Upon publication, great speculation arose concerning the identity of the author of Jane Eyre, known only by the pen name of Currer Bell. Questions as to the sex of the author were raised, and many critics said that they believed it to be the work of a man. One critic of her time said, "A book more unfeminine both in its excellence and defects, it would be hard to find in the annals of female authorship. Throughout there is masculine power, breadth and shrewdness, combined with masculine hardness, coarseness, and freedom of expression."
Another critic of the day, Elizabeth Rigby, said that if it was the product of a female pen, then it was the writing of a woman "unsexed". Why was there such importance placed on the sex of the author and why was it questioned so readily? What does it mean that people believed it to be the product of a man rather than a woman?
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Interestingly enough I read a quote that said, "it is of a woman's writing, but whose?" in reference to Jane Eyre. Funny that some were convinced that it was a woman, and others that it was a man.
For me, I feel like it screams of a woman. The wiritng style reminds me of other women who would have been her contemporaries. The story line, the phraseology, all of it.
But mostly, I feel like it speaks from a woman's soul. It is honest and raw in a way that reveals the inner heart of a woman.
Maybe I just feel that because I related to so much of what Jane Eyre went through. I felt again like a child with step parents, and the young adult who desperately wanted to matter to someone. The part about needing to be loved so badly that she clung desperately to her doll.
"Human beings must love something, and in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow. It puzzles me now to remember with what sincerity, I doted on this wooden toy, half fancying it alive and capable of sensation. I could not sleep unless it was folded in my nightgown: and when it lay there safe and warm, I was comparatively happy, believing it happy likewise."
That spoke to me so profoundly. I have felt that, and as I read it it just spoke from the soul of a woman. There were a few moments in this book where I connected to wholly with Jane that I felt that only a woman could have written her.
I think it said a lot for what women were 'meant' or 'supposed' to be like back then. It talks about masculine power but to me it had a true girl power theme running through the whole thing. Jane doesn't act like she is expected to, she doesn't do everything she is supposed to do, doesn't think the same way as everyone else.... she really makes her own way and her own decisions.
The freedom of expression is what gets me. It must be written by a man because of that? It's so strange to think about the world having that kind of stereotype at one point.
I think we are answering these questions at exactly the same time Julie!
In "Little Women" Jo writes but goes under a pen name for some time. When she visits a publisher for the first time he says he can not accept her manuscript because men would not read a book by a inexperienced woman. Women were held back from so many pursuits in those days because of their gender and so took male pen names so they could write and not be prejudiced against. Charlotte must have done alot of observation to be able to describe a man and his masculinity and feelings so well and also express the feelings of a woman so well. I think through Jane Eyre she expressed so many of the frustrations women back then felt wanting to rebel from the strict norms of her day.
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