Impact of Society on Jane EyreFor the middle classes, the years preceding the publication of Jane Eyre were a period of turbulence and change from which the family provided a haven of stability and security. At the center of the family stood the “Home Angel,” a Madonna-like wife and mother, from whom all morality came. Not everyone agreed, but this view was supported by prevailing political and religious beliefs, and girls were taught that they should not aspire to their own will or to rule by self-control, but to submission and control of others, to live for others. ; make a complete abnegation of themselves and live only in their affections. Despite some social reforms and a widespread debate on the role of women, the idea was tenacious. Shortly after the publication of Jane Eyre, when John Stuart Mill was writing about "a principle of perfect equality" between men and women, Mrs. Lynne Linton complained that the Girl of the time was excessively avant-garde and independent, comparing herself poorly to the “simple and authentic girl”. of the past". Many middle classes agreed, but not all, and by the end of the century, the Girl of the Age had become the "New Woman", a predatory figure who rejected marriage, advocated contraception and wanted independence through paid work For those like Mrs Linton who supported the status quo, this represented a state of anarchy If society was built on the family, which in turn depended on a particular role for women. , changing this role would be tantamount to threatening the entire structure of society Novels and periodicals, widely read at the time, offered a good way to debate the "women's question", since the fate reserved for the characters... ... middle of paper ......:Linton, E Lynn, "The Girl of the Period", Saturday Review, March 14, 1868Mill, John Stuart, The Subjection of Women, (Everyman edition, 1965) Lerner, Laurence (ed.), The context of English literature; the Victorians, (Methuen and Co Ltd, 1978) Miles, Rosalind, The fiction of sex, (Vision Press Ltd, 1974) Stoker, Bram, Dracula, (Pan books, 1992 ) Internet Articles: Jackson, Mark, The position of middle class women as context for Bronte's Jane Eyre, (http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/cbronte/73cbwomen.htm) Landow, George P, In what sense is Jane Eyre a feminist novel? (http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/cbronte/brontel.html) Steyer, PJ, Jane Eyre, Protofeminist, against “the third person man” (http:/ / www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landow/victorian/cbronte/steyer7.html