Student Question
How are Jane, Edward, and Bertha imprisoned in different ways in Jane Eyre?
Quick answer:
In "Jane Eyre," Jane, Edward, and Bertha experience different forms of imprisonment. Jane faces literal and financial constraints, starting with her confinement at the Reeds' and her dependency due to orphanhood. Edward is constrained by family expectations and his marriage to the insane Bertha, which prevents his happiness. Bertha is literally imprisoned in Thornfield's attic, with her insanity serving as a figurative prison, and finds liberation only through suicide.
Jane, Edward and Bertha, though in very different positions in the novel, are all constrained or "imprisoned" by different surmountable and insurmountable factors.
The beginning of the novel emphasizes Jane's quite literal imprisonment in the Reed's house, where she is once actually locked in a room until she faints. Her parents' early death leaves her an orphan, and she is consequently financially limited and dependent wherever she goes--at the Reed's and then at Lowood. It is not until she is at Thornfield Hall that Jane begins to feel liberated from these constraints. She gains some sense of freedom when she decides to leave Lowood, find other work, and even when she leaves Mr. Rochester. Ultimate freedom comes when she becomes truly financially independent, but there is much to be said for Jane's increasing ability to make her own decisions.
Edward's imprisonment also goes back to his family history. To some extent, he is constrained even before the novel begins by his father's wishes--it is apparently not his own choice to marry Bertha. Later, he is imprisoned by Bertha herself: first because he must deal with her increasing insanity, later because he must take care of her, and finally because he cannot remarry and truly find happiness while she is still alive. Even in the end of the novel, Edward is somewhat imprisoned by his blindness.
Bertha is perhaps the most literally imprisoned character in Jane Eyre, as she is actually locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall. Also figuratively imprisoned by her own insanity, Bertha's only means of liberation is suicide.
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