|
|
Post by g00dva1b5 on Nov 18, 2015 2:07:17 GMT
Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason end up in different places. While Jane ends up having the sense of security, happiness, and pride at the conclusion of Jane Eyre, Antoinette kills herself as she jumped off the roof of Thornfield Hall. However, in the novel Jane Eyre, Jane is described to be someone that grows through her experiences with oppression and Bertha is shown to be the consequence of uncontrolled passion and jealousy over Mr. Rochester, while in the criticism of Wild Sargasso Sea, Jane is described as one with faith, power, and independence and Bertha is described as a woman that perishes due the oppression of her identity and environment. These two viewpoints set up the argument on whether or not the characters of Jane and Bertha promoted or denounced the stereotype that women were supposed to be thought of as passionless, fragile, and child-like beings. Which viewpoint do you guys agree with?
|
|
|
|
Post by subhanikp on Nov 18, 2015 21:56:08 GMT
I would have to say that Bertha's character promotes the gender stereotypes while Jane's character dismisses these same stereotypes. Bertha is an accurate representation of how women were suppressed by men during the Victorian Age. She is obviously inferior to Rochester, who treats her like a child and shows her no importance. Bertha has no equality in their relationship, which forces her to constantly make concessions in favor of Rochester's desires. Her tragic end is symbolic of the tragic end experienced by many women during that time. Her plight represents the difficulties faced by other women.
Jane, on the other hand, serves to dismiss all of the aforementioned gender stereotypes. She embodies the aspirations of most women during that time, which were to prevail over the injustices handed to them by men. Her life represents the alternate future that women can attain by working against the inferiority faced by their gender. Ultimately, Jane leads a succesful, happy life that serves to dismiss the gender stereotypes of her time.
In conclusion, I believe that the two characters serve contradicting puposes. Do you agree?
|
|
|
|
Post by tatummcp on Nov 18, 2015 22:36:14 GMT
Just like Subhanik said, the characters serve contradicting purposes because Bertha Mason represents/follows the gender stereotype while Jane breaks from it. Would you guys agree that Charlotte Brontë did this on purpose? I think that Brontë did this to show that gender stereotypes should not be followed and should be ignored. With Jane Eyre, the successful woman who was not a complete angel, as the main character Brontë proves that you can not place women into one category or the other and therefore dismisses stereotypes. Also, by having a complete monster, specifically a monster created by a man's ignorant action (placing Bettha in isolation) as such an important/significant character Brontë further disproves gender stereotypes. Finally, the lack of a main character that is a complete angel and very successful is also significant in proving that women don't have to abide by a man's laws in order to be successful. Even though Bertha and Jane individually serve contradicting purposes, when looked at as a pair their purpose is to dismiss gender stereotypes and show why they should be dismissed.
|
|
|
|
Post by g00dva1b5 on Nov 22, 2015 2:37:30 GMT
Subhanik, I agree with you when you say that Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason represented two different responses to gender stereotypes. However, I believe that Jane and Bertha serve the same purpose in denouncing these stereotypes. While Bertha represents the suppressed women living under Victorian stereotypes in which women are inferior and highly dependent, her demise due to the stereotypes shows that gender stereotypes caused harm to women and that they must be denounced. Similarly, Jane Eyre's strong character in the story (which leads to her happy, equal marriage to Mr. Rochester) shows that women benefit from breaking away from gender stereotypes, which also denounces stereotypes. Therefore, I do not believe that the two characters represented contradicting purposes, but instead were only showing different responses to the oppression of women.
|
|
|
|
Post by g00dva1b5 on Nov 22, 2015 2:58:45 GMT
Tatum, I was thinking the same thing about Charlotte Bronte's purpose of putting Jane and Bertha in this story. By creating a monster (in Bertha) that eventually perishes due to the oppression she suffers and a woman that possess qualities of an angel and a powerful, independent woman, I also believe that Bronte is trying to show that women cannot be categorized into two categories of women, and that women should not be held back by gender stereotypes.
|
|
|
|
Post by laurendean on Nov 23, 2015 2:20:09 GMT
I also agree with Tatum, Charlotte Bronte purposefully made Bertha and Jane the way they were in her novel to denounce the stereotype of abiding by men. Throughout the novel we see Jane standing up to all the men in her life and not letting them tell her what to do. Jane follows her own path and listens to her heart. They are both not fully and angel and a monster so it shows that you should not categorize women into just one of them only.
|
|
