Defend that the character Jane Eyre defies Victorian society.

Choose one
episode from Jane’s childhood and one episode from her adulthood, where the reader
can observe that Charlotte Brontë’s heroine rebels against social norms and
conventions. Explain Jane’s rebellion in these two episodes.

The Victorian era was a period of extreme change, characterized by industrial

reforms, cultural transformations, scientific progress, extreme poverty, and wars.
Women's life in the Victorian era was fundamentally centered on family affairs, women
were seen as individuals whose place was in the home, motherhood and the domestic
environment was sufficient for them.
Women were considered to be temples of love and purity, so they could not be
used for sexual purposes by men. The only role of women in Victorian times was to get
married and to be attentive to the "chores" of the home. Adolescent girls were
carefully prepared for marriage, they had to be innocent, maidens, docile and
obedient; they were educated in English, painting, dancing, singing, etc. mainly
regarding things that did not qualify them as ignorant and illiterate, but that mostly
qualified them to seek and please their future husbands; this model of women
remained absent from the public sphere.
In contrast to this, we have Jane Eyre, a character who, had she existed in the
Victorian period, would have defied all cultural norms regarding women, creating what
might have been the main feminist reference. Jane presents a real commitment to
freedom, independence, and liberty of choice apart from a total unwillingness to
submit to the emotional power of a man. Jane did not go out into the grounds of
Thornfield with her feminist ideals, but she expressed her view of women's equality
almost unconsciously through her words and actions. However, Jane does not allow her
goals for feeling complete and secure to be based solely on marriage. Rochester's
betrayal throws her into the depths of despair, but she has a kind of epiphany in which
she realizes that she can be happy as a simple schoolteacher.
I believe that the first moment where you can see Jane's rebellion occurs at the
beginning of the novel. Although it might be unoriginal in its choice, I'm convinced that
this episode is crucial in forging a clear idea of who Jane is. When she is violently
assaulted by her cousin John, while she hides behind the curtain to read, Jane, far from
assuming that passive role described at the beginning, decides to respond with the
same violence. As a reader - even more so if you are a Victorian reader - you get the
message loud and clear: Jane is not to be trifled with. We are dealing with a character
of an indomitable nature who is capable of defending herself. I could even imagine,
with some inner playfulness, the scandalous reaction of many of her readers after the
novel was published.
As an adult, Jane's attitude towards Rochester when he tries to win her over
with expensive wedding dresses and jewelry, reflected in the phrase "the more he
bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation"
(Chapter XXIV), defines how she does not see herself within that conception of
marriage, security and stability. Another moment when Jane demonstrates that break
with Victorian convictions is when she leaves Mr. Rochester; with this act, Jane
challenges the Victorian expectation of submitting to the will of a husband, in this case
as a mistress, and also demonstrates how a woman can break the emotional power
that a man exerts over her. Although it is inevitable to observe in the reading how
difficult it is for her to give up a life of security by refusing to let a man control her
heart. Furthermore, her refusal to become a mistress of Rochester shows that she has
maintained a dignity, refusing to give in to her physical and emotional desires, which
are classified as wrong by her society.