Jane Eyre and power?

Question

I have to write an essay on it for my AP Lit summer assignment.

The question is:

One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

I'm having trouble thinking of examples. I think it's because I'm so brain dead and not ready for school. If you could help that would be great thanks!

Answer 1

I think Mr. Rochester's father is the power seeker in that novel. He marries his second son off to an wealthy but insane woman in order to secure a fortune for the first son who is to inherit the estate. The first son dies and Jane's Mr. Rochester ends up with the estate and the money, but he also has the crazy wife. His happiness, his insane wife's happiness, and Jane's happiness all seem to have been sacrificed for power, which ends up going to no one since the marriage between Rochester and his wife will not produce heirs. Of course, the fire changes that, but fire usually changes things.

Answer 2

the crazy wife.  she desperately tries to free herself from others and impose her will on the others.  she is "insane" and does not act or think in accord with the norms of society(the power of others) only in accord with the reality created in her own mind(her will). she is always caught and returned to her prison until she breaks free and destroys the prison(burning the house down) around her  ultimately taking all the power by imposing her will upon the world and choosing her own fate.  

Answer 3

Jane Eyre does not submit to the authority of the men in the story.  She leaves both of them.  It is as independent woman at the end of the novel that she goes and finds the man she loves, not the other way around.  In fact, she overrides all the authoritarian characters in the book.  From her aunt to the strictness of the school, even though she is timid, she finds the inner strength to overpower them all.