names i do not know
women, many women
first lady and her daughters, so handsome and so proud,
children, many children
lady so stout and rich
a woman of diamonds and gems
women, many women
mrs. slight and classy, oh please be gentle
her children, many children
white as now please beg for a show
from the man we both know
roman stature so tall and fancy
their beauty, so much beauty
white, resemble the ivory
i beg you, please spare me
your beauty, so very pretty
sharp and smart
cut me, make it soon
so noble, so very noble
Blanche, white, pure as snow
spare me, oh please spare me
Reflection:
Makenna Horne
Prof. Helms
Modern British Literature
8 March 2024
Jealousy in Literature
Jane Eyre is one of the most notorious female books in British Literature. Jane Eyre portrays a young woman who feels helpless against her surroundings, then eventually brings herself up to become a governess for a wealthy family. Mr. Rochester, a wealthy bachelor, is the guardian to a young French girl, who Jane oversees. During his stay at Thornfield Hall (which he rarely visits) he invites a series of women over and parades them around the house. This is how Jane describes them (which I have cut down, for brevity):
“First, there was Mrs. Eshton and two of her daughters. She had evidently been a handsome woman, and was well preserved still. Of her daughters, the eldest, Amy, was rather little: naïve, and child-like in face and manner, and piquant in form;…The second, Louisa, was taller and more elegant in figure; with a very pretty face,… both sisters were fair as lilies.
Lady Lynn was a large and stout personage of about forty, very erect, very haughty-looking,…within the circlet of a band of gems.
Mrs. Colonel Dent was less showy; but, I thought, more lady-like. She had a slight figure, a pale, gentle face, and fair hair…
But the three most distinguished… Dowager Lady Ingram and her daughters, Blanche and Mary…She had Roman features and a double chin…
Blanche and Mary were of equal stature,—straight and tall as poplars. Mary was too slim for her height, but Blanche was moulded like a Dian. I regarded her, of course, with special interest. First, I wished to see whether her appearance accorded with Mrs. Fairfax’s description; secondly, whether it at all resembled the fancy miniature I had painted of her; and thirdly—it will out!—whether it were such as I should fancy likely to suit Mr. Rochester’s taste” (Brontë).
Jane is clearly jealous of the women Rochester brings in, because of the insistent flirting and chemistry they have. Jane’s jealousy over Mr. Rochester does not come without scientific background, feminine honor is an explanation for her jealousy over Mr. Rochester’s other women in the first section of the novel, even if they aren’t in an exclusive relationship.
There are several tropes of jealousy in literature, some of which include inferiority complexes, angst due to appearance, jealous romantic partner/witness, and financial jealousy (Envy and Jealousy Tropes). Jane “takes special interest” in Blanche, due to Mr. Rochester’s liking to her. Mrs. Fairfax says that Mr. Rochester likes her best but won’t marry her because she is too young. Jane’s jealousy can be explained by “feminine honor”, which is a form of “mate guarding”. Feminine honor is described as sexual purity via modesty and maintaining virginity (Kupfer, et al.). Blanche and Jane, both being unmarried young women are a clear display of feminine honor, and since they are both honorable (by their peer’s standards, the peers being the women Mr. Rochester brings for the party) they bring more honor to Mr. Rochester, if he married either of them. All this to say, based on the theory, Janes jealousy is justified, because she understands Blanche poses a threat to her possible relations with Mr. Rochester.
The process to write this poem was to stay as true to the literature as possible. So, while I didn’t want to directly quote any of the writing (like massive full quotes, as you can see I added certain words that were mentioned in the text), I wanted to make references to lines in that chapter. Firstly, I had Olivia Rodrigo’s jealousy, jealousy stuck in my head while we were talking about the possibility of Jane and Mr. Rochester in class. I thought it might be interesting to play into her jealousy of Blanche (and possibly the other women) through a poem. As I read re-read the section I quoted above, I wondered how I could use some of the descriptors and emphasize them from Jane’s point of view. Thus came the snow/white imagery. I wanted to describe all the women because she makes a point to mention all of them, and though I probably could go on forever about how women are pitted against each other in literature, especially over a man, I felt it was unnecessary to add. Simply, I wanted to emphasize Janes jealousy for what she does not have. Overall, I feel like the intention of Bronte’s work was not to emphasize the jealousy from Jane, but I think it is always fun to dramatize these situations, and it made for interesting research on jealousy tropes and the actual “mate guarding” of it all.
Works Cited
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Benediction Classics, 1847, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1260/1260-h/1260-h.htm.
“Envy and Jealousy Tropes.” TV Tropes, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EnvyAndJealousyTropes. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.
“Jealousy in ‘Jane Eyre’, ‘for My Lover Returning to His Wife’, and ‘after the Lunch’: [Essay Example], 895 Words.” GradesFixer, 17 July 2018, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/jealousy-in-jane-eyre-for-my-lover-returning-to-his-wife-and-after-the-lunch/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.
Kupfer, Tom R., and Pelin Gul. “Ideological Mate-Guarding: Sexual Jealousy and Mating Strategy Predict Support for Female Honor.” Evolutionary Psychology, vol. 21, no. 4, SAGE Publishing, Oct. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/14747049231200641.
Rodrigo, Olivia. jealousy, jealousy. Geffen Records, 21 May 2021.
Sprockets and Springes 