Unveiling Intersectionality in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: Gender, Class and Religion

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine intersectionality in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre (1847). I utilize intersectional feminist theories to study the effect of multiple social factors such as gender, class, religion, wealth, and health on the interpersonal relationships between Jane and two male characters, namely Edward Rochester and St John Rivers. Intersectionality emerges in the portrayal of how various factors, including class and gender, shape the characters’ social status, their interactions with one another, and their treatment within society. I draw upon the societal norms in the patriarchal Victorian era, allocating more power to men than women. I discuss how the aspects of higher social class, wealth and gender allow male characters more freedom and power in their community. However, as I show, Jane staunchly resists the dominant societal expectations and the limited agency afforded to women in the society. To this end, I study Jane’s autonomy in choosing her spouse and the establishment of an egalitarian relationship with Rochester diverging from the traditional marital dynamics of nineteenth-century England. The novel not only illustrates feminism through this equality but also through Jane’s defiance of societal conventions.