The attitude towards marriage in the novel, Jane Eyre, is nothing like the attitude we show towards marriage in the modern day. In Jane Eyre they are living in the 19th century, which is over a hundred years before our time, which, of course, is plenty of time for various attitudes towards marriage. In Victorian times, in Jane Eyre, marriage was viewed in terms of economic and material gain, divorce was almost impossible, and marrying for love was not common, however, Jane did it.
Especially among the upper class, marriage was viewed in terms of economic and material gain. People would marry to achieve a higher amount of respect in society, to marry into wealth, and anything else that benefited them. Most women saw marriage as a way to gain independence from their families and begin a life of their own, whereas men generally saw it as a way to start a family and be in control. However, both sexes would generally marry for social status too. Upper class people always married each other, versus marrying lower class people, and vice versa. An example of people marrying for social status is when Bertha married Rochester. Rochester gained a fortune from his father, and the Mason's, in return, received a rise in the social class. Anytime wealthy/well-known people married one another, they both would generally receive either a financial and/or social gain.
Although most couples in the Victorian era passed vows for mainly a rise in power, Jane Eyre was one of the people who did not. Jane Eyre was dirt poor, and could barely survive on her own. She is obviously not the type of person who would ever marry to gain anything other than love. A perfect example of this is when Jane refuses to take Rochester's extra cash, "I declined accepting more than was my due" (Bronte, 21), which goes to show that Jane is not the typical person who would jump at the chance of a gain. The reason Jane liked Rochester was because of how well he had treated her, in comparison to her Aunt Reed, who treated her about the same as she did her servants, whereas with Rochester, he treated Jane like a human, he treated her better than she had ever been treated before. But the people who did not marry for love, who had married for a gain of some sort, were also partly due to the fact that a lot of men in Victorian times were controlling and/or abusive. There was more for men to gain through controlling their wives, but neither would marry for love. Here is something that was seldom to hear in Victorian times, Jane said, "I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth" (Bronte, 38), Marriage was generally loveless, also due to restrictions by law and church.
Divorce is an example of a forbidden act. People would often get a poor chance at meeting their true love due to the fact that divorcing from a current wife is nearly impossible. The only way a person could divorce is by two ways: either their spouse dies, or they accuse their spouse of adultery. So if people from the Victorian era got married to someone who they stopped loving after a few years, they would still be stuck with them. Additionally, people could get stuck with people that bring their social status down, making it virtually impossible to re-attain any achieved or former social status.
Marriage is very traditional in Jane Eyre, however, Jane Eyre proves to marry differently than the traditional Victorian person. Jane Eyre falls in love with the man who treats her nice, not for his social status, etc., and she even manages to marry him, even after she finds out about his secret first wife, who he was still married to. But even through those rough times, they managed to marry each other still. Marriage in Jane Eyre is not like the traditional Victorian marriage, it is becoming more modern and independent.
