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The love theme in Jane eyre
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Jane eyre analysis
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From songs, to television, to books, and even to newspapers, the need for love is universal. Love is an emotional necessity that even Jane, from Charlotte Bronte’s book Jane Eyre, cannot ignore. Throughout the story line, Jane is constantly searching to find love. She was looking, not just for the love of a man, but for the love of a family. However, Jane’s search for love sometimes ends up challenging her autonomy. While Jane is longing for love, she is not willing to give up her independence for it. Yet as Jane becomes older and her independence grows, she realizes that, while one needs to be independent, she also needs love in her life.
In the early years of Jane’s life, she was a very autonomous girl. She grew up with her aunt – Mrs. Reed, along with her 3 cousins – John, Eliza, and Georgina. Jane never was shown any affection by any of the Reed family members, they all hated her. Eventually Jane expressed her need for love to Mrs. Reed, “You think that I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of kindness, but I cannot live so: and you have no pity” (Bronte 41). Jane was forced to be independent since she was a child. Her strength only grew as she was locked in the Red Room by her aunt. Her aunt’s lack of care led Jane to be happy when she was sent away from their home in Gateshead, and to the school Lowood Academy, where she could begin her quest for love.
Jane was sent to the Lowood Institution, a school for orphans. Here at Lowood Jane found kindness and acceptance from Helen Burns, another student a few years older than Jane. Jane soon shows to Helen how much love truly means to her by telling her:
If others don’t love me, I would rather die than live– I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen. Look ...
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... to have the love she had always with for.
Jane’s journey throughout the entire story was to find love. Jane always had autonomy built into her personality, but she had to establish that independence more apparently in her life. Even while Jane was looking for love, she would not sacrifice her autonomy for it. In Jane’s eyes, to be loved was to live a full life and to be accepted. Also, for Jane, her independence represented the trueness of her worth and value. Without either of these, Jane could not have lived a fulfilled, happy life. Through her life, Jane found answers over time and came to the conclusion that love is far more important than autonomy because no one is meant to be alone and by themselves in this world. We all need someone to love and we all need to love others.
Works Cited:
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1983.
As shown in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, love can often lead to a life of anguish; even so, the experience is worth the pain. Jane’s adoration for both Mr. Rochester and Helen helped her grow as a person; they gave her hope for a brighter future. When her faith is at its climax, she loses them and is forced to endure the agony of resentment, regret, and solitude. Even so, love is a powerful emotion that can influence anyone given time and devotion and it should be cherished, appreciated and pursued no matter the consequences or the reprecussions.
Jane’s life at Moor house was the depiction of stability. During her time there she created a name for herself. First, she worked as a respectable teacher, helping develop the minds of young children. Then, she crafted friendships for the first time with
The misfortunes Jane was given early in life didn’t alter her passionate thinking. As a child she ...
From an early age Jane is aware she is at a disadvantage, yet she learns how to break free from her entrapment by following her heart. Jane appears as not only the main character in the text, but also a female narrator. Being a female narrator suggests a strong independent woman, but Jane does not seem quite that.
Helen is Jane's best friend at Lowood. Helen is a religious role (angelic, and talks about God), in shaping her character. Helen believes everyone should love their enemies. Although Jane does not take to Helens good heart and good nature, with her wie word, Jane respects her for them and listens very passionately to what Helen has to say.
Jane started out with no family, causing her to yearn for someone to accept her as their family, treating her with love and respect. At a young age, Jane lost her parents, leaving her with her aunt and cousins. They treated her poorly, acting as if she was incompetent and considering her more of a servant than a family member. Then, they sent her off to school, forgetting about her entirely. Eventually, Jane acquired the family she had always dreamt of. She never felt quite right with other people accepting her, that is, until Mr. Rochester came into her life. She did not feel as though she had found her true family until she had met him. "All these relics gave...Thornfield Hall the aspect of a home of the past: a shrine to memory.” (92). When they get married, her dreams are achieved, as she finally got the family she had always wanted.
Jane not only shows the reader her beliefs on female independence through her actions, but also through her thoughts. Jane desires to see more of the world and have more interaction with its people. While she appreciates her simple life at Thornfield, she regrets that she does not have the means to travel. She relates her feelings to all women, not just those of her class, saying:
Throughout Jane Eyre, Jane searches for a way to express herself as an independent person who needs help from no one, yet she also wishes to have the love and companionship of others. Often times, Jane finds that she can have independence but no one to share her life with, or she can have the love of another at the loss of her independence. Jane's entire journey is based on the goal of achieving a seamless blend between independence and love, a mixture that rarely seems to go hand in hand.
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...
Helen’s early life was very much shaped by her loss and abandonment. The greatest loss Helen experienced was the death of her parents. As she was orphaned by the age of six, it left her with great grief, darkened childhood memories and bewilderment of where she truly belonged. She eventually found her position as a labourer in her uncle’s house. After working on her uncle’s farm for two years and being denied an opportunity for education, she faced the most significant abandonment in her life: being turned
This feeling intensifies when Mr. Brocklehurst arrives to take Jane away to Lowood School. Her aunt is pleased to see her go, but manages to influence Jane's life even after Jane is settled in at the charity school, by informing Mr.
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.
When Jane is shunned by Mr. Brocklehurst in front of the entire Lowood population, Helen is the one person that does not immediately judge Jane. In fact, she makes her feel more comfortable in a place that is filled with punishment and hypocrisy. Though Lowood does not truly feel like home, Helen is able to provide Jane with not only all the compassion she needs as well as support and respect. This is one of the first loves Jane experiences on her journey and it allows her to become more open to the love she finds in her future endeavors.
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.
It is very obvious now that Jane has matured and grown from a little girl with little self-confidence, to a mature and successful woman with self-confidence and experience. The obstacles she had to encounter throughout some of the stages of her life had made her stronger and her self-confidence had grown, also because of certain people in her life. Jane believed in herself and her morals, and as a result was so successful in her life and she was able to achieve a high position of self-confidence at the end of the novel. She developed self-confidence and maintained it my knowing her self-worth, and having faith in what she believes in.