Love, or the lack of it, can make us who we are. In the novel Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte, that statement is very true. Jane grows up without a lot of love, so she has to learn to love and standup for herself. Family, friends, and relationships make Jane happy but the times when she is not cared for or loved developed her into the woman she is at the end of the book.
For most of Jane Eyre’s childhood, she does not acquire understanding or affection from the people in her life. She grows up feeling unwanted which causes her to develop the skills and confidence she needs to be able to stand up for herself at a young age. Growing up, Jane lives with the only family she thinks she has, the Reeds. She is not treated well while living
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She becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall under the instruction of Mr. Rochester. In these times, governesses were usually poor women who were on the low end of the social class. Although Jane was a governess, she did not let this label define her. She had her own beliefs about herself and who she was and stood up for herself throughout her whole life. When Jane meets Rochester he tells her about himself. Rochester explains that since he is much older than Jane and has seen a lot of the world that he is more entitled and can be rude to people on his grounds. Jane does not agree with this and even though he is her boss, she still stands up for what she believes and says, “I don’t think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or 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 (Bronte 129). Jane is always willing to give others her opinion even if it is not popular. In this time, it would be considered extremely rude and inappropriate for a governess to speak to her boss the way Jane does, but she takes a chance to get her voice heard. While living at Thornfield, Jane is still very much herself and independent, she even declines jewels from Rochester after his first marriage proposal because it was not who she was. Jane almost married Rochester, but when she finds out that he is already married, she packs her things and leaves Thornfield Hall. Jane is very much in love with Rochester but when she finds out his secret she is able to stay independent and make her own decisions. Jane ends up at Whitcross, where she meets St. John and his sisters, only to find out that they are related to her. She is extremely happy to know that she has more family, but when St. John requests her hand in marriage she stays independent by following her beliefs and declines. Jane hears
St. John, her cousin, help find a small cottage for Jane. After her previous occupation as governess she decided to teach in a nearby school. Later in the book, St. John offer his hand in marriage to Jane, but she denied. Jane then thought of the marriage with Mr. Rochester and regretted that she said no. Jane went back to Thornfield for her lover. She wasn't happy with any other person and the only cure to her unhappiness was to marry Mr.
Jane knows that she loves Mr. Rochester and is the right one for him but she is confused because he hasn’t really interacted with her. He tries to tell her to join everyone but that isn’t what she wants. She wants to talk to him how they used to talk before. The way Jane doesn’t interact with the guests is similar to her childhood.
In Charlotte Bronte’s, Jane Eyre, Jane goes through numerous self-discoveries, herself-realization and discipline leads her to a life she chooses to make her happy. Jane Eyre has a rough life from the start. Forced to stay with people who despise her, Jane can only help herself. Jane must overcome the odds against her, which add to many. Jane is a woman with no voice, until she changes her destiny. The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte consists of continuous journeys through Jane’s life towards her final happiness and freedom.
Through the course of the novel, Jane Eyre is dependent on first her Aunt Reed, then Mr. Brocklehurst, and, subsequently, Mr. Rochester. As John Reed, her cousin, taunts her, she is “a dependent… [has] no money’” (Bronte 4), highlighting the complete control her Aunt Reed has of her life at this point. Her Aunt Reed chooses to send her to the frightful Lowood School and leads her Uncle John Eyre to believe her “’dead of typhus fever at Lowood.”’ (Bronte 217) While at Lowood, she is dependent on the dreadful Mr. Brocklehurst, a “personification of the Victorian superego,” (Gilbert and Gubar 343) who is the “absolute ruler of this little world.” (Rich 466) He uses “religion, charity, and morality to keep the poor in their place,” (Rich 466) rendering the students psychologically dependent on him. Finally, as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Jane Eyre is dependent on Mr. Rochester as his employee, required to acquiesce to his whims and to ask his...
After witnessing Helen easily endure a punishment, Jane asks her how it is possible to bear a punishment without fighting back (56-58). In response, Helen gives Jane her first lesson in religion, explaining that “it is not violence that best overcomes hate- nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury”, love is the way to peace (58). Helen’s words have a profound impact on Jane, causing her to begin to see the world as a place for forgiveness, not ardent hatred, and she begins to grow from an unruly child into a Victorian woman. When, in chapter 10, Jane is finally ready to leave the Lowood School as a governess, the transformation that Helen was a catalyst to is complete, and Jane is no longer the passionate child she once was (88). Jane’s decision to become a governess reveals her Victorian fate, and she leaves Lowood a proper, Victorian woman, a complete foil of the unruly child she was when she entered Lowood. Thus, with the help of Helen Burns, the title character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre grows from an unruly child into a true Victorian woman and enters the real world, ready to face the everyday trials of a
In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, it was love, and not age or education, that led Jane to mature and grow as a person. With the help of Helen Burns and Miss. Temple, Jane Eyre learned what it meant to love someone. Both these people influenced Jane to mature into a young lady by showing Jane their love and affection. When Jane left Lowood to become a governess, she met the love of her life, Mr. Rochester. With his love, Jane Eyre eventually matured fully and grew into a self-sufficient woman and left the hatred and anger behind.
...s Jane faces throughout her life guides her to become the person she becomes. She faces many struggles but she does not let anything stop her from getting what she wants. Bronte does an outstanding job by displaying her life into Jane Eyre's life. Even though Jane is constantly put down by people when she lives with, she never gives up in life. Helen Burns, and Miss. Temple becomes a huge support in Jane's life. Jane fights a lot to have some freedom when she was little, and when she goes to Lowood she finally regains the freedom she has been yearning. She earns a spot in the society by working her best, and with the support of few people. Jane's experiences of struggle and challenges shape the person whom she becomes at the end.
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.
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.
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.
Despite Rochester’s stern manner and unhandsome appearance, Jane still finds herself falling in love with him. During her first encounter with Rochester Jane describes him
This brought into question Jane’s grand need for independence. Jane’s equality in a relationship is derived from her desire for independence. Jane reveals her need for 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.
Jane continually advocates for herself throughout her narration. She pushes aside her ache for Mr. Rochester's affection in order to maintain her values. She does not let passion interfere with reason, arguing that if she broke her values, "What would they be worth?" a. The number of a. Jane "plants her foot" at the thought of leaving with Mr. Rochester, leaving him to travel to the unknown.
The development of Charlotte Bronte's character, Jane Eyre, becomes vital to her novel Jane Eyre, and the other characters in which she is involved. She is an intelligent, plain featured, honest young girl whose reaction to her situations brings more depth to her personality. She is forced to deal with oppression, discrimination, and at times poverty, which disrupt her strong will, dignity, and desire for freedom. At the beginning, Jane possesses a passion for pride and the idea of freedom and these characteristics, along with her integrity, are tested continuously throughout the novel by the many personalities with whom she encounters. Living in a male dominant world Jane is expected to remain obedient and docile and her passion sometimes keeps her from being able to do this. She is a rarity among obeying female characters and we see this throughout the book.
Jane's true love for Roshester becomes appearant during her walks with him at Thornfield. Jane is affected by him so much that "[her] blanks of existance were filled up; [her] bodily health improved; [she] gathered flesh and strenght" (160). She felt like his "presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire" (166). When Blanche - a new woman in Rochester's life - came along, Jane began to grow jelous, which reveals how much she actually really loves Rochester. She begins to hate herself saying "he is not of your order: keep to your caste, and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised (184). With the presence of Blanche, Jane begins pointing out her insuficiencies and the things she hates about herself. This clearly expresses jelousy, and how much she is actually in love with Rochester.