“Scrutinize her actions, punish her body to saver her soul”: The Figure of the Governess in Jane Eyre

Abstract

In 1840s the figure of the governess, particularly her sexuality became a subject of much concern to the periodical essayists. The Victorian period, as Foucault argues saw an immense proliferation of discourses about sex. Sexuality thus came into being as the ultimate open secret. This justified the attention devoted to the distressed governess by emphasizing the central role she played in reproducing the domestic ideal- on one hand she, as a teacher was to teach her students ‘accomplishments’ that would attract a good husband and later make them good wives and mothers yet at the same time police the emergence of undue assertiveness or sexuality in her maturing charges. The employment of women as governess also mobilized and engaged with two of the most important representations of women: the figure who epitomized the domestic ideal-the wife/mother, and the figures who threatened to destroy it-the working-class women/prostitutes. It is within these contexts that the paper will try and place Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The paper would also analyse the way this stereotypical representation of women throws light on the condition of women in general and working-class women.