Change is not always pleasant or expected, many times it comes in unorthodox and unexpected ways. For Jane Eyre, the five key sceneries change and develop her character. In the novel, Jane begins at Gateshed Hall, with a strong sense of passion and strength of will. But as the novel progresses, her sense of self improves, revealing an inner desire to find companionship for herself. From an immature child at Gateshed to a compliant servant at Lowood, she discovers her inner values and fears at Thornfield, while determining her self-worth at the Moors. Each separate location unveils different personality changes in Jane, till she finally reaches a point of happiness and womanhood at Ferndean.
Jane begins the novel as a good hearted 10 year old
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The potential romance between Mr. Rochester and Blanche conveys Jane’s passion but also jealousy. And with Blanche being “not genuine” and lacking “sympathy and pity”, she is of opposite character to Jane (211). So as Jane admits her “true affection” for Mr. Rochester, her fears of unequal social status because of money make her fear that she has become blinded by her love for him (213). While she “had once kept a sharp lookout”, her love for him makes her forget his faults and the difference in their social standings, which she believes is wrong (214). This reveals the darker troubles in Victorian social equality. With these standards Jane feels she lacks equal standing, even with her romantic equal. And though she admits her love to him, she holds her desires back because of lack of confidence. She refuses his initial marriage proposal because of her own feelings. Though she finally finds a home in Thornfield Hall, she leaves her “delightful life” because she views herself as “poor, obscure, plain, and little... ” (290-291). But while her self-confidence appears to remains unchanged, Jane shows further transformation as she expresses her happiness instead of staying silent and obedient, relaying her rise in confidence. She is tempted by his love and admiration, while threatened by the idea of becoming permanently inferior to him. We see Jane’s desire to be loved but also her deep fear of losing her own freedo and independence by wedding a husband. This fear over losing this newfound independence by becoming indebted to Mr. Rochester is what causes her to leave her “only home” of Thornfield for the unknowing home of the Rivers
Throughout Charlotte Brontë’s novel, Jane Eyre is afflicted with the feud between her moral values, and the way society perceives these notions. Jane ultimately obtains her happy ending, and Brontë’s shrewd denouement of St. John’s fate juxtaposes Jane’s blissful future with St. John’s tragic course of action. When Jane ends up at the Moor House, she is able to discover a nexus of love and family, and by doing so, she no longer feels fettered to Rochester. Moreover, Rochester is no longer Jane’s only form of psychological escape, and thus Jane is in a position to return to him without an aura of discontent. At the end of the novel, Jane is finally able to be irrevocably “blest beyond what language can express” (Brontë 459) because she is “absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh” (459).
From her troubles with the abusive Reed family, her friendships at Lowood, her love of Mr Rochester and her time with the Rivers family, Jane 's character remains strong and vigilant despite the hardships she endures. Through the course of the novel, Jane 's character changes slightly but moreover reinforces itself as Jane uses people, situations and her personal experiences to gain knowledge, and assist her gaining her full character.
Furthermore, Jane says “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” (Chapter 27, Bronte.) This statement greatly represents the growth that Jane has undergone. She no longer dreads the solitude that once haunted her because she respects herself enough to realize that she did not deserve to experience such great dismay. Through independence and self-recognition, Jane has discovered the importance of loving oneself. Without the reliance on the thoughts of others, the once extremely troubled girl found bliss through a lack of outside control. In regards to her relationship with Mr. Rochester, Jane understands that she must leave him behind to maintain her own well-being. She does not allow the wealth or proclaimed love from Rochester to skew her decisions and she does not linger to dominate the life of her lover. Instead, she moves forward to continue her endless pursuit of happiness and independence.
When Jane enters Thornfield she thinks she is going to work for a woman named Mrs. Fairfax, but she does not. She works for a mysterious man name Mr. Rochester. This man is going to be an import aspect of Jane’s life. Jane works as a governess to a young girl named Adele. Jane encounters Mr. Rochester when she goes for a walk and runs into Rochester, whose horse is injured. After the encounter Jane and Rochester start to gain interest into each other. Mr. Rochester is a man with a large amount of money and Jane is a woman with very little money, the fact that she works for Mr. Rochester defies their unprofessional relationship. “Like governesses, these marriages between older men and younger women were viewed with great ambivalence during the Victorian period”(Godfrey). Both characters develop strong feelings for one another and become close to getting married but a discovery of a secret puts the marriage to a halt. After
The novel Jane Eyre is about a young lady who was treated unfairly and all she really wanted was happiness and kindness. Many characters get introduced in this novel and many of them change, but Jane Eyre would have to be the one who changes the most. She doesn’t change in a physical way, but her mind set changes. Throughout the novel Eyre becomes frustrated, hopeless, and open minded.
When she learned that he was previously married and still a married man, she knew she couldn’t go through with the marriage. All Jane ever wanted was to be loved and its one thing that was always absent from her life. When she came to Thornfield she was loved and cared for and she finally felt as if she truly belonged somewhere. But with this feeling of belonging also came the feeling of losing herself and that loss of independence she built up. She wasn’t willing to sacrifice her integrity to become a mistress.
Jane Eyre is a coming of age story following a young woman and her journey of self-growth. At the start of the novel Jane is living with her aunt and three cousins. They continuously abuse her, treating her like a stranger rather than a family member. At the age of ten Jane leaves her aunt's house and attends boarding school. It is at this school where she learns lessons of forgiveness and hope from a meek young woman named Helen Burns. Subsequently studying and teaching at the school for eight years Jane decides to become a governess at the mysterious Thornfield mansion. She falls in love with the owner of Thornfield and the two make plans to marry. Nonetheless on the day of there wedding Jane discovers that Mr. Rochester is already married and that he keeps his insane wife Bertha trapped away in the attic of Thornfield. Devastated by this information, Jane flees Thornfield and nearly dies from cold and starvation. Soon after she is taken in by the Rivers, two sisters and one brother. The passing of Jane's uncle reveals that she and the Rivers are cousins. It is also revealed that this uncle has left Jane all his fortune. This in turn leaves Jane extremely wealthy. Her cousin St. John Rivers ask Jane for his hand in marriage. However Jane comes to the conclusion that she still loves Mr. Rochester. After declining St. John's proposal Jane journeys back to Thornfield. When she arrives at Thornfield Jane discovers the mysterious mansion in burnt ruins. It is revealed that the
The author introduces many characters who suffer significant changes throughout the novel, but the one who changed the most of them all is the main character herself: Jane Eyre. At the beginning of the novel Jane is a lively little girl, who has been misjudged and mistreated. Jane’s parents died when she was baby and she was left to the care of her uncle who later passed away and charged his wife with the care of the little girl. While her cousins are given everything they need by their mother Ms. Reed, Jane is treated by them as an unwanted annoyance. At these point she is ten years old. She wishes to please her aunt more than anything. Little Jane Eyre wants to fit in with
Throughout Jane Eyre, as Jane herself moves from one physical location to another, the settings in which she finds herself vary considerably. Bronte makes the most of this necessity by carefully arranging those settings to match the differing circumstances Jane finds herself in at each. As Jane grows older and her hopes and dreams change, the settings she finds herself in are perfectly attuned to her state of mind, but her circumstances are always defined by the walls, real and figurative, around her.
Jane and Rochester finally become equals. In result of Jane’s inheritance, the power Rochester possessed as the master is no longer present; they are both within the same class. Jane is no longer reliant on a male power. On the other hand, ironically, Rochester now relies on Jane since he is blind and has lost a hand. Leggatt and Parkes assert, “Her whole life Jane has been enclosed in other people's houses, and now that she can circulate freely in the English economy as a skilled worker she does not want to be tied to an estate which only corrupts the individual, as Rochester's case proves” (185).
As Jane experiences more extreme emotions she finds herself maturing and gaining a better understanding of the world which, in turn, provides her with the means to deal with problems both logically and sensitively. Jane is far more grown up than when she was a child and is able to handle things with more grace and poise than she did when she was younger. After Jane has discovered that Mr. Rochester has another wife who is still living she states frankly, “I must leave him, it appears. I do not want to leave him…” (299). Jane is finally beginning to find a balance between what her heart wants and what her head tells her is the right thing to do. She feels a great passion for Mr. Rochester and she has accepted this by admitting she does not
Before she can become Rochester 's wife, Jane must prove her acceptability based on class. Does she have an upper-class sensibility, despite her inferior position at Thornfield? For example, when Bessie sees Jane at Lowood, she is impressed because Jane has become "quite a lady"; in fact, her accomplishments surpass that of her cousins, yet they are still considered her social superiors based solely on wealth. The conversation emphasizes the ambiguities of Jane 's family 's class status and of the class system in general: Should a lady be judged based on academic accomplishments, money, or family name? The novel critiques the behavior of most of the upper-class characters Jane meets: Blanche Ingram is haughty and superficial, John Reed is debauched, and Eliza Reed is inhumanely cold. Rochester is a primary example of upper-class debauchery, with his series of mistresses and his attempt to make Jane a member of the harem. In her final view of Thornfield, after Bertha has burned it down, Jane
When Jane resided at Gateshead, she was dejected, sad, and lonely. Nobody had ever shown her love, and she was never happy. At Lowood, after she met Helen, Jane’s mindset changed. Helen showed Jane true love and companionship. When Mr. Brocklehurst, the greedy, miserly principal of Lowood visits the school, he punishes Jane for dropping her slate.
Though Jane is well educated and possesses the etiquette and training of a person in upper class society, social prejudices limit her because she is simply a paid servant, in their eyes. While at Thornfield, Jane falls desperately in love with the owner of Thornfield Hall, Mr. Rochester. Jane is Mr. Rochester’s intellectual contemporary, but her social status prevents her from being his true equal. In the novel, Jane proclaims, “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!” (Bronte 637). After Mr. Rochester finally proposes, Jane is hesitant to marry him because she feels as if he would be lowering himself to marry her. This feeling greatly increases after Jane discovers he is married to Bertha Mason, and that he keeps her locked away in Thornfield’s attic due to her insanity. Mr. Rochester proposes that Jane becomes his mistress, which, according to Victorian society, would be more fitting since Jane is a plain governess. Jane realizes that she can never compromise her morals that way and leaves Thornfield. While on her own, Jane still strives to gain independence, discovers new kin, and learns she has a wealthy uncle who has left her a large inheritance. After her loneliness and longing for Mr. Rochester becomes too great, she returns to Thornfield. Jane is
Gates head Hall marks the beginning of Jane Eyre’s’ quest for identity, where she is reprimanded for her self-reliance. Followed by her first school in Lowood, Jane Eyre’s’ identity is challenged by religion and her roles as a woman. She matures from childhood to adulthood and searches for a job with a higher pay, later becoming a governess for Adele Varens. Throughout the changes of her surroundings and environments, we can see that she is dependent, financially, on people that she accommodates with. Jane Eyre does not want to be dependent on others.