分析简爱人物__英文

A Self-respecting and Independent Female

—— An Analysis of Jane Eyre

Abstract:The English novelist Charlotte Bronte is famous for her novel Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre —the protagonist of the novel is a female who seeks for independence and true love. On the basis of the collection and study of the documents which are related to the novel and given the time background, this paper emphatically analyzes Jane Eyre’ s character of pursuing equality and independence. Through the appreciation of Jane Eyre, we can improve the cognition of British literature. And at the same time, the writer hopes the females in real life could follow Jane Eyre as an example to look for their own dignity, equality and love bravely.

Key words: Jane Eyre; self-respect; independence; equality

一位自尊而独立的女性

——分析《简·爱》

摘要：英国小说家夏洛蒂·勃朗特以小说《简·爱》闻名于世，主人公简·爱是一位既向往独立又需要爱情的女性。在收集、研究与主题相关的资料的基础上，结合时代背景，本文着重分析研究简·爱追求独立，渴望平等的这一性格特征。通过对该文学作品的赏析,可以提高我们对英国文学知识及其文化背景的了解和认识，也希望现实生活中的女性以简·爱为典范，勇敢地追求属于自己的尊严、平等和爱情。

关键词：简·爱；自尊；独立；平等

1. Introduction:

Everybody has his own dignity and maybe all the people believe that they are born to be equal. But could people still manage to keep their self-respect and courage when they are in poverty and appalling conditions? I think no one could accurately answer the question if they don’t have a try. But I want to say that perhaps no one could express such strong beliefs on looking for independence, equality and true love as fully as Jane Eyre. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte portrays one woman's desperate struggle to realise her dream. This self-respecting and brave woman has become a model of countless women at the Victorian age, even in modern times. From the novel, we should learn that all the people, especially women, have their right to pursuing what they want. It is the time for women to take courage from asking to be given equal status with men and for independence, dignity and love.

1.1 About Charlotte Bronte

The author’s name is Charlotte Bronte(1816-1855). She was born in Yorkshire, northern England. Her father was a poor local Anglican priest. Her mother was a housewife.

Charlotte had 30-year-old. She spent nearly a year to write a novel -- Teacher. Her sister

Emily and Anne were to write a novel Wuther Heights and Agnes Gray. They sent the three novels to the publishers together. Soon their publishers said, Wuther Height and Agnes Gray have been accep ted, but Charlotte’s Teacher will be returned.

It was a great blow to her. But she did not retreat, instead of beginning writing another novel. This is Jane Eyre.

1.2 A summary of Jane Eyre

Jane's father is a poor pastor. When she is still young, her parents both died of disease. Jane Eyre was sent to Mrs. Reid’s family. Mr. Reid told his wife to take good care of Jane Eyre before dying. But Jane Eyre in the family's status even was lower than the female. She never wanted to stay in the home of Mrs. Reid. So Mrs. Reid put her into an orphanage, where a teacher called Miss Tam Bern was very care about her. Jane stayed as a teacher for two years after graduation. She could not stand the loneliness there. So she became a teacher by advertising. So she went to the manor of Thornfield. There she fell in love with Edward Rochester, the owener of Thornfield. Then they finally got married.

1.3 The writing background of Jane Eyre

In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte portrays one woman's desperate struggle to attain her identity in the mist of temptation, isolation, and impossible odds. In its first publication, it outraged many for its realistic portrayal of life during that time. Ultimately, the controversy of Bronte’s novel lied in its realism, challenging the role of women, religion, and mortality in the Victorian society.

In essence, Bronte's novel became a direct assault on Victorian morality. Controversy based in its realistic exposure of thoughts once considered improper for a lady of the 19th century. Emotions any respectable girl would repress. Women at this time were not to feel passion, nor were they considered sexual beings. To conceive the thought of women expressing rage and blatantly retaliating against authority was a defiance against the traditional role of women. It challenged Victorian class structure in a strictly hierachal society.

2. An Analysis of the Protagonist —Jane Eyre

2.1 Jane’ s character of pursuing dignity and equality

Jane is disadvantaged in many ways as she has no wealth, family, social position or beauty. Jane does have intelligence though, and her disposition is such to make Rochester fall in love with her. Here is seen resistance against class, as Rochester wishes to marry Jane in spite of the disapproval that will come from his class, and Jane also resists this disapproval and will marry him. However, Jane will not rebel against God or lose her self-respect and become Rochester's mistress when she finds out that he is already married. She expresses her strong belief on equality in her words:

“ Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?-- a machine without feelings? And can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? 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 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!”

2.2 Jane’ s character of independence

2.2.1 Showing independence through her actions

In the beginning of Jane Eyre, Jane struggles against Bessie, the nurse at Gateshead Hall, and says, “I resisted all the way: a new thing for me… and, like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths”(Chapter 2). This sentence foreshadows what will be an important theme of the rest of the book, that of female independence or rebelliousness. Jane is here resisting her unfair punishment, but throughout the novel she expresses her opinions on the state of women. Tied to this theme is another of class and the resistance of the terms of one’s class.

Soon after Jane is settled at Lowood Institution she finds the enjoyment of expanding her own mind and talents. She forgets the hardships of living at the school and focuses on the work of her own hands. She is not willing to give this up when she is engaged to Rochester. She resists becoming dependent on him and his money. She does not want to be like his mistresses, with their fancy gowns and jewels. But even after she and Rochester are married, she wants to remain as Adele’ s governess. She is not willing to give up her independence to Rochester, and tries to seek her own fortune by writing to her uncle. In the end, when she does have her own money, she states, “I told you I am independent, sir, as well as rich: I am my own mistress” (Chapter 37).

2.2.2 Showing independence through her thoughts

Jane not only shows the reader her beliefs on female independence through her actions, but also through her thoughts. Jane desires to see more of the world and have more interaction with its people. While she appreciates her simple life at Thornfield, she regrets that she does not have the means to travel. She relates her feelings to all women, not just those of her class, saying: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags” (Chapter 12).

3. Conclusion

Jane Eyre shaped an image of a woman who didn't yield to mundane pressure, was independent and positive. In the novel, Jane Ey re’s love story with Rochester,vividly demonstrated that the fire-like enthusiasm and absolute sincerity heart, which represented revealing her concept of love. She boldly loved what she really loved. At the fictional end of the novel, it said that Jane Eyre received a heritage and returned to the lonely and helpless Rochester. It shows the author’s ideals—women’s independence and equality in the economic, social and family and to the loyal love.

4. The Characters

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is the orphaned protagonist of the story. When the novel begins, she is an isolated, powerless ten-year-old living with an aunt and cousins who dislike her. As the novel progresses, she grows in strength. She distinguishes herself at Lowood School because of her hard work and

strong intellectual abilities. As a governess at Thornfield, she learns of the pleasures and pains of love through her relationship with Edward Rochester. After being deceived by him, she goes to Marsh End, where she regains her spiritual focus and discovers her own strength when she rejects St. John River’s marriage proposal. By novel’s end she has become a powerful, independent woman, blissfully married to the man she loves, Rochester.

Edward Rochester

Jane’s lover who is a dark, passionate, brooding man. A traditional romantic hero, Rochester has lived a troubled wife. Married to an insane Creole woman, Bertha Mason, Rochester sought solace for several years in the arms of mistresses. Finally, he seeks to purify his life and wants Jane Eyre, the innocent governess he has hired to teach his foster daughter, Adèle Varens, to become his wife. The wedding falls through when she learns of the existence of his wife. As penance for his transgressions, he is punished by the loss of an eye and a hand when Bertha sets fire to Thornfield. He finally gains happiness at the novel’s end when he is reunited with Jane.

Sarah Reed

Jane’s unpleasant aunt, who raises her until she is ten years old. Despite Jane’s attempts at reconci liation before her aunt’s death, her aunt refuses to relent. She dies unloved by her children and unrepentant of her mistreatment of Jane.

John Reed

Jane’s nasty and spoiled cousin, responsible for Jane’s banishment to the red-room. Addicted to drinking and gambling, John supposedly commits suicide at the age of twenty-three when his mother is no longer willing or able to pay his debts.

Eliza Reed

Another one of Jane’s spoiled cousins, Eliza is insanely jealous of the beauty of her sister, Georgiana. She nastily breaks up Georgiana’s elopement with Lord Edwin Vere, and then becomes a devout Christian. But her brand of Christianity is devoid of all compassion or humanity; she shows no sympathy for her dying mother and vows to break off all contact with Georgiana after their mother’s death. Usefulness is her mantra. She enters a convent in Lisle, France, eventually becoming the Mother Superior and leaving her money to the church.

Georgiana Reed

Eliza’s and John’s sister, Georgiana is the beauty of the family. She’s also shallow and self-centered, interested primarily in her own pleasure. She accuses her sister, Eliza, of sabotaging her plans to marry Lord Edwin Vere. Like Eliza, she shows no emotion following their mother’s death. Eventually, Georgiana marries a wealthy, but worn-out society man.

Bessie Lee

The maid at Gateshead who sometimes consoles Jane by telling her entertaining stories and singing her songs. Bessie visits Jane at Lowood, impressed by Jane’s intellectual attainments and ladylike behavior. Bessie marries the coachman, Robert Leaven, and has three children.

Mr. Lloyd

The kind apothecary who suggests that Jane be sent to school following her horrifying experience in the red-room. His letter to Miss Temple clears Jane of the accusations Mrs. Reed has made against her.

Mr. Brocklehurst

The stingy, mean-hearted manager of Lowood. He hypocritically feeds the girls at the school starvation-level rations, while his wife and daughters live luxuriously. The minister of Brocklebridge Church, he represents a negative brand of Christianity, one that lacks all compassion or kindness.

Helen Burns

Jane’s spiritual and intellectual friend at Lowood. Although she is unfairly punished by Miss Scatcherd at Lowood, Helen maintains her poise, partially through her loving friendship with Miss Temple. From Helen, Jane learns tolerance and peace, but Jane can’t accept Helen’s rejection of the material world. Helen’s impressive intellectual attainments inspire Jane to work hard at school. Dying in Ja ne’s arms, Helen looks forward to peace in heaven and eventual reunion with Jane.

Maria Temple

The warm-hearted superintendent at Lowood who generously offers the girls bread and cheese when their breakfasts are inedible. An impressive scholar, a model of ladylike behavior and a compassionate person, Miss Temple is a positive role model for Jane. She cares for Jane and Helen, offering them seedcake in her room and providing Helen with a warm, private bed when she is dying.

5. Jane Eyre — A Beautiful Soul

Jane Eyre, is a poor but aspiring, small in body but huge in soul, obscure but

self-respecting girl. After we close the covers of the book, after having a long journey of the spirit, Jane Eyre, a marvelous figure, has left us so much to recall and to think: We remember her goodness: for someone who lost arms and blinded in eyes, for someone who despised her for her ordinariness, and even for someone who had hurt her deeply in the past. We remember her pursuit of justice. It’s like a companion with the g oodness. But still, a virtuous person should promote the goodness on one side and must check the badness on the other side. We remember her self-respect and the clear situation on equality. In her opinion, everyone is the same at the God’s feet. Though the re are differences in status、in property and also in appearance, but all the human being are equal in personality. We also remember her striving for life, her toughness and her confidence… When we think of this girl, what she gave us was not a pretty face or a transcendent temperament that make us admire deeply, but a huge charm of her personality.

Actually, she wasn’t pretty, and of course, the ordinary appearance didn’t make others feel good of her, even her own aunt felt disgusted with it. And some others even thought that she was easy to look down on and to tease, so when Miss Ingram met Jane Eyre, she seemed quite contemptuous, for that she was obviously much more prettier than ‘the plain and ugly governess’. But as the little governess had said: ‘Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!’ This is the idea of equality in Jane Eyre’s mind. God hadn’t given her beauty and wealth, but instead, God gave her a kind mind and a thinking brain. Her idea of equality and self-respect impress us so much and let us feel the power inside her body.

In my mind, though a person’s beauty on the face can make others once feel that one is attractive and charming, if his or her mind isn’t the same beautiful as the appearance, such as beauty cannot last for, when others find that the beauty which had charmed them was only a falsity, it’s not true, they will like the person no more. For a long time, only a person’s GREat virtue, a noble soul, a beautiful heart can be called as AN EVERLASTING BEAUTY, just as Kahill Gibran has said, that ‘Beauty is a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted’. I can feel that how beauty really is, as we are all fleshly men, so we can’t distinguish whether a man is of nobleness or humbleness, but fleshly men, so we can’t distinguish whether a man is of nobleness or humbleness, but as there are great differences in our souls, and from that, we can know that whether a man is noble or ordinary, and even obscure, that is, whether he is beautiful or not. Her story makes us thinking about life and we learn much from her experience, at least, that is a fresh new recognition of the real beauty