Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 4

Prof.

: Maria- Ana Tupan Adelina- Mihaela Course: English Literature Chinese- English, group 11

Moisoiu I st year,

Jane Eyre bet een history and ro!an"e


ROMANTICISM IN JANE EYRE

Jane Eyre is a novel with an obvious theme of romanticism. After reading and fully understanding Jane Eyre, one is able to understand the different techniques and styles of writing that Charlotte Bront used to create the romantic genre thread that is found throughout the entire novel. In the novel, Jane Eyre, a high moral tone is evident in author Charlotte Bront s writing. !he novel is set in the "ictorian era, a time during which the Emotionalist #oral $hiloso%hy was %o%ular. Bront, whose father was a reverend, e&%resses her own dee%ly religious views and morals through her writing, %lacing Jane Eyre in the romantic novel genre. Although seemingly insignificant at first glance, there are many religious references throughout this novel. !he title character, Jane, follows a strict moral code and has a very religious u%bringing at 'owood (chool. #r. )ochester, her love interest, on the other hand, a%%ears to have no conce%t of morality and chooses instead to ignore his %roblems and deny any religion. At the end of the novel, however, after )ochester is blinded in the fire, his %hysical disability causes him to have a s%iritual and moral resurrection. In addition, social, %ersonal, and religious integrity often de%ended u%on a choice between sensuality and morality . *hen Jane discovers that )ochester is already married to Bertha #ason, she chooses not to marry him because by doing so, she would render herself not his wife, but his mistress. Jane s choice in this situation was a way for Bront to add her own morals to the story. Choices li+e this throughout the novel ma+e it obvious that Bront s writing is in a high moral tone. In this novel, as well as in other romantic novels, ,actions s%ea+ louder than words.- !his means that more action ta+es %lace than words of e&%lanation and detail that sim%ly describe scenes. Beginning as early as Jane s childhood, Bront em%loys this ,actions over words- modus o%erandi. *hen Jane sees her cousin, John )eed, ,lift and %oise the boo+ and stand in act to hurl it -, Jane starts to bic+er with John obno&iously. .et rather than /ust continuing with useless ranting, Jane and John begin to quarrel %hysically. As John ,ran headlong at 0Jane12 0(he struc+1 a young gentleman-. !he form of action instead of /ust descri%tion gives the reader a better sense of what ha%%ens in the novel. By having the actual %hysical drama of Jane and John fighting, the reader is able to understand the scene fully and create an image in their mind rather than /ust e&%laining that both children were mad at each other. 3urther %roving that Jane Eyre is a romantic genre novel is the conce%t of the hero, Jane, struggling to attain an ideal. Jane strives for such things as freedom, love, social equality, education, and s%iritual wholeness throughout the novel. In the beginning, when Jane is at 'owood (chool, she struggles to find s%iritual wholeness. Jane comes across several models of religion, beginning with 4elen Burns and #r. Broc+lehurst, and later on, (t. John )ivers. Jane re/ects 4elen s mee+ and %assive inter%retation of Christianity, #r. Broc+lehurst s hy%ocritical and humiliating mode of Christianity, Page 1 of 4

Prof. : Maria- Ana Tupan Moisoiu Adelina- Mihaela Course: English Literature I st year, Chinese- English, group 11 and (t. John s ambitious, self5righteous form of Christianity. Jane also searches not /ust for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued, of belonging. !owards the beginning of the novel, Jane she says to 4elen, ,to gain some real affection from you, or #iss !em%le, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm bro+en, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a +ic+ing horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest-. Jane eventually finds both love and social class equality when she marries #r. )ochester after he is blinded in the fire. (he feels as though she is now his equal and the ,master vs. servant- roles are no longer in %lace. !his struggle to attain an ideal is evidence of the romantic genre. All of the as%ects of a romantic genre novel are noticeably and clearly evident to the reader in Jane Eyre. A romantic novel is considered to be one with high moral tone, an o%timistic outloo+, focus on action rather than character develo%ment, setting and nature which reflect the feelings of the characters, heroes struggling to attain ideals, and reading %roviding an esca%e from the daily e&istence of the %rotagonist. Charlotte Bront effectively utili6es each of these e&am%les to convey a romantic theme in her novel Jane Eyre. 4I(!7)ICA' $7I8! 73 "IE* Jane Eyre is set in the north of England sometime in the first half of the nineteenth century. 9uring this %eriod, British society was undergoing slow but significant change. $erha%s most a%%arent was the transition from a rural to an industrial economy. !he Industrial )evolution had begun in Britain in the late :;<<s, and by the time of Jane Eyre, it was running full steam. Education for girls in Victorian England. 3or the most %art, "ictorian English society se%arated the duties of men and women into com%letely se%arate s%heres. !his meant that the male head of the family assumed the duty of earning an income, while his female counter%art wor+ed within the domestic circle. A woman %ursuing a higher education found herself branded with names such as =long5tailed shee%,= an allusion to a farm animal that does not garner a high %rice at a sale. 'i+e the long5tailed shee%, a well5taught woman was not considered a valuable commodity. Charlotte Bront contradicts these notions in her novel, however. In Jane Eyre, the character of )ochester, at whose estate Jane is em%loyed, finds himself attracted to her because of, rather than des%ite, her acute wit. *hile Jane does not %ossess the %hysical attributes of some of the other females whom )ochester +nows, her intellectual ca%acity ma+es her a stimulating com%anion. In "ictorian England, the ma/or barrier facing women was the %revalent belief that the female mind could not sufficiently acquire and retain intellectual material. !raditionalists argued that women were %hysically and mentally unfit for serious intellectual %ursuits. In view of this %revailing attitude, women received only a limited education in certain =a%%ro%riate= sub/ects. According to the traditional curriculum, girls studied English, history, geogra%hy, and (cri%ture. !hey did not delve into mathematics, science, or the classics. (ociety e&%ected that its women dis%lay a %roficiency in art, music, 3rench, sewing, and singing. !hese talents, %eo%le reasoned, would enable a young woman to %rovide a fitting and cultivated home for her husband. 3or the most %art, girls received their %rimary education at home, usually from their mothers. "ictorian mothers instructed their young %u%ils not only in the traditional sub/ects, but in the s+ills of housewifery as well. >%%er5 middle5class families also %aid for their daughters to attend s%ecial boarding schools. Another breed of boarding school, commonly +nown as =de%lorable schools,= acted Page 2 of 4

Prof. : Maria- Ana Tupan Moisoiu Adelina- Mihaela Course: English Literature I st year, Chinese- English, group 11 as dum%ing grounds for or%hans and other unwanted children. !hese establishments focused less on education than on disci%line. 'owood Institution, in Bront?s novel, re%resents one such establishment. !he "ictorian governess. Another form of education during the %eriod was %rovided by female instructors that lived and taught within a family?s home. @nown as governesses, these women were hired by u%%er5middleclass and u%%er5class %arents to %rovide schooling for their children. In the novel, Jane earns her living in this occu%ation. Because the ability to hire this ty%e of hel% was regarded as an indication of gentility and membershi% in elite society, families that could afford the services of a governess were rarely without one. !he term governess was used to refer to a woman who taught in a school, traveled to her em%loyee?s house to teach, or resided with her %u%ils. By the year :AB:, England em%loyed over ;B<,<<< women as domestic servants, CB,<<< of whom were governesses. !his occu%ation held a definite a%%eal for the middleclass woman. (ince the variety of =suitable= /obs available to women was limited, a %osition as a governess %rovided a wor+ing woman with a unique o%%ortunity to maintain a fairly res%ectable lifestyle. In addition, a woman who had no male su%%orter to furnish her with a home could find lodgings through such wor+. In Bront?s novel, (t. John )ivers de%arts from England on a missionary tri% to India. Although Jane is as+ed to accom%any him, she declines. 'i+e other missionaries, (t. John aimed to convert the 4indu Indians to Christianity. Jane says of him, =he clears their 0the Indians?1 %ainful way to im%rovementD he hews down li+e a giant the %re/udices of creed and cast that encumber it= Jane Eyre, %. E;;F. !he caste system to which Jane refers is a 4indu belief in s%iritual hierarchy that relegates individuals to different %ositions in life. According to this religion, once one is born into a certain caste, one may not move out of it in that lifetime. (t. John and Jane frown on the system because it se%arates individuals into rigid social grou%s. Ironically, British control and su%%ression of India?s %eo%les caused a similar, %erha%s even stricter, se%aration between the native %o%ulation and the Euro%ean colonists. The West Indies and Jane Eyre. In addition to British India, the colonial em%ire of the British *est Indies surfaces in the novel, es%ecially through )ochester?s first wife, Bertha #ason. !he madwoman in Jane Eyre, Bertha is a white Jamaican Creole. In real life, the British settled in Jamaica in the last quarter of the :G<<s, %roceeding to establish sugar %lantations on the island and ma+ing it a lucrative %art of their *est Indies em%ire. By :A<; the British had im%orted some H<<,<<< African slaves into Jamaica to wor+ its %lantations, and a social hierarchy emerged. In the u%%er classes, from which Bertha comes, were %lanters, government officials, %rofessionals, and merchants. Bertha is, however, a Creole, a %erson of Euro%ean descent born in the *est Indies. "iewed as a mi&ture of two cultures, her character reflects a Euro%ean fear of contamination5she is %ortrayed as a crawling, bestial %erson. 4er character also reflects a fear of the harmful effect that tro%ical climates might have on Euro%ean women. !his same fear is e&%ressed in worry over how Jane might be affected if she voyages to India. Jane seems in the novel to identify with %eo%les regarded as inferior in the British Em%ire. (he refers to herself as a slave and com%ares her own o%%ression to that suffered by the %eo%les under coloni6ation. !here is evidence that the novel?s author shared Jane?s a%%arent sym%athy for slaves. (lavery had been abolished in the British Em%ire in :AHH, but there was a movement afoot in the :AE<s for worldwide abolition, which Bront su%%orted as a =glorious deed= IBront in @ucich, %. :<AF. !his :AE<s movement argued that slavery %oisons the character of not only the slave but also the Page 3 of 4

Prof. : Maria- Ana Tupan Moisoiu Adelina- Mihaela Course: English Literature I st year, Chinese- English, group 11 slaveholder5 in Jane Eyre, the madwoman Bertha becomes a living e&am%le of this argument.

Page 4 of 4

Вам также может понравиться