A CINDERELLA COMPLEX ISSUE IN FEMALE PROTAGONISTS OF … · 2019. 6. 10. · Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Cinderella Complex

A CINDERELLA COMPLEX ISSUE IN FEMALE

PROTAGONISTS OF BRONTE’S JANE EYRE AND MEYER’S

TWILIGHT: A PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

RANI PUSPITASARI

Student Number: 144214120

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA

YOGYAKARTA

2019

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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A CINDERELLA COMPLEX ISSUE IN FEMALE

PROTAGONISTS OF BRONTE’S JANE EYRE AND MEYER’S

TWILIGHT: A PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

By

RANI PUSPITASARI

Student Number: 144214120

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA

YOGYAKARTA

2019






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A joyful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

(Proverbs 17: 22)


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For

my beloved Mom, Dad,

kak Rina and kak Fendy


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my dear Lord, Jesus Christ

for all His blessings and guidance along the writing process of this thesis. He is the

One who gives me strength and passion all the time, including along the process of

finishing this thesis.

I would also like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Drs. Hirmawan

Wijarnaka, M.Hum., who has been willing to give some of his time to read and

criticize my thesis. I am very grateful for all his tireless guidance and advice he has

given me during writing this thesis. I also thank Dr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji,

M.Hum. as my thesis co-advisor who has given me guidance and detailed correction

in order to improve my writing.

My sincere gratitude goes to my parents, Papa and Mama. Their unconditional

love, prayers, and supports mean a lot to me and I am very grateful to be their child. I

also thank my brother and sister, kak Fendy and kak Rina, who always support and

help me in my life.

I would like to thank all my friends, SWIRRAM: Stev, Wika, Riska, Aci, and

Melur for being my best friends until at this moment. I am very grateful to have

friends like all of you and I will never forget all the joy, laughter, and supports that all

of you have given to me. I also thank my best friend, Karisma. Thank you for all your

support and prayers, and for being my friend since high school until at this moment.

Rani Puspitasari.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ..................................................................................................... ii

APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................ iii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...................................................................................... iv

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................... v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH .. .. vi

MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................. vii

DEDICATION PAGE ......................................................................................... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................... x

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ xii

ABSTRAK .............................................................................................................. xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study .......................................................................... 1

B. Problem Formulation ................................................................................... 5

C. Objectives of the Study ............................................................................. 5

D. Definition of Terms ................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................. 8

A. Review of Related Studies .......................................................................... 8

B. Review of Related Theories ....................................................................... 14

1. Theories of Character and Characterization ......................................... 14

2. Theory of Cinderella Complex .............................................................. 16

C. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................. 22

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 24

A. Object of the Study ...................................................................................... 24

B. Approach of the Study ................................................................................ 26

C. Method of the Study ................................................................................... 27

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 29

A. The Description of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan ............................................ 29

1. The Description of Jane Eyre .............................................................. 29

a. Jane Eyre’s Background of Life ..................................................... 29


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b. Jane Eyre’s Characteristics .............................................................. 32

2. The Description of Bella Swan .............................................................. 37

a. Bella Swan’s Background of Life .................................................. 37

b. Bella Swan’s Characteristics ........................................................... 39

B. How Jane Eyre and Bella Swan Reflect the Characteristics of

Cinderella Complex ................................................................................... 44

1. The Cinderella Complex in Jane Eyre’s Characterization .................... 44

2. The Cinderella Complex in Bella Swan’s Characterization ................. 50

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 56

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 59

APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... 61

Appendix 1: Summary of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre .......................... 61

Appendix 2: Summary of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight ............................. 62


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ABSTRACT

PUSPITASARI, RANI. (2019). A Cinderella Complex Issue in Female

Protagonists of Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Meyer’s Twilight: A Psychoanalytic

Study. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Universitas

Sanata Dharma.

The Cinderella Complex is a psychological state of women’s unconscious

mind to have the desire of being taken care by others. The cause of this psychological

problem may appear from traumatic experiences or parenting mistakes. This study

aims to prove the Cinderella Complex issue in two female protagonists in two famous

literary works, Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Bella Swan in

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.

There are two objectives of this study. Firstly, this study discovers how Jane

Eyre in Jane Eyre and Bella Swan in Twilight are described. Secondly, this study

proves how Jane Eyre and Bella Swan reflect the characteristics of Cinderella

Complex. The writer uses two female protagonists from two novels in order to

discover the Cinderella Complex issue especially in two female protagonists which

come from different time period and background of societies, they are Jane Eyre from

the Victorian era and Bella Swan from the 21st century.

This study is a library research. The writer uses Jane Eyre and Twilight as the

primary sources of the study. The secondary sources are collected from books,

journals, articles and internet sources which contain the related reviews and data

about theory of Cinderella Complex, theory of character, and psychoanalysis theory.

The theories used in this study are theories of character by M. H. Abrams and M. J.

Murphy, and theory of Cinderella Complex by Colette Dowling. The writer uses

psychoanalytic approach as the basic theory in order to prove the female protagonists

in Jane Eyre and Twilight novels reflect the characteristics of Cinderella Complex.

Based on the analysis, there are some evidences which show the

characteristics of Cinderella Complex in Jane Eyre and Bella Swan. The first one is

they are both having the deep wish of to be taken care by someone they love. The

second is they live as independent women at the beginning of story but become

dependent women when they find men who can support their life. The third is they

both have repressed attitudes and fears which come from their unpleasant childhood

experiences. In summary, Jane Eyre and Bella Swan suffer the Cinderella Complex

where their change of attitude and behavior reflect the characteristics of Cinderella

Complex which have stated by Colette Dowling.

Keywords: Cinderella Complex, psychoanalytic study, protagonist


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ABSTRAK

PUSPITASARI, RANI. (2019). A Cinderella Complex Issue in Female

Protagonists of Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Meyer’s Twilight: A Psychoanalytic

Study. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata

Dharma.

Cinderella Complex adalah kondisi psikologis wanita dimana secara tidak

sadar mereka memiliki hasrat untuk selalu diperhatikan oleh orang lain. Penyebab

dari masalah psikologis ini dapat berasal dari pengalaman tidak menyenangkan atau

kesalahan pola asuh. Skripsi ini bertujuan untuk membuktikan adanya persoalan

Cinderella Complex pada dua tokoh utama wanita di dua karya sastra populer, Jane

Eyre di novel Jane Eyre milik Charlotte Bronte dan Bella Swan di novel Twilight

milik Stephenie Meyer,

Skripsi ini bertujuan untuk menjawab dua permasalahan utama. Pertama,

skripsi ini membahas bagaimana tokoh Jane Eyre di novel Jane Eyre dan Bella Swan

di novel Twilight digambarkan di dalam novel masing-masing. Kedua, Skripsi ini

membuktikan bagaimana Jane Eyre dan Bella Swan mencerminkan ciri-ciri dari

Cinderella Complex. Penulis menggunakan dua karakter protagonis perempuan dari

dua novel dengan tujuan untuk menemukan isu Cinderella Complex terutama pada

dua karakter protagonis perempuan yang diciptakan di periode waktu dan latar

belakang masyarakat yang berbeda, yaitu Jane Eyre dari era Victoria dan Bella Swan

dari abad ke-21.

Skripsi ini menggunakan studi kepustakaan. Penulis menggunakan novel Jane

Eyre dan Twilight sebagai sumber utama dalam skripsi ini. Sumber kedua didapatkan

dari buku, jurnal, artikel dan sumber internet yang membahas ulasan dan data yang

berkaitan dengan teori Cinderella Complex, teori penokohan, dan teori psikoanalisis.

Teori yang digunakan adalah teori penokohan oleh M. H. Abrams dan M. J. Murphy,

dan teori Cinderella Complex oleh Colette Dowling. Penulis menggunakan

pendekatan psikoanalisis sebagai teori dasar dalam membuktikan adanya ciri-ciri

Cinderella Complex pada tokoh utama wanita dari novel Jane Eyre dan Twilight.

Berdasarkan analisis yang telah dilakukan, terdapat beberapa bukti yang

menunjukkan adanya karakteristik Cinderella Complex dalam penggambaran karakter

Jane Eyre dan Bella Swan. Pertama, mereka berdua memiliki keinginan terpendam

untuk selalu diperhatikan oleh seseorang yang mereka cintai. Kedua, diawal cerita

kedua tokoh terbiasa hidup sebagai para wanita mandiri namun mereka menjadi

selalu bergantung ketika mereka menemukan sosok pria yang dapat mendukung

keberlangsungan hidup mereka. Ketiga, mereka berdua memiliki cara berperilaku

yang ditekan dan ketakutan terpendam yang berasal dari pengalaman masa kecil yang

tidak menyenangkan. Kesimpulannya, Jane Eyre dan Bella Swan mengalami

Cinderella Complex dimana perubahan sikap dan perilaku mereka mencerminkan

ciri-ciri Cinderella Complex yang telah dikemukakan oleh Colette Dowling.

Keywords: Cinderella Complex, psychoanalytic study, protagonist


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Psychoanalytic theory stated that all human encounter life-events, as we grow

up, that shape our psychological development and these early experiences tend to

play out in adult lives. All human experience some sorts of psychological problems

over the course of lives. In addition, psychoanalytic theory calls the signs of those

problems as dysfunctional behavior and one of the signs can be seen from the gender

issue.

Generally, when talking about gender issues, it will be related to women,

however, this study will mainly discusses the problem from women’s psychological

development. One problem that can be seen from the gender issue is about women’s

psychological development which is related to their behavior. Women’s

psychological development is deeply influenced by the environment around them.

Rosemarie Tong discusses about the Freudian constructs which claim that the gender

identity and even gender inequity is rooted in a series of infantile and early childhood

experience, her explanation about that:

These experiences, most of which are accessible to us only through

psychoanalysis, are, in the estimation of psychoanalytic feminists, the cause

of individuals’ viewing themselves in masculine or feminine terms, of

thinking of themselves as boys or girls. Moreover, these same experiences are

the cause of society’s privileging things “masculine” over things “feminine.”

(2009, p. 129)


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According to Tong, the society has a predominant influence in women’s ways

of thinking where the society view masculine is ‘above’ feminine. Based on this

perspective, women often consider themselves as ‘inferior’. This inferior side comes

from women’s unconscious mind where they still fear that if they were to develop

themselves fully they could end up alone, unloved and uncared for. This condition

can be called as Cinderella Complex.

The Cinderella Complex was first described by Colette Dowling, a New York

psychotherapist who specializes in the treatment of women. Colette Dowling states

that Cinderella Complex is an unconscious desire to be taken care of and protected by

another because the person might be afraid of being independent, and the complex is

said to become more apparent as a person grows older. There is a common

knowledge in society which shows how women often receive different treatment

since childhood development. Parents tend to be more protective towards their

daughters rather than their son because they believe that girls are more fragile than

boys. Because of that parents teach girls to be dependent to the others or more

specifically to be dependent on men. Besides that, another case where women can be

considered to have Cinderella Complex is when they have unhappy childhood

experiences in their life and it leaves bad memories in their mind. However, from two

causes of Cinderella Complex that mentioned above, the issue can occurs still

depending on the person’s psychological state.


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Furthermore, this Cinderella complex is not only found in real life, it also can

be found in literary works. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is one of the examples of

novels which show the issue especially in the Victorian era. Victorian era is known to

be a period where men and women’s roles become more sharply defined than at any

time in history. During Victorian era, women are not allowed to speak to men unless

there is a married woman present as a chaperone and also women are not expected to

get higher education or professional work. The society expected the women to be the

‘Angel in the House’ where they were supposed to be graceful, very calm, and have

feminine manner. Having knowledge in music, cooking, and spending time in

knitting are supposed to be what women did in her life. Women did not have much

freedom during the Victorian period because they are confined in the assumption of

the society who assumes that women are best suited to the domestic work and wait

for their husband to come home. As for young girls, the families teach their daughters

with manner and skills such as singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages

in order to be considered as well-educated women and they are ready for marriage

life.

Then in 21st century or modern era, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight is one of the

novels which show the issue of Cinderella Complex. Women in 21st century have

more freedom in education, work, and even marriage life. Women have equal rights

and roles with men. However, even though women now have the freedom to develop

their potential and to speak up their opinion, there are still the social norms and

beliefs in society that still hold the culture which categories men and women are


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different. Women in 21st century have to fight their worth as well as receive the

pressure from social judgment. Nowadays, women can do anything men can do

includes having any job that they want, but unfortunately, some jobs like working in

an army unit or becoming a pilot will bring up more social judgment for women

where the society see that women are not supposed to have jobs which usually for

men. Women can do anything and get any jobs they want but there is always the fear

of being judged by the society. The circumstances in the two time period, the

Victorian era and the 21st century, are different but women in these two time period

are still getting the image as the weaker one. The social norms and beliefs make

women believe that they cannot be independent and they cannot do anything men can

do. As for the literary works, the female protagonists, Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre and

Bella Swan in Twilight have to face the world by themselves. They try to be

independent because they need to take care of their own selves even in difficult

situations and the pressure from the society, but they feel incomplete because they

still want love and want someone to take care of them. This condition is called

Cinderella Complex, they are scared of being independent because of the burden in

their life if they are alone. The time periods of Jane Eyre and Twilight are the era

where it shows the situation when women struggle to be equal with men, from the

time when women only become the 'angel of the house' to being able to have the

equal rights with men, but they still experience things which show that women are

still inferior to men. An evidence of women’s inferior side is when a career woman

still feels anxious when her husband has not returned home yet from work or working


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in different city. Other evidence is when a woman feels uncomfortable when she

needs to go somewhere without her partner, she feels anxious because no one will

protect her if something bad happens because she always with her partner all the time

she wants to do something, she feels safe if she is with her partner or at least a male

friend who can accompany her.

This study aims to prove that the female protagonists in both Bronte’s Jane

Eyre and Meyer’s Twilight can reflect the characteristics of Cinderella complex in

their characterizations. Moreover, the writer describes the characteristics of

Cinderella complex and how this condition influences both of the protagonists’

behaviors in the novels.

The issue about Cinderella complex has become a long-term issue among the

society because the society’s view also has a predominant contribution toward the

appearance of this issue. This study about Cinderella Complex can help the readers to

understand more about this issue and also the writer would like to show how this

Cinderella complex cannot be underestimated because this issue really happens

among the real society.

B. Problem Formulation

There are two problems that the writer has formulated in this thesis related to

the topic stated above. They are:


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1. How are Jane Eyre in Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Bella Swan in Meyer’s Twilight

described?

2. How do the characterization of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan reflect the

characteristics of Cinderella Complex?

C. Objectives of the Study

This study aims to answer the problems formulated above. The first objective

is to observe how the characters of Jane Eyre in Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Bella Swan

in Meyer’s Twilight described. The second objective is to discover how the

Cinderella Complex influences Jane Eyre and Bella Swan in their own respective

novel.

D. Definition of Terms

To understand more about this study, the writer needs to put description of

some key terms to avoid any misunderstanding.

The term Cinderella Complex was first described by Colette Dowling, a New

York psychotherapist. According to her, Cinderella Complex is the psychological

need to avoid independence and having the “wish to be saved” (Dowling, 1981, p.

20). The “wish to be saved” means the women’s hidden desire to be saved from being

independent and always being protected from the world. Cinderella Complex is also a

psychological state where women have deep wish to be taken care of by others

(Dowling, 1981, p. 21).


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The next term is Complex. C. G Jung (1979) is the first one who defines the

term Complex. According to Jung, it is a structure of the psyche that gathers together

similar feeling-toned elements. The influence of a complex on consciousness can be

either great or very slight. The complex will have an increased force or potential to

eclipse consciousness when there is no awareness of the complex.

The other term is Psychoanalytic study. Psychoanalysis is a therapy as well

as a theory and it is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders

(McLeod, 2014, para. 7). Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud and the

writer uses some of Freud’s psychoanalysis theories in this thesis. The first theory is

the Unconscious, the psychological state where human repress their traumatic

experiences into unconscious mind (Freud, 1920, p. 236). The second theory is the

Repression, an unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep disturbing or

threatening thoughts from becoming conscious (McLeod, 2017, para. 12). The third

theory is Fears, a reaction to the perception of external danger; harm that is expected

and foreseen (Freud, 1920, p. 340).

The next term is Protagonist. According to M. H. Abrams, protagonist is a

type of character which usually becomes the center of the story plot and it becomes

the chief character in a plot, on whom our interest centers (1999, p. 224).


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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

The first related study is an English Letters Program undergraduate thesis by

Edward Lewa Usu (2009) entitled “The Relation between Vampire Characters and

Their Society in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight as a

Reflection of Freudian Structures of Personality: A Comparative Psychoanalysis

Study”. This study also uses Meyer’s work entitled Twilight as the object of the study

and compares it with another work which has the same theme. In this thesis, Usu

analyses the male major characters in both of the novels which have the same

characteristics and it is about the characteristic of Vampire.

Usu discovers that the two famous vampire characters in Bram Stoker’s

Dracula and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight have different characteristics, personality,

and respective society (Usu, 2009, p. 68). Usu finds that even though the characters

of Count Dracula in Stoker’s Dracula and Edward Cullen in Meyer’s Twilight are

vampire in their characteristics, both of the vampires are still different because of the

era differences when the novels are written. How Stoker made the character of Count

Dracula must be different with how Meyer made the character of Edward Cullen.

This situation happened because how Stoker’s view about vampire in his era may be

seen like the character Count Dracula, while how Meyer’s view about vampire in her

era may be seen like the character Edward Cullen.


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The second related study is an English Letters Program undergraduate thesis

by Yasinta Deka Widiatmi (2001) entitled “The Portrayal of Feminism in the Main

Character of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.” In this thesis, Widiatmi analyses a clear

idea about feminism which is reflected in the characterization of Jane Eyre and how

feminism in this novel reveals the challenge of the class structure of British society.

After analyzing the novel, Widiatmi concludes that Jane’s characterization as

the main character develops in five phases, from a rebellious and unhappy child to the

independent and educated woman. Moreover, from the feminism perspective, Jane

shows the characteristics of woman who wants to be treated equally with men.

Therefore, she breaks down the domination of males who try to take a control in her

life (Widiatmi, 2001, p. 57).

Like Edward Lewa Usu’s study, this study also presents the comparison of

characterization in the main characters. What makes this study different with Usu’s

study is in this study, instead of male main character, the writer chooses the female

main character as the object of the study, even though this study and Usu’s study use

a same novel in the study, that is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Moreover, Usu’s

study also describes about how the character Edward Cullen in Meyer’s Twilight

always becomes the dominant in his relationship with the female main character. That

is the reason why this analysis also can be related to this study. Besides that, like

Yasinta Deka Widiatmi’s study, this study also uses the character Jane Eyre in

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre as the object of the study. However, unlike Widiatmi’s

study which uses feminism theory to support her analysis about how Jane Eyre can


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breaks down the view about gender inequality where ‘men is dominating women’,

this study will use psychoanalysis theory in order to show the development of the

female protagonists’ psychological condition where those female protagonists still

have inferior side in their mind and have a desire to be protected by the others.

Furthermore, there are also some journal articles discussing Cinderella

complex. The first journal article is written by Micael M. Clarke (2000), an associate

professor of English at Loyola University in Chicago, which is entitled “Bronte’s

Jane Eyre and the Grimms’ Cinderella” (Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900,

Vol. 40, No. 4, The Nineteenth Century (Autumn, 2000), pp. 695-710). The author of

the journal article discusses the similarities and differences between Jane Eyre novel

and Grimm’s version of Cinderella. Clarke analyzes not only the character Jane, but

also other characters or elements in the novel which she finds in her analysis have

resemblances with the Grimm’s Cinderella.

Clarke first describes that the generic resemblances between Jane Eyre and the

Cinderella figure include lost mothers and cruel mother substitutes (Clarke, 2000, p.

697). Jane’s aunt, where Jane’s calls her Aunt Reed, is similar to Cinderella’s

“wicked stepmother” and her cousins Eliza and Georgiana Reed are similar to

Cinderella’s stepsisters. Clarke proves that Jane’s situation in her aunt’s house as a

kind of servant resemblances the Cinderella’s situation in her house. They not only

treat Jane and Cinderella as servant, but also both of the stepmother and Aunt Reed

treat the protagonists as someone outside their family. Aunt Reed excludes Jane from

whatever Jane’s cousins have in their life and it is resemblances the situation where


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Cinderella’s stepmother treats Cinderella unfairly and even forbids her to go to the

dance ball with them. Later, Clarke also finds that when Rochester is looking for a

wife, Jane Eyre still excludes from the circle of people around Rochester and even

Jane choose to avoid meeting with Rochester’s guests. Jane’s situation is similar

enough with Cinderella where she runs away from the prince and try not to reveal

herself in front of the prince when he is looking for her.

Another proof about the similarity between Jane Eyre and Cinderella is both

the authors of Jane Eyre and Cinderella describe the female protagonists having the

same conditions, that is they were being mistreated by their own family. Clarke

explains that:

Both Cinderella and Jane Eyre are rendered unattractive by dull, shabby

clothing, and both long for escape to the excitement, beauty, music, and

perhaps the sexual pleasure represented by the ball. Clearly, Jane Eyre is the

classic Cinderella: poor, despised, and mistreated (Clarke, 2000, p. 698).

Clarke explains that Bronte intentionally tries to make another version of

Cinderella in Jane Eyre characterization. The way how Bronte describes Jane Eyre’s

life is similar enough with Cinderella’s poor situation. Clarke assumes that Bronte

read the Grimm’s version Cinderella and she decides to make a resemblance of

Cinderella character in her own novel.

Furthermore, Clarke also analyzes that both in Jane Eyre and Cinderella are

male centered. In Cinderella, it is clear that the stepmother encourages her daughters

to do anything in order to get the prince, even tells them to hurt themselves by cutting

their own feet, so that the daughters can fit in the Cinderella’s shoes. It shows how


12

much the women really assume that as long as they can get the male approval, they

are willing to compete with other women. Like Cinderella, in Jane Eyre also shows

how much the society sees males as honorable people and believes that everything

will be alright as long as a woman can get a man to support her. In Jane’s family,

Mrs. Reed seems to spoil her son, John Reed, too much even more than she treats her

daughters. John Reed grows as a selfish and cruel man. He bullies Jane and always

says rude things to her, even when he is an adult he spends his parent money, makes

them fall into poverty, and in the end he decides to commit suicide (Clarke, 2000, p.

704). After that Jane meets with Rochester who obviously has the same situation

around him. Rochester is a noble man, but he has abused his privileges:

…as a young man, he married for money, using women for sex but wishing to

possess them exclusively with no obligations in return. He is a distant

domestic despot who mocks the feminine qualities of his ward Adele and

forms no close attachments but lies to and teases women mercilessly. Yet, he

is much admired and sought after in society (Clarke, 2000, p. 705).

Clarke wants to prove that the society still considers men to be honorable

even though they have ill-favored behavior and reputation. That is the fact that Bronte

tries to show in Jane Eyre that at the time the society treats men in more decent way

than how they treats women. In summarize, Clarke states that the fear of being

unloved or swallowed up by a world that does not value them can make women kind

of competitive as they try to get someone to support them in life, especially from men

(Clarke, 2000, p. 706). A woman who has a fear of being unloved and believes that


13

passivity as feminine ideal is considered to get this Cinderella fears or Cinderella

Complex; it has come mean a female fear of success (Clarke, 2000, p. 703).

The second journal article entitled “Cinderella Complex: Theoretical Roots to

Psychological Dependency Syndrome in Women” is written by Sneha Saha and

Tanishka S. Safri in The International Journal of Indian Psychology (2016). The

authors discuss about women’s dependency which becomes a widely debated topic

around the world. They explain that their journal article aims to elaborate on the

concept of women dependence and its background (Saha & Safri, 2016, p. 122).

The authors discuss the theory of the symptoms of Cinderella Complex from

many doctors. The doctors believe that women who suffer from this complex usually

have other deep-seated emotional problems such as low self-esteem and dependency

issues (Saha & Safri, 2016, p. 120). Women who suffer these emotional problems

often idolize men even to the unhealthy degree. Women with Cinderella Complex

believe men can save them from all their problems, but they do not realize that they

are being dependent. The authors also state about the beliefs from psychologists who

believe that dependency issues may result from extremely over-protecting parenting

(Saha & Safri, 2016, p. 120). However, in some cases parents may begin as normal

protective parents but later they turn into taking abusive controlling and even do not

hesitate to punish the child who displays signs of independence (Saha & Safri, 2016,

p. 120). That is one of the reasons for some children, especially women, often have

low-self esteem because of improper parenting and it also proves that having abusive

parents can provides a higher risk for children to suffer Cinderella Complex.


14

Furthermore, the authors discuss one difference in the psychological

development between men and women. The authors state that the theory comes from

Jean Baker Miller (1976) who challenges the traditional theories of psychology which

describes a climb from childlike dependence to mature independence is the definition

of development (Miller as cited in Saha & Safri, 2016, p. 120). According to the

theories, a person’s goal is to become a self-sufficient, clearly differentiated,

autonomous self (Miller as cited in Saha & Safri, 2016, p. 120). However, Miller

suggests that those theories may describe men’s experience. According to Miller,

women develop sense of self and self-worth when their actions arise out of, and lead

back into, connections with others and for women connection is the guiding principle

of growth for women (Miller as cited in Saha & Safri, 2016, p. 120).

B. Review of Related Theories

In this part, the writer presents several theories that are useful in doing the

analysis.

1. Theories of Character and Characterization

Character is one of the intrinsic elements in a story. M. H. Abrams (1999)

defines character as:

….the person represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted

by the reader as being endowed with particular moral, intellectual, and

emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their

distinctive ways of saying it—the dialogue—and from what they do—the

action (1999, p. 32-33).


15

Usually, there are several types of character in a story. One of the types is

called protagonist. It is a type of character which usually becomes the center of the

story plot. Protagonist (or alternatively, the hero or heroine) is the chief character in a

plot, on whom our interest centers (Abrams, 1999, p. 224).

Furthermore, to know of the characterization of characters, an author can

probe into the thoughts of a person. M. J. Murphy (1972, p. 161-173) has several

methods where an author attempts to make his characters understandable and come

alive for the readers.

1. Personal Description. The author can describe a person’s appearance and

clothes.

2. Character as seen by another. Instead of describing a character directly the

author can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another.

3. Speech. The author can give us an insight into the character of one of the persons

in the book through what the person says.

4. Past life. By letting the reader learn about a person’s past life the author can give

us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character.

5. Conversation of others. The conversations of other people and the things they

say about a person also can give the readers clues to a person’s character.

6. Reactions. The author can give the readers a clue to a person’s character by

letting the readers know how that person reacts to various situation and events.

7. Direct comment. The author can describe or comment on a person’s character

directly.


16

8. Thoughts. The author can give the readers direct knowledge of what a person is

thinking about.

9. Mannerisms. The author can describe a person’s mannerisms, habits or

idiosyncrasies which may also tell the readers something about the characters.

2. Theory of Cinderella Complex

Colette Dowling is an American author that describes Cinderella Complex

and she is best known as the first author who describes the term with her book

entitled The Cinderella Complex: Women’s Hidden Fear of Independence (1981).

Dowling writes about her personal experiences as a woman who experiences the

Cinderella Complex itself. She describes herself as a strong and independent woman,

for years she proves that she can supports her own life and pursue her career just like

she wants. However, after her marriage she describes herself to experience a change

of feelings where she wants to be fully supported by her husband without her thinking

about having a job anymore.

Dowling experiences the stress from her change of life and she blames her

husband to be the responsible one with her depression. Her husband is the person

who makes her realizes that she has lived in luxurious life of waiting for her husband

to take care of everything. After she realizes how helpless she is, Dowling tries to

gets her freedom again, yet she realizes that the only way she can stand up straight is

if someone lifted her up (Dowling, 1981, p. 12).


17

Dowling states that dependency needs is still normal if it is in acceptable

point. Whether it is men or women, both are considered to be acceptable to be taken

care by others as long as it is still in tolerable point. However, there is still a

difference between men and women. In her book, Dowling states that:

It is not nature that bestows this self-sufficiency on men; it’s training. Males

are educated for independence from the day they are born. Just as

systematically, females are taught that they have an out—that someday, in

some way, they are going to be saved. That is the fairy tale, the life-message

we have introjected as if with mother’s milk (Dowling, 1981, p. 4).

According to Dowling, since childhood women have been encouraged to be

dependent even to an unhealthy degree (Dowling, 1981, p. 4). Thus, in adulthood,

when a woman finds the freedom in life, she will find that the freedom is frightening

because she has many opportunities to do anything or to be anything she wants but

she is not ready for all of it.

Later, Dowling discovers that the fears of being independent comes from the

psychological need to avoid it, Dowling calls it the “wish to be saved” (Dowling,

1981, p. 20). As she states that:

We were brought up to depend on a man and to feel naked and frightened

without one. We were taught to believe that as women we cannot stand alone,

that we are too fragile, too delicate, needful of protection. So that now, in

these enlightened days, when our intellects tell us to stand on our own two

feet, unresolved emotional issues drag us down. At the same time that we

yearn to be fetterless and free, we also yearn to be taken care of (Dowling,

1981, p. 20).


18

As Dowling defines Cinderella Complex as repressed attitudes and fears, it

relates to the psychoanalysis theories from Sigmund Freud. Freud’s ideas about

human behavior are still very influential today in the field of psychoanalytic clinical

practice and in the analysis of literature. His work is based on the recurring patterns

of dysfunctional human behavior he observed during the many years he spent treating

patients with emotional problems. In his book, A General Introduction to

Psychoanalysis (1920), Freud’s explains some concepts of his psychoanalytic theory:

1. Repression and the unconscious: People might not know the specific source of

their emotional problems because human tend to repress their most distressing

experiences, push them into the unconscious, which is the psychological

storehouse of painful experiences they don’t want to remember. Put simply,

human tend to push out of sight those experiences they feel they cannot handle.

2. Fears: Everyone has this feeling at some time or knows this sensation in their

life. It is a human’s reaction to have the feeling of being threatened by external

danger, harm that has been predicted. The cause of the fears will depend on each

human’s knowledge and the stage of these feeling toward something.

Dowling states that the feeling of dependency already has its root since

infancy and it is deeply buried in women’s mind. However, since the society now

encourages women to be able to stand on their own feet, women need to hide these

needs but cannot help to have the desire to be taken care of. The deep wish to be


19

taken care of by others is the cause of what holds women down today. Dowling calls

it the Cinderella Complex, as she defines it:

I call this “The Cinderella Complex”—a network of largely repressed

attitudes and fears that keeps women in a kind of half-light, retreating from

the full use of their minds and creativity. Like Cinderella, women today are

still waiting for something external to transform their lives (Dowling, 1981, p.

21).

Dowling describes that the beginning of Cinderella Complex comes from

childhood experience. Parents tend to encourage their daughters to be more

dependent. They teach their daughters to wait for someone, in other word their

‘prince charming’, just like in the fairy tale. As adults, women begin to have the

feeling to be free but somehow the needs to be protected are still there deep in their

mind.

We may go away to school, work, travel; we may even make good money, but

underneath it all there is a finite quality to our feelings about independence.

Only hang on long enough, the childhood story goes, and someday someone

will come along to rescue you from the anxiety of authentic living (Dowling,

1981, p. 4).

Dowling believes that women’s anxiety in independence is always there since

childhood and it is difficult to be free from these feeling and women choose to bury it

deep down in their unconscious mind. Besides, it is obvious that the family can have

a big influence in their children’s attitudes, behaviors, and what kind of adult they

will become in the future, since the family is the source of human’s early emotional

experiences.


20

Dowling’s definition about Cinderella Complex where she states about

‘repressed attitudes and fears’ may relates to Freud’s theory about the way how

human’s unconscious mind work. Freud’s analysis talks about the development of

symptom as a substitution for something else that has remained suppressed (Freud,

1920, p. 236). When Freud observes the way how his patient acts during the

treatment, he finds that his patient keep repeating the compulsive activity without

knowing why she keep doing that.

But both the “whence” and the “why” remained hidden from her as long as

she continued to carry out the compulsive act. Psychological processes had

been going on within her for which the compulsive act found an expression.

She could, in a normal frame of mind, observe their effect, but none of the

psychological antecedents of her action had come to the knowledge of her

consciousness (Freud, 1920, p. 236).

People often behave in a certain way without knowing what their motives are,

in this case these behavior results from unconscious psychological processes. People

like to believe that they do every activity with their own will and they know why they

are doing it. According to Richard A. Kalish (1973), who also support Freud’s

psychoanalytic theory, how people are not in full control of their own behavior is the

idea of unconscious motivation where there are forces beyond their willpower which

make them to do something without their even knowing it (Kalish, 1973, p. 31).

‘Repressed attitudes and fears’ in Dowling’s definition of Cinderella Complex

have different meanings but may have connection between each other. Repression is

an unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep disturbing or threatening

thoughts from becoming conscious (McLeod, 2017, para. 12). This is a kind of


21

defense which is not very successful in the long term since it involves forcing

disturbing wishes, ideas or memories into the unconscious, where they will create

anxiety (McLeod, 2017, para. 14). Meanwhile, fears according to Freud’s theory:

…it is a reaction to the perception of external danger; harm that is expected

and foreseen. It is related to the flight reflex and may be regarded as an

expression of the instinct of self-preservation. And so the occasions, the

objects and situations which arouse fear, will depend largely on our

knowledge of and our feeling of power over the outer world (Freud, 1920, p.

340).

Before she married again, Dowling works as a writer who always busy with

her work and she is also a single-parent. She rarely does the housework because of

her work. She has to support herself and her children for four years, and she thinks

she is capable for supporting her own family without being dependent. However, as

strong as she is, she still feels insecure and fears of being incompetence (Dowling,

1981, p. 6).

When she remarried a man who can fulfill all the things that she cannot get

before, Dowling thinks her life just like in the fairy tale and not need to worry about

other things because she finds ‘a nest’ for herself. Unfortunately, the change of her

life also changes her to be a different person. Dowling begins to think that her

husband as the provider and she deserves to be in her comfortable place than being

out there in the adult world fending for herself (Dowling, 1981, p. 8). Her fear of

taking care of her own self again makes her unconsciously hides from the world.

Thus, after Dowling realizes that her own experiences are important and she

believes that there are other women out there who have the same experiences like her,


22

Dowling wishes that her own experiences can tells the world how The Cinderella

Complex is an important psychological condition where every woman in the world

can experience it in their life and the world may begin to be aware about The

Cinderella Complex.

C. Theoretical Framework

This study uses some theories and books in order to help the analysis of this

study. The theories are also used to support and to strengthen the analysis. The writer

uses each theory to answer the questions in Problem Formulation. The theories are

theory of character and characterization and theory of Cinderella Complex.

To answer the first question in Problem Formulation, the writer uses the

theory of character by M. H. Abrams and theory of characterization by M. J. Murphy.

Those theories are used to analyze how the female protagonists, Jane Eyre and Bella

Swan, are described in their respective novel. By studying the characterization of

Jane Eyre and Bella Swan, it can help the writer to more understand both of the

female protagonists and support the writer to analyze the second question in Problem

Formulation.

After studying the description and characterization of Jane Eyre and Bella

Swan, the writer uses the theory of Cinderella Complex by Colette Dowling to

answer the second question in Problem Formulation. In answering the second

question, the writer analyzes the characters from the psychoanalytic point of view,


23

thus the writer also uses the theory of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud as the

supported theory for the Cinderella Complex theory in order to help the writer

understanding the theory of Cinderella Complex from the psychoanalytic point of

view. The writer uses the theory of Cinderella Complex in order to show that both

Jane Eyre and Bella Swan reflect the characteristics of Cinderella Complex in their

characterization.


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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

A. Object of the Study

The objects of the study are from two novels, namely Charlotte Bronte’s Jane

Eyre and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.

Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte. This novel was

published on 16 October 1847 or where most of people known as Victorian Era. This

novel is a story of a young, orphaned girl named Jane Eyre who lives with her aunt

and cousins, the Reeds, at Gateshead Hall. At the beginning of the story, Jane Eyre’s

life is like a Cinderella story where she is being hated and bullied by her cousin, John

Reed. Her aunt, Mrs. Reed, never treat her like one of her children, and the maid and

servants calls Jane a naughty girl and an attention seeker. Jane faces many problems

in her life and she does not want to live in her aunt’s house anymore.

Fortunately, she can leave the house and studies in Lowood School. Jane is

seeking love from the others because she cannot bear to be alone and hated anymore.

She is willing to do anything to gain some affection from her friend, Helen, and her

school’s superintendent, Miss Temple. After many incidents in the school, Jane

finally graduates from Lowood School and she becomes a teacher. Later, she meets

with Mr. Rochester who is the guardian of her student, Adele, and both Rochester and

Jane fall in love with each other. Jane’s life turns into a fairy tale where she is always


25

being pampered by Rochester. She even sees him as her role model and believes that

he is the one who can give her happiness if she marries him. Unfortunately, before

their marriage, Jane is being terrorized by a woman who no other that Bertha Mason

herself, Rochester’s wife. Rochester’s secret about his insane wife has revealed and

because she is too shocked by the truth Jane decides to run away from him. In her

journey, she meets with the Rivers Sibling. St. John Rivers, one of the siblings, ask

Jane to marry him but Jane always refuses him because deep in her heart she still

loves Rochester. In the end Jane decides to return to Rochester and they are getting

married.

Meanwhile, Twilight is a novel by American author Stephenie Meyer. It was

first published in October 2005 by Little, Brown, and Company. This novel is a story

about a girl named Isabella Swan who lives her life as a solitary and quiet girl since

she is a child. Bella comes from a broken family where her parent lives separately.

Previously, she lives with her mother in Phoenix but later she moves to her father’s

house in a small town, Forks, and attends a school as a new student. Later, Bella

meets with some boys and girls, who later become her friends. However, the boys

actually have romantic feelings towards her since the first time they meet her. Bella

knows about their feeling and she tries to avoid them if they begin to show their

feeling toward her. She refuses them because she is afraid of becoming like her

parent’s broken relationship.


26

In her school, she also meets with a mysterious, handsome boy, named

Edward Cullen. Her curiosity on Edward brings her to learn that he is a member of a

vampire family who drinks animal blood rather than human blood. The story

continues where Edward and Bella fall in love with each other. Edward always treats

Bella like a princess and protects her from any harm. He is the one who always saves

Bella from many accidents or bad people. Bella is actually enjoying the princess

treatment she gets from Edward and she always wants to spend her time with him.

Unfortunately for Bella, a sadistic vampire from another coven, James, is

drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward and his family try to protect Bella, but she escapes

to Phoenix, where she is being tricked by James who uses her mother’s video to lure

Bella to meet him alone. James tries to kill her but fortunately Edward arrives and

saves her. She is seriously wounded and bitten by James, and the Cullens family

quickly brings her to the hospital and gives her treatment. Because of her trauma,

Bella begs Edward to never leave her again because she is afraid of being alone

without Edward. She becomes very worried and scared at the idea of Edward leaving

her alone, but later she feels much better when Edward says he will never let anything

hurt her and he promises to never let her go.

B. Approach of the Study

The writer uses a psychoanalytic criticism as the approach of the study to find

the answer of the thesis’s problems. Peter Barry (2009) introduces psychoanalytic


27

criticism as a form of literary criticism which uses some of the psychoanalysis

techniques in the interpretation of literature. Barry states that psychoanalysis itself is

a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders ‘by investigating the

interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind’ (Barry, 2009, p. 92).

Barry explains that the theories about how the mind work and how the interaction of

conscious and unconscious elements in the mind can influence human’s behavior

come from Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). He states that all of Freud’s work depends

upon the notion of the unconscious and it relates to the idea of repression. Therefore,

to analyze the Cinderella Complex issue in the literature, the writer uses Freud’s

psychoanalysis theory as the basic theory in order to show how the female

protagonists in Jane Eyre and Twilight novels reflect the characteristics of having the

Cinderella Complex in their characterization.

C. Method of the Study

This thesis is a library research. The primary data used in this thesis are:

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. The secondary data

are: the book of theories, data from thesis belongs to others, and criticism.

In analyzing the work, the writer did some steps. First, the writer read the two

novels for several times and tried to collect the data which necessarily for the

analysis. Next, the writer formulated Problem Formulation based on the topic chosen

for this thesis. After that, the writer used the psychoanalytic criticism as the approach

of the study of this thesis. Then, the writer was answering the first problem in


28

Problem Formulation using the theory of character and characterization by M. J.

Murphy (1972) and M. H. Abrams (1999). The theory of character and

characterization supported the writer in describing the character and characterization

of the two characters in the novels, the result would be the answer for the first

problem in problem formulation. The next step, the writer was answering the second

problem in Problem Formulation using the theory of Cinderella Complex by Colette

Dowling (1981) and the writer also used the theory of psychoanalysis by Sigmund

Freud (1920) to support the theory of Cinderella Complex from psychoanalytic point

of view. The theory of Cinderella Complex supported the writer in analyzing the

characteristics of Cinderella Complex in the characterization of the two female

protagonists. The result would be the answer for the second problem in Problem

Formulation. The final step, the writer made a conclusion of the whole analysis.


29

CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS

This chapter discusses the questions in the problem formulation in two parts.

The first part of this analysis discusses the description of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan.

The second part is about how the characterization of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan show

the characteristic of Cinderella Complex. The characteristics of Cinderella Complex

will be analyzed by using psychological perspective.

A. The Description of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan

In analyzing the character and characterization of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan,

first the writer analyzes the background of life or the past life of the two female

protagonists in order to know more about these two characters especially the reasons

why they become the way they are. The writer proves that the way how Jane Eyre and

Bella Swan act, think, and feel are deeply influenced by their experiences in their past

life.

1. The Description of Jane Eyre

a. Jane Eyre’s Background of Life

This part discusses the background of Jane Eyre, the main character of the

novel Jane Eyre. In this part, the writer explains the background of life of Jane Eyre

especially from her childhood moments. This description of the life of Jane Eyre is

the way to understand more about Jane Eyre’s characterization. The novel uses the


30

first person point of view throughout the story and Jane Eyre is the one who narrates

it as her own personal experiences.

In the beginning of the novel, Jane told the readers that she was only ten years

old when she lived together with her aunt and cousins. Living together with another

close family was a good thing for a little child who had no parents anymore.

However, for Jane to live in the same house with her aunt and cousins was a

nightmare for her. At the house where Jane lives, her aunt never treats Jane like she

was her own child. Her aunt not only neglected Jane, but also discriminated Jane and

treated her like she was a very bad child.

The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in

the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her

darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked

perfectly happy. Me, she had dispensed from joining the group;…. (p.21).

‘What does Bessie say I have done?’ I asked.

‘Jane, I don’t like cavillers or questioners: besides, there is something truly

forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated

somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent’ (p.21).

Not only Jane’s aunt, one of Jane’s cousins named John Reed also liked to

bully Jane verbally and physically, he even mocked Jane by saying that she should be

a beggar and she had no right to live in the house.

‘You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mama says;

you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to

live here with gentlemen’s children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and

wear clothes at our mama’s expense. Now, I’ll teach you to rummage my

book-shelves: for they are mine; all the house belongs to me, or will do in a

few years. Go and stand by the door, out of the way of the mirror and the

windows’ (p.25).


31

Jane as a child was surely afraid of John who was four years older than her,

Even though she followed all John’s orders, Jane knew that John will do anything to

make her suffered and he did not hesitate to hurt her physically. Jane even tried to

defend herself, yet her action only made John angrier and continued to torture her

cruelly.

He ran headlong at me: I felt him grasp my hair and my shoulder: he had

closed with a desperate thing. I really saw in him a tyrant: a murdered. I felt a

drop or two of blood from my head trickle down my neck, and was sensible of

somewhat pungent sufferings: these sensations for the time predominated over

fear, and I received him in frantic sort. I don’t very well know what I did with

my hands, but he called me ‘Rat! Rat!’ and bellowed out aloud…. (p. 25-26).

Jane not only received harsh treatments from her aunt and cousins, but she

also got it from the staffs in the house. Bessie and Abbot were the servants who

worked in the house but they also treated Jane like she was a very bad child. They

took Jane to a room named red-room and left her alone to reflect the thing that she

has done to John Reed. Jane thinks it was very unfair for her because she only called

John a tyrant because he really acted like a tyrant and he was the one who bullied her.

However, nobody believed her and she is left alone in the red-room.

Jane knew that red-room was a room where her uncle, Mr. Reed, breathed his

last. Jane believed that if Mr. Reed still alive he will treat her kindly because he was

the one who took her and lived with his family. Unfortunately, her memory about her

uncle made Jane anxious. When she saw a light from a lantern which is carried by

someone across the lawn, she believed that it was the ghost of her uncle and she


32

began to panic and begged her aunt to take her out from the room. Her terrible

experience made Jane fall into illness.

Jane soon met with Mr. Lloyd who suggested Jane’s aunt to send Jane into

school. Jane immediately accepted the idea of her to attend a school because she did

not want to live in her uncle’s house anymore. Even when Mr. Lloyd told her that it

will be a waste to leave a beautiful house like where she lived with her aunt and

cousins, Jane answered it with facts that she deserved no rights to live in the house.

After that she met with Mr. Brocklehurst and he interrogated her about her

attitude whether she was a good or a bad child before she can attend in Lowood

School. The moment after Jane’s conversation with Mr. Brocklehurst ended, Jane

realized that it was the time for her to rebel against her aunt and Jane demanded her

aunt to immediately send her to the school. After her rebel action towards her aunt,

Jane finally left the house and went to the Lowood School.

b. Jane Eyre’s Characteristics

This part discusses the characterization of Jane Eyre. In this part, Jane Eyre’s

life is described from the first until the last chapter, it begins from her childhood life

and lives with her aunt and cousins until she meets with a man named Mr. Rochester

and falls in love with him. The explanations of Jane Eyre’s characters are presented

below.


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As an orphan child, Jane never knows the feeling to be loved by others. Since

she has no one to love her and used to be hated by other people, it is difficult for Jane

to express herself to something like loves and being loved again. However, deep

down she still desires those feelings and hope to get the love like she desires for a

long time.

Jane is difficult to attain love from the others because she does not have

beautiful physical appearances and she does not have enough confidence in it. Since

she is a child, Jane always hears from the others that she is a very pitiful child who

comes from a tragic family. Abbot even says that she is an ugly child with bad

attitude.

Bessie, when she heard this narrative, sighed and said, ‘Poor Miss Jane is to

be pitied, too, Abbot.’

‘Yes,’ responded Abbot; ‘if she were a nice, pretty child, one might

compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad

as that.’

‘Not a great deal, to be sure,’ agreed Bessie: ‘at any rate, a beauty like Miss

Georgiana would be more moving in the same condition.’

(p.41)

The conversation above proves that if Jane has a beautiful appearance, she

may be treated differently by the others even though she comes from a poor family.

This shows how the society around Jane judges her only from physical appearances.

Jane also once wishes that she has an attractive figure instead of a small and plain

figure like the others says to her, in order to make her to easily attract love and

admiration from others.


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‘You’re not grown so very tall, Miss Jane, nor so very stout,’ continued Mrs.

Leaven. ‘I dare say they’ve not kept you too well at school; Miss Reed is the

head and shoulders taller than you are; and Miss Georgiana would make two

of you in breadth’ (p.113).

It was not my habit to be disregardful of appearance, or careless of the

impression I made: on the contrary, I ever wished to look as well as I could,

and to please as much as my want of beauty would permit. I sometimes

regretted that I was not handsomer: I sometimes wished to have rosy cheeks, a

straight nose, and small cherry mouth; I desired to be tall, stately, and finely

developed in figure; I felt it a misfortune that I was so little, so pale, and had

features so irregular and so marked (p.121).

Jane actually feels there is nothing wrong with her appearances, yet she

cannot refuse her feeling that deep down she wants to have a beautiful figure too, thus

she will have more confidence in her appearance.

Jane becomes a cold and solitary person. As an orphan who grows up with no

one loves her, she is used to be alone and keeps her own feelings to herself. She

chooses to keeps all her feelings to herself because she is afraid by the other’s

reactions toward her.

….I felt physically weak and broken down: but my worse ailment was an

unutterable wretchedness of mind: a wretchedness which kept drawing from

me silent tears; no sooner had I wiped one salt drop from my cheek than

another followed. Yet I thought, I ought to have been happy, for none of the

Reeds were there;…. (p.35).

When Jane is in her eighteen, she is afraid to show her love to the others

especially towards Mr. Rochester. She knows she is deeply in love with him but her

cold character that she gets because of her childhood experiences makes her hesitates

to confess her true feelings to Rochester. She is afraid that she may get hurt again if


35

she shows her true feelings towards him and she believes that Rochester has no love

for her.

‘You are cold; you are sick; and you are silly.’

‘Prove it,’ I rejoined.

‘I will; in few words. You are cold, because you are alone; no contact strikes

the fire from you that is in you. You are sick; because the best of feelings, the

highest and the sweetest given to man, keeps far away from you. You are

silly, because, suffer as you may, you will not beckon it to approach; nor will

you stir one step to meet it where it waits you’ (p. 228).

I have told you, reader, that I had learnt to love Mr. Rochester: I could not

unlove him now, merely because I found that he had ceased to notice me—

because I might pass hours in his presence, and he would never once turn his

eyes in my direction—because I saw all his attentions appropriated by a great

lady,…. (p. 215).

Since she is cold and solitary, Jane has a desire to get love from others. Her

desire makes her to have sensitive about love. Since she hardly gets love from others,

she thinks love is the most important thing for her and she gladly does anything to get

it. When someone gives her some attention and care, Jane takes it as something

valuable and it makes Jane easily gives back the affection that she gets from the

person who gives her the love she need. Just like when Bessie takes care of Jane

when she is sick after being locked in the red-room (p.34). After that, Jane feels that

Bessie is always a gentle and kind woman, yet sometimes she acts strictly towards

Jane too. Despite all of that, Jane prefers to be friend with Bessie than the other

people at her uncle’s house (p. 45).


36

Since Jane thinks that love is the most important thing for her, she gladly does

anything in order to get it. Jane does not want to be alone and depressed again, even

she is willing to get hurt if it can make her to get love from the others.

‘No; I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough: if others

don’t love me, I would rather die than live—I cannot bear to be solitary and

hated, Helen. Look here; to gain some real affection from you or Miss

Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the

bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking

horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest,’…. (p. 89).

This proves how Jane’s desire to get love from others makes her willingly

suffers. After she realizes that everything she does to get love from others only makes

her suffer more, Jane chooses to acts cold and protects herself from showing her true

feelings to the others.

Jane knows how to speak her mind. However, her emotion takes over more of

her self-control. At the beginning, Jane is a timid girl and she is afraid to tell her own

opinion. She is used to be ordered by everyone and she never tries to fight back them.

However, her character begins to change when she tries to protect herself from the

harsh treatments of her aunt and cousins. She feels the unfairness she gets from her

aunt and starts to rebel.

‘I am glad you are no relation of mine: I will never call you aunt again as long

as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one

asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought

of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty’ (p. 53).

Jane knows that she will never get love from her aunt, she decides to leave

everything that makes her suffers and she begins to search the love she desires from


37

the other place. However, it seems to be difficult for Jane to get the love that she

really wants because she has to struggle with her own feelings whether the love she

gets from the others is really the love that she desires or the love she gets is only a lie

from the others that wants to control Jane’s life.

2. The Description of Bella Swan

a. Bella Swan’s Background of Life

This part discusses the background of Bella Swan, the main character of the

novel Twilight. This part describes the family’s background of Bella Swan and this

description of the life of Bella Swan is the way to understand more about Bella

Swan’s character. Twilight uses the first person point of view throughout the story

and Bella Swan is the character who narrates it as her own personal experiences.

From the beginning of the story, Bella seemed to come from a broken family

where her parents were living separately or they already divorced. Bella lived with

her mother and her mother’s new boyfriend in a big town named Phoenix, while

Bella’s father lived alone in their previous house in Forks, a small town in

Washington State.

In the first chapter, after moving from Phoenix where she lived with her

mother, Bella Swan arrived in Forks and she lived with her father named Charlie

Swan. Charlie, Bella’s father, worked as police chief and he was not around a whole

lot with Bella. Bella even admitted that she felt awkward with her father at the first

time they meet again.


38

But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was what anyone

would call verbose, and I didn’t know what there was to say regardless. I

knew he was more than a little confused by my decision – like my mother

before me, I hadn’t made a secret of my distaste for Forks (p. 5).

Even though Bella did not have a close father-daughter relationship with

Charlie, Bella admitted that she still liked the way how Charlie showed his love

toward her such as when Charlie gave her a car, an old truck, as her ride to the school

or when Charlie worried about Bella when she told him that she was going to another

city by herself.

Although Bella did not have a close relationship with her father, Bella started

to act differently when it was about her mother, Renee. Bella described her mother as

a loving, erratic, hare-brained, and childish woman. Even Bella behaved like she is

more mature than her own mother.

My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm

of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving,

erratic, hare-brained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now,

so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator,

gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still . . . (p. 4).

Bella seemed to have a close relationship with her mother and knew

everything about her mother because she has spent a lot of time with her mother

before she moved to her father’s place. When Bella told Renee that she wanted to live

with her father, Renee became very worried. She told Bella that Bella did not have to

leave her but Bella never told her mother the real reason why she decided to move to

Charlie’s place. As a loving mother, like Bella described her, Renee always worried

about her daughter and even sent Bella emails about how worried she is.


39

Write me as soon as you get in. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I

miss you already. I’m almost finished packing for Florida, but I can’t find my

pink blouse. Do you know where I put it? Phil says hi. Mom (p. 33).

Why haven’t you e-mailed me yet? What are you waiting for? Mom (p. 33).

This shows how Renee loved Bella so much and cannot help to always

worried about Bella’s condition. Sometimes because of her mother’s excessive worry,

Bella always became the one who asked her mother to calm down and do not panic

over her. In summary, from all the treatment she got from her parent, Bella knew that

they love her even though they have their own ways to show their love toward Bella.

b. Bella Swan’s Characteristics

This part discusses the characterization of Bella Swan. In this part, Bella

Swan’s life is described from the first until the last chapter, begin when she arrives in

the new town and lives only with her father until she falls in love with a vampire

named Edward Cullen and gets involved in dangerous situation such as being chased

by another vampire. The explanations of Bella Swan’s characters are presented

below.

Bella always lies about her own feeling to the others. She is not used to

express her own emotions freely and does not want to say what she really feels to the

others. She even admits that she gets this habit from her father, Charlie.

“I want to go,” I lied. I’d always been a bad liar, but I’d been saying this lie so

frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now (p. 4).


40

“I don’t mind. I want you to be happy here.” He was looking ahead at the road

when he said this. Charlie wasn’t comfortable with expressing his emotions

out loud. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I

responded (p. 7).

The way how Bella does not express her emotions freely makes everyone

around her never knows about what she is really thinking about. Even Edward Cullen

is amazed by how calm Bella is when she is being attacked by some random men in

the street or when Edward says to Bella that she is being too calm in everything.

“Really, I’m not going into shock,” I protested.

“You should be – a normal person would be. You don’t even look shaken.”

He seemed unsettled. He stared into my eyes, and I saw how light his eyes

were, lighter than I’d ever seen them, golden butterscotch (p. 170).

I frowned, “Do I react badly?”

“No, that’s the problem. You take everything so coolly – it’s unnatural. It

makes me wonder what you’re really thinking.”

“I always tell you what I’m really thinking.”

“You edit,” he accused.

“Not very much.”

“Enough to drive me insane.”

(p. 198)

These conversation between Bella and Edward show how Bella is really good

at keeping her emotions in control but sometimes her ability to control it can make

people around her confused with her reaction. Bella’s control to her emotion helps

her to prevent her showing the true feelings that she has towards the others.

Bella is hard to get along with people around her. She will become very

awkward to start a conversation, thus she appreciates it when there are some people

who do not mind to talk to her first.


41

I didn’t relate well to people my age. Maybe the truth was that I didn’t relate

well to people, period. Even my mother, who I was closer to than anyone else

on the planet was never in harmony with me, never on exactly the same page

(p. 10).

We walked to class together; he was a chatterer – he supplied most of the

conversation, which made it easy for me. He’d lived in California till he was

ten, so he knew how I felt about the sun. It turned out he was in my English

class also. He was the nicest person I’d met today (p. 25).

However, as awkward as she is, truthfully she is very happy to meet many

people who want to be her friend, even though sometimes Bella still does not want to

open up about her true feeling towards the others.

Bella is an introvert. She is a kind of person who prefers to be unnoticed by

the others. She tends to think negatively whenever she is in a new environment and

refuse to show her true emotions, just like when she attends Forks High School for

the first time where she tries to keep a low profile as much as possible.

I looked at the map in the truck, trying to memorize it now; hopefully I

wouldn’t have to walk around with it stuck in front of my nose all day. I

stuffed everything in my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and sucked in

a huge breath. I can do this, I lied to myself feebly. No one was going to bite

me. I finally exhaled and stepped out of the truck (p. 14).

I kept my face pulled back into my hood as I walked to the sidewalk, crowded

with teenagers. My plain black jacket didn’t stand out, I noticed with relief

(p.15).

Bella’s introvert side may come from her self-awareness that she does not

have talents in certain fields, such as when she describes herself to be very bad in

sport or anything related to physical activity. She feels herself to be a burden for the

others whenever she has to do a physical activity. Moreover, she even rejects all the


42

dance invitations from her friend and makes an excuse to avoid it, like when she tells

Mike, one of her male friends who obviously shows that he likes Bella, that she will

go to another town in the day of the dance events.

“No,” I assured him. “I’m not going to the dance at all.”

“Why not?” Mike demanded.

I didn’t want to get into the safety hazards that dancing presented, so I quickly

made new plans.

“I’m going to Seattle that Saturday,” I explained. I needed to get out of town

anyway – it was suddenly the perfect time to go.

“Can’t you go some other weekend?”

“Sorry, no,” I said. “So you shouldn’t make Jess wait any longer – it’s rude.”

(p. 73).

The same reaction also comes from Bella when her father asks her about the

dance, even her father always asks Bella whether she will change her mind or not

about the dance but Bella always refuses it. This proves how Bella prefers to be in her

comfort zone rather than doing something that she is not capable.

Moreover, as someone who is not good at physical activity, Bella is a typical

person who can easily make people around her worried about her. Bella describes

herself to accidently always gets injured whenever she is doing sport. Edward Cullen

even get curious with Bella’s condition whenever she is in her gym class because he

cannot read Bella’s mind and only knows from the other person’s mind around her.

His eyes slid back to mine, still tight. ”Newton’s getting on my nerves.”

“You weren’t listening again?” I was horror struck. All traces of my sudden

good humor vanished.

“How’s your head?” He asked innocently.

“You’re unbelievable!” I turned, stomping away in the general direction of the

parking lot, though I hadn’t ruled out walking at this point.


43

He kept up with me easily.

“You were the one who mentioned how I’d never seen you in gym – it made

me curious.” He didn’t sound repentant, so I ignored him.

(p. 222)

Bella who always tries to avoid conversations about her life or activities show

her as a person who does not want the other people to interfere deeper into her life.

She still hides her true characters even though to someone she loves. Bella admits

that she loves Edward, thus she tries to avoid the questions about her which she

thinks will show her weaknesses. Bella only wants to shows her good sides to the

person she loves. Thus Bella only tells Edward that she does not like the gym class

but she never tells him the reason, however, Bella’s action only makes him more

curious.

Even though Bella lies about her situation, she sometimes can be an

independent girl with the way how she takes care of her own self, but she only makes

anyone around her more worried with her behavior. Such as when she is almost

fainted in her Biology class but she still stubbornly wants to drive home by her own.

It is obviously dangerous for someone who still sick like Bella and that is the reason

why Edward is the one who take her home (p. 103).

Bella is also reckless and tends to behave according to what she thinks is

right. She protests to Edward when he wants to take her away from Forks and

suggests them to go back to her house first, yet after that she regret her own

suggestion because she thinks it makes the others gets into a more dangerous

situation.


44

“You heard what Laurent said.” My voice was just a whisper, but I was sure

they could hear me. “He said James was lethal. What if something goes

wrong, and they get separated? If something happens to any of them, Carlisle,

Emmett…. Edward….” I gulped. “If that wild female hurts Esme….” My

voice had grown higher, a note of hysteria beginning to rise in it. “How could

I live with myself when it’s my fault? None of you should be risking

yourselves for me….” (p. 410).

Since Bella begins to love her new family, she does not want to put them in

dangerous situation. Bella’s experiences with her own broken family makes her does

not want to lose the love that she gets from the Cullens family, yet she begins to acts

by herself and she willingly gets hurt in order to protect everyone she loves. Bella

knows that she sacrifices herself in order to protect her family and Edward’s family is

not a good decision, but she does not want to lose everything she loves because what

she really desires is the loves from the others, especially the love she gets from

Edward Cullen.

B. How Jane Eyre and Bella Swan Reflect the Characteristics of Cinderella

Complex

This part discusses about how Jane Eyre and Bella Swan reflect the

characteristics of Cinderella complex based on Dowling’s theory of Cinderella

Complex.

1. The Cinderella Complex in Jane Eyre’s Characteristics

Based on Dowling’s theory of Cinderella Complex, which is also related to

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, a character who categorizes to have the characteristics


45

of Cinderella Complex is having the repressed attitudes and fears (Dowling, 1981, p.

21). Since her childhood Jane Eyre has to keep her manners and attitudes as an

obedient child, because she will get punishments if she tries not to obey the people

around her. The cruel treatment from her cousin John Reed and the family who treats

her like a kind of servant only adding Jane’s burden.

‘Jane, I don’t like cavillers or questioners: besides, there is something truly

forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated

somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent’ (p. 21).

Not only must she behave like the way people want her to behave, they even

do not allow Jane to feel a little bit happiness that her cousins always get from their

mother. A ten-years-old Jane lives her life everyday with fears and anxiety, where she

always become the victim of bullying by her cousin, John Reed, who mistreats and

says rude things to Jane.

He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or

twice in the day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every

morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near. There were moments

when I was bewildered by the terror he inspired, because I had no appeal

whatever against either his menaces or his inflictions;… (p. 24).

When Jane always tries to tell a truth or her feelings, whether she feels

depressed or scared toward something, the adults just assume that she acts like that

only to get attention. Because she almost gets no sympathy and feels like nobody

loves her, Jane chooses to hide her true feelings and appears to be alright. Jane’s


46

emotion already becomes unstable and the pain is too much for her to handle so

unconsciously she cries for her own poor condition.

I felt physically weak and broken down: but my worse ailment was an

unutterable wretchedness of mind: a wretchedness which kept drawing from

me silent tears; no sooner had I wiped one salt drop from my cheek than

another followed (p. 35).

Her painful childhood experiences has its root in Jane’s mind and she grows

up as a quiet woman yet a bit rude when answering a question from someone

(Bronte, 1961, p. 157). Jane’s kind of impolite way to talk is the way how her mind

unconsciously makes her not to say something honest. Even Rochester describes

Jane as a mysterious girl who always answers questions briefly and much evasive,

even for Rochester it is a very irritating way of speaking (Bronte, 1961, p. 160).

Jane’s way of speaking may come from her habit to not talking too much to people

since in her childhood the adults around her always order her to be quiet.

Furthermore, Dowling also describes Cinderella Complex as “fears”. Jane

shows her fears at the time before she has her marriage with Rochester. The first one

when Jane suddenly feels something strange and anxiety in her mind, then she also

gets a strange dream, thus she feels lonely and at the time Rochester also absents

from his house (Bronte, 1961, p. 313). She waits for Rochester until night but it

seems like Rochester is still busy with his business. When Jane realizes that she will

not see him anytime soon, she becomes worried and wonder why he has not in

home, thus it makes her anxiety bigger.


47

A puerile tear dimmed my eye while I looked—a tear of disappointment and

impatience; ashamed of it, I wiped it away. I lingered; the moon shut herself

wholly within her chamber, and drew close her curtain of dense cloud: the

night grew dark; rain came driving fast on the gale.

‘I wish he would come! I wish he would come!’ I exclaimed, seized with

hypochondriac foreboding…. (p. 315-316).

Jane whose never seeks someone for comfort before now desperately needs

Rochester to soothe her from her fears. Since she is in love with Rochester, Jane

already sees him as someone who saves her from her solitary world. She even makes

him as her idol and believes that Rochester is the bridge between her and heaven

(Bronte, 1961, p. 312). Because of her lack of love experience and role model, Jane

makes Rochester as her whole world and the only one matter for her.

Jane has two strange dreams where the first one she dreams that Rochester

leaves her alone with a crying little child. Jane’s first dream can relates to her own

repressed feelings which deeply buried in her unconscious mind. Freud’s theory

about repression is it is the way how human push their most distressing experiences

into the unconscious (Freud, 1920), just like Dowling’s experiences when she still

feels scared of her incompetence even when she can support her own self. In Jane’s

dream, the crying child represents Jane’s fear of being alone, unloved, and

abandoned. In her dream, Jane sees herself walking on an unknown road with

obscurity environment and also rain pelts her. Not only that, she is also holding a

child in her arm, all of them represent how Jane still has insecurity, feeling lost, and

also the fears from her childhood trauma still holding her. She sees Rochester who


48

walks away from her yet she cannot calls or makes him to stop, it means she already

loves Rochester with all her heart but her mind tells her that she is scared. She is

scared if someday Rochester will leave her alone and makes her experiences the

feeling of being unloved again. Jane pushes her childhood trauma and deeply burry it

in her unconscious mind, however, it makes its way again through Jane’s dream

because she finally finds a man who can save her from her grief.

Jane’s second dream is also still related to her unconscious mind. Her dream

about Thornfield Hall which becomes a dreary ruin and she sees Rochester who is

departing to a very distant country can represents Jane’s feeling about her future with

Rochester. She feels anxious with her change of life and worry if she will bring

misfortunes in the house. Besides that, the dream also can represent the real future.

The ruin of The Thornfield Hall can represent the downfall of the house in the future

where someone intentionally ruins it. Jane’s effort climbing the thin wall is her

curiosity of the truth about the house and she tries to looking for answers. When she

falls from the wall it represents that she finally knows the truth about Bertha Mason,

the mad wife of Rochester who is confined in the house. Her dream about someone

who tore her wedding veil is also the warning for Jane that she is really in danger

because of Bertha Mason.

A woman with Cinderella Complex tends to defend herself from feeling

insecure. She needs to be dependent to someone, but the needs are, for the most part,

deeply buried (Dowling, 1981, p. 20). As Dowling writes about her experiences in

her book, Dowling tells about how her second marriage is not successful because she


49

is scared to be independent again. It is because she has to support herself in the

previous marriage, she finally finds a comfort of dependency in her second marriage.

That is the reason why she hates her husband for waking her up from her comfortable

and protected life. In Jane Eyre, after Jane runs away from Rochester, she meets St.

John who later asks Jane to marry him. Jane who already feels heartbroken from her

previous relationship with Rochester tries to avoid all the efforts of St. John to make

her falling in love with him. Because of the failure of her marriage, Jane seems to be

sensitive with everything which relates to love or marriage.

‘It is not saying too much: I know what I feel, and how averse are my

inclinations to the bare thought of marriage. No one would take me for love;

and I will not be regarded in the light of a mere money-speculation. And I do

not want a stranger—unsympathising alien, different from me;… (p. 437).

At first, Jane’s refusal of St. John’s marriage proposal is her way to avoid the

pain of being alone again, but later Jane realizes that St. John’s marriage proposal has

reminds her about Rochester and she still loves him. St. John tells her that the reason

why Jane always refuses him because she is afraid of herself. She is afraid that if she

becomes St. John’s wife, she will be a wife in the surface only but her heart yearns

for another man. She already feeling save with Rochester, she loves him and feels she

can depends her life in Rochester’s arms. Thus, she does not want to give herself to

St. John because he is a stranger to Jane. For Jane, Rochester is the only man who can

save her and gives the love that Jane always need.


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2. The Cinderella Complex in Bella Swan’s Characteristics

The main point of Dowling’s theory about Cinderella Complex is the deep

wish to be taken care of by others (Dowling, 1981, p. 21). Dowling writes in her book

that she is an independent woman and she is able to support herself and also her

children. After she marries with her second husband who can support all her needs

and gives protection to her and her children, she falls into the state of regression in

her career and even in her confidence. The female protagonist of Twilight by

Stephenie Meyer, Bella Swan, also shows the change of attitudes when she finally

meets the one she loves.

Bella Swan is a high school student who already gets used to support her own

self, she even taking care of her mother. In her new school Bella is friends with some

male students who are seem to take interest with her. They openly show their feeling

through their actions that they like Bella. As a solitary person, Bella always tries to

avoid their efforts to make her their girlfriend. The way how Bella acts is the way she

protect herself from feeling the pain of love. She does not want to be like her parent’s

relationship, where her father and mother are already living separately. Besides that,

in her new school Bella meets with a handsome and mysterious boy who makes her

curious.

Bella’s relationship with Edward continues and later she finds herself always

being saved by Edward in many incidents. Her curiosity toward Edward turns into a

crush on him. Bella often finds herself admiring Edward and after some more


51

interactions and knows about the truth, that he is a vampire, it does not change her

mind about Edward and later Bella admits that she is in love with him when she

speak to herself that “I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him”

(Meyer, 2005, p. 195).

After she admits that she loves Edward, Bella’s attitudes slowly turns out to

be more dependent on him and often feels anxious if she cannot meet with him. She

even begins to feel depressed if every time she cannot spend her time with Edward.

“I’m leaving with Alice after lunch.”

“Oh.” I blinked, bewildered and disappointed. “That’s okay, it’s not that far of

a walk.”

He frowned at me impatiently. “I’m not going to make you walk home. We’ll

go get your truck and leave it here for you.”

“I don’t have my key with me,” I sighed. “I really don’t mind walking.” What

I minded was losing my time with him.

(p. 242)

Edward seems to treat Bella like a princess, at first Bella does not really mind

with Edward’s treatment to her but after a while she seems to enjoy his princess

treatment towards her.

The way was mostly flat, and he held the damp ferns and webs of moss aside

for me. When his straight path took us over fallen trees or boulders, he would

help me, lifting me by the elbow, and then releasing me instantly when I was

clear (p. 257).

Furthermore, as a vampire Edward surely to be stronger than Bella, literally

saves Bella from any dangerous situation. Bella sure aware that she is weaker than the

vampires, she is even unable to think how to protect herself when she is in danger of

another vampire who is chasing her. At the time she describes herself, “….I’d been


52

rooted in place, terrified into absolute immobility. Edward had to grip my elbow and

pull sharply to break my trance” (Meyer, 2005, p. 380). The other vampires are also

having to help Bella in order to calm her down and taking her to a safe place.

After so many incidents where Edward always the one who saves her from

any harm, Bella seems to aware that she is just a burden to Edward when she asks

him, “Are you tired of having to save me all the time? Do you want me to go away?”

(Meyer, 2005, p. 472). Even when Bella knows that she becomes more dependent to

Edward, her own mind tells her not to let go of him. She feels a sudden panic about

the idea of standing alone without Edward and desperately wants him to not leaving

her alone. As Meyer shows Bella’s reaction in the novel, “Don’t leave me,” I cried,

an irrational surge of panic flooding through me. I couldn’t let him go – he might

disappear from me again (Meyer, 2005, p. 464). Since her childhood, Bella is able to

support herself and lives in her solitary world, however when she finally finds

someone who can save her from her lonely world, she desperately does not want

Edward to leave her because she finally finds a save place in Edward’s arms. She is

scared of being alone again where she must support her own self like before.

Meyer describes Bella as an independent and kind of emotionless. However,

behind of these attitudes, Bella only wants to protect herself from getting any

problems with anyone and she does not want people to know her true emotion and

needs. She needs someone who can support her because all this time she is always the

one who supports other people like she takes care of her mother and also her father

when she moves to her father’s house. She needs someone who can save her from her


53

duty of taking care of other people. She feels much better when Edward says he will

never let anything hurt her even gets hurt by herself (Meyer, 2005, p. 486). She feels

like she finally can be dependent to someone and not need to worry about getting hurt

and lonely anymore.

Based on the analysis of the female protagonists’ characterization and the

experiences they have in their novels, both Jane Eyre and Bella Swan reflect the

characteristics of Cinderella Complex. Moreover, the writer finds some similarities in

these two female protagonists. The first similarity is they are both having the deep

wish of being taken care by someone they love. When Jane finally becomes

Rochester’s lover she likes the idea of being pampered by Rochester. He always says

things about spoiling her with jewelry or praising her with sweet words and Jane likes

it because she finally knows the feeling of being loved by someone. The same case

with Bella Swan where she is always being saved by Edward and being pampered by

him in each moment they have. After spending much time with Edward, Bella also

secretly likes Edward’s princess treatment toward her because she never have

someone who treats her like Edward did.

The second one is they live as independent women at the beginning of story

but become dependent women when they find men who can support their life. Both

Jane Eyre and Bella Swan are solitary. They used to support their own selves because

of their own circumstance, where Jane is an orphan and Bella who comes from a

broken home family. They are forced to take care of themselves and it makes them

hard to give a trust toward people around them, but their attitude change when they


54

finally fall in love with their lover. Jane gives all her trust and love to Rochester, even

she worships him as her idol because she sees him as the one who saves her from her

lonely world. While Bella literally cannot live without Edward because he is the only

one who always by her side whenever she needs help, and she do not want Edward to

leave her because she feels Edward is the only who can makes her feels safe.

The third one is they both have repressed attitudes and fears which comes

from their unpleasant childhood experiences. Both of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan have

terrible childhood memory. Jane who always being mistreated by people around her

and Bella who sees the broken relationship of her parent, they are both having trauma

about it. Both choose to be solitary and avoid problems as much as they can. Jane

also ends to have fears of being unloved, trusting people too much, and rather cold

toward people. While Bella ends to have fears of showing her true emotion and being

in relationship with someone because she has trust issue.

Furthermore, this study proves that the phenomenon of Cinderella Complex

may appear in any era of literature. The character of Jane Eyre and Bella Swan come

from different time and background of society which is quite far apart. Jane Eyre, in

the novel Jane Eyre which first published in 1847 which is known to be the Victorian

Era, may get her characterization development being influenced by the society at the

time. The background of society in Jane Eyre novel also shows the time of Victorian

Era where there are different treatments between men and women, the society tend to

treat men better than women. Jane Eyre is described as a young girl which in her life

she is always treated like an object or do not have a right to socialize with high-class


55

people. Because of the bad treatment she always gets, Jane tend to isolate herself and

behaves like the society wants her to. The author of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, may

making the character Jane Eyre to be a strong woman in her era but she still has the

characteristics of dependent, innocent, and inexperience which is the common

characteristics of Victorian women. That is Jane Eyre needs someone who can be a

role model for her and saves her from the society judgment.

Meanwhile, Twilight which was first published in 2005, in other word the

novel has a background of the 21st century. 21st century is the era where the society

has the awareness about gender equality and women in modern era have equal rights

with men. The author of Twilight describes Bella Swan as an independent woman and

able to make decisions by her own. But as a young woman who still in high school,

Bella still lack of experiences in many things, that is she needs someone who can

support her in life. The society around her may not having so much influence to

Bella’s attitude and behavior, but the hidden desire in her unconscious mind which

makes her to behave very dependent to Edward because for Bella he is the one who

can support her life.

In summary, the phenomenon of Cinderella Complex can appear in any era

and background of society. Whether the society has a big or little influence in the

development of the character, both Jane Eyre and Bella Swan still shows the

similarity in attitudes and behavior. Whether it is Victorian era or 21st century, Jane

Eyre and Bella Swan are showing the same characteristics of Cinderella Complex in

their own characterization.


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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

This chapter is the conclusion of the analysis in the previous chapter. Based

on the analysis, the writer finds some evidences which show the Cinderella Complex

issue in Jane Eyre and Bella Swan. The aspects are in the description of

characterization and life of the characters. Both Jane Eyre and Bella Swan have the

same character and behavior. Jane becomes cold, solitary person, and speaks rather

bluntly in front of people. Her attitudes are similar with Bella Swan who also a

solitary person and a bit anti-socialize. Both are from broken home families, Jane

never get parent’s love since she is a child and Bella who has a parent but they are

living separately and leaving Bella to support her own self, she has lived with her

mother or father but they are too busy with their own life. Both Jane and Bella are

young and never have love experience before and they believe that they do not need

anyone in their life. They are used to take care of their own selves and believe that

they are independent women.

The next finding is related to the Cinderella Complex theory by Colette

Dowling. The writer uses the Cinderella Complex theory to discover the proofs of the

characteristics of Cinderella Complex in Jane Eyre and Bella Swan characterization.

The main idea of Cinderella Complex theory is it is the deep wish to be taken

care of by others. The symptoms may occur because of the psychological condition of

the person who suffers it. The symptoms are having repressed attitudes and fears.


57

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has explanation for these concepts and it relates with

the main idea of Cinderella Complex theory. The first character is Jane Eyre. Before

she meets with Rochester, Jane is a strong and independent woman and she is able to

take care of herself. Yet, after she falls in love with Rochester, Jane turns into a

fragile woman who always wants to be with Rochester and feels comfortable when he

treats her like a queen. In addition, by using some concepts of Freud’s psychoanalytic

theory about repression and fears, the writer finds that Jane has deep fears of her

childhood memory in her unconscious mind. She is afraid of being unloved again and

it makes her willing to do anything to get the love from others. She realizes that she

needs Rochester in her life and she is afraid of the idea that Rochester will leave her

alone and thus she is dreaming about things that she does not understand. Jane never

realizes that her dreams are the representation of her own fears of being alone again

which she has pushes into her unconscious mind. Because of it Jane begins cling her

life on Rochester and feels anxious when Rochester is not with her.

The second character is Bella Swan and she is a character who believes that

she can take care of herself. After she meets Edward and falls in love with him, Bella

turns into a fragile girl who always needs to be saved. The sad childhood memory

which has its root in her mind makes Bella scared to be in a relationship with

someone. When Edward finally shows that he is serious about her, always treats her

like a princess, and saves her from any harm, Bella finds herself to be more

dependent on Edward and she will safe if she is in Edward’s arms. The idea of


58

Edward disappears from Bella’s life makes her panic and unconsciously begs him to

never leave her. She is afraid of being alone and does not want to end like her

parent’s relationship. Bella realizes that after she falls in love with Edward, she

literally cannot live without him.

In conclusion, both Jane Eyre and Bella Swan reflect the characteristics of

Cinderella Complex. They show some similarities as characters with Cinderella

Complex. The first similarity is they are both having the deep wish of being taken

care by someone they love. The second one is they live as independent women at the

beginning of story but become dependent women when they find men who can

support their life. The third one is they both have repressed attitudes and fears which

comes from their unpleasant childhood experiences.

Both Jane Eyre and Bella Swan live in the different era and background of

society, but it is possible that any women in different era can experience the

Cinderella Complex in their life. This study proves that both Jane and Bella, who

have different background of society, have the characteristics of Cinderella Complex

in their characterization because they show similar attitudes and behavior which can

lead to the fact that they are female characters with Cinderella Complex.


59

REFERENCES

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Heinle & Heinle.

Barry, Peter. (2009). Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural

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Bronte, Charlotte. (1961). Jane Eyre. London: Collins Clear-Type Press.

Clarke, Micael M. (2000). Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” and the Grimms’ Cinderella. Studies

in English Literature, 1500-1900, 40(4), The Nineteenth Century, 695 – 710.

Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1556246

Dowling, Colette. (1981). The Cinderella Complex: Women’s Hidden Fear of

Independence. New York: POCKET BOOKS.

Freud, Sigmund. (1920). A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis. New York:

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century

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Meyer, Stephenie. (2005). Twilight. New York: Hachette Book Group.

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Murphy, M. J. (1972). Understanding Unseens: An Introduction to English Poetry

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Nerenberg, Rebekah. (2017). Cinderella Complex: What is it and turn it into

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Century. Retrieved from http://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2018/01/an-

implicit-battle-women-in-the-21st-century

Saha, Sneha & Tanishka Safri. (2016). Cinderella Complex: Theoretical Roots to

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Summary of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte. This novel was first

published on 16 October 1847. A young, orphaned girl named Jane Eyre lives with

her aunt and cousins, the Reeds, at Gateshead Hall. A ten-years-old Jane Eyre lives

her life like a Cinderella story where she is being hated and tormented by her cousin,

John Reed. The maid and servants in the house, Gateshead Hall, regards her as a

naughty girl and an attention seeker, even her aunt, Mrs. Reed, always ignores Jane’s

existence.

Jane faces many problems in her life, after she leaves Gateshead Hall, Jane

studies in Lowood School and she becomes a teacher. She meets with Mr. Rochester

who is the guardian of her student, Adele, and both Rochester and Jane fall in love

with each other. Jane’s life turns into a fairy tale where she lives happily with the man

she loves. She is always being pampered by Rochester with sweet words and

promises of being happy if she marries him. Jane already sees him as a role model

and even makes him as her idol.

Unfortunately, right before her marriage with Rochester, Jane gets some

nightmares which she never thought that it is a sign of something that will ruin her

happiness. Jane is also being terrorized by a woman who no other than Bertha Mason

herself, Rochester’s wife. Later Jane learns about Rochester’s confined wife, Bertha

Mason, who becomes an insane woman since years ago. Shocked by the truth, Jane

decides to run away, and then she meets with the Rivers Sibling. St. John Rivers, one


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of the siblings, ask Jane to marry him but Jane refuses him because deep in her heart

she still loves Rochester. In the end Jane decides to return to Rochester and they are

getting married.

Appendix 2: Summary of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight

Twilight is a novel by American author Stephenie Meyer. It was first

published in October 2005 by Little, Brown, and Company. Twilight is the first of

four books in the Twilight series, followed by New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking

Dawn. This novel is a story about a girl named Isabella Swan who lives her life as a

solitary and quiet girl since she is a child. She moves to her father’s house in a small

town and attends a school as a new student. Later Bella is friends with some boys and

girls, even the boys have romantic feelings towards her. However, Bella always

avoids them if they begin to show their feeling toward her. She refuses them because

she is afraid of becoming like her parent’s broken relationship.

In her school, she also meets with a mysterious, handsome boy, named

Edward Cullen and eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family who

drinks animal blood rather than human blood. The story continues where Edward and

Bella fall in love with each other. Edward always treats Bella like a princess and

protects her from any harm. He is the one who always saves Bella from many

accidents or bad people. Bella is actually enjoying the princess treatment she gets

from Edward and she always wants to spend her time with him.

Unfortunately for Bella, a sadistic vampire from another coven, James, is

drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward and his family try to protect Bella and she escapes


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to Phoenix, where she is being tricked by James who uses her mother’s video to lure

Bella to meet him alone. James tries to kill her but fortunately Edward arrives and

saves her. She is seriously wounded and bitten by James, but the Cullens family

quickly brings her to the hospital and gives her treatment. Because of her trauma,

Bella begs Edward to never leave her again because she is afraid of being alone

without Edward. She becomes very worried and scared at the idea of Edward leaving

her alone, but later she feels much better when Edward says he will never let anything

hurt her and he promises to never let her go.


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A CINDERELLA COMPLEX ISSUE IN FEMALE PROTAGONISTS OF … · 2019. 6. 10. · Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Cinderella Complex