The Language of Slavery in Jane Eyre Essay - 2609 Words

While Bronte’s novel is a story of one woman’s rise from dependant, patriarchal oppression to financial stability and emotional liberation, the narration of that story is often turns to the figurative representation of slavery. Bronte applies the metaphor of slavery to the domestic trials facing British women at the time. Time and again her narrative language turns to this device in order to draw parallels between slavery and other vehicles of oppression, namely gender and class. Just as the majority of issues in the novel are two-sided, the implications of these parallels are two-sided as well. Carl Plasa, Lecturer in English at the University of Wales College of Cardiff, clearly explains the dichotomy in his essay Silent Revolt:†¦show more content†¦During Rochester’s courtship of Jane she likens him to a sultan, saying: The eastern allusion bit me again: ‘I’ll not stand you an inch in the stead of a seraglio,’ I said; ‘so don ’t consider me an equivalent for one; if you have a fancy for anything in that line, away with you, sir, to the bazaars of Stamboul without delay; and lay out in extensive slave-purchases some of that spare cash you seem at a loss to spend satisfactorily here (267; ch.24). Jane is not reluctant to speak of slave-purchases if they are in Stamboul rather than Jamaica. Even with the integral connection the story has to Jamaica, Jane refuses to make a direct reference to the slave trade in that area. Rochester goes on to make clear references to Jane as being his slave, it is your time now, little tyrant, but it will be mine presently: and when once I have fairly seized you, to have and to hold, I’ll just--figuratively speaking--attach you to a chain like this (269; ch.24). By turning to the East, Bronte is incorporating the sexual dominance that goes hand in hand with slavery in that region at that time. This allows her to make a strong point and still suits her purpose b etter than the image of British colonization in the Caribbean, which carries more abrasive connotations. If Bronte had wanted to speak out in the name of the oppressed slaves of Jamaica she would have cast Bertha Mason in a better light. 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