‘I can never bear being dressed like a doll.’
She feels if she is bought all these things she will be restricted and imprisoned and she does not want to feel like this. Mr. Rochester says
‘I would not exchange a young English girl’
He is trying to give her a compliment by referring to the eastern tradition which is that he would just have her over lots of women, but this comment makes her feel as though she is his possession. We can see that Jane Eyre doesn’t have a love for money. We can see this when she finds out that she has been left a fortune of 20,000 pounds by her uncle. When she gets the news that St. John, Diana and Mary are her family, because of her kindness and no necessity for money she suggests sharing it out between the four of them and she goes along with her suggestion after a lot of discussion. About that the money
‘Could never be mine in justice, though it might be in law.’
When she says this it is another indication that she does not have a love for the money. When we see she is willing to share it out we realise how kind she is and her heart is in the right place.
We are shown in this story the ways in which the older son inherited everything and this meant that the girls of the family were expected to marry a rich man we see this when the Aunt dies. Women didn’t have many chances and so it made it hard for the women to work and so they were very much dependant on the man to provide the money, we this with Mr. Rochester is friends and the way the women had to sit whilst there husbands chatted. Another example of the man being in charge and the one making the money is Mrs. Temple when she gets married she quits her job. Throughout this book we see that Jane has two disadvantages to most women because not only is she a women but she is also a poor, women, this makes us feel extra sorrow for her. Mrs. Fairfax shows her opinion by saying
‘Is it really for love he is going to marry you?’
that she does not agree with this marriage because of the social class aspect, but also because of the wife she knows he has.
One of the most important aspects of this book is the social class of the people and we see this from the beginning when we see that Jane Eyre is treated badly by the Reads because her mother married a poor man as this was not accepted in Victorian times. She was not only looked down upon by the reads but also throughout her life and by bringing this into the story makes us feel sympathetic towards her. Mrs. Fairfax shows her opinion when she hears about the marriage of Jane and Mr. Rochester she says ‘Is it really for love he is going to marry you?’ she is trying to make out that Mr. Rochester does not love her. This is so then she would be put off marrying him, this shows us that she does not want them to be together because he is rich and she is poor.
St. John in Chapter thirty five asks her hand in marriage and for her to become a missionary, and travel with him. She rejects the offer given to her because she sees marriage as something you do when you are in true love and she makes her thoughts clear in her rejection given to him. St. John makes out that
‘Undoubtedly enough love would follow upon marriage to render the union right even in your eyes.’
He says that she would grow to love him. She hates the idea and she expresses her opinion strongly
‘I scorn your idea of love.’
Bronte uses the word scorn to get across the intensity of her feeling of this idea she has been told. It really tells the reader that she has a strong view. By this we can she is very angry at the way St. John proposes to her. She is very much wounded at the feeling of being used.
She doesn’t want to be ‘Force 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 is a description of a loveless marriage, and a feeling that she never wants to have which involves imprisonment and loneliness. Jane resents his attitude to marriage because he is not marrying for love and she knows that they both won’t be happy. She knows that she wants to be with Mr. Rochester because she knows she loves him and this is proven when she hears him calling her. She hears
‘A voice somewhere cry’
She identifies it as Mr. Rochester’s voice and calls back out to him and reassures him that
‘I am coming’ and please
‘Wait for me! Oh, I will come.’
This part of the book is very dramatic and moving. He is calling for her just as she is about to make a big mistake in her life. Underneath she really knows this. All her feelings come rushing back for Mr. Rochester. When they are led back to each other they believe that it is Gods will that brought them back together, and that it was fine to be with him because it was what God wanted.
Victorian society was mainly Christian, but Brontë saw that many Christians were hypocrites. When she introduces us to Mr. Brocklehurst Bronte has him dressed in black. She does this to make us think that he is evil; this makes us think he is not a true Christian. Mr. Brocklehurst tries to scare Jane when she is a child by suing the religion against her, because of his beliefs at his school he makes all the girls who are poor to have their hair cut off and wants them to be ugly because he believes that God is trying to teach them a lesson. There was a belief in Victorian… that if people were born poor it was because they were sinful so they had to suffer so they could go to heaven Brontë does all this because she wants to show us that not all Christians used the religion in a good way. She has Miss Temple playing the part of the headmistress as a kind woman so we could see her views.
In this book we see that Brontë has some strong views and she shows this distinctively in her book. When Brontë is talking about the views on religion she is not showing her dislike for the religion in this book, but we see she is just against the way some people use it to scare people, and thinks this is the wrong way to use religion. She also disagrees with the social class and how that they should be regarded as nothing shows that she does not like this and that she wants people to be equal. She also feels strongly about the position of women. Her heroine Jane struggles against prejudices regarding class and women. The novel has an optimistic ending because Jane has won happiness after all her efforts.
Eleanor Mooney
GCSE English AQA
2004
Jane Eyre Essay