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Jane Eyre: a Class Act

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Submitted By ILBnc1989
Words 1518
Pages 7
Logan Bell
Miss England
English 282, Section 005
18 March 2010
Major Paper 1
Jane Eyre: A Class Act Charlotte Brontë portrays the strict, hierarchal class system that existed during the Victorian era in her novel Jane Eyre. Characters throughout the novel are fully aware of and reference the social statuses of others and judge one another based on stereotypes associated with each persons position in society. Unlike other characters in Jane Eyre, Jane retains her morals and standards while her social class seems ambiguous and transforms continually as she progresses during her own bildungsroman. Through the character of Jane Eyre, Brontë not only illustrates that class divisions are not absolute and individuals can transcend these boundaries, but also suggests the need of morality and integrity in the upper class. Jane traverses the entire range of social classes from a beggar at the steps of Moor House to an upper class married woman at Ferndean. Ambiguity characterizes Jane’s status even before birth. Susan Fraiman attributes this uncertainty to Jane’s parents who were both “socially ambiguous, and this ambiguity is part of their legacy to Jane” (Fraiman 616). Her mother’s marriage to a man of a lower hierarchy creates a “legacy” that foreshadows Jane’s life-long search for her position in society. Jane’s time at Gateshead bolsters Fraiman’s belief that Jane will fulfill her parents’ “legacy.” She is never recognized as part of the Reed family at Gateshead and this becomes evident in the first scene in the novel when John Reed alerts Jane “[you have] no business to take our books; you are a dependent […] you ought to beg, and not live here with gentlemen’s children like us” (Brontë 8). Shortly after this statement, Miss Abbot refers to John as Jane’s “young master,” which categorizes Jane as part of the service class rather than the upper class

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