Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë presents the eponymous woman reflecting on her childhood and adolescence through the mature vision of a young adult. Adding another dimension to her character, however, is the fact that Jane's thoughts and feelings about life are not congruent with the gender expectations of her time period. Gender roles in Victorian society are shown as we also see them in today's society: through lifestyle options and interpersonal relationships. In such a rigidly gendered society, Jane's perspective as an independent-thinking young woman serves as Brontë's protest against this system. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Brontë's contemporary society, most women were tied to the family; Jane notes the unfairness of this expectation. For example, Blanche Ingram and Jane's cousin Georgiana Reed, both wealthy women, spend their lives worrying about finding an equally or more gifted husband. Once this goal is achieved, they are condemned to a life in which, as Jane laments, they "make puddings and knit socks, [...] play the piano and embroider bags" (104) and sit in silence while their husbands discuss livelier topics, such as politics, at length, as seen at Mr. Rochester's dinner parties. Jane challenges this double standard; in a loaded paragraph at the beginning of chapter 12, she insists that women “feel the way men feel” and should have the same freedom to pursue their interests and use their talents. Throughout the novel, Jane feels trapped by numerous social institutions, and the expectations she lists embody how gender roles create such a cage for her. From an incredibly young age, Jane herself, like many others of her time, had a subordinate role imposed on her based on her childhood. In her early years, her cousin John Reed belittled her incessantly; then, upon his first meeting with Mr. Brocklehurst, he observes that "there is no sadder sight than that of a naughty boy, especially a naughty little girl." (31) By saying this, Mr. Brocklehurst shows his prejudice against girls and women and, since he serves as a representative of organized religion, therefore such prejudice in the Church. Brocklehurst's misguided intentions towards the Lowood girls further show this institutionalized contempt for girls and women in the world of religion. Girls at Lowood are forced into levels of modesty otherwise virtually invisible outside the convents, wearing shapeless, opaque clothing and even cutting their hair if deemed distracting or even obscene. Jane's cousin St. John, also a man of faith, shows another side of the misogyny of the time. He has a closer relationship with the women in his life than Mr. Brocklehurst, living with his sisters and bringing Jane into the family when she appears in times of need. Furthermore, the people in the family work together and each performs their same, albeit different, tasks. However, a hidden bias remains. When Jane refuses to marry him, St. John turns on her, resorting to the personal attack that her words are "violent, unfeminine, and false." The mere fact that St. John must deem himself authoritative enough over Jane to force her to marry him gives him his purpose as a misogynistic character; in fact, this is Jane's second experience with a forced marriage, and by far the more forced of the two. Furthermore, St. John's resort to an attack on Jane's femininity shows that a..