Purpose and Significance of study：
Jane Eyre is a classical work produced in Victorian time by Charlotte Bronte. This novel has attracted widely attention and discussions for over 150 years after its publishment. On the surface, Jane Eyre is a love story about a poor young woman Jane Eyre and a rich man Mr. Rochester. But when we read it carefully, we can find out much deeper connotation, and we can understand that this work is not only a simple love story, but also reflects some social situations. Especially was the problem of the relationship between women and the traditional morality in Victorian time. In this novel, Bronte expresses strong dissatisfaction for females’ unequal social status, and Jane Eyre was her own embodiment to resist the oppression of the social traditional morality and to break the age’s fetter. And this novel also reflects that at that time, women have been already realized they should struggle for their independence of spirit and equal rights on many aspects in the social life. This thesis according to expounding the females’ situations under the traditional morality in Victorian age and the analysis of heroine’s behavior and thinking which broke the traditional morality at that time in Jane Eyre, to find the appearance of feminine consciousness and the demands of women for having equal social status like men in society and getting independence of life and spirit.

Situation of study：
Jane Eyre is a famous work by Charlotte Bronte, and this novel was published in 1847 and became an immediate success. Through this novel the author told a love story about a young orphan Jane Eyre who grew up, went to school, worked, married, and created the life for herself to readers with autobiographic form. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte expresses strong sympathy for the working class and the poor, forcefully condemns both upper-class exploitation and arrogance. Jane is a typical Victorian literature’s rebellious heroine, and her unique character make this novel have permanent attraction.

In the history of English literature, the Victorian Age produced a group of women novel¬ists. How women were regarded and regarded themselves as members of society became one of the chief concerns of writers in that period. Charlotte Bronte was one of them. Her works shows the women’s power and the resistance to men’s oppressions. In Jane Eyre, the autobiographic novel, by Jane Eyre’s telling to readers Charlotte Bronte expresses her own mind that women are powerful and women should not be controlled by traditional rules.

This thesis will research the “unwomanly” character of the heroine under the  Victorian traditional morality. All of Jane’s behaviors showed her difference from traditional morality. In such a period, a little girl struggled for her equal rights in her guardian’s family; a student made efforts to improve the living condition of school; a young governess pursued her real love and refused the proposal of the man she did not love. All of these behaviors disobeyed the traditional morality in Victorian age. She broke the model of “angel in the house” throughout her life. Her “unwomanly” character was also showed obviously.  This image was also a symbol of feminine consciousness. Her “unwomanly” character showed the demand of women to gain their equal social rights and independence. By Jane, Bronte expresses the dissatisfaction to unfair treatment to female of the traditional morality. And through Jane, the feminine consciousness’s appearance of the author can be found clearly.

Detailed Outline：
1.  Introduction
2.  Traditional Morality in Victorian time
2.1 Family
2.1.1 Household
2.1.2 Education
2.2 Society
2.2.1 Work
2.2.2 Marriage
2.2.3 Property
3.  Jane Eyre
3.1 Family
3.1.1 Her behaviors in her aunt’s house
3.1.2 Her behaviors in Lowood School
3.2 Society
3.2.1 Her job
3.2.2 Her marriage
3.2.3 Her property
3.3 Her attitude to the men surrounding her
3.3.1 John Reed
3.3.2 Mr. Brocklehurst
3.3.3 Rochester
3.3.4 St. John
4．Conclusion
5.  References