Theme Of Moral Ambiguity In Jane Eyre

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Joon Choi
Ms. Postma
AP English/ 4th Period
Jane Eyre Essay
3/14/2014
St. John’s Moral Ambiguity and Jane’s Understanding of Self-Respect
Every great story includes a morally ambiguous character, often either a Byronic hero whom everyone loves despite his utterly depressing nature and moral flaws (such as Hamlet in Hamlet and Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities) or a strict, principled character who unfortunately earns the readers’ hostility as his moral ambiguity is somewhat deeply offensive to many. The example of the latter is St. John Rivers, a morally ambiguous character in Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, who is a compassionate man but has a quite misogynistic characteristic that he vainly attempts to have a loveless marriage with Jane Eyre, expecting her to be subservient. Nevertheless, despite his moral flaws, as St. John makes a moral determination that surprisingly resembles that of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte allows the protagonist to project her own image onto St. John, the morally ambiguous character of the novel. As a consequence, St. John Rivers contributes to the work as a whole by drawing the very meaning of the text, Jane’s quest for love and self-respect, and allowing Jane Eyre to appreciate herself in her entirety and realize the true meaning of self-respect.
Jane Eyre finds her own image in St. John Rivers as they share several similarities in their moral determinations. After learning of Bertha Mason’s existence, Jane Eyre refuses to stay in Thornfield, fearing that she might lose her self-respect if she would give into Feeling, or “temptation” (447). The Feeling demands her to comply with Rochester’s entreaty, asking “Who in the world cares for you [Jane]? Or who will be injured by what you do?” (4...

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...conflicts generated by the characters’ moral ambiguity. In Jane Eyre, as St. John Rivers’s passion for spiritually superior life, abiding by the principles of God, ultimately encourages him to coerce Jane into marriage, Jane finds the love without desire equally appalling as the love without principles. Nevertheless, at the same time, Jane acknowledges that her self-respect can be accomplished when she avoids neglecting her inner desires and accept herself in her entirety. St. John Rivers, the morally ambiguous character, plays a pivotal role in the novel as he reveals the meaning of the text through the conflict with the protagonist and develops the overall theme of the novel: the self-respect arises from appreciating oneself as a whole, not from concealing the inner Feeling from others.

Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: Puffin Books, 1994. Print.

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