Coming of Age in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre Essay Sample

Throughout the history of humanity, gender roles have always been present in society.  This logic stands true in the Victorian era, which is the setting for Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre.  Brontë’s unique point of view on life from a Victorian woman’s perspective helps her to sympathize with her audience.  Through Brontë’s feminist lens, it is able to be determined that her main character Jane has a very intense conflict with the way she is treated compared to men and by men, especially those who have influence over her.  During the novel, Jane constantly has to deal with authoritative male characters such as Mr. Rochester, St. John, and even her long dead uncle, Mr. Reed.  Brontë creates these characters to portray the controlling effect men have on women, and she uses Jane's different responses to this dominance throughout the novel to show the coming of age that Jane undertakes as she learns the many different ways to deal with influential men during the Victorian era.

Brontë uses many different characters and symbols throughout her novel to illustrate the way influential men have supremacy over women in the Victorian era.  One of the many different ways to handle the dominance by using Jane and her deceased uncle Mr. Reed in the red room.  In the beginning of the novel, when Jane is young and living with her aunt at Gateshead, she doesn’t fear anyone or anything except for the ghost of her long dead uncle. Jane thought of Mr. Reed as a kind, caring person who took her in when no one else would.  This, in turn, gave Mr. Reed a great deal of influence over Jane.  When Jane feels that she is going to meet Mr. Reed’s ghost, she is taken aback and, “Thought Mr. Reed’s spirit, harassed by the wrong’s of his sister’s child, might quit its abode-wether in the church vault or in the unknown world of the departed-and rise before me in this chamber.” (12).  Through the use of context clues, it is possible to notice that Jane is in fact very startled and scared by this spirit, and it seems to be the only thing in Gateshead that frightens her.  Jane is defiant towards everyone except this spirit, but because it is an influential male figure, and Jane is scared to upset it.  When Jane is young she furthers this claim of her being scared and submissive to only Mr. Reed's spirit when she stands toe to toe with her aunt Mrs. Reed and says, “what would Uncle Reed say to you, if he was alive?”(24).  When she makes this remark towards Mrs. Reed, she is not scared of her, as her aunt is a woman, and although dominant and controlling, she does not have the same power over young Jane as a man does. This exhibits Jane’s true inner nature only being scared of Mr. Reed, who is a dominant, influential man even in death.  Jane’s experience in the red room and her argument with Mrs. Reed allows the audience to experience the fact that when Jane is young she is fearful and submissive towards only influential men, and she has not gained her independence yet.  She is so compliant with dominant natured men that even in death these men have influence and power in the real world.  

Brontë illuminates another way to deal with influential and dominant men by using Jane’s experience and connection with Mr. Rochester.  When Jane and Rochester first plan to get married at Thornfield, Jane is excited, but nervous.  Although Jane loves Rochester, she realizes that she is heavily influenced by him, and she is nervous that she will end up becoming submissive to Rochester as she did with Mr. Reed in Gateshead.  When Rochester talks about, “[putting] the diamond chain around your neck, and the circlet on your forehead.”(278), Jane is very opposed to this.  Jane doesn’t want to become spoiled and pampered by Rochester, because she fears that she will become even more dependent and reliant on Rochester than she already is.  Nevertheless, the fact that Jane is relying on Rochester at all shows that she has not fully stopped her reliance on men conveys that she has not fully come of age.  When Jane is finally learns about Rochester’s true wife, Bertha,  she is taken aback.  Jane is scared and doesn’t know what to do, and she eventually decides to forgive Rochester for hiding his true wife from him.  However, she does realize that she cannot marry Rochester as she originally wanted, but she is prepared to live with him.  It is only until Jane hears a voice in the middle of the night that tells her, “My daughter, flee temptation.”(345).  Jane listens to this voice and decides to leave Thornfield.  This displays that Jane needs supernatural help just to summon up the courage to leave Thornfield and stop relying on Rochester.  Jane takes a step in the right direction in standing up to Rochester and leaving him, but the fact that Jane did need help,shows that she has not fully developed.  Although Brontë is letting Jane grow and come of age, she has not yet let Jane reach her true potential.

When Jane leaves Thornfield, she is lost and alone.  She eventually finds solitude and shelter at moor house, where she learns shortly after that she has stumbled upon her cousins, and the only relatives of hers that she knows of.  Now that she has family and feels comfortable, she is able to fully develop both her mental and emotional states.  As Jane begins to start her new life with her new family, her cousin, St. John, proposes to Jane with the logic that, 

“God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife.  It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you: you are formed for labour, not for love.  A missionary’s wife you must-shall be.  You shall be mine: I claim you.”(437)

Jane is taken aback by this statement.  She is just getting used to her new life, and she thought that she had finally found a place where she was not dominated and governed by men.  Jane thinks about this proposal, but remembers what happened with Rochester, and she decides that she will go with St. John, but she will not be his wife because she doesn’t want to feel the need to once again rely on a man. However, as Jane is striving to gain her independence, St. John dismisses the idea that she should be anything other than his wife.  Jane is uncertain of what to do, and says that she will give St. John an answer soon.  This interaction illustrates the internal conflict that Jane has as a Victorian era woman, and the internal conflict of if Jane has developed enough to stand up to St. John, and stop relying on controlling men.  As Jane was pondering what to do about the proposal, she began to hear a familiar voice.  The voice cried, “Jane, Jane, Jane!’-nothing more.”(456).  Jane realized that is was the voice of her previous lover, Mr. Rochester.  Jane suddenly understands that she needs to stand up to St. John, and take control of her life.  She has fully come of age, and she is ready to be independent and free from the domineering men of the era.  Janes knows that St. John is wrong for trying to force her to become his wife, and finally Jane realizes that it is, “My time to assume ascendency.  My powers were in play and in force.”(547).  Jane leaves St. John, and ends up going back to Rochester because she knows that it is what she truly wants.  At long last, Jane realizes that she deserves a say in her life, and she should have the right to make her own decisions for the good of herself and not for others.  Now that Jane has fully developed, she is able to do what she desires. 

Jane both went through a lot, and discovered a lot about herself throughout the novel.  Charlotte Brontë created this coming of age story in order to convey the tough, unrealistic expectations of women to be submissive and dependent on men.  Janes experiences and development during the novel helped Brontë communicate to her audience the oppression that women suffered everyday, and the strength and courage needed just to find independence and freedom from men.  Through Brontë’s feminist lens, her message of self-confidence and self rule for women is able to be achieved.  Although the Victorian era was 150 years ago, there are still things in society today that can be improved.  Brontë’s message of independence is still relevant today. It can prove to people that they don't have to rely on someone else, and they don’t have to sit in the shadows.  Brontë is encouraging people to develop and work on themselves in order to have a happy, confident, independent life.