Victorian Era novels were read for entertainment and for social sympathy (Abrams 1060). Charlotte Bronte wrote her classic book Jane Eyre during the Victorian Era in 1846. Particular qualities of this time period were found in Jane Eyre. In reading this book we find the social economics, moral conditions, and literary elements of the Victorian Era. All these play a part in Charlotte Bronte’s successful novel of that time.
The Victorian Era is named after the Queen of England, Queen Victoria. She ruled from 1837 to 1901. That era, which followed the Regency time period, is characterized by reforms in the government, industrialization in the factories, economic prosperity, and moral decline. Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 and grew up during the early Victorian period. This time was marked by reform troubles but also by technological progress from 1848 to 1870. (Abrams).
In the beginning of the book Jane Eyre, the main character, Jane, is a ten year old orphan. She was taken in to live with her Aunt Reed. Jane’s Aunt was not a horrible person, but Jane’s cousins were. Specifically, Jane’s cousin John Reed was cruel to her. John was never punished for his mean actions towards Jane, but Jane was. Jane did not understand the unjust behavior toward her. Jane did understand that she was supposed to be grateful to her Aunt for feeding her and giving her a roof over her head. However, Jane never seemed grateful enough for her Aunt to allow her to continue living with the family.
Jane was sent to a charity school for orphans called Lowood. Jane was not much better off at the poor school which had little food or heat. The winter was difficult on many of the students and tuberculosis spread throughout the school. Helen Burns, Jane’s close friend died from the disease that winter. But Jane worked hard at her studies through it all. Jane excelled in her education and after six years became a teacher at Lowood. After two years as a teacher, Jane advertised to become a governess. She was hired by Mrs. Fairfax at Thornfield Hall and started a new life working there as a governess.
During the early Victorian Era, a governess was one of the few jobs an educated woman could have. Being a governess was a small step up from a servant, but the pay was not much greater. The work involved not only teaching the children but helping around the house as well. Even though a governess was not at the level of a servant, they did not participate in the upper class. Governesses were also looked at with resentment from the middle class because they were highly educated. (Abrams).
Charlotte Bronte’s schooling was similar to Jane’s schooling. Charlotte and her sister Emily entered a new school called Cowan Bridge in 1824 after her two older sisters had started six months earlier. This school was for clergy’s daughters to attend. Mr. Bronte had sent his daughters to this school because it was hard to educate six children and he had few resources to do it with (Bentley 24). This school did not cost much for board and an education. Cowan Bridge, however, like Jane’s Lowood, did not have enough money for decent supplies of food and fuel for heating. Like Lowood, Cowan Bridge was overrun by tuberculosis which took Charlotte’s two older sisters lives. Charlotte’s father, knowing the poor conditions of the school after the sickness, had no choice but to take Charlotte and Emily home after less than a year at the school. (Bentley).
Unlike Jane, Charlotte had a second chance at a good school. In 1831, Charlotte went back to school at a place called Roe Head. This school was very well off and Charlotte received the rest of her education there. After a year, she left to tutor her younger sisters at home. Then Charlotte returned to Roe Head as a teacher. Three years passed before Charlotte resigned as a teacher to become a governess in 1839. Her first and only job as a governess was to the Sidgwick family in Stonegappe. It was Charlotte’s only job as a governess because she detested it. Mrs. Sidgwick, Charlotte says, made her do large amounts of sewing that bored her considerably. Charlotte complained to her sister Emily in one letter saying that she was not able to properly discipline the children because Mrs. Sidgwick did not allow it. “A governess was expected to be grateful to her employers for giving her a roof over her head,” (Peters 43). Charlotte never had that thought in her mind, and left her governess job after a few months.
The social classes of the Victorian Era were the working poor class, the middle class, and the aristocracy. The beginnings of industrialization during the Victorian Era were changing these class distinctions. The lower class consisted of either the poor who did not work or the working class of laborers in factories and other dirty jobs. The middle class was the newest developing class of business people. They consisted of merchants, bankers, shopkeepers and other business people that were sometimes well off. The aristocracy, mostly consisting of nobility and the clergy, was changing to include people who also worked hard to acquire their wealth. (Miller).
Charlotte Bronte’s family was part of the aristocracy. Mr. Bronte was a clergyman who had worked for his title (Bentley 8). During this time, the clergy were privileged in many ways by the state, which included not paying taxes. However, as Charlotte grew independent, she was now part of the middle class as a teacher and governess. But Charlotte was never truly middle class, especially when she started publishing her books. (Bentley).
Charlotte grew up in a family where strict religious lessons were taught. Mr. Bronte had gone to school to become a minister and even published some books on religion. But the Bronte children were taught the Bible by their aunt, Miss Branwell, who lived with them after their mother died. The Bible was taught to all the Bronte children at a young age as most children of ministers were during that time. (Gerin 33-35).
Miss Branwell’s Bible lessons, taught to the Bronte children, were everything but loving or comforting. She portrayed the Bible as rules and laws to obey. It was taught to them in a joyless manner with a morbid outlook on life (Gerin 33). The lessons Charlotte learned caused her to be gloomy and despise herself as she wrote to one of her friends (Gerin 34). Miss Branwell had presented a hopeless message of sin and judgment that was remembered throughout the Bronte children’s lifetime.
This influence of religion on Charlotte’s life contributed to the moral condition of Jane’s religious outlook. Jane also grew up with a firm teaching in religion.
“Do you say your prayers night and morning?”
“Yes sir.”
“Do you read your Bible?”
“Sometimes.”
“With pleasure? Are you fond of it?”
“I like Revelations and the Book of Daniel, and Genesis, and Samuel, and a little bit of Exodus, and some parts of Kings and Chronicles, and Job and Jonah,” (Bronte 26).
Jane asserted her knowledge of good and evil but was called deceitful by her aunt, Mrs. Reed.
“Do you know where the wicked go after death?”
“They go to hell.”
“And what is hell. Can you tell me that?”
“A pit full of fire.”
“And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?”
“No, sir.”
“What must you do to avoid it?”
“I must keep in good health, and not die,” (Bronte 25-26).
That was Jane’s conversation with Mr. Brocklehurst, a clergyman who helped out at Lowood School. Jane’s outlook on death was of one who knew the Bible because she was taught what would happen to naughty children. Mr. Brocklehurst continued to say that Jane must repent of her deceitfulness. This false accusation of Jane’s behavior was unfortunately believed by many.
The accusation of Jane’s deceitfulness returned to her at Lowood. Mr. Brocklehurst was visiting the school during class and Jane accidentally dropped her slate. Mr. Brocklehurst made a spectacle of Jane’s carelessness because he remembered her former “deceitfulness”. He placed Jane on a stool in the front of the room while he preached about her evil actions as a liar from what he learned from Mrs. Reed.
The only two people who comforted Jane in this situation were the kind teacher Mrs. Temple and Jane’s friend Helen Burns. Helen also experienced discipline for her carelessness in her school work but had a different outlook on the harsh criticism she received. Helen explained to Jane that the humiliation Mr. Brocklehurst placed on her was temporary. Mr. Brocklehurst was not admired at the school and the other girls saw Jane as a victim of his tyranny. Helen told Jane that it was possible to live even if the world hated her. Jane could not accept this at first, but Helen did give hope to Jane that if she was innocent, it could be resolved.
Jane’s accusation was lifted and that part of her life was resolved for good. The moral lessons Jane learned at Lowood helped her with the problems in her job as a governess at Thornfield Hall. Jane’s new employment went smoothly for awhile. However, Jane’s life was about to take another spin when she realized she was in love with Mr. Rochester, the master of the house and her boss. Mr. Rochester was in love with Jane as well. But he had a disastrous secret: he was already married.
Mr. Rochester never mentioned that he was married when he and Jane decided to get married. Mr. Rochester’s secret was revealed on Jane’s wedding day. The brother of Mr. Rochester’s wife came forward during the wedding, accusing him of already being married. Mr. Rochester could not deny the truth to Jane anymore, and told her that he had a living wife locked in the tower of Thornfield hall because she was mentally insane.
The truth destroyed Jane. The one person Jane truly loved had become deceitful to her. Mr. Rochester tried to reconcile with Jane. He told her that they could run off together. They could be in love without having to be married was the only conclusion Mr. Rochester could come up with. However, Jane could not accept this plan, so she left Thornfield.
Jane realized she was breaking the social class barrier she was in to marry Rochester. This she could do for love, but she could not forget the morals she had. It was the hardest decision Jane had to make;
‘Terrible moment: full of struggle, blackness, burning! Not a human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better than I was loved; and him who thus loved me I absolutely worshipped: and I must renounce love and idol. One drear word comprised my intolerable duty—“Depart!”’ (Bronte 300).
Jane struggled with her choice, but she knew that the only right decision was to leave. Everything Jane learned from her childhood and her experiences at Lowood helped her make this choice.
Before Jane left, Mr. Rochester told her the story of how he was tricked into marrying his wife. Mr. Rochester tells Jane his story to see if he will receive her sympathy. But to no avail, Jane is convinced of her plan to leave is the right one. Even though Jane knew that the only choice she had was to leave Thornfield, she felt guilty:
“May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.” (Bronte P.306)
Jane walked away from her true love and did not say goodbye. Mr. Rochester’s offer of love without marriage could not tempt Jane’s resolve.
People of the Victorian Era probably loved the stand Jane took towards her dilemma. Charlotte Bronte had Jane definitely take the high road. She chose a loveless life with an unknown future. Jane struggled through situations that her readers could relate to. Charlotte had her own personal family problems to deal with. “I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward,” Charlotte said on how she dealt with her troubles, which included the deaths of her mother and sisters. Charlotte probably found solace in her writings.
Charlotte Bronte grew up in a family where literature was very important. Charlotte’s parents were her main influences in her love for reading. Mr. Bronte allowed his children to read everything they could get their hands on. As the Bronte children grew up they exercised creative writing. This included stories about a made up country and the adventures of the people there. When Charlotte went to school she studied and wrote poetry that would be published but not readily accepted or read until later. (Bentley).
During the Victorian Era, women were not accepted as authors. When Charlotte was twenty, she wrote to Robert Southey, a poet of the time, with some of her poems asking his advice on them. He wrote back in March of 1837 with his opinion on women writers. He states:
“Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it, even as an accomplishment and a recreation” (Kermode).
Southey, like most men of the Victorian Era, did not believe it was a woman’s place to be an author. However, Southey writes to Charlotte that she should “write poetry for its own sake,” and that he is not “disparaging the gift which you possess.” Even with this advice, Charlotte was honored and thankful that an influential poet of her time had written back to her. Robert Southey’s response to women writers could have been the main reason why Charlotte’s sisters and herself chose pseudonym names. Charlotte’s works were published under the name Currer Bell, and her sister Anne, Acton Bell, and Emily, Ellis Bell, to hide their genders (Peters 107). It is a good thing Charlotte did not take his advice to write poetry only for herself and not have any of her works published.
While growing up, Charlotte was influenced by Romantic authors, including Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Lord George Gordon, and Thomas Moore. Thomas Moore, specifically in his poems, had elements that Charlotte used in Jane Eyre. In Moore’s poem Sacred Songs, Jane quotes two lines from it after she first met with Mr. Rochester (Guajardo). But Charlotte’s biggest literary idol was W. M. Thackeray (Peters 161).
Charlotte was able to meet Thackeray in 1849 after her pseudonym name was dropped and her real identity revealed. Thackeray had read Jane Eyre and said: “I lost... a whole day in reading it at the busiest period” (Berg 7). But in meeting each other, they conversed awkwardly. Charlotte was expecting “pearls of wisdom… to fall from his lips,” but they never did (Peters 161).
Even though Charlotte was not able to “hit it off” well with authors in real life, her books spoke for her and she was respected. Jane Eyre was published in 1847 after it was accepted by the publishing company Messrs Smith, Elder and Co. (Bentley 93). The popularity of Charlotte’s book grew and reviews of it were full of praise. Jane Eyre’s message of being able to work your way through the troubles of the world was inspirational to many people. In situations that ordinary people would come across, for example, Jane’s schooling, grasped the attention of many. Even though Jane’s job as a governess was ordinary, it brought a sense of reality that anyone could experience. Jane portrayed a real life heroine who overcame everything and anything that was thrown her way.
One element of Jane Eyre that was thoroughly accepted by the public was the Gothic element. The mysteries of screams during the night, romance, strange characters, lunatics, mysterious fires, and supernatural voices were exciting to the reader. Even though the story of Jane could be real, these Gothic elements are improbable in real life. But they do bring out an aspect of Jane Eyre that was able to appeal to what was popular then. (Mistry.)
However, not everyone enjoyed Charlotte’s Jane Eyre. George Searle Phillips, in the Leeds Times writes: “The foundation of the story is bad, the characters ill drawn and the feelings false and unnatural” (Peters 122). Some people did not understand the realism and truth that Charlotte presents through Jane’s life. Reviewers also had different thoughts on which gender wrote Jane Eyre. Depending on if Currer Bell was a man or a woman, they would admire or condemn it. George Lewes, who enjoyed Jane Eyre, now knowing Currer’s gender write that “vigor often amounts to coarseness, --and it certainly the very antipode to ‘lady like’” (Berg 13). But as much as Jane Eyre was disliked, it was still looked upon with great regard.
In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, one learns a lot about the Victorian Era. The social class of Jane Eyre did not hinder Jane from the possibility of marrying Rochester. The moral conditions that Jane grew up with and learned from helped her make the choice of leaving Rochester easier. The literary elements from the Victorian Era help make Jane Eyre an interesting an exciting book to read. Jane Eyre is also an interesting novel for its references to the era Charlotte Bronte grew up in, which also reflected from her life. Jane experienced many elements of society that Charlotte herself experienced. These all help make Jane Eyre a story that has lasted generations and has been enjoyed by many.