英美文学论文

华中师范大学

本科课程论文（设计）

题目 Jane Eyre — A Beautiful Soul

院 （系） 计算机科学系（师）

专 业 英 语 （辅修）

年 级 2008

学生姓名 XXXXXX

学 号 XXXXXXXX

任课教师 赖燕、刘芳 评定成绩

二O一O年十二月

目录

Introduction……………………………………………………………………1

Charlotte Bronte and her Jane Eyre…………………………………………1

Background of Growth………………………………………………………..2

Family Background………………………………………………………3

Social Background……………………………………………………….3

Spiritual Independence…………………………………………………..4

A Probe into the Feminist Idea of Jane Eyre………………………………...5

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..6

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………...7

I. Introduction

The work is one of the most popular and important novels of the Victorian age. It is noted for its sharp criticism of the existing society, e.g. the religious hypocrisy of charity institutions such as Lowood School where poor girls are trained, through constant starvation and humiliation, to be humble slaves, the social discrimination Jane experiences first as a dependent at her aunt’s house and later as a governess at Thornfield, and the false social convention as concerning love and marriage. At the same time, it is and intense moral fable. Jane, like Mr. Rochester, has to undergo a series of physical and moral tests to grow up and achieve her final happiness.

II. Charlotte Bronte and her Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), the daughter of a clergyman in a small mill town in northern England, has long been considered one of the most outstanding and controversial women writers in the literary world of the nineteenth century. She, together with her sisters Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte, constituted the most marvelous myth in the history of British literature. Their mother died of cancer when the children were still young and they were mostly left on their own as their father felt that “their prattle distressed him, reminding him of his dead wife”(Zhang 2009). In 1842 Charlotte and Emily were sent to join their elder sister Maria and Elizabeth at Clergy Daughter’s school in Cowan Bridge. The condition of the school made a horrifying impression on Charlotte’s mind. The discipline was harsh. Maria suffered a great deal, and after developing tuberculosis, was sent home to die at the age of eleven. In Jane Eyre, the description of the infamous Lowood School was based on this unhappy experience. When the girls were still young, their father brought a box of twelve wooden soldiers for their brother Branwell, who allowed each of his sisters to choose one of the soldiers and

1

become its patron. The soldiers were exactly the things that originally aroused Bronte sisters’ wishes of being writer. From 1846 the sisters started to publish their writings. They put together a little volume of verse under their pseudonyms: Currer Bell for Charlotte, Ellis Bell for Emily, and Acton Bell for Ann. Social prejudice against women writers had forced them to hide their sex. In 1852 Charlotte married her father’s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls. The marriage was sweet but short. In 1855 she became ill and died on March 31 of that year of tuberculosis. All through her short lifetime, Charlotte Bronte produced five novels: Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette and Emma. Except her final unfinished novel Emma, the other four have been widely read and translated into many languages. Their author also becomes the literary world.

Charlotte Bronte is actually the heroine of her novel Jane Eyre. For the story embodied her personal experiences. We can hardly imagine what the author is without what she writes. Due to this special phenomenon, it is commonly believed that no literary commentary on Charlotte Bronte is of any authenticity if her personal experiences are overlooked.

Jane Eyre is Charlotte’s second novel, published in 1847. The novel goes through

five distinct stages: (1)Jane’s childhood at Gateshead, where she is abused by her aunt and cousins; (2)he education at Lowood School, where she acquires friends and role models but also suffers privations; (3) her time as governess at Thornfield Manor, where she falls in love with her Byronic employer, Edward Rochester; (4) her time with the Rivers family at Marsh’s End and at Morton, where her cold clergyman-cousin St . John Rivers proposes to her; (5)her reunion with and marriage to her beloved Rochester at his house of Ferndean. Partly autobiographical, the novel abounds with social criticism and simister Gothic elements.

2

Jane Eyre was considered as the most distinguished work after only a week it was

published. Then, why this work received so much popularity is worthy of thinking. In most cases, a character in a book directly reflects a reality or a social phenomenon, and Jane Eyre in some ways is not an exception. Yet there are lots of extraordinary things that can

be found from the heroine---the resistance of tyranny, the concept of woman statue, the thought of independence, which rather could be referred as unexpected things in that days and just could be referred as modernism nowadays. It is these things that make the novel remarkable.

III. Background of Growth

The formation of Jane Eyre’s personality is closely related to her growing background. And her growing process cannot be neglected in which a man’s distinguished character is just developed under a special circumstance. On the hand, the formation of Jane’s personality can be traced from family and social backgrounds. On the other hand, her success cannot be separated with the independence on spirit and economy as well. So family background, social background, financial independence and spiritual independence must be regarded as a whole.

A. Family Background

The story opens with the titular heroine, Jane Eyre, a plain little orphan, at Gateshead Hall with her aunt and cousin. Her aunt, Mrs. Reed, a selfish and cold-hearted woman, and her three children all treat Jane very badly. One day, in an outbreak, Jane fights back and is shut up in the horrible red room. To get rid of this eye-sore, Mrs. Reed sends her away to Lowood, a charity school for the orphaned or unwanted children. Jane suffers a lot there, both physically and mentally, only to be consoled by the kindness of a teacher,

3

Miss Temple and the friendship of Helen Buns, a pupil who dies as a result of the bad conditions there. Jane stays at the school for eight years, first six as a student and the rest two as a teacher. An advertisement gives her the chance to be a governess at Thornfield hall. There she falls in love with the master of the house, Mr. Rochester, a grim-looking, energetic, quick-tempered but an understanding middle-aged man. He too is attracted to the little plain governess for her quick wit, honesty, frankness, loving heart and her spirit of independence and self-dignity. But their wedding is canceled on the ground that Rochester is already married and his wife, though raving mad, is still alive. Shocked and deeply hurt, Jane makes up her mind to leave Rochester. She flees into the moorland. She would have died of starvation but for St. John Rivers and his two sisters. It turns out that the Rivers are really her cousins, and from them she also learns that she is now a rich heiress. One day, St. John Rivers, a very handsome clergyman who is determined to devote himself solely to God, asks Jane to marry him and accompany him to India for missionary work. Just when Jane, now desperate of her union with Rochester, is about to accept John’s loveless proposal, she hears Rochester calling for her. Following her own heart, Jane returns to Thornfield. She finds the burnt-down Thorn field Hall and its master, now a blind but free man. The two lovers are finally united and live happily ever after.

B. Social Background

In the nineteenth century, a great stratification existed between the upper and lower class. The upper classes claimed that the lower classes cannot be associated in any regular way with industrial or family life. A lack of adequate nutrition, medical care and sanitary resources also contributed to the stigma attached to poor people. The disease and malnutrition that ran rampant among the poor caused stunted physiques and pale face that caused not only economic division between the classes, but also physical

4

divisions as well. The story takes the progress that Jane starts at the bottom of the social scale as orphan living off her aunt’s charity and eventually, becomes a lady with virtuous, integrity, keen intellect and tireless perseverance who breaks through the class barriers to win equal stature with the man she loved. The uncertain social status of governesses in the nineteenth century personified a life of intense misery. They were also that most unfortunate individual; the single, middle-class women who had to earn their own living. Although being a governess might be degradation, employing one was a sigh of culture. The psychological situation of the governess made her position unenviable. Her presence created practical difficulties within the Victorian home because she was neither a servant nor a member of the family. She was from the social level of the family, but the fact that she was paid a salary put her at her economic level of the servants. Only the salary of the governess and usually low family position keeps her from being considered part of the cultural elite.

Under such a humble social condition, Jane, regardless of her original position as a governess, through unrelenting struggle against many odds, finally gains her happiness, which reflects her great personality.

C. Spiritual Independence

Jane has realized the importance of property in controlling her fate; meanwhile, spiritual liberty is crucial to keep her mental balance even when she is still in poverty. In her mind, she cannot bear to let the spiritual independence dominated by economic situation. In the beginning, Jane interprets the spiritual freedom in different manifestation of desire. Since her childhood, Jane has been enjoying broadening her horizon in reading. And by doing so she gathers power to struggle for independence. In Lowood Institute, Jane finds the enjoyment of expanding her own mind, though the

5

condition at there is poor and the discipline is harsh.

After eight years as a student and two years as a teacher, Jane is better qualified than most of the other governesses. Besides the ordinary lessons other governesses can teach, Jane can also teach French, drawing, and music. Her qualifications for the governess job reinforce her self-confidence in the self-support effort. She finds a job as a governesses in Thornfield. It is the groundwork, on which Jane will achieve her goal gradually.

As a mature girl with a sensitive heart, Jane claims for true love, and her anxiety for spiritual liberty is more acute than others. Jane is disadvantaged in many ways, as she has no wealth, family, social position and beauty. But Jane does have intelligence, and her disposition is such as to make Rochester fall in love with her. She is not willing to give up the hard-owned satisfaction of spiritual independence when she is engaged to Rochester. She resists becoming dependent on him for economic reason. She daes not want to be a mistress with fancy gowns and jewels. To prevent herself from losing her identity and becoming an attachment to others, Jane deliberately keeps a reasonable distance from Rochester, for fear of being swallowed by the fever of love. For Jane, true freedom lies in submission to her small fate expressed in the image of “breezy” and “healthy” England.

The new world Rochester opens to her, is one in which she may expect to flourish as the wife of a man who understands and respects her. However, she is often shown to treat herself more sternly than she would wish to believe. She finally rejects Rochester and leaves Thornfield because she thinks that he might fail her moral principle. Jane will not rebel against God or lose her self-respect and become Rochester’s mistress.

This is not enough; the eventual evolution of Jane Eyre into a full independent

6

woman comes after her experiences at the moors. When St. John asks Jane to marry him, she replies calmly and thinks that to be his wife means to keep the fire of nature continually low. It is unendurable, as she has to suppress her passion without any complaints. Clearly St. John does not meet Jane’s standards for true love, for Jane’s passion would dwindle and die if she married him. After she breaks free from St. John, Jane is ready to return to Rochester and assume the role of his wife and his equality. It is a new Jane who reassures Rochester. In control of her life, Jane marries Rochester.

For Jane, the quest for independence is not simple. The decision she comes to is the result of a conscientious assessment of her choices: material wealth is worthless if it is achieved at the expense of virtue; while the narrow life of a village schoolmistress retains the liberation of spirit, which goes with integrity. Moreover, freedom is not attained by enslavement to passion. The conscientiousness of independence lies deep in her personality.

IV. A Probe into the Feminist Idea of Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre takes a negative attitude towards men’s role as a road-guide and makes

sharp criticism about the unequal relationship between men and women. Traditionally, female is considered weak and needs to be protected by male; whereas male is female’s savior who stands in front of female as a supervisor.

Generally speaking, the feeling of helplessness and the desire to be rescued are always connected with women. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte willfully overturns the traditional roles about male and female. When Jane first encounters Mr. Rochester, Rochester falls off his horse and has to be supported by Jane to ride on his horse again. The help offered by Jane to Rochester forms the framework of the love story between them. Later on, when

7

Bertha wants to burn her husband, it is Jane who extinguishes the flames in time and rescues Rochester. When Mr. Mason is attacked by Bertha, it is also Jane who helps Rochester to send the hurt gentleman out without being discovered. Finally when Rochester is blind and mutilated, it is still Jane who reunites him and works as his eyes and hands. By means of these details, Charlotte highlights the relationship between Jane’s power and Rochester’s weakness.

What’s more, Jane is endowed with strong and virtuous characteristics, which she especially demonstrates after she finds out the existence of Bertha, Rochester’s legal wife. In the end, the legacy that Jane receives from her uncle in Madeira significantly redefines her relationship to patriarchal society. Since she gains this wealth and independence, Jane is clearly rebelling against the norms of Victorian England. The roles are reversed and Jane is now the person in her own control.

V. Conclusion

Jane Eyre can be interpreted as a symbol of the independent spirit. Firmly persisting for the rights of being independent gives Jane enough confidence and courage, which is like the beacon over the capriccioso sea of life. As a special and unreserved woman she has been exposed to a hostile environment but continuously and fearlessly struggling for her ideal life. Jane Eyre was a born resister, whose parents went off when she was very young, and her aunt, the only relative she had, treated her as badly as a ragtag. Since Jane’s education in Lowood Orphanage began, she didn’t get what she had been expecting---simply being regarded as a common person, just the same as any other girl around. The suffers from being humiliated and devastated teach Jane to be persevering and prize dignity over anything else. When Jane and Rochester fell in love with each other and got dawn to get marry, she unfortunately came to know in fact Rochester had got a

8

legal wife, who seemed to be the shadow following Rochester and led to his moodiness all the time---Rochester was also a despairing person in need of salvation. Jane did want to give him a hand; however, she made up her mind to leave, because she didn’t want to betray her own principles. She strongly clings to her concept of equality, resistance, liberty, independence, etc. All these actions vividly show her personality.

Life is ceaselessly changing, but living principles remain. Women’s pursuit of the independent social status, the recognition of their potentials and the humanized moral regulation are exactly the manifestation of upgrading progress of society. The possible thematic topics of the novel, personal development, education, freedom, including even the conflict between reason and passion, retain it a strong appeal to readers from Victorian time to the present day. Throughout the novel, Jane Eyre spares no efforts to achieve the independence in germs economic situation and spiritual world. As and orphan girl without beauty or wealth Jane Eyre lays the significance of her life on the persistent strive for the independent status, mentally and physically, which presents a strong thought far beyond her time. Her effort for the thorough independence; including economic state and mental liberty, is no less than revolutionary in Victorian time.

VI. Bibliography

Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre , Foreign Languages Press, 1990.

Landow, George. In What Sense is Jane Eyre a Feminist Novel. London: Brown University Press:2000.

盖斯凯尔夫人， 《夏洛特.勃朗特传》，上海译文出版社

9

勃朗特著， 周令本译， 《简.爱》， 南方出版社，2003

张伯香， 《英美文学选读》，外语教学与研究出版社，1999

10