Haniya's Post : The Female Gaze

*note:submitted on time 11:26 p.m. Friday 

In Mansfield Park and Humsafar we were never told about the female gaze or the female passion. The female was subservient and it was the male who displayed the passion. In Humsafar, especially we see Ashar’s strong gaze on Khirad throughout. The scene in which they are going to a party and Khirad is getting ready; Ashar is staring at her and analyzing her while Khirad’s eyes are lowered. The heroine is passive. However, In Jane Eyre we see the heroine having a strong gaze - alongside the strong gaze of the male figure – studying the male figure. This is a wholly new concept in the Victorian era and Charlotte Bronte through her writing is bringing out the female passions to the surface which were previously suppressed. The national domestic female figure was one who did not show her passion or react to the male presence. But in this we see Jane analyzing Rochester, the governess of the house analyzing the employer: “He had been looking two minutes at the fire, and I had been looking the same length of time at him” the employer – governess relation is not there anymore. A young girl is gazing at a man openly freely and unashamedly. She looks at faces and there are three references to his eyes: “and in his great, dark eyes, and very fine eyes, too –. “ she is only revealing part of his face and his eyes appeal to her and we see Jane feeling closer to him as she feels he has a softer element. Which are a direct contrast to his other feature and she likens them to “granite” which signifies strength and hardness.  When Rochester “caught my gaze fastened on his physiognomy” Jane does not shy away or deny she was not looking. She faces the situation and answers him back boldly when he asks her if he is handsome. A direct contrast can be seen in Khirad who looks at Ashar by hiding behind corners and when Ashar catches her looking she shies away and runs. The passions that Rochester tried really hard to bring out, we see Jane responding to the man in a scene such as this.