Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë features the eponymous woman reflecting on her childhood and adolescence through the mature point of view of a young adult. However, the fact that Jane's thoughts and feelings about life do not fit the gender expectations of her time adds another dimension to her character. Gender roles in Victorian society are depicted as seen even in today's society: through lifestyle options and interpersonal relationships. In a society so strictly gendered, Jane's perspective as an independent-minded young woman serves as Brontë's protest against this system. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In Brontë's contemporary society, most women were tied to the home; Jane sees the injustice of this expectation. For example, Blanche Ingram and Georgiana Reed, Jane's cousin, both wealthy women, spend their lives worrying about finding a husband who is equally or more well endowed. Once they have achieved this goal, they are condemned to live, as Jane complains, "making puddings and knitting stockings, [...] playing the piano and embroidering bags" (104). and sit in silence while their husbands talk at length. livelier subjects, such as politics, as seen at Mr. Rochester's dinner parties. Jane challenges this double standard; in a loaded paragraph at the beginning of chapter 12, she insists that women "feel like men" and should have just as much freedom to pursue their interests and use their talents. Throughout the novel, Jane feels trapped by many social institutions, and the expectations she lists embody the way in which gender roles forge such a cage for her. From an early age, Jane herself, like many others of her time, had a subordinate. role that was imposed on him due to his childhood. In her early years, her cousin John Reed constantly belittled her; then, on his first meeting with Mr. Brocklehurst, he remarks that there is "no sight so sad as that of a naughty child, especially a naughty little girl." (31) In saying this, Mr. Brocklehurst shows his prejudice against girls and women and, because he represents an organized religion, therefore his prejudice within the Church. Mr Brocklehurst's misguided intentions towards the Lowood girls further demonstrate this institutionalized contempt for girls and women in the world of religion. Lowood girls are forced to levels of modesty virtually invisible outside of convents, wearing shapeless, covering clothing, and even having their hair cut if this is deemed distracting or even obscene. Jane's cousin St. John, also a man of faith, shows another side of misogyny at the time. He has a closer relationship with the women in his life than Mr. Brocklehurst, living with his sisters and introducing Jane into the family when she appears in times of need. Additionally, members of the household work together, each handling equal, though different, tasks. However, a hidden bias remains. When Jane refuses to marry him, St. John turns on her, resorting to the personal attack that her words are "violent, unladylike and false." The simple fact that St. John should consider himself to have enough authority over Jane to force her to marry him gives him his role as a misogynistic character; indeed, this experience is Jane's second experience with a forced marriage, and by far the more forced of the two. Additionally, the..