TEMPTATIONS OF A MOTHERLESS WOMAN

Jane Eyre being very disrespectful attacked young Master Reed today. An angry Mrs. Reed ordered that we lock her in the Red Room. We forcefully carried the child to the room and tied her to a stool. I advised her that she is under obligations to Mrs. Reed and does nothing for her keep and if she did not behave she will be sent to the poorhouse. Afterwards Abbot and I locked her in the room. Something must have been wrong with Jane because she desperately shock the door and inquired if she was ill. The child was frightful and desperately asked to leave the room the room while she grabbed my hand. Mrs Reed came along to enquire as to what the commotion was about and I pleaded with her to let out of the room. No matter how much the child cried and pleaded for mercy, Mrs Reed would not tolerate it and then she thrust Jane back into the room. 

Yes, I agree with Adrienne Rich's argument that the germ of Jane Eyre is born in the Red Room. It is in the red room that Jane gains courage after she learns how it is to be trapped. It is also the first that she realizes how it is to be trapped. It is also the first time that she realizes how it is to trapped physically and mentally. Jane is in a sense placed in a box in order to put her in her place and Jane finds herself fighting for survival. This box resembles the one society wants to put her into. In the room Jane understands confinement and finds herself  struggling to escape and she asks herself why should she be trapped. In the room Jane fears for her life and for the first time truly understands the value of her life because it forces her to become desperate and this desperation gives her the ability to do whatever is necessary to survive. Being in the red room forces Jane to act out of character towards Mrs Reed because she realizes that if she does not stand up for herself she will find herself trapped mentally and physically.

The events in the Red Room affected every aspect of Jane's life from the moment she left that room. Jane Eyre is in effect a Bildungsroman given its aspect or features of self discovery or self development. Jane starts to discover who she is from the moment she esacaped from the Red room. The fear she experiences in the room give her the courage to face all her challenges from then on; confronting Mrs Reed, escaping from Thornfield Hall and facing starvation. It is almost as if the Red room was the worst and most diificult moment of her life and nothing else could be as worse which is why she is courageous in facing those problems. 

Being trapped in the Red room has given Jane a sense of escape and this could explain why she is attracted to Mr. Rochester. He is a man who has travelled the world and is never trapped in one place for too log, and so Jane wants to constantly move and escape like him. Jane also writes with a first person narration because she has a mastery of her own story and retelling the story shows mastery of her identity. A first person narrator is usually mature and so is the case with Jane whonis writing about her younger self experiencing past events.

RESEARCH TASK 1

1) Definitions of Key Concepts common in Victorian Era
                        

Gender: According to Warwick gender was the construction of society. Men due to their nature as well as work were always compromised by exposure to the world. This brought about their importance and superiority over women who were confined to the home. The women on their part stayed home due to the distance from the rough arena. They are thus confined to purity especially the purity of their bodies and the men to the strength of their mind. At the epoch of the Victorians, everything a person did including their dress code and relationships were influenced by gender. Gender not only restricted clothing but restricted the right to know that is knowledge. The victims of this circumstances were unfortunately the women but later on this Knowlegde becomes key.

Class: During the Victorian epoch class is group relation to the means of production . Three classes were spoken of that is the "working class", "middle class" and the upper class. However the emergence of a fourth class known as the lower middle class comes to blur the divison between middle class and the working class. The Victorian period was one of rapid economic growth and social progress so class divisions become evident and a common feature of society. The working class were just recognised for their working skills while the upper class for its aristocracy.

N.B There is an intersection between Class and Gender in Jane Eyre an according to
 
Feminism: The Victorian era is also associated to a Patriachal society. Jane Eyre which was written in this era tries to question social  norms in a patriachal society.

Ideology: This is the science of ideas. It is a set of believes of how reality should be.This plays an important role at the epoch because of the fact it structures social society and it established a status quo at the time. Usually the ruling class made the ideologies  and Jane Eyre is however based on the Christian Ideology with believes in morality, purity just to name a few.

2) Reasons why Jane Eyre wrote the preface.

• She was motivated to write this preface because she believed women were being violated against. She says "Ahab did not like Micaiah, because he never prophesied good concerning him, but evil.... had stopped his ears to flattery and opened to faithful counsel." Bronte views women as Micaiah and society as Ahab. She is criticising society for discriminating against women and not allowing them to work and have rights. She is stating that there is nothing wrong with women working as men do.

• Charlotte Bronte wrote as Currer Bell because she wanted to keep her female identity secret. It was against society for woman to engage in any work outside their private sphere and writing a novel violated this principle so to get the book published and prevent criticism to herself Bronte wrote as Currer Bell.              

                                                     
          3) Quotes from the The Christian Remembrancer, January 1848, page 449-450
 

• "Who, indeed, but a woman could have ventured, with the smallest prospect of success, to fill three octavo volumes with the history of a woman's heart". According to Victorians only a woman could venture into something without determining whether it would be successful or not. It is an insult to women and they were viewed as narrows minded. 

• "In Helen Burns, however, the christianity of  Jane Eyre is concentrated and with her it expires, leaving the moral world in kind of Scandinavian gloom, which is hardly broken by the faint glimmerings of a "doctrine of the equality of  souls." Equality between men  and women was frowned upon greatly and was believed to be against God's will.

• " Let her cease,  if she can, to think of herself as Micaiah, and of society as Ahab". Bronte was criticised for suggesting that women were like Micaiah and being violated against for doing nothing wrong by Ahab (being society)

       Quotes from Elizabeth Rigby, The Quarterly review, December 1848, page 451-452

• "Mr Rochester is a man who deliberately and secretly seeks to violate the laws both God and man,and yet we will be bound half our lady readers are enchanted with him for a model of generosity and honour ...... but the popularity of Jane Eyre is a proof how deeply the love for illegitimate romance is implanted in our society". The Victorian era was an era of uncertaintity due to suppression of emotion and both sexes had to suppress their emotion and Jane Eyre violated this principle.
• "Jane Eyre is proud and therefore she is ungrateful too. It pleased God to make her an orphan, friendless and penniless".
• "We haveno alternative but to ascribeit to one who has, for some sufficient reason, long forfeited the society of her own sex". Women were not supposed to write at all but only stay home and concentrate on wifely duties. In writing , Bronte was viewed as trying to compete and challenge men.