Exploring Jane Eyre
To what extent can we consider this novel a form of social criticism?
When Jane Eyre was published in 1847, it was remarkable for a number of reasons.
The Victorians were obsessed with the idea of progression. This is partly because
the Victorian era was an amazing age of expansion and achievement in terms of
science, industry, communication and transport, and Bronte examines this
development in Jane Eyre. Just like the character of Pip in Charles Dickens’s Great
Expectations (1860), Jane is an example of a “self-help” hero. By this, I mean that
she begins the novel as a governess, and ends it as lady of the manor and a wealthy
heiress. This type of social transition was beginning to be understood in the Victorian
era, particularly after Samuel Smiles’s ground-breaking book, Self Help, was
published in 1859. In it, he advised readers that anything was possible as long as
you worked hard enough. So, Jane’s social rise within the novel reflects a cultural
phenomenon in the Victorian period involving the rise of the middle class. This
development was often described as the movement from “aristocracy to meritocracy”.
In other words, it became possible for people from a lower social class to improve
their social status, as the British Empire expanded overseas and trade became
increasingly important. Do not forget that Rochester marries his employee, a social
move that would have been unthinkable in, for instance, the eighteenth century
novels of Jane Austen. As such, I think we definitely can consider parts of Jane Eyre
as a form of social criticism, as Bronte seems to be commenting upon and indeed,
encouraging, the development of this new social order.
When researching this task you may have noted that Charlotte Bronte herself spent
some time away at school, at the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge. The
Bronte sisters were unhappy there, and when Maria and Elizabeth (the two eldest
girls) died after an illness at school, Charlotte and Emily (the future author of
Wuthering Heights) were brought home to Howarth. Charlotte Bronte used some of
this early experience as the basis for her descriptions of Lowood School in the novel.
It is important to make a distinction here, as Bronte is clearly very much in favour of
female education but she is harshly critical of some of the teaching establishments
where orphans and girls from poor families were placed. Lowood School is
presented as a cruel, strict and heartless establishment, but it is Jane’s eight years of
education which offer her the opportunity to escape and begin life as a governess.
Jane is an intelligent protagonist who enjoys learning (and it is partly this intellectual
curiosity which attracts Mr. Rochester to her in the first place), so although Bronte
may be criticising the provision of education for the lower classes, she is fully
supportive of education in principle.
Bronte was extremely sympathetic towards the plight of the governess in nineteenth
century England, and the Victorian Web’s article entitled “The Governess and Class
Prejudice” explores this in more detail. It was fairly unusual to have a governess as
the narrator in a novel of this period, as governesses were considered to be of low
social status. It is crucial that the reader is introduced to Jane when she is just a
child, so by the time she actually becomes a governess, she has our full sympathy
and admiration. By having her intelligent, sensitive and imaginative heroine become
a governess, Bronte humanises the job, and offers an illuminating portrait of this kind
of life. Jane’s narrative, from the position of a lower class individual, allows Bronte a
1
superb method of criticising members of the higher social status, such as the Ingram
family. Their behaviour is condemned by Bronte, and Blanche Ingram’s avaricious
and flirtatious attitude is contrasted with Jane’s quiet dignity. It is absolutely essential
for the plot of Jane Eyre then, that Jane is a governess for the majority of the novel,
as this position enables Bronte to offer a blighting portrait of the British aristocracy.
Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, by Branwell Bronte
Another way of reading this novel in terms of social criticism is as a bildunsgroman.
This term means a text that follows the protagonist from childhood to adulthood, and
as such offered the Victorian novelist a useful way of considering ideas about social
and cultural progress. Therefore, the childhood section of the novel is absolutely
central to our understanding of Jane’s later experiences. If you have read the article
entitled “The Norwood Charity School and Jane Eyre,” you will have realised that
Bronte’s portrayal of Lowood as a charity school was fairly accurate and that much of
Jane’s account of her time at Lowood is based on Charlotte Bronte’s own
experiences. Crucially, it is also at Lowood that the young Jane meets Helen Burns,
who teaches her to be patient and have faith in God’s will, and this belief propels the
adult Jane through much of the later parts of the novel.
2
You may have noticed Bronte’s employment of Victorian Christian morality
throughout much of the text. Jane continually prays for God’s guidance, and is, at
one stage, ready to undertake a marriage of convenience with St. John Rivers in
order to become a missionary. Rochester attempts to commit bigamy, and as such
he is punished by the author. You may have noted the symbolism of the tree in the
Thornfield grounds breaking in half when Jane and Rochester become engaged; this
dramatic moment highlights that their union will also be “broken” in the near future.
As Rochester has sinned in the eyes of Bronte (and certainly in the eyes of her
readership), he must be punished before he is allowed to reunite with Jane.
Therefore, he is blinded and mutilated in the Thornfield fire but ironically, it is
precisely this physical disability which allows him to finally marry Jane. The novel
carries a very moral and Christian message, and this can also be read as a form of
social protest in a world where Bronte felt Christian values were often ignored.
Perhaps you also noted that there is a hierarchy of sympathy in the novel. Bertha
Rochester is presented as the original “madwoman in the attic” - but is she really
guilty of being anything other than mentally ill? It is highly significant that at no point
in the text does Jane show any sympathy for Bertha; she is simply an impediment to
Jane’s impending nuptials. Bertha, therefore, functions as a casualty of the
progressive “self’help” narrative; she has to die in order for Jane to succeed.
In conclusion, there are many ways in which we can consider Jane Eyre a form of
social criticism, including Bronte’s narrative perspective, Christian viewpoint, and
representation of female education. Remember, if you have enjoyed doing this
research, try reading Jean Rhys’s novel Wide Sargasso Sea. Other Bronte novels
worth exploring are Emily’s Wuthering Heights (1847) and Ann Bronte’s The Tenant
of Wildfell Hall (1848). There is also an interesting BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre
from 2006, starring Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. You may want to see if it is
available through your school, or the local library.
3