Love in Jane Eyre

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Jane Eyre is the most famous work of Charlotte Bronte, who is considered as an extraordinary woman novelist. Because the novel throbs with the heart-beats of its author, both literary critics and the readers have taken great interest in its unconventional heroine Jane Eyre, whose unconventionality is shown in the heroine’s pursuit of liberty, equality and independence. It is an autobiographical novel in a certain degree. This essay attempts to prove Jane is a real feminist through the analysis of her personality.

Jane Eyre is a typical and magnificent representative in English literature, not only for her plain but famous appearance but also for her character’s outstanding and alien thoughts. The image of Jane Eyre is brilliant for her rebellious character. She always insists on her principle to rebel and fights bravely against the unjust world. She still tries her best to pursue freedom, equality, independence and true love. By unremitting efforts she finally gets dignity, freedom and true love.

Jane Eyre seems to be pale, thin and weak. She is like a piece of dust, nobody pays attention to her. At any time she may disappear. She was born an orphan, with an unfortunate family and long time repressive feeling; she builds up her resistant emotion. Under this background, everyone looks down upon her. Jane asks herself “why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always abused, for ever condemned.” (Bronte, 2002:13) Her reason says “unjust!-unjust!” (Bronte, 2002:14) A first angry voice bursts out from her deep heart. When John beats her again, she attacks him viciously. She shouts at him, “Wicked and cruel boy! You are like a murderer —you are like a slave­?driver—you are like the Roman emperors!’ (Bronte, 2002:7) When Mrs. Reed tells Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane has a bad character and a deceitful disposition, she defends that “I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give it to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I.’ (Bronte, 2002:48) However, Jane is a brave soldier who dares to face up all kinds of injustice and fights against them. Before she leaves Gateshead, she rebukes her aunt’s cruelty, “How dare I, Mrs. Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth. You think I have no feelings and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I shall remember how you thrust me back—roughly and violently thrust me back—into the red- room, and locked me up there, to my dying day; though I was in agony; though I cried out, while suffocating with distress, ‘Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!’ And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me—knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions, this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful!” (Bronte, 2002:49) Jane suffers various violent treatments by her aunt and cousins; she tries her best to be a good girl but only results in failure in Mrs. Reed’s eyes.

Jane resists and resists, but finally breaks out and speaks all her anger; Jane’s courage frightens Mrs. Reed, for she knows Jane is right. In those days at Gateshead Hall, Jane’s strong, brave and unbending characteristics are expressed step by step. Her every behavior shows her great indignation. Isolation, poverty, discrimination and oppression cause her to revolt against the unfair society in her own way. Jane is driven away from and escapes from Reed’s house partly because of fearless courage. Jane fights not only for just treatment, but also for equality. This is the first step of the development of Jane Eyre’s rebellious character.

At Thornfield, Jane, as a grown-up, changes her harshness into a refined woman with good education, delicacy of feeling and gentleness of manners. At Thornfield she gets along well with everyone. Jane is mild to everyone. Adele, a girl without talent is carefully taught by Jane and made safe and happy. In such a wild world, she forgets her pain and her misery. Furthermore, she learns to be tolerant to others’ shortcomings. Hearing that Mrs. Reed is dying, she comes back soon to Gateshead. Although she once has told Mrs. Reed that she never wants to see her again, she forgets and forgives her. Jane’s delicate feeling is best revealed when she meets Rochester, who is hurt. She gives him a hand in a polite way. In spite of his rude rejection, she says, “I can not think of leaving you, sir, at so late an hour, in this solitary lane, till I see you are fit to mount your horses.” (Bronte, 2002:173)

When Jane falls in love with Rochester, she is awaken and still keeps her resistance; she makes her every effort to rebel against social prejudice and customs, struggling for independence and true love. She dares to say “no” to anyone, including her master, Mr. Rochester who is domineering and arrogant. When she talks with Mr. Rochester, she doesn’t avoid saying what she thinks whether Mr. Rochester is happy or not. On the wedding between Jane and Rochester, Jane is told that Rochester has married before. Bertha Mason, a mad woman is his wife who has been living in Thornfield. At the bad news, Jane knows if she lives with him, she will fall into the category of mistress and lose her respect. The dream of freedom, happiness and the independence which she was looking forward to would become fancies. The strength of reason is power over emotion. Jane leaves Thornfield resolutely to meet unknown fate in the future. When she almost starved to death, St. John helps her. Jane’s spirit of revolt is obviously expressed by her refusal of St. John’s offer of marriage .Jane never changes her will to follow St. John. She thinks, “If I join St. John, I abandon half myself, if I go to India, I go to premature death”, “if I do make the sacrifice he urges, I will make it absolutely: I will throw all on the altar—heart, vitals, the entire victim.” (Bronte, 2002:642) Jane says to St. John, “I scorn your idea of love.” (Bronte, 2002:649) Jane dares to rebel against St. John’s offer because she thinks they are equal. She has the right to rebel against him. This period is the perfection of Jane Eyre’s rebellions.

Toward to Jane’s pursuit of “Independence” and “Freedom”, Independence is the outstanding quality throughout the whole process of the novel. She is maltreated by her cousins and aunt.In the Red Room, she is frightened, but she keeps a clear mind that she realizes she needs to be saved from her blind fear of authority and be self-reliant. Her mind is in tumult, and all her heart in insurrection, her reason says “unjust! I never compromise to them. I shall be independent.” (Bronte, 2002:14) She hates Gateshead, hates everyone there. Moreover, At the beginning, Jane has much sympathy for Helen. Because Helen doesn’t dare to fight against the person who insults her. When Helen is to be flogged and to be asked to stand in the middle of a room that full of people. Jane thinks that Helen should turn against others when she is bullied; she should resist against Miss Scatcherd, and dislike Miss Scatcherd. From these we can see that Jane is not obedient to anyone if someone bullies her, she will do the same thing to others. As known to all, it is not violence that best overcomes hatred, nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury. And Jane learns these from Helen. Jane is deeply moved by Helen’s actions and words. “Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what your fate to be required to bear”. (Bronte, 2002:79) Then through the friendship with Helen, she learns to be self-control in a certain degree. “It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you; and besides, the Bible bids us return good for evil”. (Bronte, 2002:79), In order to lead a life of independence, Jane works as a governess at Thornfield Hall. She is looks down upon by the rich ladies of the fashionable society, but she never despises herself, she never feels herself inferior. She is satisfied with, and even proud of her honest, independent work. She loves Rochester who is in a large possession of fortune and in a high social position, but she never thinks of relying on these things. Once she immediately answers Rochester’s question about what else she needs, by saying, “Your regard: and if I give mine in return, that debt will be quit.” (Bronte, 2002:424) This kind of independence is irrevocable out of her pure soul which hasn’t been contaminated by the earthy care at all and represented the pure uprightness. When the happiness reaches the highest point where she is about to be the dreamy person’s wife, Jane keeps a clear mind, protecting her independence and her personality. She refuses all the precious gifts that could have been owned as a fiancee and reminded Rochester again and again of the responsibility she should continue to fulfill as a governess.

The another reason about why Jane is a feminist is that Jane’s attitude about love. Jane’s viewpoint shows she has clear self-awake sense of love. As a woman living in the society unequal between men and women, Jane doesn’t follow the outmoded conventions. She believes men and women are equal even if not in property, but in personality. When Rochester tells Jane that he is going to marry Miss Ingram and he insists that Jane must stay at Thornfield. Jane is angry at it. Let us see how Jane retorts to Rochester’s teasing.

“I tell you I must go!” “Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?––a machine without feelings? And I can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my lips? Do you think I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? In fact you think wrong!––I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty. and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you .I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh; it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal,—as we are!” (Bronte, 2002:396) Rochester understands fully and esteems her. Jane still maintains self-control and clear-headed when she becomes Rochester’s fiancée. She wants to protect her honor and independence. When Rochester buys diamond necklace, bracelet, ring, etc., which means to bind her, she refuses those gifts and reminds her, “I shall continue to act as Adele’s governess; by that I shall earn my board and lodging, and thirty pounds a year besides.” (Bronte, 2002:423) Thus she is such a person who regards her dignity sacredly and inviolably. Jane seeks for happiness and love, but she doesn’t think love is supreme. She can throw away traditions to follow love, but she will never sacrifice her dignity and independence for the reason of love. Obtaining equality in life is Jane’s ambition. It is equality that makes her love Rochester with all of her heart and soul; also it is equality that makes her leave Rochester with her disappointment and distress. Through mutual understanding, they gain the love between them. Jane gets Rochester’s love as well as equality. Their love is based on equal communication, equal understanding and equal spirit. As we know, Jane is deep in love with Mr. Rochester, but if love runs against independence and equality, she would rather choose the latter, though it would be a great sorrow for them two. The unfulfilled matrimonial ceremony, therefore, provides the reader a good chance to learn the good sense and shrewdness in making decisions. In the end, Jane’s return to and union with Mr. Rochester (who is not only nearly blind but relieved from his mad wife,) helps the reader see her true love for Mr. Rochester and her willing sacrifice to restore their paradise. From Jane’s perspective, The marriage pursued by women must be based on true love. She distains the money and hunt marriage, and looks down upon her artificial and hypocritical manners.

Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece; it is an autobiographical novel in a certain degree. Charlotte Bronte was so poor when she was young and she nearly could not feel her parents’ love. In addition, she is not attractive and is very short, so all of these reflect her self-humiliation. She has a strong sense of self-esteem, and she often compensates for the self-humiliation by her self-esteem. She describes Jane Eyre, in fact, she writes herself. Jane Eyre is as common as Charlotte Bronte, and she keeps going after a kind of free, bright and beautiful life because of her self-esteem. The poetic, imaginative story of the love of a young governess for her married employer also has undoubted connections with Charlotte Bronte’s experience in Brussels. It is an immediate success with both readers and most of the critics. Jane Eyre, the heroine of this novel, struggles to acquire her self-respect, independence, dignity and self-sufficiency at every stage of her life, both in struggling with social pressure, maltreatment, discrimination and in resisting against the temptation of passion. That the author describes her leading personalities in the novel, and highly praises her spirit against the oppression and social prejudice, her pursuit of the independent personality and the dignity, and her tenacious struggle for happy life is obviously aimed at revealing the call of the people of the lower class for respect and freedom, and further to awaken them to protest against the unfair society that kills humanity. And it’s in this sense that Jane moves most readers as a kind and unique image in spite of her plainness, poverty and low position. In my opinion, the value of a woman does not lie in her looks, her dress, and any other things that have a powerful fascination to men’s eyes, but in her nature, her mind, her character and her sentiment. This novel embodies the indomitable struggle of the laboring class who are awakening. The author, Charlotte Bronte calls for the equality between sexes, spiritual freedom and inviolable human dignity, showing her sympathy for the laboring class.

  • Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre Edited with an Introduction by Smith, Margaret. London: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  • Shorter, C. K. Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle. London, 1896.
  • Ellison, Edith. A Study of Bronte’s Novels. Green Wood Press, 1991.       

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Jane Eyre – Love

Longing for Love Charlotte Bronte created the novel “Jane Eyre,” with an overriding theme of love. The emotional agony that the main character experiences throughout the novel stem from the treatment received as a child, loss of loved ones, and economic hardships. To fill these voids, Jane longs for love. Ironically, Jane rejects affection at some point throughout the novel though it is that which she seeks. Her painful childhood experiences create an emotional center derived from this pain. Thus, she views love as consuming and it is not a high priority in Jane’s life.

She accepts the fact that she will probably live her life in loneliness. From the onset of the novel we view the world through the eyes of Jane, a young, penniless, orphan. At the beginning of the story she is under the care of her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed. At the Reed household, Jane is neglected and mistreated with favoritism being given only to the three obnoxious Reed children. Jane begins her struggle for love here at Gateshead. Her temper and self-will become apparent there. She stands up for herself not only to her cousins, but to Mrs. Reed as well.

You think I Burkhart 2 have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness, but I cannot live so: and you have no pity” (Bronte, 45). Her early life at Gateshead proved to be a rather traumatic period in Jane’s life. Jane “dared commit no fault: [she] strove to fulfill every duty; [she] was termed naughty and tiresome, sullen and sneaky, from morning to noon, and from noon to night” (Bronte, 22). Trying to act in accordance with Mrs. Reed and the Reed children, never purposely committing a fault, Jane was continuously “naughty” in Mrs. Reed’s eye.

Living a childhood such as Jane’s, one would expect a self-willed and rebellious personality to emerge. “I was a discord at Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody thereIf they did not love me, in fact, as little did I love them” (Bronte 23). Treated with disrespect and lack of love Jane began her journey, her quest for love. Her rebellion towards the family that hated her fueled an inner subconscious conflict dealing with love and trust. Mrs. Reed eventually sends Jane to a boarding school called Lowood Institution. Lowood is a charitable school and has the worst conditions imaginable.

It is here, where Jane meets her first true friend Helen Burns. At the orphanage, Jane forms a passionate attachment to Helen. Burkhart 3 Helen assumes a sisterly like role and teaches Jane love in the form of religion. “Read the New Testament,” Helen instructed Jane, “love your enemies” (Bronte 69). “Then I should love Mrs. Reed, which I cannot do; I should bless her son John, which is impossible”(Bronte 69). Jane does not comprehend the act of loving thy enemies. Her lack of comprehension stems from her childhood and the lack of love she received. Never in her childhood did she get the attention and love that a child deserves.

How could anyone expect someone to be able to love when she has had no example to follow? In Jane’s eyes her self-worth would severely diminish if she were to love someone who did not love her. Helen explains to Jane how Miss Scatcherd dislikes Helen’s “cast of character” (Bronte 65) and the deep impression the injustice of an enemy makes on your heart. Jane is able to gain strength from Helen’s faith. It is this faith that she attains that guides Jane through her life and ultimately leads to her happiness. Another character that has a significant influence in Jane’s life at Lowood is Miss Evans, the superintendent.

Miss Evans is primarily the first person in Jane’s life that treats Jane with justice and confidence in her ability to “make good. ” In her dealings with Miss Evans and the Burkhart 4 scolding she receives from Miss Evans, Jane puts Helen’s lessons to use. She tries to accept her scolding as if it had some higher purpose, though she is hurt inside when she is scolded. Her experiences at Lowood make her a much stronger self-willed person, though they also contribute to her decrease in rebelliousness. Jane eventually leaves Lowood and ventures to Thornfield Manor where she gains the position of governess under Mr. Edward Rochester, her master.

Meeting Mr. Rochester completely changes Jane’s life. The attention she receives, the interest, and the affection all fill voids in Jane’s life. For once a person of the opposite sex cites a level of equality among male and female, he and Jane. He states, “we stood at God’s feet, equal-as we are” showing his dedication to Jane. This was very uncommon in the Victorian era. Despite Mr. Rochester’s somber looks and brusque manner Jane grows to like him and he more than approves of Jane as well. Rochester tries to win Jane’s affection by making her jealous of the beautiful Miss Blanche Ingram with whom Jane believes he is involved.

Eventu….. ally Jane and Rochester mutually fall in love and become engaged. The night before Jane’s wedding, the mad woman kept on the Burkhart 5 third floor appears in Jane’s room and tears her wedding veil. When Jane asks Mr. Rochester about the nighttime encounter, he tells her that the woman is Grace Poole, an insane household seamstress. At the church moments before Jane and Mr. Rochester are to be married, it is revealed that Thornfield’s mad woman is Bertha Mason, whom Rochester had married in the West Indies 15 years prior. It seems that shortly after their marriage, Bertha had gone mad.

Mr. Rochester pleaded with Jane to stay. However, how could she not live as his seamstress in good moral conscience? Rochester’s dedication devastates Jane when she finds out about Bertha Mason. Marrying Mr. Rochester would mean compromising her faith in God as well as her self-worth. Jane is not willing to love without marriage and become his mistress. Her rejection poses a moral victory; a good woman could not survive a loss of virtue nor live without self-respect. She never thought that love would be a part of her life, but rather loneliness and work thus her rejection of love became her victory.

She was able to take that which she sought, and never fathomed attaining and overcome it. Jane was faced with the reality of love that had so long been denied to her, but had to continue her journey when she found his love unacceptable. Burkhart 6 “I have known you, Mr. Rochester; and it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you forever. I see the necessity of departure; and it is looking at the necessity of death. ” She is able to withstand Rochester’s pleading, “Oh, Jane,” and move on. Moving on deeply hurt Jane. Finding love and having to leave it never knowing if she would find it again was devastating.

Referring her life back to that of what her dear friend Helen had taught her, Jane forgives Mr. Rochester. “I forgave him at that moment, and on the spotI forgave him all; yet not in words, not outwardly; only at my heart’s core”(Bronte 336). She felt superiority over her “master” at this point, a feeling of which she never knew before. She asks Rochester if he thinks she is “soulless and heartless. ” She reigns superiorly over Rochester in a spiritual triumph. God had gifted her with a heart and though she had little experience of being loved before Rochester she was blessed with a heart as well.

She knew how to use it and her personal faith was her means to use it. Jane moves on destitute and with out any money or friends. “Jane Eyre, who had been an ardent, expectant Burkhart 7 woman-almost a bride-was a cold, solitary girl again: her life pale; her prospects were desolate” (Bronte 330) is taken in by Mr. St. John Rivers and his sisters. She becomes a teacher and tries to forget about her love for Mr. Rochester. St. John proposes marriage to Jane offering not love, but a place by his side in a missionary post. His offer is the total opposite of Rochester’s.

Though a difficult decision, Jane does not accept the proposal. Marrying St. John out of love would be the right thing to do in the eyes of God, but it would not make her happy. And it is that love which she seeks that would make her happy, thus continuing on her journey. Jane is then called to do what would please her. She returns to Thornfield and finds it burned to the ground. Jane discovers Mr. Rochester is living at a small farm called Ferndean with two of his servants from Thornfield. She is reunited with her true love Mr. Rochester. Jane is able to go back to Rochester due to the fact that Bertha had died in the fire.

Mr. Rochester had lost his sight and one of his hands due to the burning of Thornfield. Jane does what pleasures her and gets married to Rochester. She ends her journey finding what she longed for her whole life: true love and happiness. Burkhart 8 Growing up in the Victorian era, Jane’s views were very conventional. Her childhood particularly influenced this conventionality. Living under her strict Aunt in her early years inevitably started Jane off to a “bad” start in her life. Not having love and people who cared created a wall prohibiting Jane’s climbing of it.

If it were not for her experiences at Lowood, the Moor house, and Thornfield Manor Jane would not have been able to carry out the act of love, though it was what she was seeking. She sought love because she was not loved and every “human must [be loved] and love something” in order to live a fulfilling life. Jane originally rejects Rochester’s love because it violated her moral standards, but in the end she ends up happily in love with him. Bronte does not allow the brutality of the environment diminish Jane’s ability to experience love. Her quest for love was turbulent, but in the end Jane found the love of which she set out for.

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Sorry, but Jane Eyre Isn’t the Romance You Want It to Be

Charlotte Brontë, a woman whose life was steeped in stifled near-romance, refused to write love as ruly, predictable, or safe.

Charlotte Bronte

George Smith did not know it, but he was about to meet the world’s most famous author. It was 1848. Currer Bell, author of Jane Eyre , was the most sought-after—and most mysterious—writer in the world. Even Smith, who edited and published the book, had never met the enigmatic author, a first-time novelist who had nonetheless turned down his suggestions for revision, thanking him for the advice, then announcing the intention to ignore it.

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Bell had been right, of course, and Smith wrong. The book, and Bell’s identity, was the talk of London. And now, a very small woman stood before Smith, clutching one of Bell’s letters in her hand. She was Currer Bell, she told him. She was the author of Jane Eyre .

If life were like literature, Smith would have fallen in love with her then and there. Passionate, deeply intelligent, outspoken, and charmingly unaffected—Charlotte Brontë was an arresting, complex woman. If he did not love her already, he could learn: They would soon strike up a lively and close correspondence that lasted years. And Charlotte was charmed by his good looks and his bright, open personality. But Jane Eyre ’s diminutive author was no romantic heroine, and real life is not a romance.

Jane Eyre is, though. Right? The answer to that question is up for debate.

jane eyre love essay

It might seem like sacrilege to question the (small r) romanticism of Jane Eyre , a story that centers on the obsessive love of a teenage governess and her decades-older boss. Over the last 172 years, the book has become a touchstone for passionate love, that once-in-a-lifetime spark we are taught to long for. Even today, the book is the subject of swoony listsicles (“11 Romantic Quotes from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre ”) and essays that uphold it as “a romance novel for the modern, intelligent woman.”

But when it was published, the bestselling book incensed readers even as it seduced them. It was condemned as immoral, unfit for women’s eyes, all but fomenting revolution. And for modern scholars, its undercurrents of rage, motherlessness , colonialism , slavery , circus freakery , and even incest (!) are more compelling than its caresses.

“The early reviews of Jane Eyre strike us today as naive and misinformed,” writes Lisa Sternlieb. She lists off common critiques of the book as anti-Christian and deeply hypocritical, including one that said that “never was there a greater hater than Charlotte Brontë.” “Yet I would argue that these reviewers hit on an element of truth in the novel,” Sternlieb muses.

Hatred. Insurrection. Patriarchy. Not exactly romantic themes. Readers have always picked up on the tension between the book’s revolutionary subtexts and its uneasy relationship with love. To twenty-first-century eyes, it shows a woman who fights for, yet abdicates to, love. To nineteenth-century eyes, it showed a woman who should abdicate to, yet fights for, love. In either century, readers demand that Jane Eyre should do cultural labor that it steadfastly resists. Its author resists our attempts at that labor, too. For Charlotte Brontë, a woman whose life was steeped in stifled near-romance, refused to write love as ruly, predictable, or safe.

Charlotte’s life was not that of her heroine, and Jane Eyre is no autobiography. But by the time her most famous book was published, Charlotte was 31 years old, and an expert in the strangling, diminishing kind of romance she bequeathed her heroine.

It wasn’t always that way. As a child, she seemed marked for love. It was part and parcel of the fantasy world that enveloped her everyday life: a fictitious kingdom called Angria, which she wrote into being with her younger brother, Branwell . In what amounted to a competitive literary apprenticeship, they wove their fantasy land into a place of lewd thrills. Angria seethed with war, rape, rebellion, kidnapping, and revenge. It was a hotbed of the kind of love that could build a kingdom, then tear it to shreds.

That vision of love was so intense that it permeated into real life. When she was 23, Charlotte turned down a proposal from her best friend’s brother. “I had not, and never could have that intense attachment which would make me willing to die for him,” she wrote , “and if I ever marry it must be in that light of adoration that I will regard my husband.” Besides, she wrote, her suitor would think her a “wild, romantic enthusiast indeed” if he ever really got to know her.

Jane Eyre may have a wild, romantic streak, but its heroine’s love counters everything readers have been taught to desire. Neglected in childhood and traumatized at a school where she is humiliated and starved, Jane arrives at Thornfield ready to love. At first, it seems she’ll get her chance: There are romantic promises, forbidden glances, anguished prayers. But though her story delivers sexual tension and an agony of will-they-or-won’t-they that lasts into its final pages, nothing about Jane’s love is what you’d expect. Brontë drapes her book in the trappings of romance, then snatches them away, subverting our fantasies at every turn.

“Like so many other (yes) romance writers,” writes the literary critic Sandra M. Gilbert, “Charlotte Brontë created a heroine who wants to learn what love is and how to find it, just as she herself did. Unlike most of her predecessors, though, Brontë was unusually explicit in placing that protagonist amid dysfunctional families, perverse partnerships, and abusive caretakers.”

Chief among Brontë’s baits-and-switches is her hero, a brooding man readers—and Jane—are all too ready to adore. Edward Fairfax Rochester is boorish and brutal. He engages his 18-year-old employee in work talk that is the 19th-century version of #METOO employment investigation fodder. He’d fit right in with the modern “seduction community,” conducting a master class in negging as he reminds Jane of her inferiority, then compliments her wit. In one particularly repulsive episode, he messes with her mind by disguising himself as a Roma fortune teller.

Affection-starved Jane only realizes her “master” loves her after he pushes her toward an appalling apex of emotional cruelty. He intends to marry her rival, he implies. Then he changes his mind. Finally, after all but forcing her to accept his abrupt proposal, he takes her in his arms.

But Rochester’s momentary tenderness is just that—momentary. While he’s been playing dress-up and making out with a teenager beneath a tree in his Gothic garden, he’s been guilty of unforgivable cruelty, holding his first wife captive for her “intemperance” and, Brontë implies, her race. The wedding is called off, so Rochester makes one last bid for Jane’s love, begging her to stay and live with him as his bigamous mistress. It is too much to bear.

jane eyre love essay

The same year she turned down her first marriage proposal, Charlotte turned away from the illicit fantasies of Angria. Both she and Branwell were in their twenties now, and they had lingered together in their imaginary world for too long.

“I have now written a great many books,” she wrote . “I long to quit for a while that burning clime where we have sojourned too long… The mind would cease from excitement & turn now to a cooler region, where the dawn breaks gray and sober & the coming day for a time at least is subdued in clouds.”

Something else threw cold water on her passions: A letter she received from Britain’s poet laureate, Robert Southey, in 1837. Charlotte had sent the poet a poem of her own, asking whether it was worth pursuing her literary ambitions. But Southey didn’t encourage her. Instead, he warned her against what he called “a distempered state of mind” that would render the mundane life of a woman intolerable. “Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life,” he wrote, “and it ought not to be.” Charlotte wrote back, assuring him she’d try to write as little as possible.

A few years later, burned out on governessing and with no hopes of marriage, she continued her search for cooler climes. This time, she went to Belgium. As an adult student at a girls’ school in Brussels, Charlotte planned to acquire the “finish,” and the fluency in French, that would qualify her to run her own school in England. What she really wanted, though, was a change of scenery, an antidote to her restlessness.

She learned more than one language there. Constantin Héger, the married headmaster of the school, befriended her. He encouraged her to write, to speak her mind. For a woman who had been told there was no place for women in writing—by Britain’s most respected poet, no less—his argumentative, constructive criticisms in the margins of her essays must have had the effect of a powerful aphrodisiac. Soon she came home again, this time fleeing her obsession with Héger.

In 1913, Héger’s children published four letters from Charlotte to Héger that they had discovered among their mother’s things. Three of the four had been torn into pieces and discarded, then retrieved and carefully stitched together with paper and thread by his wife, Zoë Héger. She likely saved the letters as potential evidence; they might prove useful if Charlotte made trouble for the school. Instead, they are testimony of Charlotte’s agony.

“Day and night, I find neither rest nor peace,” she wrote . “Monsieur, the poor do not need a great deal to live on. They ask only the crumbs of bread which fall from the rich men’s table.” Charlotte was ready to take whatever crumbs he had left to give.

The author may have been hungry for crumbs, but Jane Eyre is not. When she finds out her soon-to-be-husband isn’t free to marry, she faces down his betrayal with shocked strength. When Rochester steamily suggests she move with him to France, where no one knows or cares that he’s already married, she refuses. Not that it’s not tempting. But the offer is a “silken snare,” a luxurious trap.

“While he spoke my very conscience and reason turned traitors against me, and charged me with crime in resisting him,” says Jane:

They spoke almost as loud as Feeling: and that clamoured wildly. “Oh, comply!” it said. “Who in the world cares for you? or who will be injured by what you do?” Still indomitable was the reply—“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.

Maybe Charlotte’s refusal to let her heroine sin with Rochester was a rebuke to herself. Or it may have been a reminder to move forward. Jane presses on, running away from sin and toward herself. If she cannot be on equal footing with her partner, she will not have him at all.

In this sense, Jane’s flight is as much from inequality as it is from sin. Even before he copped to his attic-bound madwoman of a wife, Rochester made it clear that he wanted to own Jane. As his wife, she would have been his concubine: a petted plaything, but not an equal. Jane’s furious opposition to that—her insistence on meeting him on equal footing—riled Jane Eyre ’s critics and appalled readers.

For the literary critic Nancy Pell, Jane’s refusal of Rochester is part of a deep-rooted critique of social and economic institutions that echoes throughout the novel. By the time she falls in love, Jane knows she can fend for herself. “Knowing that she can earn thirty pounds a year as a governess,” Pell writes , “Jane rejects being hired as a mistress or bought as a slave. Once again she resolves to keep in good health and not die.”

She does more than refuse to die; she thrives. Jane escapes Thornfield and befriends the Rivers sisters and their intolerable brother, St. John, a Calvinist minister who gives her a job as a teacher in an obscure village. Coincidence then teaches her that not only are the Rivers siblings her cousins, she is an heiress. She shares the wealth, enjoying the money that has raised her out of obscurity.

Jane has one more obstacle to overcome: St. John’s insistence that she marry him and become a missionary in India. St. John is arguably even more sadistic than Rochester. He expects Jane to follow him to the ends of the earth, and to do so with a cold substitute for love.

“God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife,” he tells her. “It is not personal, but mental endowments they have given you: you are formed for labour, not for love. A missionary’s wife you must—shall be. You shall be mine: I claim you—not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s service.”

His words could be construed as a kind of reassurance: Marital rape, he suggests, won’t be part of his bargain. But his words crack like a whip. They are the words of a man who has judged a woman’s body and found it lacking. St. John would never make out with Jane beneath a tree. If she left him, he wouldn’t beg for her to stay. He wouldn’t take her as his mistress or take her to France. The principled minister finds no pleasure in his future wife.

jane eyre love essay

Certainly, Charlotte had stopped thinking of herself as a wife by the time she wrote Jane Eyre . She was too busy watching other people’s children, tending her half-blind father, and sewing shirts for her drug-addicted brother. When they were not governessing or teaching, all of the Brontë women labored alongside their servants, peeling potatoes and baking bread, tending to the endless toil of daughters, sisters. But not wives.

“I’m certainly doomed to be an old maid,” she wrote . “I can’t expect another chance—never mind I made up my mind to that fate ever since I was twelve years old.”

Spinsterdom did have its uses: It allowed Charlotte to write. Without a husband to attend to, Charlotte could spend the hours between her father’s bedtime and her own with her pen. It could be a lonely bargain, but it was one that allowed her to create Jane Eyre .

St. John’s tempting bargain—Jane Eyre’s second proposal of marriage—is the last thing that stands between her and happiness. Equipped with new knowledge and a new dismissal of the skim-milk version of love he offers, she decides that sin on her own terms is preferable to virtue on St. John’s. Turning down her cousin and returning to a man who, for all she knows, is still married, is helped along when she hears Rochester calling her name. “But indeed, Jane doesn’t merely ‘think’ of Mr. Rochester,” notes Gilbert. “Rather, in a moment of mystically orgasmic passion she virtually brings him into being.”

Jane, bolstered by her own financial security and her refusal to be diminished by a man who sees her only as a source of labor, is in a different position than she was when she left Rochester for the first time. She is ready for his call. She is ready to go to him on her own terms.

That return has vexed readers for 172 years. Jane’s seeming surrender—her willingness to re-enter a dysfunctional, if not abusive, relationship—infuriates scholars, too, especially those immersed in feminist theory.

The book is a “patriarchal love fantasy,” writes the literary scholar Jean Wyatt in an essay tellingly named “A Patriarch of One’s Own.” For Wyatt, Jane Eyre is an expression of “defiant autonomy” that nonetheless gives in to a damaging fusion with a damaging man. Jane’s eventual marriage to her “strong oak of a man” dupes readers, Wyatt suggests:

The apparently revolutionary nature of Jane’s egalitarian marriage allows an old fantasy to get by the ideological censors of her readers, so that we all, feminists and Harlequin romance readers alike, can enjoy the unending story of having one’s patriarch all to oneself forever.

It makes for an “excruciating ending,” writes the sociologist Bonnie Zare. The completion of Jane and Rochester’s love trajectory, she writes, is painful:

For after being taken advantage of by Rochester’s abusive tricks, Jane is supposed to attain ultimate fulfillment in a subservient relationship with a husband whose devotion seems to spring mostly from his new state of physical vulnerability.

In his new wife, Zare implies, Rochester has gained an all-too-willing caretaker.

But is Jane really doomed to a life of subservience? Not exactly, says Pell. “‘An independent woman now,’ Jane reappears at Thornfield,” she writes. “She has refused to be Rochester’s mistress or St. John’s mistress of Indian schools; now she is her own mistress and her proposal to Rochester is striking… Even their marriage can hardly be considered typically Victorian. Jane possesses a great deal of money in her own right, and although Rochester is far from the helpless wreck he is sometimes taken to be, he is dependent upon Jane ‘to be helped—to be led’ until he regains his sight.”

Gilbert, too, rejects the premise that Jane Eyre demeans herself by returning to Rochester. “In a proud denial of St. John’s insulting insistence that she is ‘formed for labor, not for love,’ she chooses—and wins—a destiny of love’s labors,” she writes. “There can be no question… that what Jane calls the ‘pleasure in my services’ both she and Rochester experience in their utopian woodland is a pleasure in physical as well as spiritual intimacy, erotic as well as intellectual communion.”

In the 1840s, Jane’s love for herself was so subversive it bordered on revolution. In 2019, her love of Rochester is so shocking it borders on treason. In any era, its relationship to the love it explores is uneasy, volatile. Nearly two centuries after it was published, Jane Eyre confounds every expectation.

After they met in person, Charlotte and her editor began a correspondence that can only be described as stimulating. She already knew that Smith loved her writing—when she sent him the draft of Jane Eyre , it captivated him so much that he read it through in one sitting, neglecting visitors and appointments as he rushed through the story.

It almost seemed possible that their friendship was something deeper. When Charlotte visited London, Smith begged her to stay at his house. He treated her to every amusement the city could afford. They traveled together, through London and even to Scotland, often chaperoned by his mother or sister. They even went to a phrenologist together, delighting in her anonymity and the practitioner’s pronouncement that Charlotte’s head was “very remarkable.” She wrote him into one of her books as a handsome, good-natured love interest. When they were apart, they wrote long, chatty letters, dissecting the literary news of the day.

Though only Charlotte’s half of the correspondence survived, it is honest and remarkably open. At times it is sparkling and witty. It verges on flirty, and then it falls apart.

It’s not clear how Charlotte reacted in private when George Smith told her he was engaged to be married, but her choked response was not flirty or chatty or fun:

My dear Sir In great happiness, as in great grief—words of sympathy should be few. Accept my meed of congratulation—and believe me Sincerely yours C. Brontë

Twenty-eight words, each smarting with disappointment.

A few months earlier, something strange had happened to Charlotte Brontë: She had become an object of unrequited love. The admirer in question was Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father’s curate. It was surreal to be the one pined for, the one whose crumbs were gladly gathered. When he declared himself, she told her father, who exploded. “If I had loved Mr. N—and had heard such epithets applied to him as were used,” she told a friend, “it would have transported me past my patience.”

But she did not love him, yet. It took years of moping and quiet persuasion—and perhaps Smith’s marriage—for her to decide to marry Nicholls, a man she had previously scorned as stupid and unromantic. Finally, she agreed, though she had deep reservations. During a pre-nuptial conversation with two of her friends, the kind of conversation in which virgin women asked more experienced friends about their marital obligations, Charlotte confided that she worried about what marriage might cost her. “I cannot conceal from myself that he is not intellectual,” she said .

jane eyre love essay

Marriage did exact a price. Though Charlotte Nicholls loved her husband, he constricted her. He was horrified by the personal issues she discussed in her longstanding correspondence with Ellen Nussey, a friend since childhood.

“Arthur complains that you do not distinctly promise to burn my letters as you receive them,” she wrote in 1854, four months after her wedding. “He says you must give a plain pledge to that effect—or he will read every line I write and elect himself censor of our correspondence.”

Nussey agreed, grudgingly. Then she disobeyed him. We owe her much of what we know of Charlotte Brontë.

“Faultless he is not,” Charlotte wrote wryly, “but as you well know—I did not expect perfection.” She loved her husband, loved the settled life they led together. But later, she admitted that she had stopped writing: “My own life is more occupied than it used to be: I have not so much time for thinking.”

Did Charlotte kill herself by handing over her intellectual and physical well-being? Perhaps. She died soon after, likely from dehydration following severe morning sickness. But her nine months of marriage to Arthur Bell Nicholls were among the happiest of her life.

“There was but little feminine charm about her, and of this fact she herself was uneasily and perpetually conscious,” George Smith wrote decades later. “I believe that she would have given all her genius and fame to have been beautiful. Perhaps few women ever existed more anxious to be pretty than she, or more angrily conscious of the circumstance that she was not pretty.”

Those lines jump out from an otherwise respectful, even loving, memoir of his time with Charlotte Brontë. Smith certainly wasn’t the first person to notice that Charlotte’s nose and mouth were large, that she was missing teeth and so nearsighted she crouched over books and papers. But his assessment—his assumption that Brontë’s unease in public was due to discomfort with her physical appearance instead of, say, being unused to city life or worried about being recognized by readers or fearful of meeting her critics in person—is disappointing.

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In the end, even George Smith, who had had direct access to so many of Charlotte’s thoughts and feelings, and whom she admired so much, felt the need to snipe about her appearance instead of assessing her legacy or engaging with her body of work. Even those who cared most about Charlotte Brontë underestimated her, even after they knew she had made a deliberate choice to write a disquieting story about a plain woman in love.

“I will prove to you that you are wrong,” she reportedly told her sisters during a debate on how to write heroines. “I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as interesting as any of yours.”

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Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Here’s a seemingly uncontroversial statement: in 1847, a novel called Jane Eyre was published; the author was Charlotte Brontë. One of the most famous things about Jane Eyre is that the male love interest, Mr Rochester, has locked his first wife, Bertha Mason, in the attic of his house.

Whilst this statement is fine as far as it goes, there are several things we might question about it. But we’ll come to those in our textual analysis of the novel. First, let’s briefly summarise the plot of Jane Eyre , which is now regarded as one of the great Victorian novels: not bad for an author whose school report had once said that she ‘writes indifferently’ and ‘knows nothing of grammar, geography, history, or accomplishments’.

Jane Eyre : plot summary

Jane Eyre is perhaps the original ‘plain Jane’: ordinary-looking rather than beautiful, and a penniless orphan, she lacks the two things, beauty and wealth, which would greatly improve her marriage prospects in adulthood. Her uncle, Mr Reed, had taken her in when her parents died, but upon his death she fell under the care of Mrs Reed, who disliked Jane and treated her differently from her own children.

After Jane strikes out at her step-brother, John Reed, when he bullies her, she is locked in the ‘red room’ of the house, in which her uncle died. She is then sent away to Lowood, an orphan asylum run by a strict Calvinist clergyman named Mr Brocklehurst. There, Jane makes friends with Helen Burns, but Helen dies of typhus soon after. Conditions at the school subsequently improve and Jane stays on as one of the teachers, but when the teacher who had shown her kindness, Miss Temple, leaves the school, Jane decides to apply to become a governess.

Jane is offered the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, owned by Mr Edward Rochester, who is away on business. Mrs Fairfax, the housekeeper, introduces Jane to the young girl she will be teaching and looking after, who is a ward in Mr Rochester’s care. Mr Rochester returns and Jane is attracted to this brooding, haunted, Byronic figure. One night, she sees smoke coming out of his bedroom and rescues him from being burnt to death. He tells her that Grace Poole, a sewing-woman who lives in the house, was probably responsible for the fire.

When Mr Rochester brings home the beautiful Blanche Ingram, Jane realises she has been deluding herself with thoughts that he might love her, plain governess that she is. A man named Mr Mason from the West Indies arrives at Thornfield Hall and is attacked while in the upper portions of the house; once again, Jane assumes that Grace Poole was responsible. Mr Rochester announces to Jane that he plans to marry Blanche Ingram.

Jane is summoned by Mrs Reed, who is dying. Mrs Reed confesses to Jane that another of her uncles, Mr Eyre, had written to her because he wanted to make Jane his heiress. Mrs Reed had lied to him, writing back that his niece was dead. And then, when Jane returns to Thornfield, she discovers that Mr Rochester isn’t going to marry Blanche but wants her to be his wife instead. Jane accepts, but she also writes to her uncle to tell him that she is alive, in the hope that she will receive her inheritance and, with it, some financial independence.

Before the wedding, a mysterious woman enters Jane’s bedroom and tears her bridal veil in two. Then, on the day of their wedding, the ceremony is interrupted by Mr Mason, who declares that Rochester is already married, and his wife is concealed within Thornfield Hall.

Jane discovers that Rochester had married this woman, Bertha Mason, while out in Jamaica, under pressure from her family to do so. There’s a history of insanity in the family, and it was Bertha who set fire to Rochester’s bed and tore Jane’s bridal veil. Grace Poole is the one who keeps watch over Bertha, not the one responsible for these crimes.

Jane doesn’t want to be Rochester’s mistress, so she leaves Thornfield Hall and falls into poverty, almost starving to death until she is taken in by a clergyman named St John Rivers and befriended by his sisters, who live on the brink of poverty.

Although Jane conceals her true identity, St John discovers the truth after reading in the papers that her wealthy uncle has died, leaving her his fortune. By (rather far-fetched) coincidence, it turns out that St John Rivers’ sisters are Jane’s cousins, and Jane promises to share her inheritance with them.

St John wishes to travel to India as a Christian missionary, but before he leaves he proposes marriage to Jane, not out of love for her but because he wants to enlist her to his cause. In a romantic plot line that mirrors Rochester’s wooing of her, St John gradually wears her down until she is on the verge of accepting his offer. But then, from outside, she hears a voice calling her name: it’s Mr Rochester.

Jane returns to Thornfield Hall to discover that Rochester has been living as a recluse since the revelations came out on their wedding day. Bertha set fire to the house, destroying it, and fatally falling from the roof in the process. Rochester went to live at another house, having become blind in the fire.

Jane marries Rochester and nurses him back to health. He partially recovers his sight and Jane gives birth to their first child. Jane hears from St John Rivers in India, where he is pursuing his Christian mission with zeal.

Jane Eyre : analysis

Jane Eyre is, like Wuthering Heights , a novel which bears the influence of Gothic fiction: the haunted castle has become a country house, the ghost has become the (still very much alive) madwoman, Rochester’s first wife; and, in true Gothic fashion, there is a secret that threatens to destroy the house and its inhabitants if (or when) it comes to light. Brontë fuses these Gothic elements with the genres of romance and melodrama, with Jane’s two suitors representing erotic love and Christian fervour respectively.

As Gilbert Phelps observes in his analysis of Jane Eyre in Introduction to Fifty British Novels, 1600-1900 (Reader’s Guides) , the fire at Thornfield is symbolic, mirroring Jane’s own act of purgation as she rejects relationships founded on both the body and the soul at the expense of the other, until she and Rochester are ready to be together.

Curiously, the namesake of Edward Rochester, the Earl of Rochester, was one of the most erotic poets in English literature (we have gathered some of his most famous poems together here ). Lord Rochester was a kind of Byronic hero before Byron himself even existed, with his work dominated by the physical and sensuous side of love and relationships. St John Rivers, by contrast, has a name derived (in rather heavy-handed fashion, it must be said) from the Christian Evangelist, so we can never forget what he represents.

Jane’s journey of self-knowledge and experience leads her to understand that she must reject both extremes: to be Rochester’s mistress is to privilege the physical at the expense of the spiritual (because their union is unlawful in the eyes of God), but to marry St John when he does not love her nor she him would be a betrayal of the physical and romantic love that Jane realises is equally important.

But in terms of its central romantic plot between the plain, poor orphan girl and the rich, noble male protagonist, Jane Eyre owes something to the fairy tales of Cinderella , Snow White , Beauty and the Beast , and, in a more sinister turn, Bluebeard , with his castle concealing his (dead) wives. Brontë weaves together these various influences into a largely successful whole, even if the plot hinges (as noted above) on some pretty wild coincidences.

In his study of plot, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories , Christopher Booker goes so far as to categorise Jane Eyre as a ‘rags to riches’ story, comparing it with the tale of Aladdin . Both are poor children who attain a romantic partner above their social station, only for the presence of some other (Bertha Rochester; the sorcerer in the Aladdin story) to bring their plans crashing down. They must then rebuild everything until they can legitimately attain the life they want.

To conclude this analysis, let’s return to where we started, with those opening statements about Jane Eyre . Of course we know the author of the novel now as Charlotte Brontë, but that wasn’t the name that appeared on the title-page of the first edition in 1847.

There, the book was credited to Currer Bell, the androgynous pseudonym chosen by Brontë, much as her sisters Anne and Emily published as Acton and Ellis Bell respectively.

The novel soon won her the respect of a number of high-profile literary figures, including her hero William Makepeace Thackeray, who was reportedly so moved by Jane Eyre that he broke down in tears in front of his butler. Brontë would dedicate the second edition of the book to the Vanity Fair author and later met Thackeray (in 1849).

jane eyre love essay

To England, then, I conveyed her; a fearful voyage I had with such a monster in the vessel. Glad was I when I at last got her to Thornfield, and saw her safely lodged in that third-storey room, of whose secret inner cabinet she has now for ten years made a wild beast’s den – a goblin’s cell.

‘That third-storey room’, not ‘that attic’. And Jane makes it clear that the attic of the house is above the third storey of the house: ‘Mrs. Fairfax stayed behind a moment to fasten the trap-door; I, by dint of groping, found the outlet from the attic, and proceeded to descend the narrow garret staircase. I lingered in the long passage to which this led, separating the front and back rooms of the third storey ’ (emphases added).

2 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre”

I love this book, despite the totally bonkers plot!

So glad it’s cleared up Rochester did not lock his wife in the attic. It should be mentioned how horrible insane asylums were at that time, so Rochester should get credit for saving Bertha from that fate. However, the bigamy stunt is definitely inexcusable.

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AP® English Literature

The ultimate guide to “jane eyre” for the ap® english literature free response questions.

  • The Albert Team
  • Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

the_ultimate_guide_to_jane_eyre_for_the_ap_english_literature_free_response_questions

The 2017 AP® English Literature Free Response Questions focus on varying themes and are each structured differently. Here we discuss the third FRQ prompt which allows you to choose a particular work of literature as the focus of your essay.

Portrait of Jane Eyre by Girolamo Pieri Nerli

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a well-known classic novel. Herein we will discuss how to determine if the given prompt is appropriate for this particular literary work and give you an idea of what to review before your exam.

Jane Eyre AP® English Lit Essay Themes

To choose a literary work to answer your prompt, it’s important to examine the themes which are outlined in the assigned essay. If the theme is not relevant or well established in a work, you will do well to choose another title to examine. The following are the main themes which you may discuss in your Jane Eyre AP® English Lit Essay.

Love Vs Personal Freedom is a major theme in this novel. Jane struggles with the pursuit of meaningful relationships. She wants desperately to be loved, but not at the expense of her own values or sense of self-worth.

Religion is another prevalent theme in the story. Jane tries to find a balance between the religion she sees and her own ideas of morality. Eventually, she rejects the concrete idea of religion via the church but remains spiritually connected to God. She decides that she doesn’t need a structured religion to live a good life as a Christian.

Social Class is the third central theme in the book. Jane is a victim of Victorian England’s social class system. Because she was raised by the aristocratic caste, she feels uncomfortable in her role as a servant. It’s an internal struggle which she has to deal with causing her to speak out against the system, and it’s treatment of people.

How to use Jane Eyre for the 2017 AP® English Literature Free Response Questions

Jane Eyre is a well-known literary work, with which you should be familiar. It may well be a viable choice for the AP® English Lit free response question. However, that is dependent on the question. Each year the 3rd FRQ is different, and the CollegeBoard supplies a list of suggested books to reference for your essay. The absence of a book from the list does not disqualify it from use, that being said; it’s important to know how to choose which book to use for the given analysis.

In preparation for your exam, it’s a good idea to read previous years’ free response questions posted on CollegeBoard. The following review is for the 2016 FRQ prompt.

2016 FRQ 3: Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended to either help or hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime.

Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Jane Eyre is on the suggested list for this prompt for obvious reasons. The theme of deception is represented by various characters in the story. The most prominent one is Edward Rochester, who lies to hide his insane wife in his attic. A possible thesis is as follows.

In Jane Eyre , Edward Rochester lives a life based on deceit. He pursues his own type of happiness by hiding his wife, lying, and working to please only himself. However, this life of deception and selfishness is unacceptable to Jane, causing a conflict central to the story.

To support this thesis, you may point out that Rochester tried to justify his wrongdoings to Jane and seemed to have even bought into his own deceit, as seen in the following quotes.

“Nature meant me to be, on the whole, a good man, Miss Eyre: one of the better end; and you see I am not so. […] Then take my word for it,—I am not a villain: you are not to suppose that—not to attribute to me any such bad eminence; but, owing, I verily believe, rather to circumstances than to my natural bent, I am a trite common-place sinner, hackneyed in all the poor petty dissipations with which the rich and worthless try to put on life.” (1.14.61)

“Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.” (1.14.63-65)

However, Jane does not entirely buy into his explanations and argues that he would sully her if she allowed him to marry her, despite his ongoing marriage.

“And what will you do, Janet, while I am bargaining for so many tons of flesh and such an assortment of black eyes?”

“I’ll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved—your harem inmates amongst the rest. I’ll get admitted there, and I’ll stir up mutiny; and you, three-tailed bashaw as you are, sir, shall in a trice find yourself fettered amongst our hands: nor will I, for one, consent to cut your bonds till you have signed a charter, the most liberal that despot ever yet conferred.” (2.9.129-132)

To examine another possible use for Jane Eyre on your 2017 English Lit Exam we will take a look at another prompt.

2015 FRQ 3 : In literary works, cruelty often functions as a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which acts of cruelty are important to the theme. Then write a well-developed essay analyzing how cruelty functions in the work as a whole and what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim.

Although Jane Eyre is not on the suggested list for this particular prompt, you can still write a well-thought out essay for the nove l . Cruelty is an underlying theme throughout the story. A possible thesis is as follows. In Jane Eyre, the subject of cruelty manifests in both physical and psychological means of individuals and society. This abhorrent behavior shapes the character of Jane Eyre throughout her life, coloring the way she interacts with the world. The isolation and ostracization she experiences, early in her life, are the driving force behind her need to feel loved and accepted, later in the story.

To elaborate on this thesis and explain what it reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim, you will need to choose your examples and expand upon them. In the following quote, Jane is reminded, yet again, of her own poverty and told that she should be thankful for what little she has.

“ You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.”’ You ought to be  aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.’

I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me: my very first recollections of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible.” (1.2.14-16)

In the next excerpt, Jane describes the way she was exiled even in a home filled with other children. She describes herself as something that does not fit with the household norm.

“ I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage. If they did not love me, in fact, as little did I love them. They were not bound to regard with affection a thing that could not sympathize with one amongst them; a heterogeneous thing, opposed to them in temperament, in capacity, in propensities; a useless thing, incapable of serving their interest, or adding to their pleasure; a noxious thing, cherishing the germs of indignation at their treatment, of contempt of their judgment. I know that had I been a sanguine, brilliant, careless, exacting, handsome, romping child—though equally dependent and friendless—Mrs. Reed would have endured my presence more complacently; her children would have entertained for me more of the cordiality of fellow-feeling; the servants would have been less prone to make me the scape-goat of the nursery.” (1.2.30)

Thanks to her upbringing, and the way she was looked down on for having no money, Jane has a fear of poverty.

“Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty; they think of the world only as connected with ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manners, and debasing vices: poverty for me was synonymous with degradation.” (1.3.63)

In the next passage, Jane explains how her isolation caused her to view school as a welcome change.

“I scarcely knew what school was; Bessie sometimes spoke of it as a place where young ladies sat in the stocks, wore backboards, and were expected to be exceedingly genteel and precise; John Reed hated his school, and abused his master: but John Reed’s tastes were no rule for mine, and if Bessie’s accounts of school-discipline (gathered from the young ladies of a family where she had lived before coming to Gateshead) were somewhat appalling, her details of certain accomplishments attained by these same ladies were, I thought, equally attractive. She boasted of beautiful paintings of landscapes and flowers by them executed; of songs they could sing and pieces they could play, of purses they could net, of French books they could translate; till my spirit was moved to emulation as I listened. Besides, school would be a complete change: it implied a long journey, an entire separation from Gateshead, an entrance into a new life.” (1.3.70)

In the following quotation, you will notice that Jane’s previous experiences with unjust cruelty made her unaccepting of the idea that one should be kind in response to cruelty.

“If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again. […] I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved.” (1.6.50, 52)

The experiences which Jane underwent in her childhood caused her to see her situation at Lowood in a different fashion than those people who may have come from a happy home. “Probably, if I had lately left a good home and kind parents, this would have been the hour when I should most keenly have regretted the separation: that wind would then have saddened my heart; this obscure chaos would have disturbed my peace: as it was I derived from both a strange excitement, and reckless and feverish, I wished the wind to howl more wildly, the gloom to deepen to darkness, and the confusion to rise to clamour.” (1.6.14)

In the next excerpt, Jane explains that her need for approval and love supersedes her want to be morally just.

“’If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.’

No: I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough: if others don’t love me, I would rather die than live—I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen.’” (1.8.11-12)

The following passage illustrates how important a sense of family was to Jane, owing to her lack of family and love, during her childhood.

“‘ And you,’ I interrupted, ‘cannot at all imagine the craving I have for fraternal and sisterly love. I never had a home, I never had brothers or sisters; I must and will have them now: you are not reluctant to admit me and own me, are you?’” (3.7.127)

In conclusion, Jane Eyre has many themes you may find helpful for the last Free Response Question on the AP® English Literature Exam. When reading the prompt and deciding on what literary work to use for your essay, remember to choose a subject where the theme outlined in the given instructions is prevalent.

In the case of Jane Eyre, love vs. personal freedom, religion, and social classes are a few of the more prominent themes discussed. However, as we saw with the 2016 prompt example, this story has many underlying themes which you may examine for your Jane Eyre AP® English Lit Essay.

For more help preparing for your AP® English Literature exam we suggest you read The Ultimate Guide to 2015 AP® English Literature FRQs . And, for writing advice for the AP® English Lit free response questions, Albert.io’s AP® English Literature section has practice free response sections with sample answers and rubrics.

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Charlotte Brontë

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Jane Eyre: Introduction

Jane eyre: plot summary, jane eyre: detailed summary & analysis, jane eyre: themes, jane eyre: quotes, jane eyre: characters, jane eyre: symbols, jane eyre: literary devices, jane eyre: quizzes, jane eyre: theme wheel, brief biography of charlotte brontë.

Jane Eyre PDF

Historical Context of Jane Eyre

Other books related to jane eyre.

  • Full Title: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography
  • When Written: 1847
  • Literary Period: Victorian
  • Genre: Victorian novel. Jane Eyre combines Gothic mystery, a romantic marriage plot, and a coming-of-age story.
  • Setting: Northern England in the early 1800s.
  • Climax: Jane telepathically hears Rochester's voice calling out to her.
  • Point of View: First person. Jane recounts her story ten years after its ending.

Extra Credit for Jane Eyre

Bells and Brontës: The Brontës became a literary powerhouse when Charlotte, Emily, and Anne all wrote successful first novels. Each sister published under a masculine-sounding pseudonym based on their initials. Charlotte Brontë became "Currer Bell"; Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights (1845-46) as "Ellis Bell", and Anne Brontë published Agnes Gray (1847) as "Acton Bell." Women could enter the marketplace as writers and novelists, but many writers, including the Brontës and Mary Anne Evans ("George Eliot"), used male pseudonyms to keep from being dismissed as unimportant.

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Themes and Analysis

By charlotte brontë.

‘Jane Eyre’ represents the typical contemporary feminist woman who loves herself and searches for respect from others. Some of the well-thought-out themes she personifies anchor around self-love, romantic love, spirituality, independence, and social class.

About the Book

Victor Onuorah

Article written by Victor Onuorah

Degree in Journalism from University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Among other themes, religion also comes up top as a major influencing factor that goes on to shape the protagonist in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ and the lessons learned to stay with her for the rest of her life – often serving as a curb to her immoderations and moral excesses.

Jane Eyre Themes

Spirituality.

Spirituality makes a major part of Charlotte Brontë’s ‘ Jane Eyre ’ – and goes on to have a massive influence on several of the book’s characters , especially on Jane, the protagonist. Because the book’s time setting is centered around Victorian English society , from the early 1800s, Christianity became the prevalent religion that had the most influence on the people. 

Jane certainly has a few people in her life – like Helen and St. John Rivers- that help sharpen her spirituality and build a moral life. Although, like these characters whose views are extreme, she finds a middle ground that works well with her personality.

Independence and Self Love

Charlotte Brontë succeeded in building Jane into a strong, independent woman who develops a sort of iron-clad mentality on her selfhood and integrity. She discovers the kind of woman she wants to be from early on, and It’s not life, and actions are dictated by men or society. She works towards this goal without compromises, even though she has no close family, home, or social security to make the decision easier. 

Social Class

Social class is another such theme dealt with heavily by Charlotte Brontë in her book, ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ and readers get to see this being called into action throughout the book. As is normal with the class system, the people at the low end of the class tend to suffer the most, and Jane finds herself in this position – having lost her parents at a tender age and left to stay with her mean aunt who, despite her affluent status, is unable to lift Jane the social ladder instead causes more troubles for her by horribly treating her.

Key Moments in Jane Eyre

  • At Gateshead, ten years old, Jane endures the most horrible treatment living with Mrs. Reed, a wealthy but cruel widow and mother of three, and also Jane’s aunt. 
  • Aside from putting up with her mean aunt, Jane also has to manage her mean cousins – especially John Reed, who often bullies her at the slightest chance. 
  • Jane soon gets into trouble with Mrs. Reed for challenging John and is put into a chamber called the ‘red room,’ the same place where Mrs. Reed’s husband and Jane’s uncle had spent his final hours.
  • Jane is traumatized by a possible ghostly presence and reacts to it by crying and fainting. 
  • After her release, she is tended to by two persons, Bessie – a servant who is the only one in the house that feeds and truly cares for her; and Mr. Lloyd, a pharmacist who has come to treat her. 
  • After examining Jane and feeling pity for her, Mr. Lloyd advises Mrs. Reed that allowing Jane to go to a distant school may be the only way to get rid of her troubles. 
  • Jane is sent to a highly disciplinary Lowood School where she meets some nice people, but also deplorable ones. One of the latter is her headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, who is later fired for his hypocrisy, extravagance, and poor management skill. 
  • At Lowood, Jane also meets the kind and virtuous Helen Burn – who sadly dies prematurely, and a caring mother figure-like Miss Temple – who replaces Mr. Brocklehurst.
  • Jane stays at Lowood for eight years and leaves afterward – seeking new experiences from the outer world. She finds a job as a home tutor at Thornfield, where she attends to the young and vibrant Adéle, an illegitimate stepdaughter of the shrewd and aggressive Mr. Rochester, Jane’s boss and owner of the Thornfield mansion. 
  • Shortly after, Jane begins falling for her boss, and one time saves him from a fire set by Mr. Rochester’s mentally sick wife, Bertha Mason, although Jane doesn’t know about this as housekeeper Grace Poole takes the blame instead. 
  • Mr. Rochester, who secretly now has feelings for Jane, intends to make her jealous and brings home Blanche Ingram, a beautiful woman, as his mistress. Jane is devastated by this and doesn’t say anything. 
  • Suddenly and unexpectedly, Mr. Rochester proposes to Jane. Astonished and dumbfounded, Jane accepts, but the wedding is not about to stand Richard Mason, Mr. Rochester’s in-law, flies into town with a lawyer to disrupt the marriage. 
  • Jane learns that Mr. Rochester has a living wife after he takes them to the attic where she’s kept. This is too much for Jane to handle, so she leaves Thornfield. 
  • Depressed and without any clear destination, Jane wanders the street for three days – sleeping outside and begging for bread. 
  • On the third day, and to Jane’s luck, a clergyman, St. John Rivers, and his two sisters find Jane around their residence, the Moor House, and bring her in. He helps Jane secure a teaching job in Morton and helps Jane claim an inheritance of 20,000 pounds left by her John Eyre, which Jane knows nothing about.
  • St. John also tells Jane that John Eyre was also their uncle – this makes Jane and the Rivers siblings cousins. 
  • St. John plans a missionary trip to India and asks Jane to marry and accompany him. Jane wants to travel but doesn’t love him enough to marry him. She continues to ponder about it until one, and in what feels like a dream, Mr. Rochester calls out to her to come home to him. 
  • She leaves for Thornfield the next morning only to find the house is burnt to ashes by Bertha – who died in the fire, leaving Mr. Rochester with an arm and blind after he managed to rescue the servants. 
  • Jane locates Mr. Rochester at his new home in Ferndean and marries him.
  • After one decade of marriage, the couple stays very happy with their children. Jane shares that her husband regained half of his sight early enough to see his first son being born.

Style and Tone 

In the story of ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ Charlotte Brontë utilizes a descriptive first-person perspective – allowing her protagonist, Jane, to share her deeply touching story with her readers for a chance to fully understand her plight and the pains she passed through on her way to becoming an independent, well-respected wife and society woman. 

Charlotte’s tone for ‘ Jane Eyre ’ is warm and welcoming , thanks to the personality of the book’s protagonist. However, the book is by designation a gothic romance and so is characteristically imbued with plot mysteriousness, occasional dread, and horror.

Figurative Languages

Charlotte Brontë brings to play a wide range of figurative languages in her masterwork, ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ and except for a good few, quotes therein are typically stretchered using sentence joiners like commas, semicolons et cetera. For the figurative language, readers should expect to find a bulk of metaphors, similes, and personification being used throughout the pages of the book. 

Analysis of Symbols in Jane Eyre  

Fire is portrayed on several occasions in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ and outside of its literal meaning, concerning Jane, it’s a clear motif for her drive, delicateness, and passion towards achieving her goals.

Ice and Chills

These hold a motif of loneliness, personal pains, and suffering Jane faces at different points in her life – from Gateshead, under her cruel aunt and her children – to Lowood school, then to sleeping three days in the streets. Ice and chills are a representation of the harsh conditions Jane faces throughout the book.

The Red-Room 

Restrictive, repressive, and scary, the red room symbolizes how society represses Jane’s shine and ability to become an independent, self-sustaining woman of her time, seeing as that is nearly impossible for any woman to achieve in such a society. 

What is a frontal theme in ‘ Jane Eyre ’?

Search for one’s voice, freedom and independence prove a prevalent theme in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ however, there are also the themes of love, religion and spirituality, and social class. 

What does the red room signify in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘ Jane Eyre ’?

One important sign of the red room is its restrictive and scary nature, and this is similar to the limitations and challenges Jane would later face in the outer society.

In Charlotte Brontë’s ‘ Jane Eyre ,’ how does Jane become the woman she always wanted to be?

Jane becomes the best version of herself because she sets a goal for herself, follows through on it, and in the end, becomes an independent woman with her voice and obtains respect and equality for her gender. 

Victor Onuorah

About Victor Onuorah

Victor is as much a prolific writer as he is an avid reader. With a degree in Journalism, he goes around scouring literary storehouses and archives; picking up, dusting the dirt off, and leaving clean even the most crooked pieces of literature all with the skill of analysis.

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The Theme of Love in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

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The Theme of Love in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre .

The theme of love in Jane Eyre  covers both the romantic variety and the type encountered within a family, a sense of belonging, and a desire to be needed. From the beginning to the end of the novel, Charlotte Bronte insists on the paramount importance of love. In the character of Jane she delineated a "social soul,"  whose need to give love and to receive it is satisfied, after a period of testing.

Jane, very early in the novel, articulates her need for affectionate relationships with family and friends. As a child in Gateshead, shut out from the family circle, she is deprived of love and knows it. She tells her Aunt Reed later, "I should have been glad to love you if you would have let me."  She confesses that she lavished affection on a shabby, faded doll, because "human beings must love something."  When Bessie is kind to her she is relatively happy, and the evenings she spends alone with her, listening to her songs, are among the "gleams of sunshine"  in her life.

At Lowood, she insists again that without love, life is meaningless. In her eagerness to earn affection, she says she would be willing "to have her arm broken or be kicked by a horse ." At this, Hellen Burns rebukes her for her lack of restraint, but the strong language she uses indicates her deep craving for affection. She responds quickly and warmly to the attention of Hellen and the kindness of Miss Temple.

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At Thornfield too Jane finds pleasure in everyday relationships based on mutual esteem and affection. She finds that Mrs. Fairfax treats her with respect and is kindly and amiable. Adele as well gives her some pleasure, in that she is reasonably teachable and affectionate. Even when it seems that Mr. Rochester will marry Blanche Ingram and alter his household arrangements, Jane hopes that he will find some way to keep the three of them together.

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The account of Jane at Morton also shows how deeply she values the affection of friends and companions. She is delighted when her pupils respond to her courtesy toward them. She delights too in the affection of Diana and Mary for her, and returns it in full measure. When it is revealed that they are her cousins, she rejoices more in her new family than in her fortune. St. John too is a brother she can love and be proud of, though his attitude toward his "third and youngest sister" is not always an understanding one.

Through these scenes, Charlotte Bronte displays her own conviction that "attachments"  matter deeply in the life of every human being. In the story of Jane and Rochester, she reveals her profoundest feelings about romantic love.

Even though she realizes her position at Thornfield is a comfortable one, Jane longs for wider horizons. She writes: "I valued what was good in Mrs. Fairfax and what was good in Adele; but I believed in the existence of other and more vivid kinds of goodness."

Mr. Rochester supplies that "more vivid kinds of goodness."  Jane's life is fuller and more interesting, even before she is aware that she is in love with him. After he thanks her for saving his life, she glimpses a vision of love. She is aware, as Charlotte Bronte was aware, that "It is madness in all women to let a secret love kindle within them, which, if unreturned and unknown, must devour the life that feed it …."  When she observes Mr. Rochester's attentions to Blanche, she blames him in her heart for marrying her because she is of high rank. She had thought better of him. "Were I a gentleman like him, I would take to my bosom only such a wife as I could love." This opinion foreshadows her own magnificent declaration to Mr. Rochester, when she thinks he is sending her away to Ireland:  "Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! – I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it so hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, or even of mortal flesh – it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if booth had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal – as we are!" It is a mark of Mr. Rochester's stature that he acknowledges her claim: "My equal is here, and my likeness."  It was Charlotte Bronte's frankness in describing these expressions of love which offended some of her contemporaries. To her, as to Jane, "it seemed natural; it seemed genial to be so loved, so caressed by him."

Though she is deeply in love, Jane is not drowned in sentiment. After the revelation of Bertha Rochester's existence, Jane is torn from what she called "the paradise of union"  – torn by her own act. Only "a remembrance of God"  leads her on. She has the strength to say "Mr. Rochester, I will not be yours,"  to evade his embrace, to steal out of the house and go by coach far away. In fact, she re-establishes herself in Morton – even congratulates herself that she is better off as an independent school teacher than she would have been as Mr. Rochester's mistress. Yet, she still suffers, still dreams of Mr. Rochester: "… I still again and again meet Mr. Rochester, always at some exciting crisis."

Jane rejection of Mr. Rochester shows that Charlotte Bronte disapproved of a liaison with a married man, however much one was in love with him. When St. Jones Rivers comes on the scene, Miss Bronte illuminates her theme still further by having him offer her heroine a contrary temptation. Jane's struggle to resist St. John shows that Miss Bronte disapproved of a legal and highly respectable union where there was no genuine love. Jane realizes that St. John "has no more of a husband's heart" for her than a rock. She also states that he is "as cold as an iceberg." Even so, St. John is very persuasive, and Jane almost gives in, against her better judgment. She is saved by the mysterious voice.

The last part of the book, which describes the reunion of Jane and her "master",  is Charlotte Bronte's picture of an ideal marriage. Their relationship is marked by deep tenderness and passion, mingled with lively teasing. When they meet and she is " entwined and gathered to him," Jane cries "God bless you, sir! I am glad to be so near you again."  When she, wondering if she has been too anxious, tries to withdraw from his embrace, he presses her closer. His helplessness touches her deeply, while to him she is his skylark, bringing music and sheer.

All in all, it has been shown that the theme of love happens to be the key theme is Bronte's Jane Eyre . Truly, Jane Eyre  is "the vindication of all those who believe that life without understanding and love is a shadow."

The Theme of Love in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

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Essays About Jane Eyre: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

Writing essays about Jane Eyre? Take a look at our essay examples about Jane Eyre and be inspired by our additional prompts.

Jane Eyre is widely considered a classic novel that poignantly exposed the struggles of Victorian women through a story of love and emancipation. Jane Eyre is a Victorian novel written by Charlotte Brontë and published in 1847. Many aspects of the novel are said to derive from the personal story and experiences of the author herself. 

Brontë published this masterpiece with the gender-neutral pen-name Currer Bell to evade criticisms as the rebelliousness of Jane Eyre was defiant of the accepted social mores of its period. While it stirred controversy in its time, the heroine of the novel, with her grit to conquer adversities, break the rules and achieve her desires, offers many lessons that inspire many to this day. 

Read on and see our top essay examples and writing prompts to help with your essays about Jane Eyre.

1. Jane Eyre And The Right To Pester by Olivia Ward Jackson

2. jane eyre: content warnings are as old as the novel itself by jo waugh, 3. the tension between reason and passion in jane eyre by nicholas johnson, 4. reading jane eyre: can we truly understand charlotte brontë or her heroine today by sam jordison, 5. christianity as a form of empowerment in charlotte bronte’s jane eyre by noam barsheshat , 1. summary and personal reflection, 2. pervasive imageries, 3. jane eyre in the perspective of feminism, 4. best jane eyre film adaptations, 5. how is jane eyre’s life story similar to brontë’s, 6. what are the primary themes in jane eyre, 7. describe the characters, 8. how did jane eyre find her “true home” , 9. jane eyre as a bildungsroman, 10. jane eyre and economic independence, top 5 essay examples.

“Indeed, parallels can be drawn between Jane Eyre and those trapped in a professional hierarchy today. In rejecting an unwanted pass from a superior employee, far worse than damaging a fragile male ego, a woman could offset a chain of consequences which could threaten her entire career.”

The essay pays attention to the similarities between the class conflicts during Jane’s time and the hierarchies in the modern workplace. Finally, as feminists today argue over what practices and behavior would qualify as sexual misconduct, the essay turns the spotlight to Jane, with her determination to stand up against those who pester her, as a possible model.

“Why was the novel considered inappropriate for young girls, in particular? Many Victorians considered it “coarse and immoral”…The novel’s addictiveness might also have been an issue.”

The essay takes off from a university’s warnings against reading Jane Eyre and fellow Victorian novel Great Expectations, citing the “distressing” passages in the novels. The essay collates and presents the commentaries of people in shock with the warning. However, the piece also shows that such cautionary measures were not exactly new and, in fact, the first reaction when the book came to light.

“​​At the end of many trials Charlotte permits Jane to return at last to her lover…. They feel no passion or intrigue..  Instead of fire and ice, Charlotte gives us warm slush. Perhaps she never resolved the tension between reason and passion for herself, and so was unable to write convincingly about it.”

Johnson dives deep into how Brontë juxtaposed reason and passion in her novel’s imageries, metaphors, and even characters. In his conclusion, Johnson finds the resolution to the tension between passion and reason unsatisfactory, surmising that this weak ending conveys how Brontë never resolved this conflict in her own life.

“It’s easy to think we are more sophisticated because we now know more about – say – the early history of Christianity. Or because Brontë is, of course, ignorant of modern feminist theory, or poststructuralism. We can bring readings to her work that she couldn’t begin to imagine. But she could easily turn the tables on us…”

The essays reflect on how one from modern society could fully comprehend Brontë through the protagonist of her masterpiece. Jordison emphasizes the seeming impossibility of this pursuit given Brontë’s complex genius and world. Yet, we may still bask in the joy of finding an intimate connection with the author 200 years after Jane Eyre’s publication. 

“Through her conflicts with various men―specifically, Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers―Jane’s spiritual identity empowers her and supports her independence.”

This critical essay points out how Jane Eyre reconciled feminism and Christianity, highlighting the latter as a vehicle that empowered Jane’s transformation. Despite Jane’s determined spirit to find true love, she reflects her spiritual view of Christianity to prevent falling into an illegitimate love affair, preserving her well-being and self-empowerment. 

10 Best Prompts on Essays About Jane Eyre

Essays About Jane Eyre

Check out our list of the best prompts that could get you started in your essay about Jane Eyre:

Provide a concise summary of the life of the young, orphaned Jane Eyre. First, cite the significant challenges that have enabled Jane’s transformation into a strong and independent woman. Next, provide a personal reflection on the story and how you identify with Jane Eyre. Then, explain which of her struggles and experiences you relate with or find most inspiring. 

From the chestnut and the red room to the ice and fire contrasts, investigate what these imageries signify. Then, elaborate on how these imageries impact Brontë’s storytelling and contribute to the desired effect for her writing style. 

Jane Eyre is highly regarded as one of the first feminist novels. It is a critical work that broadened Victorian women’s horizons by introducing the possibilities of emancipation. Write about how Brontë portrayed Jane Eyre as a feminist if you do not find that the novel advances feminist ideologies, write an argumentative essay and present the two sides of the coin. 

It is estimated that over 16 film adaptations have been made of the book Jane Eyre. Watch at least one of these movie versions and write an analysis on how much it has preserved the book’s key elements and scenes. Then, also offer insights on how the movie adaptation could have improved production, cinematography, cast, and adherence to the book plot, among other factors. 

Draw out the many parallels between the lives of Jane Eyre and her maker Charlotte Brontë. Suppose you’re interested in knowing more about Brontë to identify better and analyze their shared experiences and traits. In that case, The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell is highly recommended. 

Some of the themes very apparent in the novel are gender discrimination and class conflict. First, point out how Brontë emphasizes these themes. Then, dive deep into other possible themes and cite scenes where you find them echoing the most. 

Describe the characters in the novel, from their roles to their traits and physical appearances. Cite their significant roles and contributions to Jane’s transformation. You may also add a personal touch by focusing on characters with whom you relate or identify with the most,

While Jane grew up in Gateshead with the Reed family to whom she is related by blood, the despicable treatment she received in the place only motivated her to take on a journey to find her true home. First, map out Jane’s search for love and family. Then, explain how finding her “true home” empowered her. 

A bildungsroman roman is a literary genre that focuses on a protagonist’s mental, spiritual, and moral maturation. Discuss the criteria of a bildungsroman novel and identify which parts of Jane Eyre fulfill these criteria.

You may also compare Jane Eyre against heroes of other bildungsroman novels like Pip in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Lay down their similarities and key differences.

In the latter part of the novel, Jane gains greater economic independence thanks to the substantial wealth she inherited. But before this discovery of inheritance, Jane had struggled with economic stability. So, first, tackle how finances affected Jane’s life decisions and how they empowered her to see herself as an equal to Rochester. Then, write about how women today perceive economic security as a source of self-empowerment. 

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . 

If you’re still stuck, check out our general resource of essay writing topics .

jane eyre love essay

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Love and Marriage in Jane Eyre Ruth Walbank 11th Grade

Throughout Jane Eyre , the themes of love and marriage are presented in contrasting ways. In the Lowood education system, Brocklehurst preaches the evangelically tainted message of ‘ mortify[ing]… the lusts of the flesh’ in preparation for the majority of the girls having professions as governesses, in which they would be expected to restrain their passions. However, as the narrative develops and Jane encounters Rochester, many of the ideals of the usual Victorian mantras are challenged.

Towards the start of Jane’s time at Thornfiled, she reproaches herself for her infatuation with Rochester and compares herself to Blanche Ingram. In context of the time, Jane, as a governess, would have been placed in an awkward social position, as governesses were considered to be members neither of the upper classes nor of the serving lower classes. Therefore, their role was ill defined as members of the female working class, placing them on the fringes of society. This view is reflected in Jane’s depiction of her own appearance as a ‘dependent and a novice’, showing her to be without freedom and unworldly in comparison to Rochester, who is a ‘man of the world’. This juxtaposition of descriptions sets Jane apart from Rochester due to her...

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jane eyre love essay

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Essays on Jane Eyre

Prompt examples for jane eyre essays, jane's journey to independence.

Trace Jane Eyre's journey to independence and self-discovery throughout the novel. How does she evolve as a character, and what challenges and obstacles does she overcome on her path to finding her own voice and identity?

The Role of Social Class

Analyze the role of social class in "Jane Eyre." How do class distinctions affect the characters' interactions and choices? Discuss the significance of Jane's lower social standing and her relationships with characters like Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers.

Gothic Elements and Atmosphere

Examine the use of gothic elements and atmosphere in the novel. How does Charlotte Brontë create a sense of mystery and suspense in the story? Discuss the role of Thornfield Hall and the character of Bertha Mason in contributing to the gothic ambiance.

Feminism and Gender Roles

Discuss the feminist themes in "Jane Eyre." How does Jane challenge traditional gender roles and expectations? Explore her relationship with Mr. Rochester in the context of gender dynamics and power struggles.

Religion and Morality

Examine the themes of religion and morality in the novel, particularly in Jane's interactions with characters like Mr. Brocklehurst and St. John Rivers. How do these characters' beliefs and actions influence Jane's own moral development?

Romantic Love in the Novel

Analyze the portrayal of romantic love in "Jane Eyre." How does Jane's relationship with Mr. Rochester evolve, and what obstacles do they face? Discuss the idea of love as a source of strength and vulnerability in the novel.

Settings in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

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Jane Eyre: Complex Character in Development

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Jane Eyre as an Independent Woman in 19th Century

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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: Resolving The Issue of Equality and Women’s Role in Society Through Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Feminist Theory and Marxist Classism

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October 16, 1847, Charlotte Bronte

Novel, Victorian Literature

Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester, St. John Rivers, Mrs. Reed, Bessie Lee, Mr. Lloyd, Georgiana Reed, Eliza Reed, John Reed, Helen Burns, Mr. Brocklehurst, Maria Temple, Miss Scatcherd, Alice Fairfax, Bertha Mason, Grace Poole, Adèle Varens, Celine Varens, Sophie, Richard Mason, Mr. Briggs, Blanche Ingram, Diana Rivers, Mary Rivers, Rosamond Oliver, John Eyre, Uncle Reed

1. Beattie, V. (1996). The Mystery at Thornfield: Representations of Madness In" Jane Eyre". Studies in the Novel, 28(4), 493-505. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/29533162) 2. Bossche, C. R. V. (2005). What Did" Jane Eyre" Do? Ideology, Agency, Class and the Novel. Narrative, 13(1), 46-66. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236760140_What_Did_Jane_Eyre_Do_Ideology_Agency_Class_and_the_Novel) 3. Andersson, A. (2011). Identity and independence in Jane Eyre. (http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A463653&dswid=7105) 4. Griesinger, E. (2008). Charlotte Brontë's religion: faith, feminism, and Jane Eyre. Christianity & Literature, 58(1), 29-59. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014833310805800103) 5. Sternlieb, L. (1999). Jane Eyre:" Hazarding Confidences". Nineteenth-Century Literature, 53(4), 452-479. (https://online.ucpress.edu/ncl/article-abstract/53/4/452/66369/Jane-Eyre-Hazarding-Confidences) 6. Stoneman, P. (2017). Jane Eyre on Stage, 1848–1898: An Illustrated Edition of Eight Plays with Contextual Notes. Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315251639/jane-eyre-stage-1848%E2%80%931898-patsy-stoneman) 7. Beaty, J. (1996). Misreading Jane Eyre: A Postformalist Paradigm. The Ohio State University Press. (https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/6286) 8. Bodenheimer, R. (1980). Jane Eyre in Search of Her Story. Papers on Language and Literature, 16(4), 387. (https://www.proquest.com/docview/1300110761?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true)

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Home » Literary Analysis of Wide Sargasso & Jane Eyre excerpts

Literary Analysis of Wide Sargasso & Jane Eyre excerpts

Now that you’ve read the excerpts from  Jane Eyre  by Charlotte Brontë ( JE)  and  Wide Sargasso Sea  by Jean Rhys ( WSS ), please respond with 3-4 paragraphs to one of the following questions. Include quotations from the text to support your analysis.   Cut and paste proofread text as you will not be able to delete or edit your post; please do not upload attachments.

1.  How is the role of the “other” subverted regarding race/ethnicity in “Part One” of  Wide Sargasso Sea ?

2.  How are traditional gender roles reinforced and/or subverted in the excerpts from  Jane Eyre   or  in  Wide Sargasso Sea ?

3.  Discuss how class and wealth  or  Empire, Colony, and the “British Gaze” function in the excerpts from both  WSS  and  JE .

4.  Examine the role nature plays in “Part One” of  WSS  and how the “tropicalized” setting is characterized.

5.  Examine the duality and parallels that exist between the characters in “Part One” of  WSS   or  between  WSS  and  JE .

6.  Discuss how religion and spirituality function in  WSS  &  JE.

7.  Knowing that  WSS  is written after and in direct response to  JE ,   discuss how mental illness and “sanity” are treated differently in  WSS.

8.  Examine the role beauty and standards of beauty play in  WSS .  

Rhys, Jean s’s novel “Wide Sargasso Sea” reinterprets the image of the narrated by Antoinette. It not only shows the marginal status in the gap between white culture and black culture but also reflects the author’s identity anxiety. The novel begins with “They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. But we were not in their ranks,”(9). The phrase shows the embarrassing situation of the narrator. The narrator is a wanderer who has no roots and can’t find roots. And she was called “white cockroach” and “white nigger” by local blacks. In the 1930s, the abolition of slavery passed, as a former slave owner, they were hated by black people. As white people, they were abandoned by their home country, the United Kingdom, and became a scapegoat for the evil of slavery. At the same time, Antoinette and her mother are very beautiful, so they are rejected by local whites and blacks. Therefore, she and her family became “other” people besides whites and blacks.

Although Antoinette was the daughter of a slave owner but lived a poor life, the blacks almost ran out and the only horse in the family was poisoned. She didn’t even have a fitted skirt. Antoinette lives with her mother and her brother, but her mother does not care about her. Her mother seems to have exhausted all her energy for life and for her mentally disabled younger brother. Antoinette lived a lonely life in an environment full of estrangement and hatred. The white neighbors never looked at them right, and the blacks hated and despised them as poor whites. The only playmate she had in her childhood, the little black girl, Tia had also ruthlessly ridiculed, “They didn’t look at us, nobody see them come near us. Old time white people nothing but white nigger now, and black nigger better than white nigger,”(14). Through the child naive discourse, it clearly shows the black hatred of whites and blacks against whites. And the burning manor is the upgrade and performance of this hatred. Antoinette is eager to get the approval of the black culture. So, when the black people burned the manor, she did not want to leave but ran to Tia. Because she felt that Tia was part of her life, they always eat together, sleeping together and swimming in a river, she is determined to live with Tia, never leave. But Tia has hurt her and broke her fantasy. She realized that she does not belong to black people and cannot get the approval of black culture.

Antoinette also eager for white culture and has always had an illusory image of the United Kingdom. Her mother remarried a real white man, Mr. Mason. And their family began to live like the way of life of the British. Antoinette is happy that she is like a British girl and as they are closer to the United Kingdom. But it didn’t long, because Mr. Mason thought that the black people were simple and lazy, and he thought to introduce labor from the East Indies to replace the black people. The blacks felt the threat and triggered the incident of burning the manor. Her mentally disabled younger brother was burned to death and her mother was hit and become crazy in the incident of burning the manor. Antoinette’s contact with white culture failed, and the white culture brought her disaster, not happiness. As an “other” who is not recognized by whites and blacks, Antoinette is constantly trying to get close to white culture or black culture. She is eager to find her sense of belonging in it, but the reality gives her a blow. She was still a rootless person as “other”.

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  1. Love in Jane Eyre

    Essay Example: Jane Eyre is the most famous work of Charlotte Bronte, who is considered as an extraordinary woman novelist. Because the novel throbs with the heart-beats of its author, both literary critics and the readers have taken great interest in its unconventional heroine Jane Eyre, whose

  2. Jane Eyre

    Longing for Love Charlotte Bronte created the novel "Jane Eyre," with an overriding theme of love. The emotional agony that the main character experiences throughout the novel stem from the treatment received as a child, loss of loved ones, and economic hardships. To fill these voids, Jane longs for love. Ironically, Jane rejects affection ...

  3. Jane Eyre: Central Idea Essay: Why Does Jane Marry Rochester

    Rochester had been callous and selfish, blind to the effects of his actions, but with Jane's love he begins to see a better way of life. Rochester has made himself worthy of Jane. Previous section Literary Context Essay: Jane Eyre and the Gothic Tradition Next section Sample A+ Essay: Is the Novel a Criticism of Victorian Class Prejudices?

  4. Sorry, but Jane Eyre Isn't the Romance You Want It to Be

    Over the last 172 years, the book has become a touchstone for passionate love, that once-in-a-lifetime spark we are taught to long for. Even today, the book is the subject of swoony listsicles ("11 Romantic Quotes from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre ") and essays that uphold it as "a romance novel for the modern, intelligent woman.".

  5. Jane Eyre: Themes

    Love Versus Autonomy. Jane Eyre is very much the story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued, of belonging. Thus Jane says to Helen Burns: "to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand ...

  6. Jane Eyre: Theme Analysis of Love, Morality, and Social Issues

    Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" is not just a tale of romance; it is a story that intertwines the complexities of love with the rigid expectations of morality. As we delve into the novel, we witness how Jane's relationships, especially with Mr. Rochester, serve as a canvas for exploring these themes. Jane Eyre's journey is marked by ...

  7. Love, Family, and Independence Theme in Jane Eyre

    Below you will find the important quotes in Jane Eyre related to the theme of Love, Family, and Independence. Chapter 1 Quotes. You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen's children like us.

  8. A Summary and Analysis of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    Here's a seemingly uncontroversial statement: in 1847, a novel called Jane Eyre was published; the author was Charlotte Brontë. One of the most famous things about Jane Eyre is that the male love interest, Mr Rochester, has locked his first wife, Bertha Mason, in the attic of his house. Whilst this statement is fine as far as it goes, there ...

  9. The Ultimate Guide to "Jane Eyre" for the AP® English ...

    The 2017 AP® English Literature Free Response Questions focus on varying themes and are each structured differently. Here we discuss the third FRQ prompt which allows you to choose a particular work of literature as the focus of your essay. Portrait of Jane Eyre by Girolamo Pieri Nerli. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a well-known classic novel.

  10. Themes Love and marriage Jane Eyre (Grades 9-1)

    Jane Eyre is essentially a love story and the relationship between Jane and Rochester is the main focus of the plot. On the surface, Charlotte Brontë is making use of a very simple plot line which is familiar throughout the history of storytelling - boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl are reunited after some hardship and eventually ...

  11. Jane Eyre Study Guide

    Full Title: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography. When Written: 1847. Literary Period: Victorian. Genre: Victorian novel. Jane Eyre combines Gothic mystery, a romantic marriage plot, and a coming-of-age story. Setting: Northern England in the early 1800s. Climax: Jane telepathically hears Rochester's voice calling out to her.

  12. Jane Eyre Analysis

    Analysis. Belonging to a family is a major theme in Jane Eyre. Family was extremely important to a woman in the Victorian period. It provided emotional and financial support to her as a child and ...

  13. Jane Eyre Themes and Analysis

    By Charlotte Brontë. 'Jane Eyre' represents the typical contemporary feminist woman who loves herself and searches for respect from others. Some of the well-thought-out themes she personifies anchor around self-love, romantic love, spirituality, independence, and social class. Article written by Victor Onuorah.

  14. The Theme of Love in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

    The theme of love in Jane Eyre covers both the romantic variety and the type encountered within a family, a sense of belonging, and a desire to be needed. From the beginning to the end of the novel, Charlotte Bronte insists on the paramount importance of love. In the character of Jane she delineated a "social soul," whose need to give love and ...

  15. Jane Eyre Themes

    The main quest in Jane Eyre is Jane's search for family, for a sense of belonging and love. However, this search is constantly tempered by Jane's need for independence. She begins the novel as an unloved orphan who is almost obsessed with finding love as a way to establish her own identity and achieve happiness.

  16. Essays About Jane Eyre: Top 5 Examples And Prompts

    Writing essays about Jane Eyre? Take a look at our essay examples about Jane Eyre and be inspired by our additional prompts. Jane Eyre is widely considered a classic novel that poignantly exposed the struggles of Victorian women through a story of love and emancipation. Jane Eyre is a Victorian novel written by Charlotte Brontë and published ...

  17. Jane Eyre Essay

    Love and Marriage in Jane Eyre. Throughout Jane Eyre, the themes of love and marriage are presented in contrasting ways. In the Lowood education system, Brocklehurst preaches the evangelically tainted message of ' mortify [ing]… the lusts of the flesh' in preparation for the majority of the girls having professions as governesses, in ...

  18. Jane Eyre : love and the

    Jane Eyre is a love-story but it is one built on twin themes of. moral dilemma. Mr Rochester, during the life-time of his without religion and morality. St John Rivers later offers. without love. In this article I propose to trace the development. relating it to Jane's pictures and their implicit symbolism.

  19. Dualistic Exploration of Marriage and Love in Bronte's Novel: [Essay

    Throughout Jane Eyre, the themes of love and marriage are presented in contrasting ways.In the Lowood education system, Brocklehurst preaches the evangelically tainted message of 'mortify[ing]… the lusts of the flesh' in preparation for the majority of the girls having professions as governesses, in which they would be expected to restrain their passions.

  20. Jane Eyre Essays

    The narrator - Jane herself - develops a certain kind of intimacy with the readers throughout the autobiography. Although readers may feel as if they have... Jane Eyre. Topics: Bildungsroman, Byronic hero, Charlotte Brontë, Fire and Ice, Governess, Human sexuality, Jane Eyre, Marriage, Subconscious, The Reader.

  21. Jane Eyre Quotes: Love versus Autonomy

    Jane starts by characterizing her relationship with St. John Rivers, identifying how St. John lacked a true love for Jane. Then, she clearly declares her love for Mr. Rochester. The contrast between Jane's relationships with St. John and Mr. Rochester highlights the theme of love present in this novel, especially as Jane chooses love in the end.

  22. Jane Eyre Essay & Research Paper Examples- EduBirdie.com

    Jane Eyre, a timeless classic written by Charlotte Bronte, is a novel that captures the human experience with its themes of love, resilience, and the pursuit of identity. This essay delves into the world of Jane Eyre, offering a humanized and approachable exploration of its characters, plot, and enduring relevance.

  23. Literary Analysis of Wide Sargasso & Jane Eyre excerpts

    Now that you've read the excerpts from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (JE) and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (WSS), please respond with 3-4 paragraphs to one of the following questions.Include quotations from the text to support your analysis. Cut and paste proofread text as you will not be able to delete or edit your post; please do not upload attachments.

  24. 'James,' 'Demon Copperhead' and the Triumph of Literary Fan Fiction

    Ben Denzer. One of the most talked-about novels of the year so far is " James ," by Percival Everett. Last year, everyone seemed to be buzzing about Barbara Kingsolver's " Demon Copperhead ...

  25. Introducing 'The Interview' Podcast

    DAVID MARCHESE took over The New York Times Magazine's Talk column in 2018. Since then he has conducted more than 130 interviews, with figures including Jane Goodall, Yo-Yo Ma, Rosie Perez, Paul ...

  26. Jane Eyre: Sample A+ Essay: Is the Novel a Criticism of Victorian Class

    Of course, Jane Eyre herself is the prime example of the unclassifiable person. Perhaps more than any other character, she is suspended in limbo between high and low class. Her mother came from high society, but her father was an impoverished clergyman. She is a penniless orphan, but she is brought up in a rich, high class household.