In Chapter 24 of Jane Eyre, Istanbul, referred to as “Stamboul,” becomes significant during Jane and Rochester’s conversation about marriage and Rochester’s desire to shower Jane with expensive clothes and jewelry. Jane is uncomfortable with this treatment because she does not want marriage to make her dependent on Rochester or turn her into one of his possessions. When Rochester compares her to women in a Turkish seraglio, Jane responds, “away with you, sir, to the bazaars of Stamboul without delay” (Brontë 241-42). The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s The Seraglio depicts a Turkish harem and was originally created to illustrate a European travel book, showing how Turkish harems were represented to European audiences (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). This context helps explain Brontë’s use of "Stamboul" and the seraglio to emphasize gender and confinement and Jane’s fear of losing her independence.
The reference to Istanbul also allows Jane to turn Rochester’s fantasy into an argument for women’s freedom. Rather than imagining herself as one of the women under his control, Jane declares, “I’ll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved” (Brontë 242). Her response transforms the image of the harem from something Rochester romanticizes into a symbol of inequality that Jane openly rejects. Mapping Istanbul therefore reveals how Brontë uses a distant real-world location to explore Jane’s struggle for equality in England. Although Jane never travels to Istanbul, the reference helps establish that she wants to enter marriage as Rochester’s equal, not his possession.
Bibliography:
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Edited by Deborah Lutz, 4th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2016
Hogarth, William. The Seraglio. 1723–24. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met - The Seraglio
Image: Hogarth, William. The Seraglio. 1723–24. Etching and engraving. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932. The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The Seraglio