Editing Jane Eyre (section)

=== Bildungsroman ===
The [[Bildungsroman]] representation in ''Jane Eyre'' uses romantic elements that emphasise the journey of one pursuing the discovery of one's identity and knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Maynard |first=Lee Anna |date=2019 |title=The True Heir of Jane Eyre: Roald Dahl's Matilda Wormwood |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/721707 |journal=CEA Critic |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=42–50 |doi=10.1353/cea.2019.0007 |issn=2327-5898|doi-access=free }}</ref> Jane Eyre desires the thrill and action that comes from being an active individual in society, and she refuses to allow the concept of gender and class to hinder her.

Bildungsroman was primarily viewed through male life progression, but feminist scholars have worked to counteract the male norm of bildungsroman by including female development.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fraimen |first=Susan |title=Unbecoming Women: British Women Writers and the Novel of Development |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780231080019}}</ref> Experiences that deem a female narrative to be bildungsroman would be the female protagonist discovering how to manage living in a restrictive society.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Locy |first=Sharon |date=2002 |title=Travel and Space in Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4142093 |journal=Pacific Coast Philology |volume=37 |pages=105–121 |doi=10.2307/4142093|jstor=4142093 }}</ref> The novel's setting is the English society of the early 19th century, and with that time setting come specific restrictions women encountered during that time, such as the law of [[coverture]], the lack of rights, and the restricted expectations placed on women. Jane Eyre does not specifically and directly deal with the restrictions of, for example coverture, but her character lives in a society where coverture exists, which inadvertently impacts social and cultural norms and expectations. Progression in the bildungsroman does not necessarily occur in a linear direction. Many narratives that employ bildungsroman do so through the protagonist's development of maturity, which is represented through the protagonist's experiences from childhood to adulthood; this progression is in conjunction with the novel's narrative technique set as an [[autobiography]]. Temporally, the beginning of the novel begins with Jane at age ten and ends with Jane at age thirty, but Jane's development of maturity goes beyond her age. For example, Jane's emotional intelligence grows through her friendship with Helen Burns as Jane experiences and processes the loss of her friendship with Helen.

Many times, the 19th-century female bildungsroman can be interpreted as the heroine's growth of self and education in the context of prospective marriage, especially when, in the context of 19th-century womanhood, a wife experiences new knowledge in the private sphere of her role. Jane develops knowledge and experience regarding a romantic journey before her almost marriage to Mr. Rochester; a physical, spiritual, and financial knowledge during her time with St. John; and lastly, with her marriage with Mr. Rochester at the end of the novel.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=8. The Feminine Bildungsroman: Education through Marriage |date=31 December 2020 |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.18574/nyu/9780814723371.003.0011/html |title=Women, Love, and Power |pages=122–144 |access-date=27 November 2023 |publisher=New York University Press |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814723371.003.0011 |isbn=978-0-8147-2337-1}}</ref> Jane's search for excitement and understanding of life goes beyond her romantic journey.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Simons |first=Louise |date=1985 |title=Authority and "Jane Eyre": A New Generic Approach |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44376970 |journal=CEA Critic |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=45–53 |jstor=44376970 |issn=0007-8069}}</ref> In the text, Jane's childhood beliefs about religion, as seen in her interactions with Mr. Brocklehurt, shift considerably in comparison to her friendship with Helen in Lowood as a child and in her marital and missionary rejection of St. John as an adult woman.