Religion plays a main part in Jane Eyre’s life. It becomes more important to her towards the adult stages in Jane’s life as she relies on her religion when things go wrong or hard decisions are to be made. The first time that Jane discusses religion openly with anyone is with Helen Burns on her deathbed, after having a major influence on Jane’s attitudes to life already, Jane finds it hard to accept Helen’s certainty of God and Christianity. When Jane asks Helen who and what God is, Helen replies: “My maker and yours who will never destroy what he has created. I rely implicitly on his power and confide wholly in his goodness: I count the hours till that eventful one arrives which shall restore me to him, reveal him to me.” Similarly, later on in the novel St John tells Jane how all of the work he does is in order to earn himself a place in heaven. It seems that while Helen and St.John seek happiness in heaven, Jane is determined to find hers on earth. Jane frequently compares herself to Quakers in both manner and clothing; she prefers simplicity to anything elaborate and controls her temper as much as possible. She calls herself Mr. Rochester’s “Plain, Quakerish governess” she always wears a black dress and on occasions her formal dress of gray, even when Mr. Rochester tries to buy her silk dresses for the wedding she insists on having plain gray. Upon the discovery of Mr. Rochester’s mad wife, Jane describes herself in the third person to the reader and discovers that she has lost her hope and faith. She says: “Jane Eyre, who had been an ardent, expectant woman – almost a bride – was a cold, solitary girl again. . . . My hopes were all dead – struck with a subtle doom, such as, in one night, fell on all the first-born in the Land of Egypt.” By comparing her love to the dead first born in the tenth plague, Jane places that love within an existing spiritual context. She feels that she is being punished for not obeying her religion or instincts and she also realizes that she is guilty of the sin of the Egyptians – of believing that Gods powers are limited and that they could evade his law. Bronte seemed to write the novel making it a fact throughout that God does exist.
Mainly in the childhood period of Jane’s life when she is treated so unfairly by her Aunt Reed, Jane has the quality of childhood imagination on her side to help her cope with the vast amount of dejection she had to tolerate. It is very clear to the reader in the first few chapters of the novel how much Jane longs to escape to lead a better and more fulfilling life and how she relies on books and her imagination in order to believe that this could come true. After her ordeal in the “red room”, Bessie offers to fetch a book for Jane, Jane says, “the word book acted as a transient stimulus” this reflects Jane’s passion for reading and how she used it as a form of escapism. She chooses “Gulliver’s Travels” in which she delights at the adventures that Gulliver encounters and imagines herself within them, she says “I doubted not that I might one day, by taking a long voyage, see with my own eyes the little fields, houses, and trees, the diminutive people, the tiny cows, sheep, and birds of the one realm; and the corn-fields forest-high, the mighty mastiffs, the monster cats, the tower-like men and women, of the other.” She also tells the reader how, as a child, she spent her time looking for elves around the garden searching desperately for any trace of the other fairy tale world; she says that she decided that the elves must have found a better place in a more tropical climate than England. A good way to compare Jane’s childhood to her adulthood is to compare her attitude to fairy tales. Upon her first encounter with Mr. Rochester, Jane writes: “I remembered certain of Bessie’s tales, wherein figured a North-of-England spirit, called a “Gytrash,” which, in the form of a horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary ways, and sometimes came upon travelers, as this horse was now coming upon me” when this nursery story rushes into Jane’s head, they take on a new and horrible face “with a vigour and vividness beyond what childhood could give”. This image now brings more fright into Jane’s heart than it ever did in her childhood. Most would expect a child to find a fairy tale more horrible than an adult, since the opposite can be said of Jane, it shows that although she has matured a lot since her childhood, she still has an innocent nature. An adult with a mature experience of life would know that a human being is capable of possessing far more frightening qualities than any monster.
When Jane finds no acceptance within humanity and her independence only finds her loneliness, she turns to nature and finds a strong sense of belonging. She often comments on the weather and her surroundings throughout the novel and they both often reflect her emotion at the time. For instance, she pauses several times whilst reading her book in chapter one and notes that the weather seems to be getting worse and worse. John Reed then comes in and attacks her. The weather built up then tension before the climax, whilst Jane is in the red room, a storm commences, and as she calms after the ordeal, so does the weather. Another example of weather having an influence or connection on Jane’s life is when Mr. Rochester proposes to Jane under the great horse chestnut tree and the next day Adele informs them that the tree has been struck by lightening and has been split in half – one half has broken away from the other. This is a prediction of what will happen between Jane and Mr. Rochester. The tree has split in two – this symbolizes the way that Jane and Rochester split after the discovery of Bertha but the roots are still bound – this symbolizes that both will always have feelings for each other; both predictions accurate. One feature of nature that guides Jane, having an impact throughout the novel is the moon. Throughout her childhood, the moon guides Jane until she arrives at Thornfield. The moon is absent until the night that she meets Mr. Rochester. When Rochester tells Jane that she should not be out so late, Jane replies, “I am not at all afraid of being out late when it is moonlight” At this meeting, the moon is a source of comfort for Jane. However, as her relationship with Mr. Rochester progresses, the moon becomes a more active guide to Jane. Rochester attempts to redefine Jane when he disguises himself as a fortune teller. He changes everything that Jane says into making her situation seem that it is lacking needs that only he can fill. Shortly after this, the “full and bright” moon awakes Jane. This causes her to reflect on her relationship with Rochester, meaning that the moon took an actively physical role in guiding Jane because she is still unaware that Rochester is already married to Bertha. On the night of Rochester’s proposal, Jane first notices Rochester’s shadow because of the light of the moon. After she accepts the proposal, Jane then describes the moon as “not yet set” and there is a big storm. They later find out about the chestnut tree. Here, nature is giving Jane a direct warning to stay away from Rochester. It can also be interpreted as a warning to Rochester. Rochester ignores the warning. Rochester tells Adele his own version of the moon myth, in which he claims that he will fulfill all of Jane’s basic needs: shelter, food and warmth. In doing so, it is apparent that he wishes Jane to be dependant upon him, showing his distaste for feminism. As the engagement process continues, Jane begins to realize that Rochester has become her “whole world” and that he is almost “an eclipse” between herself and God. Upon the realization that Rochester is already married, Jane flees and is most prominently lead by the moon, it is referred to several times and a human form representing the moon speak to her soul telling her to flee. At the end of the novel, the moon myth is retold with Jane, the feminine character being the provider. She has returned a wealthy woman and tells Rochester, “If you wont let me live with you, I can build a house of my own close up to your door, and you may come and sit in my parlour when you want company of an evening.” – Jane is in control of where she lives, not Rochester. In Rochester’s interpretation, he told Adele that he would feed Jane with manna; again the roles are reversed when Jane brings him supper. Rochester had said that he would carry Jane to the volcano if she got cold; Jane pauses in conversation to “make a better fire and have the hearth swept up”. Because of his disability, he is reliant on Jane, not the other way around. Rochester can no longer refuse to recognize Jane’s independence.
In conclusion, I would say that Jane Eyre has all of the qualities associated with a romantic heroine. She has a strong sense of duty and religion, she endured a great amount of suffering, therefore enjoyed imagination and fairy stories as a way to escape, she was independent and had a strong link with nature. She is, in my opinion, “A typical romantic heroine.”
