Travel as Experience in Jane Eyre
In his essay "The Progress of Error" William Cowper writes:
Returning he proclaims by many a grace,
By shrugs and strange contortions of his face,
How much a dunce, that has been sent to roam,
Excels a dunce, that has been kept at home. (Buzard 99)
In the novel, we are presented with the tale of Jane Eyre and her travels around the English countryside. What she has seen and done are not considered extraordinary but rather common to a woman of her social standing. On the other hand, Rochester as a man of wealth and land has traveled the world and seen the sights of many nations. He has been to the new world and has also completed the Grand Tour of Europe that so many aristocrats before him have done. Yet when he returns home jaded, he finds in the plainest of women something that he had not found in his countless expeditions. When Jane is betrayed by Rochester, she leaves on her own tour with only a hope of survival without him. She eventually returns from her trek and has learned what she truly desires is to be with Rochester. Rochester’s advantageous trip abroad does not deliver the hope and satisfaction that the Grand Tour promises. On the other hand, Jane’s inconvenient journey around her homeland proves revealing to her independent nature. These details closely mirror the questions that arise when the value of travel as a learning experience is considered. Ultimately, Jane learns that where one goes is less important than how one spends the time.
We see both sides of this argument in their first real conversation. While trying to explain why he finds her so interesting and at the same time must condescend to her, Rochester tells Jane that "…I have battled through a varied experience wit+h many men of many nations, and roamed over half the globe, while you have lived quietly with one set of people in one house" (140; ch. 14). Rochester believes this view of conquering more of the world makes him a stronger, better person. Jane retaliates that Rochester shouldn’t feel superior just because "…you have seen more of the world than I have – your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience" (140; ch. 14). Rochester responds by admitting he has "made an indifferent, not to say a bad use of both advantages" (140; ch.
These refugees have similar motives to come to the United States which is due t...
Throughout the novel Jane Eyre, true character was form by the people she encountered overtime from her childhood to her early adult stages. Jane’s travel has also impact the growth of Jane into being the character Charlotte Bronte wanted the audience to see farther in the novel. All Jane really wanted was Happiness and by traveling and meeting different people she was searching for that happiness that she never got as a child.
Religion is a symbolic representation of society. The sociological approach to religious belief looks at how society behaves on a whole, to answer the question, “Why are people religious?” We express our participation in religious events through plays, acts of confession, religious dances, etc. To begin to understand why we have such term, let’s understand the common elements of religion. There are different types in which people believe in or follow and that is: animatism, animism, ancestral spirits, god and goddesses, and minor supernatural beings. Beyond these different elements, such one is to have religious leaders to follow.
...ment and realization that he has lost Jane to another man in the following dialogue between them, “’I know where your heart turns, and to what it clings. The interest you cherish is lawless and unconsecrated. Long since you ought to have crushed it: now you should blush to allude to it. You think of Mr. Rochester?’ It was true. I confessed it by silence. ‘Are you going t seek Mr. Rochester?’ ‘I must find out what is become of him.’ ‘It remains for me, then,’ he said, ‘to remember you in my prayers; and to entreat God for you, in all earnestness, that you may not indeed become a castaway. I had thought I recognized in you one of the chose. But God sees not as man sees: His will be done.’” (Bronte 436) Though Jane Eyre’s stay at Moor House and Morton were crucial for her recovery to stability of her life, she yearned to be at Thornfield and wedded to Mr. Rochester.
Romeo and Juliet is a heart-breaking tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare telling us the story of two teenage ‘star-cross’d lovers’ whose unfortunate deaths ultimately unite the dispute between their two families. Despite the perils involved, they fall in love and marry with the help of two characters, Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. Throughout the play, Shakespeare portrays a range of different kinds of love through the central female characters. Maternal love is offered to Juliet by the Nurse and Juliet’s own reckless and impetuous love brought about by inexperience, which results in a doomed love. Lady Capulet shows business and more of an economic view on love. While these types of love are being shown, Shakespeare challenges the acknowledged roles of women in instances of courtly love. Instead of this, the audience witness Juliet as a fourteen year old woman taking control of her own future and rejecting her parents’ decisions to experience real heartfelt love.
Wild, calm, fierce, gentle, damaging, nurturing – nature, such an unpredictable force, can be paralleled with Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. Many of Jane Eyre’s characters resemble nature, and many of the novel’s events are supported or foreshadowed by occurrences in nature.
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
Reckless actions lead to untimely deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, both protagonists fight for their hopeless love. Bloodshed and chaos appear inevitable in fair Verona; Romeo and Juliet come from enemy households, the Montegues and the Capulets, who have sworn to defeat one another. The young and handsome Romeo weeps over his unrequited love for Rosaline, until he lays his eyes on Juliet. Strong and independent, Juliet seeks to escape her family’s will to marry her off to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince. Fate ties these adolescents’ lives together binding them to witness the ill-fortunes of Romeo and Juliet’s love. Romeo and Juliet prove themselves woefully impulsive through their words and actions, which ultimately lead them along a series of unfortunate mishaps.
Mr. Rochester’s entire life and reputation is based on manipulation. Overseas he violates his marriage vows by taking mistresses because his wife is unable to fulfill his desires. He wallows in sin and seems to have no remorse for shaming his wife. The relationship he has with all women in his life is consolidated in his relationship with Jane. His relationship with her was based on deception and destruction of innocence.
From “the fatal loins” (Prologue.5) of Lord and Lady Capulet, protagonist Juliet is born in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Early on in the play Juliet is portrayed as a very dutiful daughter to her family. After her encounter with Romeo however, she begins a rapid transformation from a naive young girl into a woman. By the end of the play Juliet’s transformation evolves her from a dutiful daughter, into a faithful wife that is willing to desert her family in the name of love.
Writers often use characters to represent a theme in a literary work or novel. Authors meticulously create characters to portray specific meanings and to highlight key factors about other characters in each book. Authors create antagonistic characters to highlight characteristics of the main characters. While protagonists are used to show how characters are the same, antagonists show how characters are different. In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Bertha Mason is an antagonistic character to Jane Eyre because the characteristics Bertha possesses enhance the reader’s view of Jane Eyre’s qualities.
Jane Eyre makes the tough decision to leave the only man that has ever loved her in Emily Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Her lover, as well as master, Edward Rochester has embarked on a journey of love with Jane, but as the truth rolls out, she makes the severe decision to leave him at Thornfield. Their wedding day ends in Rochester’s beastly wife, whom Jane knew nothing of, with her hands around Rochester’s throat. This alone is enough to drive Jane out of the relationship, but it’s his explanation is what really makes her go running.
Rochester has an insane wife locked away in his house. She denies Mr. Rochester’s request to become his mistress and finds her way to St. John and his sisters Mary and Diana’s doorstep after almost dying from hunger and dehydration due to her being homeless and poor. Jane refuses to become dependent on their family because she does not want history to repeat itself (with the Reeds and Lowood). She demonstrates this when she says “Show me how to work, or how to see work: that is all I now ask; then let me go, if it be but to meanest cottage-but till then, allow me to stay here: I dread another essay of the horrors of homeless destitution” (Brontë 353). Jane shows that she is old enough to handle herself and can become an independent woman if she has the resources to help her. All she really wants is a job and by getting a job and becoming wealthy after her Uncle John passed away, leaving her all of his money, Jane has truly become the person she has always wanted to be: an independent woman. With this confidence, Jane has the courage to refuse St. John when he proposes to her. Jane knows that if she is to marry it will be out of love not for service. In the text “I repeat: I freely consent to go with you as your fellow-missionary; but not as your wife; I cannot marry you and become part of you” (Brontë 415). Jane displays her strength, will
In spite of many hardships, Jane manages to graduate and becomes a governess under Mr. Rochester’s employment. Mr. Brocklehurst’s influence on Jane to be plain, to be an underclass to serve becomes more apparent when Jane thinks, “is it likely he (Mr. Rochester) would waste a serious thought on this indigent and insignificant plebeian?” (Bronte: 191). Having no money or a house of her own, she considers herself inferior and unlikely that Mr. Rochester, being a man of power and class, would ever lay eyes on her. When Jane leaves Thornfield after she finds out that Mr. Rochester is married, she decides that it’s better to be a schoolmistress, honest and free, than to stay and become a slave full of remorse and shame.
In some respects, Rochester did see her as his equal. For example, in chapter 15, after Jane saved Rochester’s life from the house fire. After rescuing him, Rochester shakes Janes hand and thanks her, which is a sign of submission. Another example of Rochester showing equality to Jane is in chapter 21, when Jane asks to visit Mrs. Reed and Mr. Rochester accepts her request. By letting her make her own decision shows a sense of equality. Unfortunately, just like many other characters in the novel Rochester judged her upon her wealth and gender. Rochester compared Jane to the standers that society held women. He saw her as just a poor woman that needed to be married to a rich man to have a meaningful life. Once Jane saw this view Rochester had