An Analysis of the Heroine in Jane Eyre

1、浅析简爱的女主人公an analysis of the heroine in jane eyrecontentsabstract.1keywords.1i. introduction.2ii. textual analysis .2 1. four period of jane eyre life.2 2. a brief analysis of jane7iii. the love of jane.10 iv. jane eyres pursuit of liberty and equality111. the equality of social classes between jane

2、and rochester.122. the equality between men and women13v. conclusion.14references14an analysis of the heroine in jane eyre abstract: the most famous novel jane eyre is a story replete with romance, morality, mystery and confidence. the protagonist jane eyre is an intelligent, honest, plain-featured

3、young girl forced to contend with oppression, inequality and hardships. although she meets with a series of individuals who threaten her autonomy, jane repeatedly succeeds in asserting herself and maintains her principles of justice, human dignity and morality. she becomes a very successful heroine

4、in the end of the novel. her personality is full of self-confidence and she longs for life and love. thats why she could go through hardships and achieve success in the novel. her strong belief in gender and social equality challenges the victorian prejudices against women and the poor. actually she

5、 is not pretty and of course the ordinary appearance does not make others feel good of her, even her own aunt feel disgusted with her. faced with other peoples maltreatment and the repression, jane does not retreat but showed her rebellion. during the period jane realizes the importance of independe

6、nce. to maintain the independence, she resists the tempatation of passion and treasure. she prefers the purer life, in her life-time she never stopped her pursuit.key words: self-confidence；independence；love；pursuit;摘 要：著名的小说简爱是一个充满浪漫，道德，神秘与信任的故事，主人公简爱是一个智慧，真诚，相貌平凡却敢于与压迫，不平等与艰难挑战的女孩，尽管她面临着一系列个人对她自主的

7、威胁，她仍旧成功地坚持表明着她道德与人格尊严的原则，小说的最终她成为了一个非常成功的女性，她的个性充满着自信和对生活与爱情强烈的渴望，这正是她可以冲破一切的困境最终成功的原因，她有着与维多利亚时代社会不平等，妇女歧视与贫穷挑战的强烈信念。她并不漂亮，理所当然，它平凡的外表并没有让别人对她产生好感，甚至于她自己的姨妈都非常厌恶她，面对这些人们的虐待与镇压，简爱并不退缩并坚强地反抗，在这段时间，简爱真正认识到独立的重要性，对于情感与经济，她坚持独立，自主。在她的一生中从没有停止过追求。关键词：自信；独立；爱情；追求i. introductionjane eyre is charlotte bron

8、tes best literary production. in the history of english literature , it shows a great value all the time. at that time feminism was popularized. many women were not satisfied with their social status and began to fight for their right of independence, equality and freedom. the heroine of jane eyre p

9、layed the role of a great woman in society. 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. her integrity is continually tes

10、ted over the course of the novel, and jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects so as to find contentment, jane eyre is a poor but aspiring, small in body but huge in soul, obscure but self-respecting girl. after we close the covers of the book, after having a long journey of the

11、 spirit, jane eyre, a marvelous figure has left us so much to recall and to think about her goodness for someone who lost arms and even for someone who had hurt her deeply in the past. her pursuit of justice, her self-respect and the persistent pursuit of equality and liberty make us think about lif

12、e and we learn much from her experience, at least, we have a fresh new recognition of the real beauty.ii. textual analysis 1.four periods of jane eyres lifejane eyre is an exquisite and impassioned work of english literature. in the nineteenth century, charlotte bronte wrote of a womans continuous j

13、ourney through life in search of acceptance and inner peace. each of the physical journeys made by the main character, jane eyre, has a significant effect on her emotions and causes her to grow and change into the woman she finally becomes. her experiences at lowood school, thornfield hall and moor

14、house ingeniously correspond with each stage of jane eyres inner quest and development from an immature child to an intelligent, rebellious and independent woman. at gateshead hall, jane began to realize the importance of independence. at lowood school, jane gained strength from her teacher and fell

15、ow students to achieve her independence. at thornfield, jane showed her independent spirit fully. at moor house, jane learned the pleasure of self-sufficiency1) at gateshead hall.when she was a little girl, jane began to realize the importance of independence. ten-year-old jane, orphaned by the deat

16、h of her parents and uncle, led an unhappy life under the care of her aunt, mrs. reed. due to the cruel treatment of her aunt and cousins, jane had severe outbursts of revenge, which resulted in her departure from gateshead, where jane spent almost ten years of her life. however, the ten years was a

17、 nightmare for her. therefore, reading was one of the ways that jane could escape from the reality. furthermore, going to school was another way that jane was hoping for so she could depart from mrs. reed. by the age of ten, jane was already a fearless and self-governing little girl. once in an outb

18、reak with john, jane fought back and is shut up in a horrible house. it is the first time that jane has shown her resentment through action. then jane began to realize the importance of independence. from reed, jane learned dependence and incompetence brought nothing. mrs.reed, a harsh and unsympath

19、etic woman looked down upon her. she even said that jane was less important than a servant in her family. furthermore, jane was often beaten and insulted by her cousins. elisa and georgiana were proud to her. the servants had prejudice against her. especially john reed struck jane sharply and hard.

20、jane was so accustomed to his insults that dependence and incompetence invited nothing but scorn. having the first experience, jane turned brave. she dared to tell straight to her aunt what she thought of her.in the “red room”, she realized that she needed to be self-reliant. she said: “people think

21、 you are a good woman, but you are bad, hard-hearted, i will let everybody at lowood know what you are, and what you have done!” now, janes self consciousness began panting in her mind. but it was not realized by her. however, we can not help admiring for great bravery. we also feel happy for her fi

22、rst factor she has gained. 2) at lowood school jane gained strength from her teacher and fellow students to achieve her independence. during the years in lowood school, jane suffered a lot both physically and mentally. jane is the same as the little girls in gateshead except she was more independent

23、 in her spirit than before. what she experienced in lowood school carved her into a more strong-minded girl. in the school, jane was luckily consoled by the kindness of a teacher, miss temple and the friendship of helen burns. the influence of the two representatives of religion was attractive to he

24、r because they were kind and morally impressive.in lowood school, the more she studied, the more she felt dissatisfied with the authorities. so when miss temple left the school, leaving jane a prey to her dissection and her hunger, jane thirsted for real knowledge of life. like christian in doubting

25、 castle she realized that it lied with herself to escape into freedom. different from the first battle, her consciousness of freedom was completely realized by herself. at lowood institution, jane learned from helen the importance of duty and self-control and gained strength from her fellow students

26、 and teachers to achieve her independence. although the school condition was harsh, the girls could not even keep the simplest living, yet jane did not lose confidence and courage to face the difficulties. the school headmaster was a very hard-hearted person who prevented the girls from having norma

27、l mental growth. only the bible was taught, the girls and the whole education were to bring them up submissive slaves to the rich. jane spent eight years amid intolerable living condition. the bad living condition and imperious rules destroyed all the orphans. however, jane strived for independence

28、and expressed her humanity and protested the suppression of personality in victorian society.jane also learned from miss temple the value of independence. when jane was criticized as a liar receiving a terrible punishment of mr. brocklehurst, jane was very sad longing for friendship. miss temple was

29、 very kind. when girls did anything well, she praised them generously. her friendship and company had been a comfort to jane. she had stood for jane in the place of a mother, teacher and friend. staying with miss temple, jane strengthened herself to strike back at enemies. she also learned from miss

30、 temple the importance of duty and self-control. when jane returned to gateshead, she set herself to learn qualify herself as a teacher, but she wanted to change her life. so she went to thornfield hall to advertise a position of governess. finally she was employed to teach rochesters daughter.3) at

31、 thornnfield hall jane showed her independent spirit fully. 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 know in fact rochester had got a legal wife, who seeme

32、d to be the shadow following rochester and led to his moodiness all the time. rochester was also a despairing person in need of salvation. janes understanding about the double standard showed completely when she became aware of her feeling for rochester. in her search for freedom, jane struggled wit

33、h the question of what type of freedom she wanted. while rochester initially offers jane a chance to liberate her passions, jane came to realize that such freedom could also mean enslavement-by living as rochesters mistress, she would be sacrificing her dignity for the sake of her feelings. even tho

34、ugh rochester insisted jane would break his heart if she refused him. torn between her love for rochester and her own integrity, jane chose the latter one. so jane fleed from thornnfield in the middle of the night, with very little money and nowhere to go.as a governess at thornfield, jane acquired

35、a function, dignity, and affection, and something like a home. but she was still not satisfied. she believed the existence of “the more vivid kinds of goodness”- love and marriage. she pursuited for an equal love. she longed to live on herself so that she could preserve the independence of her perso

36、nality. she felt “the more he bought me, the more my check burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation.” all of these made janes personality diffuse a particular kind of glamour. jane got along with adele very well. she taught what she knew to this little girl. in spite of janes plainness and p

37、overty, rochester was fascinated by her wit, independence and courage. he fell in love with her, and she felt at times as if he was her relative rather than her master. as a frank woman, jane was free to feel and to speak as she felt. it was a declaration of equality. jane was not afraid to tell him

38、 that she loved him, but she despised him from thinking of marrying a rich and beautiful but spiritually inferior girl. jane was so much less conventional in its womans declaration of love.in jane eyre, jane as the representative of the women, became articulate, confronting man on equal terms. jane

39、left rochester, knowing the truth of his marriage. she thought that the marriage should not be built on money. staying with the very man she loved, jane still worked as adeles governess. she made a living by herself and “need not sell her soul to buy bliss.” she refused to have sexual relationship w

40、ith him because she did not want to lose her independence for her passion. unfortunately, their wedding was cancelled on the ground yet. just as they were holding the marriage in the church, mr. mason came in with a lawyer declaring that mr. rochester still had a wife alive. rochester had already ma

41、rried and his wife, who was thought to have been mad, was still alive. though it is painful for her to leave mr. rochester she knew she couldnt give up her independence and self-dignity. she thinks staying at thornfield will corrupt both of them. so she would rather suffer hardships. the ceremony wa

42、s broken off at the last moment.4) at moor housejane was given a position as a teacher of village school. she finally leaded an independent life in her own little house. later, st. john learned janes true identity, and in an incredible coincidence, it transpired that st. john and his sister are actu

43、ally janes cousins. jane also conveniently inherited a large sum of money from an uncle who lived abroad. the cousins were left without inheritance because of an old family feud, but jane promptly splited the money so that all four of them were now financially secure. this gave st. john the means to

44、 pursue his true calling, to go to india as a missionary. he asked jane to marry him and to accompany him to india. now jane had the opportunity to choose a husband of high morals, but she knew st. john did not truly love her. this was the opposite of the situation she had with mr. rochester. pressu

45、red by st. john, jane nearly succumbed to his proposal, but at the last minute, she heard rochesters voice calling her in the wind, and she feels she must respond to that call. she traveled immediately to thornfield hall, and then she married rochester. at last jane and rochester leaded a very happy

46、 life.jane eyre, who had been a wager, happy woman, became a cold and lonely girl again. when she left mr. rochester, her hopes were all dead. jane thought that she should not stay with him as a mistress and lose her integrity. luckily st. john rivers and his sisters saved her with great efforts. it

47、 happened that they were her cousins. john rivers family was very kind to jane. st. john river treated jane warmly, she was eager to accept any means of employment that could support herself. she was afraid to bring to others trouble. with st. john rivers help, she got a job as a teacher in a villag

48、e school. she carried on the work of the village school as actively and faithfully as she could. she gained social respect by her teaching, and the students parents were grateful to jane. in the time, she was becoming popular in the neighborhood.since she became rich, she would rather keep her post

49、of teacher till someone was found to take her place. jane still pursued true love. st. john rivers was a clergyman and decided to devote his life to religious affairs. he urged to marry jane in order to undertake missionary or at his side. he needed jane to accompany him to indian not because he lov

50、ed her, but because he admired her and wanted her to serve as his assistance, jane found him a very important yet severe master. gradually he gained a certain influence over jane and it took away her freedom of mind, jane could no longer laugh or talk freely when he was standing nearly. jane rejecte

51、d st. johns offer of marriage because she did not want to live as a tool to serve god. as she wondered, mr. rochester. only the time jane hears mr. rochester calling for her independence of spirit is gained. following her own heart, jane returns to thornfield. she travels immediately to thornfield h

52、all, only to find it abandoned and ruined by a devastating fire. she learns that mr. rochester. who lost a hand, an eye, and the sight of the other eye as a result of trying unsuccessfully to save bertha from the flames, lives nearby at a house called ferndean. jane goes to him, they reconcile, and

53、she marries himshe wrote in the perspective of ten years after their marriage and told of their firstborn son. eventually mr. rochester gained part of one eyes sight back and was able to see the child. nonetheless, the events of janes stay at moor house were necessary tests of janes autonomy. only a

54、fter proving her self-sufficiency to herself could she marry rochester and not be asymmetrically dependent upon him as her “master”. the marriage could be one between equals. as jane said, “i am my husbands life as fully as he is mine. to be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, a

55、s gay as in company. we are precisely suited in character-perfect concord is the result.” janes long quest to find love and a sense of independence was finally fulfilled.the escape from st. john to mr. rochester was the reverse of her flight from thornfield, and in leaving moor house she had none of

56、 doubts that she felt on leaving mr. rochester formerly; to return to mr. rochester was a mature decision and she was not to be dissuaded by conventional arguments. now, jane had grown into a mature self completely. she became the master of her own fate.2. a brief analysis of jane charlotte bronte c

57、ame from a large family of irish origin. when she was young, she was sent to a school for clergymens daughters. her sisters died there due to the poor and unhealthy conditions. this experience inspired the later portrayal of lowood school in jane eyre. as she grew up, she worked either as a teacher

58、or a governess in some private families. later, she fell in love with a married man, her german professor. in fact, jane eyre was her embodiment.this intensifies the readers dilemma as to what is right and wrong in the dramatic relationships which are part of janes life. can we believe what the heroine says, or is she deceiving herself? the novel is primarily a love story and a romance where wishes come true but only after trials and suffering. the supernatural has its place, as do dreams, portents and prophesies.