Christianity and Evangelism in Jane Eyre

2480 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of the britiah east india company in india's history

Christianity and Evangelism in Jane Eyre

There were great changes in the religious arena during the time of Victorian England. John Wesley had his warm heart experience, India had been opened to missionizing, and a Utilitarian and Evangelical shift had occurred. Charlotte Brontë would have felt the effects of these things, being a daughter of the clergy, and by simply being a daughter of the Victorian era. Her novel, Jane Eyre, serves as a reaction to Utilitarianism, and the protagonist Jane emerges as an Evangelical figure. By using this novel as a tool for Evangelism itself, Brontë has a platform to fulfill moral obligations, and to have a discourse with the socially held views of her time. Beyond this, it also addresses the intrinsic struggle between Paganism and Christianity.

The original position of the East India Company and the English Parliament was, the resistance against allowing missionary work in India, and that the clergy would be commissioned to serve only the European population there. They took this stance, because they felt the inhabitants would feel threatened and cause problems for those who had financial interests in the area. In 1813, with the passing of a new Charter Act, India was opened to missionary activity, and many jumped at the opportunity to sacrifice all for the sake of “heathen” souls. (Viswanathan 36)

The very personification of this ideal comes in the form of Brontë’s character, St. John Rivers, Jane Eyre’s cousin and almost fiancé. He expounds on this when he explains:

After a season of darkness and struggling, light broke and relief fell; my cramped existence all at once spread out to a plain without bounds-my powers heard a call from heaven to rise, g...

... middle of paper ...

... the great religious impact it is meant to have. Christ, should and will, win out in the end – as the last line of the novel says, “Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!”

Works Cited

“Brigit.” Encarta Encyclopedia Online. 2004. http://encarta.msn.com

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J. Dunn. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2001.

“Evangelism.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. 2004. http://www.m-w.com

Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.

Viswanathan, Gauri. “The Beginnings of English Literary Study.” Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.

Weber, Max. “Luther’s Conception of the Calling.” The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Trans. Talcott Parsons. New York, Dover Publications Inc.

Show More
Related

  • Tom Robinson Racism Quotes

    431 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, racism has a negative outcome on most characters. Tom Robinson the man that was accused of raping a white woman, Helen Robinson Tom Robinson wife, and Jem atticus son were all affected negatively by racism.

    Read More

  • Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, racial discrimination is evident within To Kill a Mockingbird through many of the characters. Examples of this form of discrimination are Scout Finch getting stabbed by Bob Ewell, Atticus almost being attacked by a lynch mob, and Tom Robinson being shot seventeen times. One trial brought an innocent man to his premature death, a child to being assaulted by a grown man, and a father merely doing the right thing. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson were affected by racial discrimination throughout the entire novel.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre Through Bronte's Eyes

    3631 Words  | 8 Pages

    Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, was published in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Company, in London. This year is exactly ten years into Queen Victoria’s sixty-four year reign of the British Empire. The Victorian Era was renowned for its patriarchal Society and definition by class. These two things provide vital background to the novel, as Jane suffers from both. Jane Eyre relates in some ways to Brontë’s own life, as its original title suggest, “Jane Eyre: An Autobiography”. Charlotte Brontë would have suffered from too, as a relatively poor woman. She would have been treated lowly within the community. In fact, the book itself was published under a pseudonym of Currer Bell, the initials taken from Brontë’s own name, due to the fact that a book published by a woman was seen as inferior, as they were deemed intellectually substandard to men. Emily Brontë, Charlotte’s sister, was also forced to publish her most famous novel, Wuthering Heights, under the nom de plume of Ellis Bell, again taking the initials of her name to form her own alias. The novel is a political touchstone to illustrate the period in which it was written, and also acts as a critique of the Victorian patriarchal society.

    Read More

  • Depictions of Saint Sebastian in Visual Art and Music

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    Zeitgeist, a German term often attributed to philosopher Georg Hegel (1770-1831), literally means “the spirit of the time.” Zeitgeist is founded upon the understanding that a dominant school of thought—be it political, social, philosophical, or other—influences the culture of a specific period in time and that the art and thinking of that period influence one another. Zeitgeist presumes that culture and art are therefore faithfully united, since an artist is the product of his or her time.

    Read More

  • Franz Kafka's Metamorphisis

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to discover that he has been transformed into a repugnant vermin. One may never know what initiated this makeover, but the simple truth is that Gregor is now a bug, and everyone must learn to live and move on in this strenuous situation. In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the characters that interact with Gregor, including his mother, his father, and his sister Grete, must come to terms with his unfortunate metamorphosis, and each does so by reacting in a unique way. Gregor’s family members are constantly strained by this unusual event, and all three of them are pressed to their breaking point.

    Read More

  • Physical & Emotional Abuse in Jane Eyre: How This Affected Jane’s Evolution Into a Dynamic Character

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J Dunn 3rd ed. 1847. New York: W. W.

    Read More

  • Unveiling the Metamorphosis: Gregor Samsa's Insectile Existence

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thirdly, he suffers isolation from the physical world, which he is no longer able to participate in due to his presence and lack of mobility. Lastly, he suffers isolation from other people around him, especially his family. By the end even his sister, Grete, the most compassionate member of the family, explanations that they should stop thoughtful of the creature as the person they knew. She says that “the fact that we’ve believed it so long is the root of our trouble” (Kafka 48), which can be taken to mean that at some point Gregor stopped being a person not only because of his entrance but since of his non-conformist actions. The beating he receives from his father shows the extent of the cruelty he endures, though his father knows that “family duty compulsory the conquest of disgust and the use of endurance, nothing but patience” (Kafka 36). The tragedy is that this alienation ends up killing Gregor, who “dies not as a vermin, but as a human being thinking of his family”. The transformation is an indication of the breakdown of Gregor’s psyche and alienation within his self. The reader is not told how the transformation

    Read More

  • Equality In Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about equality. In the setting of this book (Maycomb, Alabama) the inequality of races is completely normal to people’s everyday lives. The disrespect of African-Americans in this book is an ordinary occurrence that most people have grown up accustomed to, but there are some who don’t wish to be a part of this discrimination. One of these people being Atticus Finch, the father of Jem and Scout. Atticus uses the world around him to teach his children how to give all people respect no matter what their race or social class is. Atticus Finch is a good-hearted, moral lawyer in the discriminatory town of Maycomb Alabama. Amongst the blabbermouths and discriminatory townspeople of Maycomb, Atticus wants his children to be different from them, and to learn how to respect the dignity of everyone using the changes in their lives to teach them.

    Read More

  • Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

    1754 Words  | 4 Pages

    Woolf, Virginia. "The Continuing Appeal of Jane Eyre." Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York: W.W. Norton, 1987. 455--457. Print.

    Read More

  • Relationship Between Men and Women: Jane Eyre and The Handmaid's Tale

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Books Bront, Charlotte (2006) Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics). Atwood, Margaret (1996)

    Read More

  • Nineteenth Century Views on Charity as Depicted in Charlotte Bronte’s Life and Novel, Jane Eyre

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the nineteenth century, the role of charity was portrayed differently by many individuals depending on what religion they followed. On one hand, many people felt obligated to help the unfortunate to comply with religious responsibility and to become better individuals. On the other hand, Others, felt that the misfortunes of the poor weren’t their responsibility. The different concepts of charity can be viewed in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, as she reveals to us the various experiences Jane underwent as an orphan. Many of the instances that Bronte mentions in her novel are references to some of the incidents she encountered in her school years. To know why charity was significantly one of Bronte’s main focuses in the novel, we will look at the conceptions that the Anglicans and other Christian groups had of charity in the nineteenth century, as well as a history of Bronte’s familial background.

    Read More

  • Max Weber’s "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism"

    2423 Words  | 5 Pages

    Max Weber’s work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is arguably one of the most important works in all of sociology and social theory, both classical and modern. In the decades since its inception, this work has gone on to influence generations of social scientists with its analysis of the effect of Protestantism on the development of modern industrial capitalism. This work, examining such broad topics as religion, economics, and history, is not only an interesting and insightful look into the history of the development of capitalism, but a major work in laying a foundation for future works of social theory. Max Weber’s main contention in this work is that what he calls the “Protestant Ethic” played a vital role in fostering the development of industrial capitalism in Europe and the United States. The Protestant Ethic was the idea found in some sects of Protestantism that one had a duty to God to succeed in their life’s work, but were bound to a lifestyle of asceticism that prevented them from spending the wealth they earned on themselves.

    Read More

  • Metamorphosis Kafka Essay

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    In final consideration the character Gregor was not a narcissistic man as we mostly assumed from his attitude in The Metamorphosis. He accepted his fate of becoming one of the misted hated and annoying insects known to man. As supported by scholarly journals, academic websites, and books I have verified my belief that the story The Metamorphosis was a true autobiographical piece of writing, and parts of the story reflected Kafka's own life. The protagonist of the story The Metamorphosis is a mirrored reflection of the author Franz Kafka's life experiences and encounters. Secondly the analysis of the story is addressed to all general population.

    Read More

  • Issues In Victorian Society In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    1283 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, is not a book that can easily be viewed through one critical theory. However, by knowing the historical background of when Bronte developed her novel, readers are able to understand Jane Eyre on a deeper level. The Victorian era was a time of change, and what authors like Charlotte Bronte did was help increase the change by shedding light into problems in Victorian society. Jane Eyre touches on many of the issues in Victorian society like feminist issues, class struggles, and the relationship between Britain and its colonies. Not only can readers see how much society has changed, but also the similarities. By understanding the novel at a historical level, readers can understand the novel through the lense

    Read More

  • Feminism In Jane Eyre

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë is about a female character battling society's conservative view on women's rights and roles in civilization. Jane Eyre was written during the Victorian Era when women were seen less than equals to men, but more as property and an asset. At the end of the era was when feminist ideas and the women's suffrage movement began to gain momentum. In the novel, Jane encounters three male characters, Mr.Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and Mr. St. John Rivers, who try to restrict her from expressing her thoughts and emotions. In Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre, Victorian ideology influences today's society by making women seem inadequate to men. Brontë wants to convey that rather than conforming to other's opinions, women should seek freedom and break free of the barrier that society has created for them.

    Read More

More about Christianity and Evangelism in Jane Eyre

Open Document