Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Theme of love in literature
Importance of relationships in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Theme of love in literature
“Jane Eyre” The Idolization of One’s Lover
“My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and, more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for his creature whom I had made my idol” (Brontë, 361). -Jane Eyre
“After my youth and manhood, passed half in unutterable misery and half in dreary solitude, I have for the first time found what I can truly love – I have found you. You are my sympathy- my better self - my good angel – I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre
…show more content…
Throughout the novel, Brontë touches light on the struggle between passionate love and the moral obligations we learn through religion. Jane and Rochester’s relationship is constantly tested by the moral standards Jane holds herself to. However, one can argue that love is blind and may cause someone idolize their lover. The passages above exemplify how Jane and Rochester replace their religious and moral responsibilities with their love for each other. The first passage is describing how Jane’s love for Rochester is becoming so deep that she is disregarding her moral duties. Brontë depicts Jane’s neglect for her morals when Janes uses that line that “He stood between me and every thought of religion… (Brontë, 361)”. Jane even describes Rochester as her “whole world” and “her hope of heaven”. Jane has become completely infatuated with Rochester, so much so, that she replaces her love and obligations for God with her passion for Rochester. It’s also important to stress that before Jane had met Rochester her “hope of heaven” was to be free from having to answer to anyone and yearned for …show more content…
He continues in calling her metaphors like “my sympathy”, “my better self”, “my good angel”. The metaphor “my sympathy” connotes to my salvation, meaning that Jane has saved Rochester’s soul. “My better self” connotes to my better half, meaning that Jane is his one true love and partner. “My good angel” means that Jane is Rochester’s only light in the darkness. These first three metaphors describe Jane as Rochester’s salvations, almost idolizing her as his spiritual
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.
This passage is essential to the novels development as Bronte uses it as a turning point in the central protagonist, Jane Eyre's life and character development. In this extract Jane is forced to break the ties to those around her to achieve freedom, independence and most importantly happiness without infringing on her morals and values. Jane must leave Mr. Rochester so that she doesn't degrade herself as a human being.
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.
...nd the re-union of Mr. Rochester and Jane Mr. Rochester can finally be in the relationship he always desired, but at the cost of his hand and eyesight; adding even more to his suffering, but at least now he has his true love to be by his side.
Jane’s perspective of love is based upon a mutual understanding and equality. Jane’s equality in a relationship is derived from her desire of independence. Jane reveals her need of independence in her relationship with Mr. Rochester when she told him she would always call him master but she would not be inferior to him. Haiyan Gao asserts in her article “Reflection On feminism in Jane Eyre,” “Jane loves Rochester with all her heart and Rochester’s status and wealth make him so high above for Jane to approach, yet she never feels herself inferior to Rochester though she is a humble family teacher.” It is also notable that Jane does not pursue a relationship with Mr. Rochester with the intention of gaining money. Her love is solely based on equality and independence and not status, power, or property. As Heidi Kelchner proclaims in her article “Jane Eyre,” “Although she ranks far below Rochester in social rank and wealth, she feels equal to him in soul, understanding his true nature.” Jane has pure intentions in her marriage with Mr. Rochester as she believes he is her equal and true love. Jane proves that she seeks true love once more when she rejects St. John Rivers marriage proposal. St. John had offered Jane an invitation to become his missionary wife in India. Jane acknowledges that he does not seek marriage for love but instead for religious purposes. Therefore, Jane proposes an alternate plan that allows her to serve as a single, independent missionary and co-worker of John. As Heidi Kelchner affirms Jane’s thoughts in her article “Jane Eyre,” “As St. John’s wife, she fears she would be restrained, and always checked forced to keep the fire of her nature continually low.” She would not be degraded to an object but rather wanted to stand as a strong independent woman. Jane would not accept the humiliated marriage to please St. John’s wishes. She would continue to look for true love based upon
Passion and reason, their opposition and eventual bringing together, serve as constant themes throughout the book. "Unjust!--unjust! Said my reason...How all my brain was in tumult, and all my heart in resurrection!" (Bronte, 17) Jane's passions are uncontrolled because she is not using reason. We see the dangers of nature and passion tempered by reason in the scene in which Rochester almost marries. Jane must get over her overwhelming passion for Mr. Rochester or Jane runs the risk of losing herself. In this case, passion nearly gains a victory over reason. Jane nearly loses her own personality in her overwhelming love. "Feeling without judgment is a washy draught indeed; but judgment untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition" (Bronte, 247). In other words, the individual must attain a balance between reason and passion, not be dominated by one or the other.
In the well-praised novel Jane Eyre, the balance of passion (early 19th Century romanticism) and reason (Victorian realism) is represented as a major theme throughout. Bronte successfully displays the balance of passion and reason between Jane's relationship with Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers as an obligatory aspect of marriage as well as a necessary ideology of life. Jane struggles with the balance of passion and reason initially with her relationship with Mr. Rochester at Thornfield. Her internal conflict soon continues when she meets St. John Rivers at Marsh End. Although Jane does not properly balance the novel's theme of passion and reason instantly, she achieves the balance at the end of the novel with Mr. Rochester.
Explore how Charlotte Bronte presents the character of Jane Eyre in the novel of the same name, noting the effects of social and historical influences on the text. Jane Eyre was a plain and insignificant unloved orphan, she was cared for by her aunt Reed, who did not like her but was obliged to look after her because it was a request of Mr. Reed who was also Jane's uncle. Eventually she was sent away to school after fighting with her bullying cousin John and getting locked in the room her Uncle died in, and she fainted. The school was awful with a horrible owner and bad conditions; there was a typhus epidemic in which her friend Helen Burns died.
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 is everything Mr. Rochester wants from a marriage. Rochester compares the two women as he states, “compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder- this face with that mask- this form with that bulk” (845). In this excerpt from the novel Mr. Rochester describes the physical differences between the two women; however, the reader can infer that Rochester values Jane for more than just her physical appearance. Rochester describes Jane with having “clear eyes” indicating Jane’s capability of in-depth thinking. Jane is intelligent and inspires heated conversation between her and Rochester. Rochester falls in love with Jane because she is his equal, ‘“my bride is here’, he said again drawing me to him, ‘because my equal is here, and my likeness’” (816). Bertha was never capable of challenging Rochester’s intelligence. Mr. Rochester wants to marry Jane for love, but he also wants to marry her because she is a representation of an ideal woman of this era. In the eighteen-hundreds women were expected to cook, clean, take care of children, and obey their husbands. Rochester’s first wife was incapable of fulfilling these duties; thus, Jane was depicted as a woman who was more than capable of fulfilling her duties as a wife to Rochester. Jane is also shown as an opposite to Bertha because Rochester married Bertha for money and social
...led her to her death. In comparison, Jane is described to be plain with a big heart, and it is just this compassion and kindness that won Mr. Rochester’s true love. Brontë is able to look past what is on the outside and recognize the beauty that is within a person.
In case the reader failed to recognize the opportunity the Rochester marriage gives her to see Bronte's views, she puts in the book the could-be St. John marriage. St. John decides not to marry Rosamund Oliver based on his passion for her. He completely shuns his passion, the opposite extreme of Rochester. In doing this and basing his marriage decision on his duty to God, he looses a genuine chance to gain true happiness. Through this example in Jane Eyre, Bronte is trying to show the reader that the opposite end of the spectrum is also wrong in making a marriage decision.
She demanded respect, and often reminded other characters that she was human, and was capable of doing much more than she, and all women in society, were restricted from doing. Jane tells Mr. Rochester, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you,” (___). Here Jane not only challenges the beliefs of Mr. Rochester, telling him that she has feelings, she also acknowledges the issue of how differently women are treated based on physical and social attributes. Jane argues that if she were beautiful and wealthy, that Mr. Rochester would have thought twice about leaving her. This is a reflection of society’s view on women; it shows how women are valued based on their appearances and social status, which is also an issue that pertains in this day in age. Women reading Jane Eyre now can still relate to the issues that come from being a women and the challenges revolving around physical beauty and self perception, which is why this book is so important and revolutionary in feminist literature. To this day, most women can relate to the issues that Jane faces, and it brings across an empowering message to readers, showing them that a woman can be “plain
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.
The realistic novel places greater emphasis on its characters, rather than its plot, and explores the relationships between these characters. The selected passage shows both the servant-master aspect of Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship, as well as its romantic nature. At the beginning of the selected passage, Jane affectionately describes Mr. Rochester as a “kind master,” which is indicative that even after his proposal, she is unable to separate herself from her position as a servant. This is further emphasized when Jane states that “he would send for [her] in the morning,” whic...