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1、Syer 1The Language of Slavery in Jane Eyre简爱中的奴隶制语言While Brontes novel is a story of one womans rise from dependant, patriarchal oppression to financial stability and emotional liberation, the narration of that story is often turns to the figurative representation of slavery. Bronte applies the meta
2、phor of slavery to the domestic trials facing British women at the time. Time and again her narrative language turns to this device in order to draw parallels between slavery and other vehicles of oppression, namely gender and class. Just as the majority of issues in the novel are two-sided, the imp
3、lications of these parallels are two-sided as well. Carl Plasa, Lecturer in English at the University of Wales College of Cardiff, clearly explains the dichotomy in his essay Silent Revolt: The deployment of a metaphorics of slavery as a way of representing forms of domestic oppression is, from one
4、perspective, both rhetorically powerful and a politically radical maneuver. Yet from another perspective-that precisely of those who are or have been enslaved, experienced the metaphor, as it were-such a strategy can only be viewed as deeply problematic. (67-68)If Bronte had turned to these metaphor
5、s solely as a way of representing forms of domestic oppression the effect would have been positive. Her references to slavery would have come across as rhetorically powerful and politically radical. Unfortunately, Bronte goes too far. She creates a narrator, Jane, who exploits images of slavery, usi
6、ng them to obtain personal gain and dismissing them when convenient. Syer 2It is obvious that Bronte makes use of the experiences of the British colonies throughout the text of Jane Eyre. In an effort to make her readers more comfortable Bronte chooses not to address the issue of British dominance a
7、nd colonization directly. Throughout the text Jane conjures images of slavery from the Far East, conveniently failing to mention Caribbean slavery. During Rochesters courtship of Jane she likens him to a sultan, saying: The eastern allusion bit me again: Ill not stand you an inch in the stead of a s
8、eraglio, I said; so dont consider me an equivalent for one; if you have a fancy for anything in that line, away with you, sir, to the bazaars of Stamboul without delay; and lay out in extensive slave-purchases some of that spare cash you seem at a loss to spend satisfactorily here (267). Jane is not
9、 reluctant to speak of slave-purchases if they are in Stamboul rather than Jamaica. Even with the integral connection the story has to Jamaica, Jane refuses to make a direct reference to the slave trade in that area. Rochester goes on to make clear references to Jane as being his slave, it is your t
10、ime now, little tyrant, but it will be mine presently: and when once I have fairly seized you, to have and to hold, Ill just-figuratively speaking-attach you to a chain like this (269; ch. 24). By turning to the East, Bronte is incorporating the sexual dominance that goes hand in hand with slavery i
11、n that region at that time. This allows her to make a strong point and still suits her purpose better than the image of British colonization in the Caribbean, which carries more abrasive connotations. If Bronte had wanted to speak out in the name of the oppressed slaves of Jamaica she would have cas
12、t Bertha Mason in a better light. Bertha is the most obvious character used to represent colonialism in the Caribbean. She is Janes competition because, even though she is supposedly insane, she is Rochesters wife. Bronte allows Syer 3white, middle-class Jane to overcome the challenge of Bertha by t
13、ainting her character with negatively viewed images of rebellious slaves. Bertha is from Jamaica and even though it is assumed that for Rochester to marry Bertha she must have been a member of the white, upper-class minority on the island, Bronte is purposely vague when it comes to the question of B
14、erthas race. She describes Bertha as Creole. This is problematic because, as Plasa explains: The term can refer equally to persons born and naturalized in the West Indies of either European or African descent having, as the OED stresses, no connotation of color (65). However, when Bertha breaks out
15、of the attic and comes to rip Janes veil in two, Jane later describes her to Rochester as having, a discoloured face- it was a savage face. I wish I could forget the roll of the red eyes and the fearful blackened inflation of the lineaments! . . . . This, sir, was purple: the lips were swelled and d
16、ark; the brow furrowed; the black eyebrows wildly raised over the blood-shot eyes (281; ch. 25). Clearly, Bertha is materializing in the text not as a white upper-class citizen of Jamaica, but as a slave. Janes description of her is in line with popular stereotypes of the nineteenth century; the discoloured face and lips that were swelled, as well as the redness in her eyes that implies drunkenness (Meyer 152). Instead of imparting on J
