
considered to be redundant. Due to this excess of women, women were considered to be
redundant because of the imbalance of gender which caused the inability for all women to marry
and made, some of them useless. These extra women became known as the superfluous woman.
Greg explains that all women were being categorized as redundant; the split amongst social
classes determined which groups of women were more redundant than others (Greg, 3-24).
Because of this superfluous woman problem, these women were stripped of their humanity and
their gender. “Gendered performances become acts that are increasingly tied to material wealth,
and the text suggests that only the middle and upper classes can afford the costly performance of
gender” (Godfrey, 856). Wealth and marriage are the two primary ideals that defined
womanhood. To eventually reach this womanhood was to be recognized as human. This idea
split women into a dichotomy that determined humanity. Economic stability did not effect a man
and his humanity because of having the rights of a man. A man had the ability to gain access to
wealth throughout his lifetime and did not have his humanity questioned based upon social
classes. To have gender is to be human which implies the significance of gender to be most
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applicable to humans. Charlotte Brontë explains the life of the redundant woman as Jane in Jane
Eyre. Brontë denotes femininity as a privilege through obtaining humanity; which is defined by
economic stability within socially constructed gender dichotomies.
Jane Eyre was an orphan infant after losing her parents to an illness. There was nothing
for her to inherit from this loss; such as money or valuables. In this text, she starts out as being a
socially constructed dehumanized individual and encounters this throughout her life (Brontë).
Brontë wrote the text Jane Eyre through the eyes and mind of Jane. This story begins as
Jane at the age of ten and a tone of pessimism. Jane is placed at the Reed’s house and is
constantly reminded of her monetary deficiency. Even at a young age, Jane is being stripped of
her humanity which ultimately strips her of her gender. This gender dichotomy of wealthy and
poor is being impacted in this household and the Reed’s dehumanize Jane to remind her of her
disposition. Jane is often compared to animals while she’s living at the Reed’s house. After she is
caught hiding from John Reed, her fourteen year old cousin, he remarks to her, “…and for your
sneaking way of getting behind the curtains, and for the look in your eyes two minutes since, you
rat!” Shortly after Jane’s encounter with John Reed, she is punished. Jane knows she did nothing
wrong and she tried to fight her way out of being punished. “Hold her arms, Miss, Abbot: she’s
like a mad cat” (Brontë, 1-4). These animals suggest that Jane is ugly, small, feral and diseased.
Not all wild animals are diseased; however, humans are cautious of the possibility. This strips
her of her humanity entirely which in turn strips her of her gender. She is more like this “mad
cat” after being spoken to by the family doctor. Jane is explaining to the doctor that she is
miserable and upset. She goes on about how she was punished in a room with Mr. Reed’s ghost.
Mr. Lloyd, the doctor, was then poking fun at the fact that a girl of her age is still afraid of ghosts
and calling her a baby (Brontë, 13). Being called a baby is one of the most insulting names to
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hear as a child. This term is degrading Jane’s intelligence and her experiences to almost nothing.
Being at such a young age, her gender seems to be irrelevant at the time, or at least Jane does not
understand it. “Children can feel, but they cannot analyze their feelings” (Brontë, 24). Jane does
not understand that these dehumanizing insults are related to her humanity and gender. What
Jane does understand at this time is that she is not like everyone around her. She realizes that she
is the only person in this setting that is being dehumanized and punished on a regular basis. Her
brute attitude comes from the lack of understanding gender. She knows that she does not have
money because of the constant reminders, but she does not understand her socially constructed
position.
After the doctor left, Mrs. Reed kept Jane secluded from the others due to her “illness”
(page 16). This goes back to her being a mad cat with having this “illness.” Mrs. Reed is keeping
Jane away from everyone like she is going to go crazy and bite someone to only infect them with
her illness. Jane is being treated like she has a deadly contagious disease. Jane stood up for
herself with the doctor and told him that she was unhappy at Gateshead Hall (Brontë, 14) and
this was wrong of her to do. She was speaking out of turn which is socially constructed as unlady-like. Due to this behavior, she is then viewed from people in the outside of her home as less
than a woman. Since she is lashing out of a female character and being ungrateful for her family
that houses her, she is undeserving of this normal life that men and women live. She does not
want this like and therefore, deserves less. She is not proper and not happy which ultimately
meant there is something wrong with her. During this scene, Brontë is showing what happens
when a redundant woman tries to break from social dichotomies. Jane is displaying herself with
animal-like characteristics by not being a submissive woman. She is asserting her equality which
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is unacceptable. Jane does not have wealth or luxuries which does not make her a contributing
member of society and this makes her the redundant woman she is portrayed.
Jane is convinced into thinking that any condition of living would be better than living at
the Reed’s house which is what brings her to the decision of leaving for school. At Lowood
Institution, Jane is forced upon a society of unfortunate orphans, such as herself, and is
condemned to unlivable weather conditions, insufficient clothing and inedible food. Jane’s
fictitious illness of deceit she was diagnosed with at the Reed’s house subjects her to be sent
away to prevent contagiousness (Brontë, 26-33). The spread of disease was to be controlled in
two ways. By locating and mapping the "unhealthy places" in a region, a country, or across the
globe, physicians could assure that everyday contact with them would be minimized (Bewell,
776-7). This institution was entirely made up of orphan women to demonstrate the superfluous
woman problem that fled the time period. This group of women were born in poverty and were
sent away due to the lack of financial support. This institution was isolated from proper
hospitality to keep from infecting the financially stable people with any contractible diseases.
These living conditions were the cause of diseases and infections that eventually led to death.
Brontë is reinforcing the concept of wealth being the key to humanity. The superfluous women
were sent to these unhealthy places in hopes of a population balance. These sinister motives were
the basis to maintain humanity by doing away with the superfluous women.
Brontë strongly emphasizes Brocklehurst’s character as a judgment of femininity and
how his social position and masculinity give him power. “Brocklehurst explodes, ‘Naturally!
Yes, but we are not conform to nature: I wish these girls to be the children of Grace.” This scene
is where Brocklehurst makes all of the students in his institution have short hair because they
were undeserving of natural hair. A few moments later in this scene, Brocklehurst’s daughters
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walk in to Lowood Institution being able to conform to nature by showing off their long hair
(Brontë). “Charlotte Brontë presents Nature as one’s individuality. Grace is the submergence of
individuality in a uniform or collective ethos, a prescribed way of life. The choice between
nature and grace, however, is one which Jane is called on continually to make” (Benvenuto,
624). This dichotomy is not a choice for Jane. Jane was condemned to be a child of grace. In this
scene, these girls are forced to remove their naturally curly hair and be uniformed with one
another while the women of the Brocklehurst family have the freedom to display their nature.
Brockehurst is Brontë’s representation of the stereotypical wealthy man defining femininity by
the ability to obtain luxuries. Brontë reveals the power of wealth through this display of gender
hypocrisy. The women that were born into upper-class families followed into the fate of nature
while women who were born into the lower-class families were condemned to the fate of grace.
This socially constructed gender dichotomy dehumanized the women of grace by stripping them
of their human nature due to the lack of sufficient income.
Jane eventually became a teacher at Lowood Institution but was still receiving
insufficient payment. As Jane is able to stay alive for almost a decade at Lowood Institution, she
asserts her ability to leave Lowood for another employment opportunity as a governess at
Thornfield Hall. Godfrey explains the major problem of governesses in this time period as, “the
middle-class fears were prevalent that working-class women would usurp their class positions
and undermine middle-class stability…such class movements threatened to spread more than
coarse grammar or loose morals” (Godfrey, 857). Mary Poovey also adds to the stresses of
governesses to the middle class by making that claim that the governess is the threat to the
household by her potential unregulated sexuality. There was also an issue that the governess is
promiscuous and causing a threat to the wife (Poovey, 173-4). Patti Coressel makes the claim of
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the wife being jealous of the promiscuous woman because the wife was in belief that she was
trapped in the household and the promiscuous woman was liberated on the street (Coressel). Due
to this jealousy is what caused the fear of the good woman choosing to be the bad woman. Mr.
Rochester, the master, has a gathering at his house where Mrs. Ingram says, “you should hear my
mama on the chapter of governesses:…” Her mama replied, “My dearest, don’t mention
governesses; the word makes me nervous. I have suffered a martyrdom from their incompetency
and caprice….” (Brontë, 120-1). Due to all of these negative connotations of the governess, the
sense of hostility in Mrs. Ingram’s mother’s voice is important in this scene. At this gathering,
Rochester was set up to marry Mrs. Ingram and with all of the sexual taboos of the governess
fleeing England at the time, Brontë makes the reader feel this awkward encounter amongst Jane
and the Ingram’s. The intentions behind this scene were to represent that despite the fact that
Jane has grown to adulthood, she is still unable to reach her womanhood. Jane’s employment is
socially constructed under another dichotomy of employer and employee. Rochester is Jane’s
employer and Rochester being able to afford a governess shows that he is of wealth. Being an
employee shows the lack of wealth. Also, the governess was an employment for these redundant
women. In order for the governesses to not be a threat to the wife and to keep the household
stable, she must be stripped of her gender and humanity. All of these assumptions about
governesses were to keep the wife in a higher social position.
While Jane is at Thornfield Hall, she develops emotions towards Rochester which
eventually becomes reciprocated. Rochester decides that he loves Jane and must marry her. Right
as Jane and Rochester are about to be married, the wedding is interjected because Rochester
already has a wife and his wife is still alive in his basement. He proves that his wife is mentally
insane and the wedding would still be able to continue. However, since he is already married, the
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wedding was denied and continually denied in the eyes of Jane. (Brontë, 176-224). “Bertha is a
threatening mother figure that must ultimately die for Jane to achieve self-actualization”
(Lemaster, 14). The claim that Lemaster makes is true to an extent. The self-actualization a
woman in the Victorian period must reach is marriage and a family. Jane’s social class in society
would have prevented her to marry Rochester even if she hadn’t refused. The way Brontë wrote
this scene displays Jane’s morals on marriage and how she cannot interfere upon a legal
marriage. However, if Jane’s morality was not an issue and she still wanted to pursue the
wedding, her lack of humanity would have further prevented the marriage. Jane is not a woman
and she has no humanity. Jane is a thing and men married women, not things. Jane’s inability to
break any of the gender dichotomies she was forced into prevents her from obtaining the selfactualization of a woman.
Jane decides to flee from Rochester and this leaves her with almost nothing. Jane has no
money, no hospitality and no one when she leaves Thornfield Hall. She is desperate for food and
has no way of obtaining it. She is unable to make a proper monetary barter in society and is
looked at as a beggar. Without having any method of survival, she has become even more
redundant. Humanity is based upon luxuries which is attainable by wealth. Jane is at her lowest
point in her life and she is only days away from death. Her inability to be a woman nearly causes
her death. Jane is lucky enough to find a house that eventually gives her hospitality. Mr. St. John
Rivers welcomes her into his home and later finds out that she is related to St. John. When she
finds this out, her uncle that she didn’t even know she had left her a fortune in his will (Brontë,
235-268). “Now referred to as “The adult” versus “the child,” the adult Jane is “skillful” and
“poised” whereas her youth she was limited” (Lemaster, 14). Jane was limited as a child but was
equally limited as an adult. She even become more limited when she left Thornfield Hall. As
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Jane does become more educated as she ages, her limitations are not dismissed until she finds out
about the wealth. This is when Jane is able to break these socially constructed gender
dichotomies. Each dichotomy has a superior side and an inferior side. The superior side has
wealth and the inferior side does not indicating that gender is privileged by money. She is able to
be a person of nature, have access to medical attention, have luxuries, and get married. Because
Jane now has wealth, she is now a recognized member in society.
However, under the social construction of gender in the Victorian era, her economic
stability gives her a humanized identity. Because Jane is now a human in society, this is when
she officially becomes a woman. Even after she is viewed as a woman now, she still
demonstrates characteristics of the redundant woman by defying man. Jane refuses to marry St.
John despite his reasoning behind why this should happen. Jane knows that she still wants to be
with Rochester and pursues him because now she can. Jane’s entrance into humanity eventually
leads into her gender and then into her womanhood. Brontë shows the shift in Jane’s power due
to her wealth by refusing a man and having the ability to look for Rochester. She can afford to go
back and find him.
According to Lemaster, the self-actualization of the Victorian woman is to marry and
have children (Lemaster 9). Now that Jane is human, she is able to pursue this self-actualization.
Brontë writes the final chapter with significance to Jane’s humanity. Every chapter in this novel
is labeled as “chapter” with its corresponding consecutive number following it and nothing more,
besides the last chapter. The last chapter is highly significant to Jane’s humanity and gender.
This chapter was also given a name along with the standard chapter number. Brontë calls the last
chapter “Conclusion.” All of the other chapters are nameless. Jane gains her humanity right after
she gains wealth. Jane gains her gender when she can be the self-actualized Victorian woman. In
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the final chapter, Jane and Rochester announce their wedding and they have a son (Brontë, 288291). Brontë purposely chose to name the last chapter because of Jane’s gender. She has been
genderless throughout the entire novel until the end. Her humanity gave her the privilege of her
feminine gender—the entrance to womanhood.
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Works Cited
Benvenuto, Richard. "The Child of Nature, The Child of Grace, and the Unresolved Conflict of
Jane Eyre." ELH 39.4 (1972): 620-638.
Bewell, Alan. "Jane Eyre and Victorian Medical Geography." Jane Eyre and Victorian Medical
Geography. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
Coressel, Patti. "The Madonna and the Whore: The Victorian Wife and the Victorian Prostitute,
a Collision of Virtue and Vice." 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Godfrey, Esther. "Jane Eyre, from Governess to Girl Bride." William Marsh Rice University. 04
Nov. 2005. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
Greg, William R. "Why Are Women Redundant?" Why Are Women Redundant? London: N.
Trubner Co., 1869. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
Lemaster, Tracy. "M/Othering the Children." Genders OnLine Journal – Presenting Innovative
Theories in Art, Literature, History, Music, TV and Film. Ehrenwerks, LLC, 2008. Web.
25 Oct. 2013
Poovey, Mary. "The Anathematised Race: The Governess and Jane Eyre." New York: NY: St.
Martins, 1997. Web.