Abstract
Many of the social issues Jane Eyre deals with continue to be our concerns today. My topic in this paper comes from the plot that Jane grows up in “dysfunctional” family with her physical and social inferiority. Jane bursts her bonds and tells Mrs Reed what she thinks of her, a self-assertive act of which a Victorian child never supposed to be capable. Mrs Reed's hatred stems from Jane's fierce need for freedom. She gets angry with Mr Reed, the dead, as well. For Mr Reed took a good care of his niece, Jane when she was a sickly baby. Jane plots her revenge against Mrs Reed's jealousy when she is a child, but she is finally reunited with Mrs Reed. The meaning of Jane's forgiveness is revealed when we draw attention to the sexual problems women married in England confront in Charlotte Bronte's time.
The purpose of this paper is to examine Mrs Reed's anger and hatred based on specific evidence. A part of the psychoanalytic works of Freud provides a useful critical framework for this novel. Following the way in which characters interact with one another and the emotional conflicts between them, we can find Bronte's own interpretation of the sexual roles in Victorian England and her protest against the narrow-minded people.
