Many themes are brought into the readers' attention in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and when first reading the novel, we all tend to see it as a work built around the theme of family and Jane's continuous search for home and acceptance. The love story seems to fall into second place and I believe that the special relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester needs to be thoroughly discussed and interpreted, because it holds many captivating elements, such as mystery, passion or even betrayal. The aim of this essay is to analyze the love story between the two protagonists and to illustrate how the elements forming their relationship resemble the ones in fairy tales. Jane Eyre has been often compared to fairy tales such as Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast and I believe that this close connection with the fantastic stories has a huge influence on the relationship between the main characters.
The theme of love is quietly introduced in the novel from the very beginning, when the reader is familiarized with Jane's relatives and the environment in which she lives her early childhood. It is not hard to notice that she is a neglected, abused and excluded child. She is never a part of the Reeds' activities and above all this the reader may observe the lack of family love the protagonist experiences. Because of the rejection she constantly feels, Jane cannot truly fit into her relative's society and she always feels abandoned and, of course, alone. Never experiencing love may be one of the reasons for which she can hardly imagine herself being in love. When leaving Gateshead she discovers a whole new world at Lowood, where certain virtues are appreciated, but love is not one of them. Finally arriving at Thornfield, a comple...
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Weiss, Zoe. Freedom Mistaken for Insanity. www.victorianweb.org. 2009. Brown University. 23.12.2012. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/weiss1.html
Schwingen, Mary. Natural Imagery in Jane Eyre. www.victorianweb.org. 1994. Brown University. 23.12.2012. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/73cbimage.html
Rübener, Florian. Fairy tale allusions and elements in Jane Eyre. http://books.google.com/. 2006. University of Duisburg-Essen. © GRIN Verlag. 23.12.2012. http://books.google.ro/books?id=92NkFJ8-QhwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=fairy+tale+in+jane+eyre&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8ivXUOLbJIe2hAeLy4DgBg&redir_esc=y
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin Books Ltd. 2012
http://www.shmoop.com/jane-eyre/splintered-chestnut-tree-symbol.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre#Love_and_passion
Jane abhors her life in Gateshead where she lives with her malicious aunt who falsely declares her deceitful. When Jane falls ill, she tells the doctor that she would like to attend school, and Mrs. Reed was happy to be rid of her. Jane, finally feeling free of the cruel authority of Mrs. Reed, renounces their relation when she tells her that “I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live… and if anyone 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” (Bronte 34). This is the
Obligations arise as Jane is forced to stay with Mrs. Reed. With out being nurtured, Jane receives unnecessary abuse and still feels as if she is yet to find “home”. Frustration slowly builds up in Jane’s mind and she awaits the perfect chance to let it all out, “You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity” (33) With the anger and anguish built up inside of Jane, she finally finds a chance to move out, leaving behind a broken relationship with her aunt Mrs. Reed. Jane works towards living a better life, a more worthwhile life leaving what happened in the past, where it belongs. As Mrs. Reed becomes ill, she wishes to see Jane one last time before she passes away. This triggers the moral side of the Character Jane Eyre, and she is stumped on a decision she was to make, not realizing that her decisions will show her true character.
Jane Eyre is about a girl named Jane who struggles to find who she really is and with it what she really wants. “As a model for women readers in the Victorian period and throughout the twentieth century to follow, Jane Eyre encouraged them to make their own choices in living their lives, to develop respect for themselves, and to become individuals” (Markley). One of the reasons why this book gained merit was because of its striking presence within its time period. During the “Victorian Age” woman did not have much say in society, so this novel broke boundaries to societal norms that restricted woman from things they have today. “Brontë is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her nature.
The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is an early 19th-century English literature; a literary work that is evocative and riveting. It depicts acts of betrayal between family members, loved ones and self-inflicted betrayal. The acts of betrayals are done by Mrs. Reed, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre herself.
Another important journey Jane makes is from Gateshead back to Thornfield having visited her aunt Reed on her deathbed. By then Jane realizes that she loves Rochester. A key theme is raised here, Jane fierce desire to love and to be loved. She feels alone and isolated when she has no friends around her. This is a sharp contrast compared to other characters’ search for money and social position.
Many pieces of literature give different perspectives and change over time. Some may incorporate the same characters along with the same concept, but some contain opposite perspectives of the stories. Cinderella has two different films that tell the same story but they contain different concepts throughout the films. While the 1950’s version of Cinderella does not reveal Cinderella’s mother, the 2015 film version reveals her mother and makes the step sisters more attractive
Eventually, she returns to her former employer, discovering Thornfield in ashes, Mrs. Rochester dead, and Mr. Rochester blind and free from wedlock. Flooded with motifs, Jane’s continual struggles between her passions and responsibility prevail as the main theme of Bronte’s entrancing narrative. From the introduction of Jane’s orphan life, she battles between her ire at cousin John’s antics and obedience to Aunt Reed’s reluctant guardianship.
Woolf, Virginia. "The Continuing Appeal of Jane Eyre." Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: W.W. Norton, 1987. 455--457. Print.
The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses various characters to represent aspects of reason and passion, thereby establishing a tension between the two. In fact, it could be argued that these various characters are really aspects of her central character, Jane. From this it could be argued that the tension between these two aspects really takes place only within her mind. Bronte is able to enact this tension through her characters and thus show dramatically the journey of a woman striving for balance within her character. As a prerequisite for marriage, Jane uses this determination in her relationships with Mr. Rochester and St. John.
The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre can be linked to many fairy-tales. Some of these tales such as Charle’s Perrault’s Bluebeard, Arabian Nights, and many more are actually cited in the text. Others are alluded to through the events that take place in the story. Jane Eyre has often been viewed as a Cinderellatale for example. There is also another story, however, that though not mentioned directly, can definitely be linked to Bronte’s novel. This tale is none other than Beauty and the Beast, which was part of one of Perrault’s compilations. Bronte uses the ideas and themes of Beauty and the Beast to reveal the importance of inner beauty and to make a point that it’s what’s inside a person that counts. The beauty that can be found through outward appearance is superficial. A person’s inner beauty as shown through the relationship of Jane and Rochester can overcome society’s ideas of what constitute being beautiful.
Moseley goes on to say, “Liberty and love are in some way at war in the lives of all of us.” It is not until Jane reaches personal liberation, that she is capable of loving someone else to a full extent. Throughout Jane Eyre Jane must learn how to gain love without sacrificing herself in the process. Orphaned at an early age, Jane becomes used to a lackluster lifestyle without any true value. It is not until she finds love and comfort in her friends at Lowood that her life begins to turn around. Upon meeting Rochester, Jane’s life was only as plain as she made it. She untwines in a world wind romance, ultimately finding the love she craved without losing her self-value.
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.
Love is an important theme in the famous novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane's love for Rochester is clearly noticible throughout the novel. But Jane's true love for Rochster becomes appearent in only a few of her actions and emotions. Although it may seem Rochester manipulated her heart's desire, this can be disproven in her actions towards him. Jane followed her heart in the end, by returning to Rochester.