An Analysis Of Charlotte Bront(？)’s Jane Eyre From Spatial Perspective

Jane Eyre, published in 1847, is the best known novel written by Charlotte Bronte, a female English writer. The novel consists of various spaces which are closely connected to power. Jane Eyre has never stopped pursuing subjectivity ever since she was a child. The issue of binary opposition between male and female has long existed in the East and the West. Females arc oppressed, disciplined, and alienated in the patriarchal society. Therefore, it is imperative to destruct the binary opposition for female subjectivity. Although she is marginalized at Gateshead and Lowood School, subordinated at Thornfield Hall and Moor House, Jane Eyre keeps pursuing subjectivity, equality and independence step by step. Charlotte Bronte foreshadows later development when Mr. Rochester firstly meets Jane Eyre who falls from the horse and has to depend on Jane Eyre’s nursing. Mr. Rochester also depends on her after he becomes blind in the big fire. This reflects Jane Eyre’s personality for equality, freedom and liberation. She has self-determination and self-reliance to construct subjectivity. This thesis applies spatial theories by Henri Lefebvre and Michael Foucault to analyze the relationship between spaces, body and power in Jane Eyre, aiming to find out how Jane Eyre breaks the binary opposition and the process of her pursuing for female subjectivity.Chapter One introduces the author Charlotte Bronte and her novel Jane Eyre, literature review, as well as the research method, significance and purpose of this thesis. Chapter Two analyzes the politics in physical spaces. Gateshead is a place of punishment where she got marginalized and punished by Mrs. Reed who leaves trauma on her for a lifetime. Lowood School, where students are disciplined by Mr. Brocklehurst, is the perfect space for the mental discipline. The power of knowledge is a dominant factor and a prerequisite of discipline. Jane Eyre as a victim of the politics in spaces is the one who loses her power there. Chapter Three is the analysis of body space and symbolic space. The attic is a prison. The body of the mad woman Bertha Mason is alienated, mutually influenced by the space of prison and united with the space of the prison. Miss Temple at Lowood School is constructed as a perfect female. Her name means a holy place. She is gentle and kind. She not only disciplines herself but also educates others. Chapter Four is the analysis of the process of Jane Eyre pursuing subjectivity. As the other who is marginalized, Jane Eyre always keeps striving for subjectivity. Her resistance at Gateshead, her leaving after knowing Mr. Rochester has already been married at Thornfield Hall, and her refusal to St. John’s engagement all show the process of Jane Eyre’s construction of subjectivity. Chapter Five is conclusion. This thesis interprets various special relations in Jane Eyre. In the novel, spaces represent kinds of power relations. In the patriarchal society, the binary opposition between male and female is deep-rooted. Females have to pay a higher price on the on-going process of pursuing their equality, and sometimes they sacrifice their lives for the cause. The novel subverts the binary opposition and constructs Jane Eyre’s subjectivity by burning down Thornfield Hall which symbolizes patriarchy.