『제인 에어』: 페미니스트적 열망과 제국주의적 기획

Abstract

The imperialistic planning of mid-Victorian era skillfully appropriated ‘sexual politics.’ At that time, the British Empire idealized the women who gave up physical pleasure and were dedicated to imperialism for its own sake. Externally, the empire justified territorial expansion and economic exploitation in the name of civilization by suppressing the subjugated. Internally, on the basis of patriarchal ideology, the empire suppressed women’s subjectivity. In short, at that time, imperialism and patriarchal system were the basis of the British Empire, and therefore women came to fall a victim to them. In Jane Eyre, not only imperialism but also colonialism was a dynamic force of the main plot. As the romance of Jane and Rochester was the core of the plot, the novel seems to have nothing to do with imperialism and colonialism any more. But what puts the romance of Jane and Rochester to an ultimate success was the death of Bertha and a large fortune left to Jane by her uncle, which made Jane and Rochester equal on a economical level and a social position class. Since the fortune was presumed to come from a colony, imperialism and colonialism were the fundamentals of Jane Eyre. The literary success of Jane Eyre can be attributed to acutely demonstrating how closely imperialism is related to everyday life of the British. Bertha stands for ‘brutality’ and ‘sense of guilty’, which arise from the colonialization of the West Indies by England. In addition, the psychological viewpoints of ‘conquest’ and ‘civilization,’ which were two pivotal parts of colonialization, were vividly represented by male characters in Jane Eyre. Also, Brontë sharply criticized the repressive attitudes of colonialists. Jane’s feminist desire points out the combination of the imperial planning with gender ideology. As we saw in the relationship between Jane and St. John, Jane completely rejected the role as an assistant of a missionary required by the imperialism. Therefore, the suppression that Jane felt in the relationship between sexes/genders was projected on to women of other ethnicities. Especially, Jane’s desire, fear, and anger were the same as those of Bertha. Brontë indicated the problems of the imperialism by illustrating discrimination against women and suppression of women. But she did not criticize the intrinsic problems of the imperialism. Instead, Brontë/ Jane did expose her potential desire for the imperialism. Although Jane’s desire for the imperialism was limited in a small society of family, she never gave up her desire for it. As we all know, Jane’s individual achievement desire is closely associated to an expansionist policy of the imperialism. But it is not easy to predicate that Brontë/Jane is imperialistic on the grounds: Bertha was eliminated from the plot of Jane Eyre, and the civilization of St. John internalized the imperialism. Namely, although Brontë/Jane’s feminist desire appropriates the imperialist discourses, she creates a crack in the imperialist discourses by rejecting the image of women required by patriarchal ideology of Victorian era. In conclusion, when we pay attention to the points of intersection between ‘imperialism’ and ‘feminism,’ it is likely to be easier for us to grasp the subversive forces and their meanings of individual feminism in Jane Eyre.