As I have been reading Jane Eyre I'm reminded of a project that I did as part of a class in undergrad with Dr. Jen Boyle regarding the creation of the Gutenberg Press and tracking literacy rates in Europe. I think that tracing literary references throughout Jane Eyre could be a tedious, yet fulfilling prospect of connecting literacy rates, patterns of speech, and maybe help readers understand connections between the scholarship of our author Charlotte Bronte and of the time of Jane Eyre's publishing in 1847.

It is important to show the educational background she gives Jane in the novel, by continuing to reference Biblical, Poetic, Literature, and Historical Scholarship throughout every chapter of the book. In referencing the time period of both Charlotte and Jane, it is easy to see that these women were highly educated for their time, in multiple subjects, something that women did not have access or opportunity for in the British Empire, for centuries before this time period. It could be very valuable to track not only the Biblical references made in the novel, but the references to other texts from those of Shakespeare, to even some books that were more closely contemporaries of Charlotte Bronte.

 I think it is extremely important to also point out the time period Bronte selected to place the novel in the end of the 1700's, is still a time when many women worldwide did not yet have access to reading materials, particularly outside of the Bible. It is critical to notice that Jane was born in 1789, a year that was a period of remarkable growth for the British Empire through text and speech, especially in regards to what they considered humane treatment. This year, whether Bronte selected it for the historical significance or not, was important in shaping the future of the British Empire. 1789, was the last year women were burned alive, so a small step for feminism was achieved, which we can see is an important subject of the novel (Devereaux, 2005). And this was the year that William Wilberforce made his first influential speech in the House of Commons to abolish slavery--a leap for mankind in the British Empire (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library). While his first speech and the first vote did not achieve the end of slavery it did set England on a path to abolish slavery within the next 50 years.  

While there are countless scholarly articles about Rochester's business dealings in the West Indies, that tie him to plantations, it is also important to note Charlotte Bronte uses actual words referencing the slave trade in Jane Eyre:  “you are like a slave driver” (13) and says of herself, “like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths” (13). While Bronte does not make her stance clear on her agreement of the slave trade, or not within the text, she makes reference to it, and infers it quite often, eleven times in fact. This opens up discussion for the reader to decide if her leanings were that of her contemporary Wilberforce, or of many of the other citizens of the Empire. 

Devereaux, Simon, The Abolition of the Burning of Women in England Reconsidered, Crime, History & Societies, Vol. 9, DOI : 10.4000/chs.293

The New York Public Library. "The speech of William Wilberforce, esq., representative for the county of York, on Wednesday the 13th of May, 1789, on the question of the abolition of the slave trade. To which are added, the resolutions then moved, and a short sketch of the speeches of the other members" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1789. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-a708-a3d9-e040-e00a180...