Pain, sado-masochism and sex in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

While many people consider the Victorian era a time of prudish behavior that revolved around following decorum, Charlotte Brontë stepped outside of this stereotype in her writing with her beloved classic, Jane Eyre. The novel is filled with subtle sexual nuances as it focuses on the relationship between Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester.

Jane, a poor orphan governess, comes to work for the wealthy bachelor Mr. Rochester as a teacher to his young charge, Adele. Mystery and secrets surround their budding, sado-masochistic romance. Elements of the gothic infiltrate the plot, which is narrated in first person by Jane. Rochester is a complex, seemingly cruel character who thrives on causing Jane emotional pain by threatening to marry the beautiful Miss Ingram and constantly battering her self-esteem. Jane responds to these cruel actions by threatening to leave Rochester’s home, creating an intense, tension-filled power struggle between these two beautifully-written characters. She is torn between her physical desire to remain close to Rochester and her psychological need for distance from him.
The Bronte's home in Haworth, England
Jane’s need for distance tends to dominate her desire for closeness, and this internal conflict is reproduced externally in her relationship with Rochester, with Rochester’s desire for physical proximity conflicting with Jane’s desire for distance. These internal and external power struggles create a healthy sense of tension necessary both to Jane and to her relationship with Rochester because it prevents either of them from being fully satisfied, and ensures that both remain in a perpetual state of self-inflicted suffering.
The Bronte's living room, where Charlotte and her sisters wrote their novels
The suffering these characters impose on themselves and each other is necessary for the preservation of desires, which would be destroyed by fulfillment. The novel allows readers to gain a greater understanding of how the pain of unfulfilled desires becomes synonymous with pleasure, and the beneficial role pain, tension and unfulfilled desires plays for these characters.
To read Jane Eyre online, or other novels by the Bronte sisters, go to www.bronte.netfury.co.uk :.
via examiner.com