"An independent woman now". Female independence in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - History of Literature, Eras, grade: 2,3, University of Bonn (Philosophische Fakultät), course: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Literatures and Cultures - Growing up in Victorian Britain, language: English, abstract: This paper will illuminate some of the important aspects in Jane's quest for independence. Thereby the focus lies on the novel itself, not on the author or the historical background. Chapter two will present the three forms of freedom Jane is fighting for in the novel: Social, economic and spiritual independence. Chapter three will focus on the three female role models, which play the most important role in Jane's development: Bessie Lee, Miss Temple and Helen Burns. Chapter four will delineate Jane's relationship to Rochester and the role her quest for independence plays in finding her fortune. In chapter six the conclusions will be summarized. During the Victorian period "the 'woman question' regarding Woman's true place in art and society was a subject that was hotly debated, spurred in large part by the rapid rise in literature by and for women" (Bomarito 2005). Although Charlotte Brontë, a young novelist of the time with sustainable influence, had never been an official "proponent of women's rights, [...] in her writing she speaks out strongly against the injustices suffered by women in a society that restricts their freedom of action and exploits their dependent status" (Nasso 2011). In a letter to her old teacher Miss Wooler, Brontë formulates an "ideal of independence for the unmarried woman": "[...] there is no more respectable character on this earth than an unmarried woman who makes her own way through life quietly persevering - without support of husband or brother [...]" (Nasso 2011). First published in 1847 under her male pseudonym Currer Bell, Brontë's novel Jane Eyre is the artistic equivalent to the currently cited statement. In Jane Eyre Brontë designs a female protagonist, "whose social circumstances [seem to] deny [her] the opportunity for intellectual or emotional fulfilment" (Nasso 2011), but who has a strong will and thereby finds her way. As Nasso underlines, "[t]here is no question among the critics that the major theme of Brontë's novel is Jane's quest for independence" (Nasso 2011). The "tyranny of dependency she experiences at Gateshead" (Vanden Bossche 2005) in her early childhood-years triggers Jane's uncompromising quest for independence in every possible way. With a voice "set in direct contrast to prevailing patriarchal modes of discourse" (Peters 1991), Jane pursues her way and stands up not only to the men in her life, but to every restricting power.