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in two aspect s. One is the exposure and denunciation of man’s oppression. The other is the port rayal of J ane Eyre’s outstanding character .Jane Eyre’s stories taking place in different stages of her life can be seen as connected by men’s oppression to her .
The first oppressor is J ane Eyre’s cousin , John Reed. John , at the age of 14 , has become particularly obnoxious , a fat , greedy , unwholesome bully. He regards himself as the future owner of the house. He beat s and insult s J ane at will . Goaded by John Reed’s
bullying , she hit s back on two occasions , fighting like a mad cat until she is overpowered. Then , she is locked up alone in the red room. Terror as well as anger is always with her when she is in the red room where her own vivid imagination f rightens her into a frantic fit . J ane experiences the fir st crisis in life and nearly dies. In the clash between J ane and her cousin ,the writer emphasizes Jane’s feelings of dread , loathing and despair as the weak when facing unreasonable , illmannered merciless even brutish threat . This description shows exactly small and weak female’s general sentiment under male’s malt reatment . When we read the part f rom Chapter I to Chapter IV , we will sympathize with J ane’s miserable experience.
The second oppressor is Mr . Brocklehur st , the headmaster of Lowood orphanage. The fir st impression he gives J ane is “What a great nose ! And what a mouth !
Just like a brutal bloodsucking animal .Here , Brocklehur st is port rayed as a very severe and hard hearted person who not only keeps the children half starved but prevent s them f rom having normalmental growth. He is meddling , loveless and hypocritical . Brocklehur st thinks it is his duty to punish the eighty girls’bodies in order to save their immortal souls. He does not let them have enough rest . He forces them to cut their long hair and makes them wear
the worst quality , the most ugly clothes. He attempts to kill these poor girls nature of pursuing beauty. He is hostile to women. He calls these girls’bodies “vilebodies”and their natural curled hair “excrescence”. He st rangles these girls’vigor and vitality. These girls almost become machines which can only work and read Bible. Brocklehur st’s devastation to these girls is far beyond people’s toleration. Brocklehur st makes the life condition much worse , which causes a lot of deaths including that of Jane’s best f riend , Helen Burns. Life in Lowood Orphanage may be the most agonizing memory to J ane , but the miserable life gives J ane much more courage and determination to struggle for her right .The third oppressor J ane has met is Mr. Rochester . Most writer s agree that the theme of J ane Ey re isthe search for love. Lawrence has said ,“The novel is revolutionary in it s t reatment of love. ” Rochester’s oppression does not come f rom the fact that Rochester want s to marry J ane without telling her his mad wife’s story. Here the point is that Rochester’s love oppresses J ane and jeopardizes her independence.When they prepare things for marriage , Rochester says he will put the diamond chain“round Jane neck , andcirclet on her forehead , clasped the bracelet s on these fine wrist s , and load her finger s with rings”. He uses visible jewelry to limit Jane invisibly. Jane feels that she is oppressed. She feels Rochester’s smile has “such a sultan might , bestow on a slave his gold