Jane Eyre Study Guide
“Jane Eyre” is a British novel written by Charlotte Bronte, also known under the pen name Currer Bell. It was published in 1847 and has provoked a storm of feelings and thoughts among its readers ever since. The high intensity of the Christian religion in the morals of the text goes in line with the concepts of class subordination, feminism, and sexuality.
The story follows the young woman as she grows up and discovers her sensitivity, feelings, morals, consciousness and, most importantly individualism. It’s because of such focus on personal feelings and experiences that the author now finds herself among such literary names as Proust and Joyce.
Jane Eyre grew up in a family of her aunt that never really grew fond of her. She always felt unwanted and at the periphery of the lives of her aunt, cousins and their relatives. The only thing they gave her and taught her is dutifulness and submissiveness. One day the brutality of her brother’s behavior provokes a fight between them. As a result, Jane is sent to a boarding school at an advice from a family doctor.
Despite severe school conditions with its cold rooms, scarce food and poor clothes, being there still pleases the young girl much more. It’s here that she meets friends who teach her tenderness, femininity, and spirituality. Eventually, she becomes a teacher and then a governess to Adele Varens. At this time she falls in love with her mysterious employer, Edward Fairfax Rochester.
One can say that the story has a happy ending because after everything that happened between them Jane Eyre is engaged to the man she loves. Jane also finds out that she has family and quite a big sum of inherited money. But not everything is so easy and that’s exactly what makes the book so real and relevant even today.
Author: Teresa Nelson
New Essays
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte uses many types of imagery to provide understanding of the characters and also to express reoccurring themes in the novel. Through bird imagery specifically, we are able to see Jane develop from a small, unhappy child into a mature and satisfied young woman...
The social system of the Victorian era was one that was heavily influenced by the patriarchal right of men. This social construct favored men while forcing women into submission. Sigmund Freud, in his essay entitled “The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming,” articulated that women...
Jane Eyre, a novel written by Charlotte Bronte, is about a young girl named Jane that struggles to discover her identity. Jane’s a girl who is “unhappy, very unhappy”(23). She grows up with relatives that treat her unfairly because her diseased family was not wealthy...
The major criticisms of the novel in question to be the melodrama used by the author and the wickedness of character shown in Jane and Mr. Rochester. While most critics admired the style of writing and truth of character portrayal, they did not admire the improbability of circumstances or the...