{"id":267,"date":"2017-03-23T15:21:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T15:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=267"},"modified":"2020-08-31T20:37:58","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T20:37:58","slug":"mistresses-monetary-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2017\/03\/23\/mistresses-monetary-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mistresses, Money, and Risk in Jane Eyre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Generally, society\u2019s view is that women should <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> be sexual creatures, but men are praised for their sexual pursuits for \u201cworking the game.\u201d Similarly, Mary Poovey remarks upon this phenomenon in a historical context, \u201cThe contradiction between a sexless, moralized angel and an aggressive, carnal magdalen was therefore written into the domestic ideal as one of its constitutive characteristics” (11).<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Jane Eyre<\/span><\/i>, before Jane marries Mr. Rochester, she is an independent woman who is completely reliant on one thing: her reputation. As a governess, if she were to attempt to obtain further job posts after she leaves Rochester, she would have had to maintain herself as a reputable governess of good academic and moral standing. Beginning an affair with the master of her previous household would have slandered her name, and ruined her chances of being self-sufficient. A century earlier, Daniel Defoe chronicled these dangers in <\/span>Moll Flanders<\/span><\/i>, writing \u201cmen that keep mistresses often change them, grow weary of them, or jealous of them, or something or other happens to make them withdraw their bounty\u201d (174-5). <\/span><\/p>\n

While Jane is making her fateful decision to leave Thornfield, she has a flashback: \u201cI was transported in thought to the scenes of childhood\u201d (Bront\u00eb 313). She is like a dying person reflecting on life\u2019s most important moments. Then,Jane suddenly sees a \u201cwhite human form\u201d that tells her: \u201c\u2018My daughter, flee temptation!\u2019\u201d to which Jane responds, \u201c\u2018Mother, I will\u2019\u201d (313).<\/span><\/p>\n

This scene is remarkable for several reasons. One, Jane recognizes the dangers in becoming a mistress to Mr. Rochester. This \u201ctemptation\u201d holds such dreadful consequences that a warning in the form of her mother comes to protect her. Moreover, her mother lost her inheritance and financial protection when she made the decision to marry below her station. If her mother had not made the decision to marry a man who could not financially protect her, her child would not have had to suffer the life of a middle-class, unwanted orphan. Thus, the fact that her mother, the woman most closely related to Jane by blood in the novel, has come to make this warning demonstrates the true danger Jane would risk by taking on a position as Mr. Rochester\u2019s mistress.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Jane, this moment so resembles death because her decision could quite seriously lead to her death. If she chooses to live with Rochester, the chances are that she will eventually be cast out, like his other mistresses before her. Rochester himself says, \u201cHiring a mistress is the next worse thing to buying a slave: both are often by nature, and always by position, inferior: and to live familiarly with inferiors is degrading\u201d (306). If she chooses to wander out completely unaccompanied, she also could die. Jane\u2019s conflict embodies the risks that many women in her position faced: either she could accept the financial support of a rich man who might some day dismiss her, or she could put herself at the mercy of a world that was not accepting of single women to begin with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders.<\/i> freeclassicsbooks.com, http:\/\/www.freeclassicebooks.com\/Defoe%20Daniel\/Moll%20Flanders.pdf. Accessed 22 March 2016.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Generally, society\u2019s view is that women should not be sexual creatures, but men are praised for their sexual pursuits for \u201cworking the game.\u201d Similarly, Mary Poovey remarks upon this phenomenon in a historical context, \u201cThe contradiction between a sexless, moralized angel and an aggressive, carnal magdalen was therefore written into the domestic ideal as one … Continue reading Mistresses, Money, and Risk in Jane Eyre<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138876,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2017","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}