Jane Eyre,a Progressive Christian not a Rebel

易菲

Abstract:ln this paper, the author analyzed Jane Fyre's character not froi the traditional way to re-gard her as a fighter with rebellious spmt, but froi the Christianity. The paper iainly discussedthe gradual foriation of Jane's Salvation belief, and how such belief can lead her to pass the Spiri-tual Blindness. The eiphasis of this study lies in that Jane with such belief c:an forgive her eneiy.save those in need, and love the one she cares.

Key Words:Salvation forgive love sin;Jane lyre

中圖分類號 :J821. 2

文獻標碼 : A

文章編號:1005-531 2 (2020) 20-0049-02

一、前言

Jane Eyre is generally considered as Charlotte'smost representative work. Countless critics regardJane Eyre as a plain girl with rebellious heart. It'sabsolutely true that Jane's dislike for servility, andher insistence on equality that make the book unique,but why not this be seen from another angle, from theChristian's belief? Particularly, one of the most im-portant belief, the Salvation.Salvation originatesfrom the Greek word ,which means "save". There is apremise for salvation that everyone has his/her sin orfault, in order to make up for the sin, he/she has tosuffer some torture so that one could be saved by theGod. In this book, the Jane Eyre's Salvation can bereflected from her life experience, such as she re-ceives the idea of Salvation from Helen Burns; Shegains the self-salvation by forgiving Mrs. Reed at herliving death; and with the belief of Salvation shesaves the soul of Mr. Rochester when he loses his for-tune.

二、The Salvation belief from Helen

When Jane first talked to Helen, she could onlyarmed herself with some rude words, while the latteracted as a patient guide. It's hard for little Janecomprehend that doctrine of endurance from Helen com-pletely, but as she confessed "Still I felt that HelenBurns considered things by a light invisible to myeyes. I suspected she might be right and I wrong;”①And this invisible light is just the light of Chris-tian's belief, or the exact light of Salvation.

Many conversation between them displayed vividlyHelen's Christian mind, for instance, when Jane toldher that she would resist those who punish her unjust-ly, and Helen says:lt is not violence that best over-comes hate-nor vengeance that most certainly heals in-jury”②Helen also suggested she to read the New Tes-tament. As we know, the Christian's lives are talkedmainly in the New Testament, and the theory of Salva-tion evolving from the theory of Doomsday indicatesthat Christianity has already gets rid of the limitsof the Judaism, and becomes a real Gospel resurrec-tion. The death of Helen was a first vivid depicteddeath in Jane Eyre, and the purist death in the world.Helen's death is her last enlightenment to Jane. Sheshows how powerful the Salvation would be. The word“Resurgam”(a Latin word means rebirth) inscribed inher marble-tablet can be the best proof of her shortbut great life.

三、The reflection of Salvation belief inJane's attitude to Mrs. Reed

Jane was suffering in her hatred to Mrs. Reed, buthate and revenge can hardly free one' s heart, only thelove and forgive can do. Mrs.Reed first appeared to usas a widow favoring only her children, and was verystrict with Jane.When she was told that Mr. John diedby suicide, if she was just a rebellious and uncivi-lized girl, she should be happy with those news, butas a mature Christian and humanitarian lady, shethought these things were frightful. And when she knewthat Mrs. Reed wanted to speak to her, she decided im-mediately that she was ready to forgive Mrs. Reed andto fulfill the last wish of a dying woman.

Finally Jane kissed Mrs.Reed and called her as sheonce did, which shows clearly again that till now,nothing can be the obstacle in the way of Jane'self-Salvation. It is a happy thing that time quellsthe longings of vengeance and hushes the promptings ofrage and aversion. Actually, Jane not only forgivesMrs.Reed the one she once hats much, but also forgivesthe ten-year-old girl, the evil vow that she wouldnever call Mrs.Reed made by the little Jane herself.In this way, she understands why Helen persuaded hernot to hate. The belief of Salvation tells people thatthe life of a Christian is a life of suffering, whichdoes not abandon happiness and enjoyment, but justguides the Christian to cross through human's sin andgains the self-Salvation, then every fellow will gainshis/her rebirth and new life.

四 、The Salvation belief in Jane and Mr.Rochester's love

In Christian's Salvation, only the self-Salvationis far from enough. The reborn Jesus responsible totell people how to save themselves, and lead a hopefulroad to the mortal. Thus in order to show the Chris-tianized Jane rather than a rebel with the faith ofSalvation, Charlotte finishes the last step of Salva-tion by setting Jane to go back to Mr. Rochester.

At first, Mr. Rochester was depicted as a mid-dle-aged man with a bruised heart and a bitter memoryof the past, a man rather quick-tempered but verysharp-eyed. The appearance of Jane was like the springof wind blowing into his life. The edification of Godmakes Jane express her feelings boldly, and let herbecome so different from those ordinary women. Shefollowed the will of God to accept the love of Mr.Rochester, and wanted to be treated equally and hon-estly from the hero, while she was failed by the hero.When she was proposed by another man named John, sud-denly she heard Mr. Rochester' s calling for her myste-riously. That must be the call from God, the call fromher inner heart. After she went back to Thornfield,she was informed that the house had been set on fireby Mr. Rochester' s mad wife, and Mr. Rochester was se-riously injured. When she found the desperate man, shedecided to marry him, at the very moment, Jane bothfulfill her own salvation and also shared this conceptto Mr. Rochester with her unselfish love.

五、Conclusions

To be friend with Helen helps Jane get the firsttouch of Salvation; to forgive Mrs. Reed, makes Janegain her self-Salvation; and to save Mr. Rochesterwith her love, showing fully Jane has already pass herspiritual blindness and becoming a real Christian withthe capability to help others. Then through all this,I can conclude that with the belief of Salvation, JaneEyre is a progressive Christian, not a rebel.

注釋

①②Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre [M] .北京:當代中國出版社, 2004 (10) :66, 69.

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