Representations of Marriage in Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"

Seminar paper from the year 2022 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, language: English, abstract: How does Charlotte Brontë negotiate the Victorian marriage plot in her novel "Jane Eyre"?

In the first part of this term paper, the ideology of separate gender spheres and how it reaffirmed the Victorian marriage (plot) is presented. A reference to the following questions is made: If and how were love and marriage connected with each other? What were the reasons for marriage in Victorian times? How did a marriage look like?

Furthermore, the three marriage plots in Jane Eyre are described: the marriage of Rochester and Jane, the "hidden" marriage of Rochester and Bertha und the unfulfilled marriage of St. John and Jane. The paper focusses on how they differ from each other and to what extent they correspond to marriage in the Victorian era as described in the first part. In addition to that the aspect of Jane Eyre¿s social status and gender is depicted and what it meant to be an unmarried woman in Victorian times, as portrayed in the novel.