The different natures and personalities of Jane and Antoinette, being in the same society, as well as Rochester's character showing two different types of men in the patriarchal society, are evident in these novels. My thesis aims to investigate and research if the characters Jane and Antoinette represent the notion of typical submissive women in a patriarchal society or if they show a rebellion against social norms and are able to change their position in society. It will also help to find out whether the character of Rochester represents a typical dominant patriarchal male of the society or not.
Keywords: Postcolonial, feminism, Victorian era, Women and men in society, power and position.
Introduction
Therefore, we can say that the novel is also a bildungsroman genre. Following Said's concept of the West showing the self and the East as the other, Bronte reflected the character of Jane as the self and Bertha as the other (Moosavinia et al.). Rhys was one of the first post-colonial writers to write a masterpiece in the world of literature, The Wide Sargasso Sea.
It will also help to find out whether the male protagonist character represents a typical dominant patriarchal male of the society or not.
Post-Colonialism
The blacks looked down on creoles because they were part of their oppression and also by the whites because they were part of the 'uncivilized' race. He believes that this kind of discourse and binaries were created to justify their colonization of the East and the horrors that accompanied it. In colonized Asia and Africa, the local governments were forcibly taken over by military forces of the Europeans, to obtain raw materials needed to fulfill Europe's growing industry by exploiting local economies.
The White Man's Burden' was a poem written by the British novelist Rudyard Kipling in 1899 that encouraged the colonizers to bear the "burden" of civilizing the "half devil and half child" of the East, which became the slogan of the imperialists to justify their act of imperialism ( Kipling). Thus, the conquest of inferior people was just and the destruction of weaker races a natural law of nature" (The Age of Imperialism. One of the myths created by Europeans due to imperialist ideologies is that Africa is a "dark continent"). because the people living there are inferior races to further their economic and political agenda of exploiting Africa (Thompsell).
In order to exert a stronger influence over the East, the West imposed, among other things, their language, power and beliefs. They had enough power to manipulate the colonized people into thinking that their idea of power and value was the view or system of the world (InesSoukni). Thus, the West hegemony the colonized countries to believe that the language, culture and beliefs of the colonizers were superior.
In addition, he said that "the relationship between the Occident and the Orient is a relationship of power, of dominance, of various degrees of complex hegemony" (Said, 13). In short, the binary of self and other is what we find even after colonization has been abolished, resulting in the West oppressing the East in one way or another.
Feminism
In the West, it was very common for women to be uneducated and expected to only reproduce and take care of their home. To regain their masculinity, a society with strict gender rules and norms was seen in the East. In Western society, the dichotomy of a good mother like 'virgin mother Mary' was a bad woman like 'Eve'.
However, there was a major shift in women's power position in the 18th century when the French Revolution created a new class of bourgeoisie (capitalist social class). In the Victorian period of the 19th century, employment opportunities for women included only menial positions such as secretaries or receptionists. In addition, women's work in the household was devalued because their productivity had no economic output, rendering their work invisible.
They demanded equal voting rights (suffrage), education reform and equal participation in the political affairs of the country. Later, in the 1990s, third-wave feminism paved the way for the realization that not only women exist, but that women are defined by race, religion, class, and ethnicity. As this was an era of technological advancement with various platforms to highlight women's rights issues, many movements and digital protests emerged to bring awareness and change in society to assert women's rights to safety and autonomy to reproductive control.
According to the French philosopher Simon de Beauvoir, “the self needs difference to define itself as a subject; the category of otherness is therefore necessary in the constitution of the self as a self” (Mussett). Thus, male dominance in society, in other words patriarchy, is what made women subjugated and oppressed.
The Power Dynamics of Genders
The Character of Jane and Rochester in Jane Eyre
She doesn't shy away from being dominated by her cousin and expresses her feelings about how she thought John was a 'tyrant'. Bronte represents the character of Jane as a rebellious person who does not conform to oppression and refuses to be subjugated. Moreover, it also shows how it was okay for men to be abusive and violent towards women, but not the other way around.
Rochester tried to force his opinions on Jane, she claimed that she was "no bird" and that "no net catches her as she believes herself to be "a free man with an independent will" (Bronte 386). Soon Rochester became desperate to marry Jane and have his wife so he can mold her into the woman he wants her to be.According to Jane, Rochester listened to her and looked at her "gently and earnestly", which was not common to see in the men of society (Bronte 387).
Through this line, she represented how we should not bow down to social oppression and expectations of a woman to speak softly, forgiving, chaste and. She refuses to give in to these societal expectations, while her friend Helen, on the other hand, portrays the type of woman society expects her to be. When Rochester calls her "the very angel," she rejects his flattering words and refuses to be called an angel, as she believes she will never be one until the day she dies.
She did not hesitate to confess that she is not a pious or religious person expected of a graceful society woman and openly refuses to be the conventional wife-to-be. Not only did she refuse to be the type of woman society wants her to be as well as forces her to become, but she represents how a woman can stay true to her self-worth and achieve equality.
The Character of Antoinette, Bertha and her assumed husband, Rochester in
She was a victim of postcolonial rage against both the colonized and the colonizer. This portrayed the tracks of East and West, which were totally opposite of each other. It resembled Antoinette's future married life and the male protagonist was that of himself and the other.
Here we see again the difference between the character of Jane and Antoinette, namely the definitions of the two types of women, whom society wanted and loathed. With the idea that the people of the East are “savage” and “uncivilized,” Rochester dehumanizes Amelie because she was half-breed. He preferred the dark and gloomy side of the Caribbean, which resonated with the weather of England.
Even though Antoinette's family was part Creole, they still belonged to a high-class family status, which made many others jealous. After they arrive in Thornfield, the Land of the West, England, Rochester decides to keep Antoinette locked in the attic with Grace Poole as her keeper and caretaker. Fairfax assumes that it was the people and culture of the East that turned him into a cruel version of himself for imprisoning his wife.
Although she found ways to sneak out of the attic while Grace fell asleep drunk, she didn't leave or try to protest in Rochester. However, at the end of the novel, Rhys portrays how Antoinette jumps to her death by setting the setting.
Conclusion
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