Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and the personal politics of space

Abstract

While all Bronte novels are set in recognizable geographical spaces rather than in a mythological “Neverland,” Charlotte Bronte reveals that the negotiation of physical space is critical to Jane’s development as an independent human being. The novel opens at Gateshead Hall, the home of Jane’s wealthy relatives, with the orphan Jane hiding from her tyrannical cousin John in what she hopes is a protected space. Dragged from her supposed refuge and struck in the head with the book she had been reading, she strikes back at him. Because of her self-assertion, she is taken to the Red Room, where she is imprisoned and ultimately becomes hysterical. The novel that Bronte subtitles “An Autobiography” follows Jane as she travels from Gateshead to school at Lowood, where she learns to conjugate the first two tenses of the verb “etre” and sketches her first cottage, evidence that her sense of “be-ing,” her identity, is connected with the idea of domestic space, which she explores in the novel as she travels to a number of unique geographical spaces that are identified with distinct domestic spaces: Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House, Jane’s own little cottage in Morton, and Ferndean. Moreover, after discovering that the man she loves has an insane wife, she spends a brief period homeless, which is associated with another unique geographical space, the crossroads at Whitcross. Additionally, while Jane’s travels are mostly confined to England, frequent references to various colonial spaces – Madeira, India, and the West Indies – reveal that Jane’s being is impacted by activities far beyond England. The following chapter explores Jane’s travels through geographical and domestic spaces and also examines how those other colonial spaces (for example, Spanish Town, Madeira, and India) that loom darkly in the background also impact her sense of self.