《简爱》中的主要人物分析

《简·爱》中 的 主 要 人 物

分 析

An Analysis of Key Characters

in Jane Eyre

Contents

Abstract ……………………………... ... ... ... ... ... .. ... ...……………...…1 Key words ……………………………... ... ... ... ... . ... ………………...…1 I. Introduction the Author……………………………………………...…1 II. Introduction to the Novel……………………………………………....2

2.1 Social Background………………………………………………..…2 2.2 The Novel………………………………………………………….…3

III. Analysis of the Main Characters……………………………..……4

3.1 Jane Eyre……………………………………………………....….4 3.2 Edward Rochester……………………………………………..…6 3.3 Helen Burns……………………………………………….……....7 3.4 Mrs. Reed…………………………………………………...…….8

IV. Conclusion……………………………………………………..….…8 References…………………………………….………………………...9

An Analysis of Key Characters in Jane Eyre

摘 要： 本论文主要分析《简爱》中主要人物的性格特征。不管简爱见了什么, 不管她在哪

里, 她总反抗那个不公平的社会, 她从不放弃试图得到自由、独立、 公平的生活和真实的爱。 由于不懈的努力她最后得到了尊严, 自由和真爱。从小说中简的话语中我们可以分析出她的性格特征：自重、自尊、自强、自立、善良、朴实、纯洁、高尚。这就是为什么一个纯洁的爱情故事能被广大读者喜爱的原因。

关键词：简爱 罗切斯特 自由 独立

Abstract: This article mainly analyze the character of key figures in Jane Eyre. No

matter what Jane met, no matter where she was, she always rebelled against that unfair society, she never gave up to try her best to get free, independent, fair life and true love. By unremitting efforts she finally got dignity, freedom and true love. Jane’s special character ran though the whole novel. From the utterance of Jane in this novel, we can analysis her character: self respect; self esteem and simple. This is the reason why that a pure love story loved by masses of reader.

Key words: Jane Eyre Rochester free freedom independent

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An Analysis of Key Characters in Jane Eyre

I. Introduction to the Author

Charlotte Bronte wrote this book. Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816, at Thomton, Yorkskire. She was the third child of Patrick Bronte, Curate of Hawoth. When Charlotte was very young, her mother died, leaving behind six children. Charlotte and three of her sisters were sent away to Cowan Bridge school .Where conditions were very harsh. The two oldest sisters died there and Charlotte and Emily returned home. They wrote what has become know as the “Bronte juvenilia “Stories of imaginary words in miniature books. Charlotte Bronte is one of those author whose life has attracted as much attention as her writing. Charlotte and her family have been the subject of many books, a stage play, and a film by the French director Truffaut for same people, interest in Bronte family is almost on the level of a cult, and there are even organized tours to the place associated with the family’s history.

Charlotte attended Clergy Daughter's School in Lancashire in 1824. She returned home next year because of the harsh conditions. In 1831 she went to school at Roe Head, where she later worked as a teacher. However, she fell ill, suffered from melancholia, and gave up this post. Charlotte's attempts to earn her living as a governess were hindered by her disabling shyness, her ignorance of normal children, and her yearning to be with her sisters.

Undeterred by her own rejection, Charlotte began Jane Eyre, which appeared in 1847, and became an immediate success. Charlotte dedicated the book to William Makepeace Thackeray, who described it as 'the masterwork of a great genius'. The heroine is a penniless orphan who becomes a teacher, obtains a post as a governess, inherits money from an uncle, and marries after several turns of the plot the Byronic hero. It was followed by Shirley (1848) and Villette (1853), based on her memories of Brussels. Although her identity was well known, Charlotte continued to publish as Currer Bell. Her tragedy, Belisarius, is lost.

In Jane Eyre the author used her experiences at the Evangelical school and as governess. The novel severely criticized the limited options open to educated but impoverished women, and the idea that women \"ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.\" Jane's passionate desire for a wider life, her need to be loved, and her rebellious questioning of conventions, also reflected Charlotte's own dreams. Jane is an Ugly Duckling, who fulfills all the teenage romantic dreams of passion that breaks all obstacles. The gloomy hero, Mr. Rochester, represents a woman man: the ideal of masculine tenderness is combined with a

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massively masculine strength of character along Byronic lines. Jane's discovery at the altar that Rochester has an insane wife hidden in the attic is the most shocking plot twist of the novel. Bronte hints that Mrs. Rochester is a nymphomaniac. Her character was refreshed in Jean Rhys' novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) which told the story of Rochester's ill-fated Creole wife.

II. Introduction to the Novel

2.1 Social Background

In the Victorian social and cultural context, woman was defined as “sexually pure”, “passive”, “dependent”, “self-denying” and “the other.”

In her introduction to an anthology of essays on the Victorian woman, Martha Vicinus points out that the Victorian “perfect lady” should conform to the following ideal model of femininity: Before marriage, a young girl was brought up to be perfectly innocent and sexually ignorant. Once married, the perfect lady did not work. Her social and intellectual growth was confined to the family and close friends. Her status was totally dependent upon the economic position of her father and then her husband. Throughout the Victorian period the ‘perfect lady’ as an ideal of femininity was tenacious and all-pervasive. The married women, as Vicinus mentions, within the Victorian culture were confined to the domestic sphere. As to the duties of women, that woman had to sacrifice herself to serve her husband and children and to some extent she must be “enduringly, incorruptibly good, instinctively, infallibly wise—wise not for self-development, but for self-renunciation, wise not with the narrowness of insolent and loveless pride, but with the passionate gentleness of an infinitely variable… modesty of service”. She should be restricted to the domesticity to offer the modest service for her husband, and set up a good model to guide her children. Furthermore, she should be educated, but the purpose of it is to make her capable of appreciating the conversation of her husband, rather than share her own feelings with him.

A woman, in any rank of life, ought to know whatever her husband is likely to know, but to know it in a different way. To sum up, the Victorian women are submissive wives for their husbands and good mothers for their children.

In addition to the above-mentioned opinions that helped to constitute the Victorian ideal image of womanhood in the Victorian society, the Bible was also adopted by Victorian patriarchy to impose the notions of self-denial, sexual purity and submission on women, and to legitimatize men’s superiority and rule over women. From the Bible, men

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and women could deduce the ideal pattern the Creator had created at the beginning of the world.

2.2 The Novel

We know Jane Eyre was written in 1847, 159 years ago. Jane Eyre is the classic love story.

The heroine of the novel, Jane Eyre lost her parents when she was only a baby and became an orphan. She was sent into Gateshead Hall, her uncle Reed’s. However, her aunt, Mrs. Reed treated her cruelly after Mrs. Read had died. Jane received lots of neglect and abuse. At Thornfield, though Jane was humble and plain, but the master of Thornfield, Mr. Rochester still loved her because of her intelligent speaking, independent attitude and courageous behavior. Jane also loved Rochester because he treated her equally. They planned to marry. On the wedding day at the church, a stranger called Mason appeared. Mr. Mason declared the existence of an impediment to the marriage. He said Rochester married Mason’s sister. Mason’s sister was mad and locked in a room of Thornfield. Now, Jane has no choice but to leave Thornfield. Jane roamed for two days and was accepted by St John Rivers and his sisters. Then Jane got inheritance from her Uncle John Eyre. She shared the inheritance with her cousins. Mr. St John decided to go India as a missionary. He asked Jane to go with him. Jane refused St John’s suggestion of marriage, because she knew what St John love was God, not her. Finally, she seemed to hear Rochester’s call, she retuned to Thornfield. But now, Thornfield was ruined in a big fire. Rochester’s mad wife died and Mr. Rochester was already blind eyes, with only one arm left. In spite of Rochester’s disability, Jane married him. From then on, they lived a happy life.

III. Analysis of the Main Characters

3.1 Jane Eyre

The development of Jane Eyre’s character is central to the novel. From the beginning, Jane possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in God, and a passionate disposition. Her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel, and Jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects of her so as to find contentment.

An orphan since early childhood, Jane feels exiled and ostracized at the beginning of the novel, and the cruel treatment she receives from her Aunt Reed and her cousins only exacerbates her feeling of alienation. Jane and Mrs. Reed had a face-to-face conflict. Here

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is Jane’s thought in her heart: ‘yet in what darkness was the mental battle fought! I could not answer the inward question—why I thus suffered.’(Chapter 2 p.8) According to this sentence it seems, we can straight into the inner side of the figures, see the soul of oneself—simply being regarded as a common person, just the same as any other girl around. In Lowood School, Jane’s body and soul were deeply hurt. Here she remained in it for eight years; six as its pupil and two as teacher. Helen Burns is Jane’s good friend. 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 behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest’(Chapter 8 p.53).

Afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, Jane feels the need to belong to somewhere, to find “kin,” or at least “kindred spirits.” This desire tempers her equally intense need for autonomy and freedom. This explains Jane was a born resister.

As Jane says: ‘ I am my husband’s life as fully as he is mine…To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company…. We are precisely solitudes in character perfect concord is the result’ (Chapter 38 p.378). I think her fear of losing her autonomy motivates her refusal of Rochester’s marriage proposal. On the other hand, her life at Moor House tests her in the opposite manner. There, she enjoys economic independence and engages in worthwhile and useful work, teaching the poor; yet she lacks emotional sustenance. Jane knows their marriage would remain loveless. So, she refused St. John’s proposal marriage. For one thing, this ideal and brand-new beginning of life was what Jane had been imagining for long as a suffering person; for another, this should be what the audiences with my views hoped her to get. Jane eventually got back to Rochester. In fact, when Jane met Rochester for the first time, she scared his horse and made his heel strained, to a certain extent, which meant Rochester would get retrieval because of Jane. We can consider Rochester’s experiences as that of religion meaning. The fire by his frantic wife was the punishment for the cynicism early in his life. Jane’s manners, sophistication, and education are those of an aristocrat, because Victorian governesses, who tutored to possess the ‘culture’ of the aristocracy.

Jane’s understanding of the double standard crystallizes when she becomes aware of her feelings for Rochester; she is his intellectual, but not his social equal. After the interrupted wedding to Rochester, Jane describes her state of mind:

a Christmas fort had come at mid summer: a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hay field and corn

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field lay a frozen shoran… and the woods, which twelve hours since waves leafy and fragrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pin forests in wintry Norway, my hopes were all dead … (Chapter 26 p.244).

Finally, at Moor House, St, John’s frigidity and stiffness were established through comparisons with ice and cold rock. Jane writes: ‘by degrees, he acquired a certain influence over me that took away my liberty of mind… I fell under a freezing spell’ (Chapter 34 p.336). When St, John proposes marriage to Jane, his comrade, all would be right… But as his wife at his side always, and always restrained, and always forced to keep the fire of my nature continually low, to compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry, though the imprisoned flame consumed vital after vital this would be unendurable. After Jane and Rochester’s wedding is cancelled, Jane finds comfort in the moon, which appears to her in a dream as a symbol of the matriarchal sprit. She shows us: it spoke to my spirit; immeasurably distant was the tone, yet so near, it whispered in my heart my daughter, flee temptation. Jane answers, ‘mother, I will’ (Chapter 27 p.265). Waking from the dream, Jane leaves Thornfield. Jane was a tutor; she was born in low class of society and common -looking. Why she could attract wealthy Rochester? He loved Jane very much. We knew that Jane was a self-respect, self-esteem, kind and independent woman. Though she met difficulty, but she did not lose her way. She was not beautiful, but she was kindhearted, simple, pure and noble. She was not a little coddle and hypocritical. Especially her noble nature of moral character. Her love to Rochester was genuine and not selfish. When she knew Rochester’s wife was still alive, her left Rochester. Because her love to Rochester was genuinely true, so she left. She bared all the painfulness and sadness silently when she refused St. John’s proposed marriage. Jane thought that without love marriage was terrible and despicable. Certainly, Jane’s choice depended on her character. Though Jane was weak, but she was very brave. Jane struggled continually for equally and to fight against oppression. In addition to class hierarchy, she must fight against patriarchal domination against those who believe women to be his ‘prop and guide’. (Chapter 12 p.91)

In her search for freedom, Jane also struggles with the question of what type of freedom she wants. While Rochester initially offers Jane a chance to liberate her passions, Jane comes to realize that such freedom could also mean enslavement—by living as Rochester’s mistress, she would be sacrificing her dignity and integrity for the sake of her feelings. St. John Rivers offers Jane another kind of freedom: the freedom to act unreservedly on her principles. He opens to Jane the possibility of exercising her talents fully by working and living with him in India. Jane eventually realizes, though, that this

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freedom would also constitute a form of imprisonment, because she would be forced to keep her true feelings and her true passions always in check.

Charlotte Bronte may have created the character of Jane Eyre as a means of coming to terms with elements of her own life. Much evidence suggests that Bronte, too, struggled to find a balance between love and freedom and to find others who understood her. At many points in the book, Jane voices the author’s then-radical opinions on religion, social class, and gender.

3.2 Edward Rochester

Despite his stern manner and not particularly handsome appearance, Edward Rochester wins Jane’s heart, because she feels they are kindred spirits, and because he is the first person in the novel to offer Jane lasting love and a real home. Although Rochester is Jane’s social and economic superior, and although men were widely considered to be naturally superior to women in the Victorian period, Jane is Rochester’s intellectual equal. Moreover, after their marriage is interrupted by the disclosure that Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason, Jane is proven to be Rochester’s moral superior.

Rochester regrets his former libertinism and lustfulness; nevertheless, he has proven himself to be weaker in many ways than Jane. Jane feels that living with Rochester as his mistress would mean the loss of her dignity. Ultimately, she would become degraded and dependent upon Rochester for love, while unprotected by any true marriage bond. Jane will only enter into marriage with Rochester after she has gained a fortune and a family, and after she has been on the verge of abandoning passion altogether. She waits until she is not unduly influenced by her own poverty, loneliness, psychological vulnerability, or passion. Additionally, because Rochester has been blinded by the fire and has lost his manor house at the end of the novel, he has become weaker while Jane has grown in strength—Jane claims that they are equals, but the marriage dynamic has actually tipped in her favor.

3.3 Helen Burns

Helen Burns, Jane’s friend at Lowood School, serves as a foil to Mr. Brocklehurst as well as to Jane. Yet, over the course of the book, Jane must learn how to gain love without sacrificing and harming herself in the process ‘ 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 it is your fate to be required to you’. The sentence gives Jane help in her after life. Helen Burns tell her ‘life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs’. Helen can

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make Jane clam. While Mr. Brocklehurst embodies an evangelical form of religion that seeks to strip others of their excessive pride or of their ability to take pleasure in worldly things, Helen represents a mode of Christianity that stresses tolerance and acceptance. Brocklehurst uses religion to gain power and to control others; Helen ascetically trusts her own faith and turns the other cheek to Lowood’s harsh policies.

In this unfair society, Hallen, a clever, intelligent and beautiful girl received curse and beat, finally lost her young life. However, she had no hate to anyone. Religion poisoned her mind deeply. She believed in God. She spoke to Jane ‘I believe God is good, I can resign my immoral part to him without any misgiving. God is my father, God is my friend: I love him, I believe he love me.’ Just because of these ideas, Hallen hadn’t a little rebel against that kind of cruel treatment. However, Jane was not like Hallen. She always tried to revolt, thought she was still a child, she told Hallen ‘ 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 ‘m sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.’

Although Helen manifests certain strength and intellectual maturity, her efforts involve self-negation rather than self-assertion, and Helen’s submissive and ascetic nature highlights Jane’s more headstrong character. Like Jane, Helen is an orphan who longs for a home, but Helen believes that she will find this home in Heaven rather than Northern England. And while Helen is not oblivious to the injustices the girls suffer at Lowood, she believes that justice will be found in God’s ultimate judgment—God will reward the good and punish the evil. Jane, on the other hand, is unable to have such blind faith. Her quest is for love and happiness in this world. Nevertheless, she counts on God for support and guidance in her search.

3.4 Mrs. Reed

Jane was an orphan without any property and had to live with the help of other. Under this background, everyone looked down upon her. Even when Mrs. Reed locked her in the red room, she still wasn’t obedient. Jane exposed boldly Mrs. Reed’s lies and hypocrisy. She said ‘I am not deceitful,’ that ‘you have no pity,’ that ‘you are deceitful.’ Jane suffered wreck on body and torment in spirit, her heart was filled with fury. Though her strength was weak, in the face of strong oppressors, she was considering how to attack. Due to Jane’s true exposure, Mrs. Reed felt afraid, Jane got a little victory in spirit.

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In those days at Gateshead Hall, Jane’s strong, bravery, unbending characters were expressed step by step. Her every behavior showed her great indignation. Isolation, poverty, discrimination and oppression caused her to revolt the unfair society with her own way. Because of revolt, Jane was driven away from Gateshead to Lowood Institution.

IV. Conclusion

Some critics and reviewers suggest that Jane doesn’t actually subvert traditional norms but rather reinforces them. Here I summit some points. First, in Reflecting Jane Eyre, pat Macpherson asserts Jane’s change which from a bad girl who demolishes the Victorian verities, especially girlhood to a good woman. The charity Institution—Lowood is the most important place that offers Jane the way to become a self-controlled and good woman. In the institution the rebellious Jane learns from Miss Temple and Helen Burns and becomes a good woman. Second, Tina Politi argues that Jane Eyre is not a story of rebellion. She thinks Jane’s rebelliousness is only shown in the first five chapters, and the novel ends by celebrating Jane and her upper-class master----Rochester meeting again and they have a happy ending.

But I really want to debate with the critics. And this is the reason I reread the novel and give the thesis to prove that Jane is subversive to the traditional roles of woman because she transgresses the traditional gender roles and threatens established social norms.

Jane is a special woman in possession of certain characteristics far ahead of the Victorian age. In spirit, she aspires for equal and true love. She breaks the restraints of physical appearance, social status and property and she identifies herself with an independent realm of psychological energy and innate capability. Her smallness makes her vulnerable, yet, the paradox of a strong, resolute, rebellious spirit beneath the fragile exterior. Jane always keeps her pride and dignity and is reluctant to make her spiritual independence overwhelmed by the economic situation. She does not allow herself to be wavered by authority or power. She makes her own choices and takes any results the choice might produce without regrets. In pace with the process of her growth and maturity, Jane eventually comes to win her spiritual independence.

Today, the novel also bears contradictory readings. After revisiting the novel, I want to draw the conclusion that the opposition of femininity and masculinity is culturally constructed, rather than a natural and fixed fact. The gender power relation of female subordination and male domination is defined or ensured by the dominators to achieve

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their own interests through various cultural institutions such as family, school, religion, law, etc.

References

1. Wu Weiren, 1997.History and Anthology of English Literature, [M] Foreign and studies printing House.

2. 杰夫，《外国文学名著》[M] 中国纺织出版社 2004年9月 3. 杨静远，《勃朗特姐妹的生平与创作》[J] 1986年 第二期 4. 张佰香，《英国文学教程》[M] 武汉大学出版社 2005年3月 5. 张唯，《国内勃朗特姐妹研究评述》[J] 1984年 第一期

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