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Jane Eyre Social Standards Essay

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Jane Eyre Social Standards Essay
A social standard is defined as a standard of behaviour generally accepted by the society in which one lives. Women’s social standards have always been an important issue, focusing on the sexuality of women, jobs, and roles in a family. In Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre lives in the society of the Victorian Era, a period with strict standards regarding women. Jane does not live by and refutes these standards, making the work into the first steps for questioning the role of religion in society and feminism. In the Victorian Era, piety and inferiority were expected standards of all women. Anyone who did not believe in God, even those who did not wholeheartedly conform to religious customs, were shunned upon and expected to go to hell. In response to Jane, Mr. Brocklehurst states that “‘...you have a wicked heart; and must pray to God to change it: to give you a new and clean one: to take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’” (40) The quote proves the expectation to worship God in order to live a happy life. Women were expected to be obedient to their husbands, as women were still considered inferior to men. Men beating their wives for not obeying their wishes was common and socially accepted across all classes, emphasizing the …show more content…
Through Jane’s resistance to complete faith in Christianity, Jane does not believe that faith alone will not get someone through life. This was emphasized with Helen’s extreme faith and untimely death. Through this, Charlotte Bronte supports the idea of using religion only as a moral guideline and not as a lifestyle. Jane’s fight for independence and to be on equal terms with men, is a clear symbol of the early forms of feminism in the Victorian Era. This is emphasized with Jane resistance to being inferior to anyone simply because of their characteristics, such as age or
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