"Angels and Madwomen"

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, which challenges the rigid gender constructions of femininity and the Victorian societal constraints designed to keep women enclosed, ultimately re-inscribes some of those very conventions that the author defies. Brontë's novel examines the pervasive, repressive, and controlling ideology of the "angel in the house" through female characters who embody the construct as they subvert it. At Thornfield, Jane, along with a "range of fallen women," searches for the key to release them from the containment of their "metaphorical attics" (Logan 23). And yet, despite the novel's subversive nature, Brontë's narrative ultimately functions as a warning against female rage which the author communicates through the racially inscribed character of Bertha Mason. In the end, Brontë demonstrates that women's anger is very political and to be an angry woman in nineteenth-century England is next-door to insanity.

Appropriately, Brontë utilizes the metaphor of houses, rooms, and enclosures throughout the novel to symbolize the patriarchal structures within society that inhibit or negate the possibility of female liberty. For Jane "the fresh air and open countryside remain . . . symbols of personal freedom and independence" (Meyer 85). In the red room Jane learns that she is without a place in society--"No, you are less than a servant" (Brontë 6). The interior of the red room reflects coldness, despite the fiery colour. Not an angel but a "revolted slave" (Brontë 9) presides over this hearth; a hearth which has not warmed the room for quite some time. Jane quickly assesses that "no jail was ever more secure" (9). The author evokes a pervasive atmosphere of suffocation, the inability to breathe, or to only breathe dead air--for in this chamber where Mr. Reed "breathed his last" (8). Although much has been made of Jane Eyre's name, it bears repeating that both her ire (Gilbert and Gubar 349 ) and the need to breathe fresh air drive this young girl and prevent her from embodying the construct of the "angel in the house."

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Come Back to Accept the Reality----Get Together

Since Jane Eyre left Thornfield Hall, she goes to another place by herself. In that place, Jane found a teaching job with a kind man's help. Within caring by this kind man, Jane fits the environment of this small town. One day, this kind man shows his love to Jane and he hopes that she could stay with him. However, Jane couldn't forget Rochester, she still loved him. So she decided to go back to Thornfield Hall. Unfortunately, when Jane comes back to the gate of Thornfield Hall, Rochester’s servant saw her and told Jane that Rochester was blinded, and explain that in order to save his wife from the burning house, he was maimed for life. At this time, Jane found Rochester and went to him. She caught Rochester’s hands and said she would look after him forever. It is true love that makes Jane Eyre and Mr.Rochester get together.

A Madwoman in the Attics

A night before the wedding day, Jane and Mr. Rochester share a heart-to-heart. Suddenly, Jane Eyre finds that Mr. Rochester had a wife before 15 years and she still stays in his house. But, his wife has already been mad and it was Mr. Rochester who looked after her and arranged her for living with him. At this time, Mr. Rochester trys to calm Jane down and makes her believe him anyway. However, JaneEyre can not accept it and she thinks that Mr.Rochester's love can not be trusted and relied. Anyway, Jane understands Mr.Rochester's mood, she aslo wants to give Rochester a hand, but she has no ideas to deal with it expect leave him. Jane even complains and shouts to Mr.Rochester for vent her sorrows, but she still decides to leave him. Before the sun comes, Jane left the Thornfield Hall alone.

Falling in love----Vindicating
Within staying with Mr. Rochester, Jane found that she had already fallen in love with him. Although Mr. Rochester is a man with a warm heart despite a cold face outside, he has justness and he loves Jane Eyre as well. At first, both of them didn’t express their true heart to each other. In order to feel out Jane’s heart, Rochester asked a beautiful woman from his guests for acting his girlfriend in the party which was made in Mr. Rochester’s house. Jane Eyre saw the scene which a beauty and Mr. Rochester were affectionate by looking at each other. However, she still kept her noble quality while facing her rival in love. After the party, she couldn’t stand it any more and cried outside the house. Rochester followed her and found her. By this time, Mr. Rochester expressed his love, and then Jane Eyre understood why he did it that way, and finally they got together. Then they maintain their love very well, and in Jane Eyre’s eyes, her love need honest and equal treatment.

In the process

The next evening, Mr. Rochester sends for Jane to speak with him in the library, and she undergoes an odd sort of interview at his hands. His manner is still abrupt and rather harsh. He is about thirty-eight, dark haired and dark eyed, square of brow and strong of feature, and ruggedly athletic; however, he is not a handsome man, as Jane bluntly points out on one occasion. Although not handsome, Bronte's Rochester is in many points a classic Byronic hero: brooding and fiery, but also at times humorous and sardonic. Mr. Rochester's quirks of temper surprise Jane at first, although they do not discompose her; she is more comfortable with honesty and poor manners than she is among the hypocrisies and smoothnesses of polite society. As Mr. Rochester seeks out her company more frequently, she comes to understand and respect him, and the two become friends. Mr. Rochester eventually takes Jane into his confidence, and reveals that Adèle may be his daughter, although he disbelieves this to be the case; she is, however, the illegitimate daughter of a French opera dancer with whom Mr. Rochester once had a liaison.

Jane's New Life

At first, her life at Thornfield is quiet. Jane's only companions are her pupil, Adèle, the young French ward of the absent Mr. Rochester, and Mrs. Fairfax, a genteel elderly widow who is Mr. Rochester's housekeeper. But everything changes when Edward Rochester, the owner of the manor, arrives. The manner of their meeting is unusual: on a dark winter's afternoon, Jane takes a walk to the nearest village to post a letter. On the way, she is startled by a large hound appearing eerily out of the mist; at first Jane takes the dog for the spirit Gytrash, but soon realises no supernatural forces are at work when a horse and rider follow after. Spooked by Jane's sudden appearance, the horse slips on some ice, and the rider is thrown to the ground. Jane comes to his aid, and assists him to mount his horse again, since he has twisted his ankle. His manner is abrupt and curt; he inquires of her where she lives, and what her position at Thornfield is, then rides away. Returning from her walk, she sees the same hound, and is informed by the servants that Mr. Rochester has returned - the mysterious traveller.