On the Jane Eyre’s View of Love

李菲菲

【Abstract】Jane Eyre is a world famous novel written by Charlotte Bronte. The novel creates a female who is against social pressure with rebellion and independence. The heroine， Jane Eyre， is a girl who lives under traditional pressure and pursues for independence and love bravely. This essay takes a lot of examples to show this. Meanwhile， the essay tells us Jane Eyres love standpoint that the love should rely on the independence mentally and physically.

【Key words】love； self-respect； rebellion； feminine consciousness

Ⅰ. Introduction：

Jane Eyre is a Charlotte Brontes typical work and it is a great novel in the British and even in the world literature. The novel creates a heroine with love， passion and independence. This novel has been translated into many languages and published all over the world. The character， Jane Eyre， is an orphan and finally turns into an independent woman. Although she is unfortunate and is treated heartlessly， she is very strong and not destroyed by the reality and difficulties. On the contrary， she tries to learn how to be strong and how to live in such a cruel world. She grows up from a timid little girl into a courageous woman.

This paper will talk about Jane Eyres view of love. Jane Eyre is poor and plain， she has nothing but power of individual spirit. In her view， love must be based on mutual understanding and equality. Love is not only acquaintance， but also needs equality and respect. Besides love， Jane Eyre also pursues the equality on freedom， economy， personality and social status. She does believe in equality between men and women. This essay mainly discusses Jane Eyres view of love from the three following aspect：（1） Jane Eyres character （2） Jane Eyres attitude toward love.

Ⅱ. Analysis on the Jane Eyres view of love

1. Jane Eyres Character

Jane Eyre lost her parents and became an orphan when she is only a baby.She is sent into Gateshead Hall. But her aunt， Mrs. Reed， who is an unfeeling woman， is rude and unkind to Jane Eyre. Although Jane received lots of neglect and abuse， she didnt surrender.After lots of sharp conflicts with her families， Jane left and went into Lowood school which is an orphan school.Jane was very humble and the master of Thornfield， Mr. Rochester loved her because of her intelligence， independence and courage.Jane also loved Rochester because he treated her equally.Because of her childhood suffering， she tried best to strive for her life， these make her strong in soul and self-respect. During her growing， she made a life by herself and dared to express her own ideas. Under such circumstances， she maintained her self-respect by hard work， independence， intelligence and diligence. She never gave up on her way became stronger and stronger mentally. Her kindness， independence and diligence attracted Mr. Rochester.endprint

1.1 Rebellion

Jane is a poor orphan in a poor family. During in Gateshead Hall， Jane suffered a lot from her cousins indifference， her aunts abuse， and the servants snobbery. This is the first struggle for herself. This behavior showed her rebellion deep inside. She hit back on two occasions in order to get her rights， she must fight against those who make trouble for her. Readers are firstly impressed by Jane Eyres rebellious character. At Lowood charity school， Janes rebellious character develops.

When Jane goes to Thornfield， she is neither obsequious nor supercilious to face those upper class people. She doesnt think she is inferior to them. Jane refuses when Mr. Rochester asks her to say something pleasant. But when the time goes by， Jane and Mr. Rochester get familiar and fall in love with each other. However， when Jane learnt that Mr. Rochester has a wife， who is a raving lunatic secretly kept back under lock and key in the house. Jane gets shocked and decides to leave Thornfield. She never forgets she struggles for liberty and equal rights；she never wants to be subordinate and obedient；she never wants to sacrifice her dignity. She is unbearable to marry a man with love， so she decides to rebel against her marriage. The marriage event typically shows Janes rebellion.

1.2 Initiative

After she left Lowood eight years later， Jane has learned an allegiance to duty and order， but she is eager for excitement and fulfillment strongly. She wants to seek a new position. In her opinions， women want more life outside than housework. She seeks her new life bravely and finally gets a job to become a governess. This behavior shows her initiative character.

In addition， Jane Eyre challenges the tradition customs. She is unwilling to be the appreciate object， she fight against her marriage. And Jane dares to express her ideas bravely and never hide her inner thoughts. For example， when Jane has a misunderstanding that Mr. Rochester plans to marry Ingram and wants her to stay at Thornfield， Jane speaks out her thoughts angrily. She has initiative character to fight against the unfair treatment and traditional marriage system.

1.3 Kindness

Jane is helpful. There is such a description about when she rests on a stile， a horseman and a dog is approaching. When the horse slips， the riders foot is injured， and Jane helps him.

Jane is forgiving. Jane was badly treated by Mrs. Reed， but when Jane knows that Mrs. Reed get sick seriously， she decides to visit Mrs. Reed. She bears the indifference and abuse of her cousins and shows her sympathies to her helpless aunt. She has learned to forgive others.endprint

Jane is generous and sympathetic. This can be seen from her love to Adele when she hears about Adeles story， therefore， she realizes that Mr. Rochesters kindness for the child is impersonal. Janes attitude is different from many other women， she shows her sympathizes to Adele. From these descriptions， it is true that Jane was a female people with help， forgiveness， generosity and sympathies.

2. Jane Eyres Attitude toward Love

Jane thinks that it is glorious to have the hope of living with him and being his wife. Jane loves him with her whole heart. They have a meeting of the mind. But in that social background， people pay too much attention to property， rank and status. If the disparity is great， a pair of lovers will suffer disagreement from their families and their friends. Mrs. Fairfax， one of Rochesters servants， is very surprised and feels puzzled that her master is madly clinging to Jane. But both of them do not care about the difference of status and property or others opinions. They pursue true love. They can smash the bonds of tradition and can surmount all obstacles. They are very happy and want to be married. But their marriage is stopped by the fault that Rochester is a married man；his wife is still alive. Rochester tells the fact to her， and he is full of regret about it. He tells Jane what he has done and confesses all his past history. Mr. Rochester had tried to conceal that he has a mad wife， because he loves Jane. He is worried that she could not endure the fact and would leave him if he tells her the truth. Now he exposes his secret to Jane， which also proves his sincere love for Jane. Jane forgives him， but in order not to impair her dignity， she thinks she must leave him. She wants to be his real wife， not his mistress. Although Jane can not get married to Rochester， she still loves him. It is impossible for her to hate him.

Ⅲ. Conclusion

Jane Eyre presents her own personalities as an unprecedented heroine in the novel of 19th century. In the previous novels， most of the heroines are beautiful， tender， noble and virtuous. However， Jane Eyre is poor， obscure， short. She has a soul with wisdom， strong mind and braveness. Most importantly， she is extremely strong instead of her inferiority. Jane Eyre is in pursuit for her true loved one who is a high caste. It is rare to have such a bold behavior at that time. We can read from this story that an ordinary woman pursues her love bravely and this figure is the origin of the New Female. Her power deeply touched readers of different generations. Charlotte Bronte creates an unprecedented female image， that is， equality， independence， integrity， freedom and wisdom.

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