Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë · 1847 · Paper 1 Section B
Context
Published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell, the novel challenged Victorian gender norms by presenting a plain, poor heroine who insists on equality in love and refuses to compromise her moral autonomy. Brontë drew on her own experiences at harsh boarding schools and as a governess to explore the intersections of class, gender, and religious hypocrisy in 19th-century England.