Femininity and Passion

Right in the first chapter of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte establishes Jane as a raw female figure who is not in control of her passions. Words like ‘pain’, ‘sharp’, and ‘terror’ convey immense deal of rawness of the context in which Jane is living as well as rawness in her personality. She is filled with a lot of energy and is aware of what is happening to her despite the fact that she is taught otherwise. This instance of female consciousness is quite new in the Victorian Era and a female is no longer shown as a passive figure who is not voicing the abuses she is going through.  It is ironical that though Jane is aware of the constant abuse she is made to go through every day, yet, she is ‘bewildered by the terror’ John Reed inspires and is ‘habitually obedient to John.’ Jane at this point in time is not able to make sense of her overarching passion and in the context she is living in. This means compromise on selling her female sexuality which is critical to the femininity of that time.

Another interesting point to note here is the symbolism of red-room in the very first chapter. Red is a color that indicates wildness, rawness and passion and the fact that Jane is taken to be locked up in the red-room after she attacks John Reed tells the reader that how important it is to control the wild passions of a female, which, when out are capable of disturbing the status quo.