Jane Eyre: Pivotal Moment In Her Life

After receiving little to no love while living at Gateshead, Jane is able to find temporary maternal figures in Bessie, Miss Temple, and Mrs.Fairfax. As a result Jane will do anything possible to keep this love longterm. This is shown when Jane speaks to Helen Burns “Look here; to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest”(70). This displays just how deep the war of love versus of autonomy is in Jane’s heart. These women help her navigate through life with their guidance. Although their assistance is commendable, Jane does not appear to feel truly loved until feeling in love with Mr.Rochester. However, after the marriage is unexpectedly interrupted Jane leaves Thornfield with the unfilled hope for true love. On her fortuitous journey, Jane encounters a man who is willing to rescue her named St. John Rivers. Unknowing that this man is her relative, Jane creates the alias Jane Elliot. Unintentionally, St. John Rivers discovers Jane’s true identity thus causing him to reveal that she is his cousin. Upon this divulge Jane is informed that she is to inherit twenty thousand pounds from her uncle John Eyre. After splitting her inheritance with cousins St.John, Mary,

Jane's childhood trauma results as a product of her times at Gateshed and Lowood. There were a series of irreversible problems that Jane had to deal with. She was born an orphan into a house devoid of love or respect for her. It is not overly emotionally healthy to live with the "ostracism by the Reed family and the unrelenting anxiety over the chidings of the servants, the violence of John Reed, and the punishments and berating of Mrs. Reed." (Ashe 10) Evidently, Jane had this lifestyle since she was little. This can be inferred from Mrs. Reeds loving statement "I hated it the first time I set my eyes on it-a sickly, whining, pining thing" (7)

Through a close reading of the selected passage of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, a reader can see that Jane attempts to separate herself from her decisions by personifying her emotions and giving them a specific voice, which strongly reflects the societal views of the time. At this point in the story, Jane has discovered, on her wedding day, that Mr. Rochester is still married to a woman named Bertha, and that woman still lives in his house. Distraught, Jane locks herself in her room and tries to decide what she should do. When she wakes up the next day, she is again confronted with what she needs to do in the wake of her discovery.

Both girls receive inheritances from a relative, which allow them to reach the contentment with their lives that they were both searching for. Jane finds herself with 20,000 pounds from an unknown uncle, which eventually allows her to return to Mr. Rochester as an equal, instead of as his hired help. Since this is basically all Jane has longed for since leaving Mr. Rochester, her newfound wealth gives her the chance to be happy again. Her pride would never before allow her to return to

How can a girl, who started out with nothing, blossom into a well educated, generous, blissful woman? Well, in Jane Eyre, the main character overcomes all obstacles thrown at her and makes a great life for herself. From a miserable, orphaned young girl to a happily married, well educated woman, Jane Eyre transforms immensely throughout the novel. Through her many experiences in essential locations, she grows significantly at Gateshead, Lowood School, Thornfield, Marsh End, and Ferndean.

Jane Eyre is the main character on the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte who did not have strong personality while living with aunt Mrs. Reed and her children, but after Jane was sent to the Lowood Institution, a charity school for girls. During school years, about eight years, Jane became mature, and accepted the harsh truth about life; knew how to draw, to play piano; learned French, and was loved by everyone by her sweet personality. Blanche Ingram, on the other hand, is more of "very showy" but "not genuine." Mr. Rochester knew, however, marrying Jane will be too easy, and she will because of his social status and money. So instead of making Jane's life easier, Mr. Rochester plays small affair with Blanche which eventually turned out into marriage.

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.

Rochester. Jane wanted equality for most of her life, because throughout Jane Eyre’s life she has only been put down. After meeting Mr. Rochester Jane felt equal to Mr. Rochester, and feel in love with him. Jane was intellectually equal to Mr. Rochester. Because Jane feels equal and feels loved Jane decided to sacrifice her dreams. Jane did not want to be anyone’s mistress rather Jane wanted to make a name for herself. Jane always dreamed of being loved by someone and build a school to educate unfortunate young girls, but Jane gave up her dreams of bringing positivity to the world. Jane was given a chance by St. John to travel to India, and educate the woman in India, but Jane happily rejects the proposal from St. John for Mr. Rochester’s love and to serve Mr. Rochester’s every need. Jane says this “Shake me off, then, sir—push me away, for I’ll not leave you of my own accord” (Brontë pg. 444) reassuringly to the jealous Mr. Rochester, and Jane saying this displays that Jane will be with Mr. Rochester through every tough time that life throws at them. From this it is shown that Jane values love and equality more than her hopes and

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).

Further, Nancy Pell points out in her article, “Both Rochester and Jane have acquired their wealth in untimely or arbitrary ways through the deaths of their predecessors in the line of inheritance” (418) suggesting that although Jane presents herself as an independent woman, she is reliant on patriarchal hierarchy for her wealth and thus is not nearly as rebellious as she may seem. While both of these arguments have merit, they are also problematic. Jane is able to accomplish her goal of being an independent woman, and this is a significant thing. Yes, her money comes from her wealthy relative, but it is not as though Jane has not worked hard and tried to make her own money. Options for a Victorian woman to acquire wealth are limited to either marriage or inheritance, and while these are both connected to patriarchal systems it is worth noting that Jane has refused twice to marry for monetary security, demonstrating that inheritance is the more liberating of the two.

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.

The first passage is from when Jane Eyre is locked in the attic room by force by Abbot and Bessie. Despite her just being punished, along with her earlier treatments, young Jane sees this room as a “jail.” She feels trapped. Unable to express herself in the ways that she sees fit without being tormented by John, or scorned by Mrs. Reed, Jane is forced to accept and take the abuse. When she passes the mirror, she sees a tiny white figure. “All looked colder and darker” to her “than in reality.” She was looking at herself. It is a case of Jane’s internal feelings reflecting on her external appearance and situation. Jane wants to break free and express herself, but feels restrained by her body and her restrictions. The “glittering eyes” that she describes represent her will to be free. It shows a shimmering of hope that she holds on to. The description of “moving while all else was still” also shows how Jane is the only one in the house that is capable of this type of expression. Everything else in comparison to her

Previously Jane was undeknoced to the details of rochester's first marriage, but with that knowledge she was able to understand and forgive him. She felt empathy knowing she too had tried much to attempt to please her family. But above all else, was his devotion to a mad woman, whom he had been forced to marry. Despite excessive validation/valid reasons for him to put her away,he kept his vow, risking his own life to save her. Throughout the course of the story Jane learns not to dwell on the past, nor dream of the future, but to concentrate on the

This shows that Jane has a different view from the traditional one, namely that she thinks that women are equal to men. At a later stage in her life, when she inherits twenty thousand pounds from her uncle, she also reacts different from the traditional standards. She wants to divide the money equally with her nephew and cousins (Brontë 505). However, St John calls this “contrary to all custom” (Brontë 507), because normally someone from a lower class would keep the money for himself.

A feminist is a person whose beliefs and behavior are based on feminism (belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes). Jane Eyre is clearly a critique of assumptions about both gender and social class. It contains a strong feminist stance; it speaks to deep, timeless human urges and fears, using the principles of literature to chart the mind?s recesses. Thus, Jane Eyre is an epitome of femininity - a young independent individual steadfast in her morals and has strong Christian virtues, dominant, assertive and principled. That itself is no small feat.