Peer-reviewed article
Social Criticism in Jane Eyre: A Marxist Approach
Andi Nurul Mawaddah Malik, Burhanuddin Arafah, Herawaty Abbas, Marwah Awalia Tang, Taqdir et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This study is a literary analysis of Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, read through Karl Marx's theory of class. It describes how the novel shows the rigid class divisions of Victorian England, including dependency, exploitation and alienation among poorer people. Jane's experience as an impoverished orphan and governess is used to illustrate social inequality. The authors argue that the novel's criticism still speaks to modern issues such as gender oppression and power imbalances at work. The document does not study the well-being of real children.
Key points
- The novel shows a rigid class hierarchy in Victorian English society.
- The bourgeoisie controlled economic resources and social power, while the proletariat experienced dependency, exploitation and alienation.
- Jane Eyre's experience as an impoverished orphan and governess is used to show social inequality.
- The novel's social criticism is described as relevant to gender oppression, workplace power imbalances and individual autonomy today.
Limitations
It is a qualitative reading of one fictional text, so it provides no data on real children or on any intervention. The ID country hint does not match anything in the abstract, which names no country beyond Victorian England, so no country is listed.
Abstract
Social criticism is an analytical approach used to examine social structures, institutions, and power relations in order to reveal inequalities and injustices within a society. This study investigates the forms of social criticism presented in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre using a Marxist theoretical framework developed by Karl Marx. The data were collected from the novel through a qualitative descriptive method focusing on narrative events, character interactions, and social settings. The analysis reveals the rigid class hierarchy of Victorian English society, in which the bourgeoisie controlled economic resources and social power, while the proletariat experienced dependency, exploitation, and alienation. The findings show that the novel portrays various forms of social inequality through the experiences of Jane Eyre as an impoverished orphan and governess navigating a stratified social structure. Furthermore, the social criticism expressed in the novel remains relevant to contemporary societal issues, including gender oppression, power imbalances in the workplace, and struggles for individual autonomy. Therefore, Jane Eyre can be understood as a significant literary work that not only reflects social realities of its time but also encourages readers to critically examine injustice and inequality in modern society.