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Sunday, November 13, 2022

A clear explanation of the themes in Jane Eyre

 

THEMES

LOVE VS AUTONOMY As an orphan at Gateshead, Jane is oppressed and dependent. In order to discover herself, she must break out of these restrictive conditions and find love and independence. Jane must have the freedom to think and feel, and she seeks out other independent-minded people as the loving family she craves.

RELIGION Religion plays an important role in the life of a person and in society. It is an important part of the society in which Jane Eyre grows up. First, she comes across evangelicalism of Mr. Brocklehurst, but she finds him hypocritical and abusive. On the other side, Helen Burns, also a Christian, stands apart from that of Mr. Brocklehurst. She is a firm believer and patient, who believes in turning the other cheek. St. Johns is also a strong Christian who wants to go on a  mission to the third world. Jane agrees to go with him as a sister instead of a wife. However, St. John disagrees. Eventually, Jane looks toward God for help. She marries Mr. Rochester and restores his health. Finally, she finds her own version of Christianity to follow, one that is a balance between Helen’s and St. John’s, one that aligns with her ideas of morality and integrity

SOCIAL CLASS Life in 19th-century Britain was governed by social class, and people typically stayed in the class into which they were born. Social class determined marriage, as people tended to marry partners within their own social class. Women were in a particularly vulnerable position, as men and their families tended to choose a suitable wife on the basis of the woman's dowry, a sum of money that the male received from the bride's family through marriage. Both as an orphan at Gateshead and as a governess at Thornfield, Jane holds a position that is between classes, and interacts with people of every level, from working-class servants to aristocrats.

Social and historical context In the Victorian era, women's wealth and dowry determined who they should marry. Through marriage, the husband would receive the dowry, making the woman dependent on the husband.

GENDER RELATIONS Jane struggles continually to achieve equality and to overcome oppression. In addition to class hierarchy, she must fight against patriarchal domination—against those who believe women to be inferior to men and try to treat them as such. Three central male figures threaten her desire for equality and dignity: Mr. Brocklehurst, Edward Rochester, and St. John Rivers. All three are misogynistic on some level. Each tries to keep Jane in a submissive position, where she is unable to express her own thoughts and feelings

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

PASSION-she tries to control her passions,  St John Rivers is passionless, Jane and Rochester’s love is full of passion, Bertha Mason is the extreme of uncontrolled passion

SELF-DISCOVERY Self-discovery or bildungsroman means that the main protagonist goes through various experiences to grow as an adult. The novel revolves around this change or transformation of Jane, who has to go through various experiences. During the journey self-discovery, Jane forms strong views about marriage without love. She tells it to St. John, a pragmatist, that if she marries him without love, he would perhaps kill her. Secondly, Jane discovers that she must love a person whom she understands. Finally, through her ordeals, she learns that she must be independent and happy.

ANXIETY AND UNCERTAINTY Brontë draws on frightening Gothic imagery to highlight anxiety and uncertainty surrounding Jane’s place in the world, especially by describing the supernatural. Further, many scholars have identified Bertha as a Gothic double of Jane, or a physical manifestation of the violent passions and anger that Jane possessed in her younger years. This connection between Bertha and Jane highlights anxieties around Jane becoming Rochester’s bride. Even without knowledge of Bertha, Jane worries Rochester will tire of her, and their marriage would upend rigid Victorian social class structure by having a governess marry her master.

 

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