The Analysis of the Character of the Heroine in the Novel of Jane Eyre

1、分析小说简爱中女主人公的性格the analysis of the character of the heroine in the novel of jane eyrecontentsabstract. 1 key words.1 i. introduction2 ii. the introduction of the author and jane eyre31. the introduction of the author and her writings.32. the introduction of the jane eyre.4iii. the factors of affect j

2、ane eyres character.51. the life environment.52. religion.63. social class.6iv. the character of jane eyre7 1. the development of jane eyres character72. the independent spirit83. jane eyres attitude towards love.101) janes pursuit of true love102) janes pursuit of honest in love.123) jane eyres pur

3、suit of liberty and equality12(1) the pursuit of the liberty.13(2) the equality between men and women134. jane eyrethe representative of feminism14v. conclusion15references.16the analysis of the character of the heroine in the novel jane eyreabstract: jane eyre is the masterpiece of charlotte bronte

4、, who is a famous talented realistic woman novelist. this thesis discusses the characters of jane in the social background of realism. it includes jane eyres pursuit of love and her pursuit of liberty and equality. jane is neither a very beautiful woman, nor rich, but her genuine, selfless love for

5、rochester, and her good personality strike us deeply. on the other hand, we should see the authors limitation. in that society, it is impossible for jane and rochester to be really equal in social class. they are just equal in spirit. they get together because rochester has been blinded by the fire

6、and has lost his wealth at the end of the novel. therefore, they get married on the condition that their gap of social classes narrows. however, we should learn her virtue. we should pursue our ideals and have our opinions about everything. jane eyre sets a good example for women and is a good model

7、 for women forever. 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

8、 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

9、 has pronounced necessary for their sex. 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 sta

10、nce, using the principles of literature to chart the minds recesses. thus, jane eyre is an epitome of femininity young independent individual nature in her morals and has strong christian virtues, dominant, assertive.key words: jane eyre; character; independent spirit; liberty; equality; feminism摘 要

11、：简爱是夏落蒂勃朗特的杰作，她是一个著名的有才智的现实主义女作家。这篇论文在现实主义的社会背景里讨论简的性格。它包括了简爱对爱情的追求以及对自由和平等的追求。简既不漂亮也不富有，但是她聪颖，对罗彻斯特无私的爱，而且她好的个性无不深深打动着我们。但从另一方面来分析，我们也应该看见作者的限制性，在那个社会里，根本不可能在社会阶级里存在简和罗彻斯特真正意义上的平等，他们仅仅是精神上的平等，他们能在一起是因为在小说的结尾罗彻斯特在大火中失明了并且丢失了他的财富。因此他们结婚是建立在社会等级的鸿沟变窄的条件下。然而，我们应该学到她的精髓，女性应该追求和坚持每一个自己的思想和观点。简爱永远为女性树立了优秀

12、的榜样。女人通常被认为是很冷静的，但是女人的感觉常常又被认为是作为男人的感觉，她们需要为她们的能力不懈的锻炼，而且她们需要付出比她们兄弟更多的努力才能在她们自己的领域里不断发展。她们遭受了比男人更多的束缚和苦难，她们被认为在创造思维上很狭隘，通常也许人们认为它们只能做家务、织毛衣、织袜子或者弹钢琴，如果她们努力比男人做的更多和学的更多来证明她们并不比男人差。一个女权主义者的信仰和行为是建立在女权主义的基础上的（在社会、政治、经济和性别平等的信仰）。简爱清晰地展示了女性在性别歧视和社会等级方面的例子，它包含了强有力的女权主义思想，用文学的原则去阐述这一思想。因此，简爱是女权主义的典范年轻的、独立

13、的、个人的个性在她的道德观念上，在她强有力的基督实质和支配欲和分配欲上。关键词：简爱；性格；独立精神；自由；平等；女权主义i. introduction the development of jane eyres character is central to the novel. from the beginning, jane possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in god, and a passionate disposition.

14、 her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel, and jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects of her so as to find contentment. charlotte bronte may have created the character of jane eyre as a means of coming to terms with elements of her own life. much eviden

15、ce suggests that bronte, too, struggled to find a balance between love and freedom and to find others who understood her. at many plots in the book, jane voices the authors then-radical opinions on religion, social class, and gender. jane eyre is the masterpiece of charlotte bronte, who is a famous

16、talented realistic woman novelist. this thesis discusses the characters of jane in the social background of realism. it includes jane eyres pursuit of love and her pursuit of liberty and equality. jane is neither a very beautiful woman, nor rich, but her genuine, selfless love for rochester, and her

17、 good personality attract us deeply. on the other hand, we should see the authors limitation. in that society, it is impossible for jane and rochester to be really equal in social class. they are just equal in spirit. they get together because rochester has been blinded by the fire and has lost his

18、wealth at the end of the novel. therefore, they get married on the condition that their gap of social classes narrows. however, we should learn her virtue. we should pursue our ideals and have our opinions about everything. jane eyre sets a good example for women and is a good model for women foreve

19、r. the story can be interpreted as a symbol of the independent spirit. ii. the introduction of the author and jane eyre1. the introduction of the author and her writingscharlotte bronte (1816-1855) was born in the family of a poor country clergyman at haworth, yorkshire, in northern england. in this

20、 period of tense class struggle appeared a new literary trend-critical realism. english critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. the critical realists described with much vividness and great artistic skill the chief traits of the english society and cr

21、iticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. she and three of her sisters were sent to a charity school where they were cruelly treated, and where her two elder sisters died. in 1835-1838 she worked as a school teacher, and later as governess. in 1842 she went with her sister emily to

22、 study languages at a school in brussels, where during 1843 she was employed as a teacher. in the next year she was back at haworth, and in 1846 appeared a volume of verse entitled poems by curer, ellis, and action bell, the pseudonyms of charlotte, emily, and anne respectively. the professor, charl

23、ottes first novel, was rejected by different publishers, and it was not published till after her death. she went to write another novel, jane eyre, which was published in 1847 and achieved immediate success. with striking force and truthfulness, he creates pictures of bourgeois civilization, describ

24、ing the misery and sufferings the hardship of the common people.the method of critical realism was further adopted by such writers as charlotte bronte. in writing jane eyre, charlotte bronte chiefly resorts to the realistic approach, but her realism are heightened by her sparkle of romantic imaginat

25、ion. the novel is marked throughout by intensity, intensity of vision is the descriptive passages, intensity of feeling in the emotional scenes. the passionate involvement of the heroine jane eyre in every situation endows the novel. but sorrows came to charlotte for in that year her only brother an

26、d emily died, and anne died the following year. charlotte, the only surviving child of the family, outlived her sisters and brother by some years, with restless energy, she wrote two other novels, shirley(1849), her second novel, dealing with the life of workers at the time of the luddites movement.

27、 the last novel by charlotte bronte, villette, came out in 1853. in villette, the author again draws from her own life experience and creates a woman character from a poor family who fights her way in the world with her intelligence, and strong will. the heroine is shown as having no money, beauty,

28、or friends, and in order to support herself she teaches at a girls school at brussels, belgium. in 1854 she married her fathers curate a.b. nicholas, but died a few months later. 2. the introduction of jane eyrejane eyre was a born resister, whose parents went off when she was very young, and her au

29、ntmrs.reed, the only relative she had，treated her as badly as a ragtag. jane is imprised in the red-room where janes uncle died, because her aunt wants to punish her for her rebelliousness. then she is sent to logwood, a bleak charity school run by the tyrannical, mr. brocklehurst, a cruel, hypocrit

30、ical, and abusive man. where she suffers through the cruel treatment and endures a lonely and sad life. since janes education in lowood orphanage began, she didnt get what she had been expectingsimply being regarded as a common person, just the same as any other girl around. she has a unique and goo

31、d friendhelen, but finally, she is dying of concumption. the bad condition at lowood is attracting attention by public. after a group of more sympathetoic gentleman takes brocklehursts place, janes life improves dramatically. jane got a chance to be a tutor in thornfield garden. there she made the a

32、cquaintance of lovely adele and that gardens owner, rochester, a man with warm heart despite a cold face outside. jane expected to change the life from then on, but fate had decided otherwise: after jane and rochester fell in love with each other and got down to get marry, she unfortunately came to

33、know in fact rochester had got a legal wife, who seemed to be the shadow following rochester and led to his moodiness all the time. rochester was also a despairing person in need of salvation. jane did want to give him a hand, however, she made up her mind to leave, because she didnt want to betray

34、her own principles, because she was jane eyre, she knowing that it is impossible for her to be with rochester. the novel has finally got a symbolist end: jane inherited a large number of legacies and finally returned. after finding rochesters misfortune brought by his original mad wife, jane chose t

35、o stay with him forever.iii. the factors affecting jane eyres characterthe life conditions, life environment, life background and the rigid victorian hierarchies of social class and gender will pose challenges to her freedom of movement and personal growth, and corrupt morals and religion will also

36、constitute menaces to her own passion. due to these factors, when she was young, she has bear the poverty, loneliness, psychological vulnerability and passion.1. the life environment an orphan since early childhood, jane feels exiled and deserted, and the cruel treatment she receives from her aunt r

37、eed and her cousins give her feeling of alone. afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, jane feels the need to belong somewhere, to find “kindred spirits”. this desire tempers her equally intense need for autonomy and freedom.2. religionthroughout the novel, jane struggles

38、to find the right balance between moral duty and early pleasure, between obligation to her spirit and attention to her body. the novel shows three main religious figures: mr.brocklehurst, helen burns, and st. john. each represents a model of religion that jane ultimately rejects. she has own ideas a

39、bout faith and principle, and their practical consequences. helen represents a mode of christianity that stresses tolerance and acceptance. brocklehust uses religion to gain power and to control others and embodies evangelical; helen insist on trusting herself and obeys the lowoods cruel policies. w

40、hile jane hasnt such blind faith, she cant believe the god can give a justice judgment ultimately. she desires to get the love and happiness in this world. nevertheless, she believes that the god can support and guidance for her search. st. john represents another model of christian behavior. he is

41、a ambitious, glory and extreme selfish christianity. st. john forces jane to sacrifice her emotion that fulfill of janes moral duty, offering her a life way that require her to be disloyal to her own life. although jane rejects all three models of religion, she does not desert morality, spiritualism

42、 and a belief in a christian god. for example when her wedding is interrupted, she can pray to god. when she faces to the difficult, poor and starving, she still puts her survival in the hands of god. she strongly objects to rochesters lustful immorality, and she refuses to living with him while she

43、 knows that he married to another woman. even so, jane can bare the huge sadness to leave her only deeply love. she credits god can help her to escape what she has been an immoral life.for jane, religion helps depress immoderate passions, and it encourages one get worldly efforts and achievements. t

44、hese achievements include full self-knowledge and complete faith in god. 3. social classjane is a figure of ambiguous class standing and consequently, a source of extreme tension for the characters around her. janes manners, sophistication, and education are different to aristocrat, because of victo

45、rian governesses, who tutored children in etiquette as well as academics, were expected to possess the “culture” of the aristocracy. besides, as paid employees, they were more or less treated as servants; thus, jane remains powerless while at thornfield. jane understands of the double standard when

46、she becomes aware of her feelings for rochester. she is equal with rochesters intellectual, but not equal with his social. jane is hesitant to marry rochester because she senses that she would feel indebted to him for “condescending” to marry her. janes distress appears most strongly, seem to be bro

47、ntes critique of victorian class attitudes. jane eyre is societys boundaries bent. ultimately, jane marries to rochester as his equal because she has magically got her own inheritance from her uncle.jane eyre starts her story as an orphan from a wealthy and cultivated family, and this ambiguous soci

48、al, there is much of the novels internal tension and conflict. janes education and semi-aristocratic lifestyle are those of the upper class, but she has no money. as an orphan forced to live on the relatives charity, jane is a kind of second-class citizen. in some ways she is below even the servants

49、, who certainly have no obligation to treat her respectfully. the appearance is that when jane suffers teasing and punishment from john reed and his hateful mother. janes banishment to the red-room exemplifies her inferior position with regard to the rest of the members of the reed household. the cl

50、ass and gender hierarchies strengthen janes sense of exile.iv. the character of jane eyre1. the development of jane eyres characterthe development of jane eyres character is related to her life environment. in jane eyre, there are five distinct stages of development, each linked to a particular plac

51、e: janes childhood at gateshead, her education at the lowood school, she as a turot at thornfield, her time with the river family at morton and at moor house, and her reunion with and marriage to rochester at jerndean. from these various experiences, jane becomes the mature and steady-handed woman.

52、from the beginning, jane possesses a sense of her self-respect and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in god, and a passionate disposition. her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel, and jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects of her

53、so as to find contentment. jane loses both of her parents shortly after birth. she lives at the household of her aunt, mrs. reed, an unfeeling woman, who is rude and unjust to the poor orphan. her children also find pleasure in teasing and mocking jane. living under this circumstance, jane feels exi

54、led and lony at the beginning of the novel, and the cruel treatment she receives from her aunt reed and her cousins only exacerbates her feeling of alienation. afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, jane feels the need to belong somewhere. this desire tempers her equally

55、intense need for autonomy and freedom. mrs. reed doesnt like jane and sends her to a charity school for poor girls in lowood. jane stays there for 8 long years, 6 years spent in studies, and the remaining 2 years in the capacity of a teacher. then jane gets a chance of governess in the family of mr.

56、 rochester, a rich man. rochester falls in love with jane. they are preparing to be married when jane breaks the engagement on the wedding day, learning that mr. rochester has a wife, who is secretly kept under lock and key in a house. shocked by the news, jane leaves the house. she meets a lot of h

57、ardships. after nearly perishing on the moors, she is taken in and cared for by a person, john rivers. after she experiences a lot, we can see that in her search for freedom, jane also struggles with the question of what type of freedom she wants. while rochester initially offers jane a chance to liberate her passions, jane comes to realize that such freedom could also mean enslavement. by living as rochesters mistress, she would be sacrificing her dignity and integrity for her feelings. st john rivers offers jane another kind of freedom: the freedom is not obeyed her principl