Jane's Refreshing Character

Although I haven't read many books that were written in the 19th century, my best educated guess tells me that women were not commonly main characters, and all supporting women characters were seldom given such confident and strong a personality as Jane Eyre.

I love Jane's spirit; she sets out to do and say what is right while never being rude about it. Surely her manners are unexpected, but they are never disrespectful. She believes that women are equal to men and deserve the same treatment, which I applaud. She explains, "Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do: they suffer too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged  fellow creatures to say they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags." Go Jane! While she does perform "woman tasks" like playing the piano and teaching, she does so confidently and non-submissively.

One quote I love that shows her views: "I don't think, sir, you have the right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience." Here Jane says that simply because Mr. Rochester is older, male, and more worldly, he doesn't deserve to treat her as an inferior until he adequately learns from his experiences and acts as a leader. This is very brave of her to say; and its definitely part of the reason why Mr. Rochester fell in love with her!

While it seems cliche, I believe that women all around the world can learn from Jane. We deserve equal treatment as men receive, but it isn't right to be rude about it. People will respect you greatly if you stand up for what you believe in and put your woman power to work!