Jane Eyre: A figure for sympathy - page 1
Keywords: Jane Eyre Full marks A* ways Charlotte Bronte encourages readers to sympathise class, gender and status pathetic fallacy Rochester power society use of language
By xbryonyx on 13/02/2007
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 11 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
In ‘Jane Eyre’, Charlotte Bronte tells a story of all the hardships faced and pain experienced by a young girl growing up in a world ruled by class, gender and status. We are encouraged to feel sympathy for Jane throughout the novel and for many different reasons. The reader feels great compassion for Jane and deep resentment for those characters that afford her unhappiness and discomfort. We observe her growth and watch the way in which, ironically, almost every good aspect in Jane’s life is followed by a deeper, harsher blow.
Jane Eyre is a very strong but also unusual heroine; she possesses a great sense of her own self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in God, and a passionate disposition that was hugely unconventional in the times of Charlotte Bronte. The fact that Jane is such a true and genuine character helps the reader to identify with her and feel closer to her throughout the novel, resulting in a deeper sense of sympathy when things go wrong.
Learning that Jane was an orphan from an early age is a fast introduction of sympathy as we appreciate that she has had a hard beginning and the ritual cruel treatment that she receives from her Aunt Reed as an innocent, vulnerable child is appalling. We immediately admire Jane for her patience and endurance, inspiring us to feel compassion for her at an early stage.
A consistent characteristic that is evident throughout the story is that Jane is forever hopelessly searching for a place to belong, a mother figure and to be loved; however, tragically, this contrasts with her equally intense need for autonomy and freedom. She is constantly left an outsider and outcast, desperately misunderstood, knowing that she may never be truly happy and will end up sacrificing one of these equally important parts of her to please someone else. The first choice of this nature that she faces comes in the form of Rochester; she is desperately in love with him and he offers her a chance to liberate her passions, however, soon Jane comes to realise that although this is one form of freedom, it is also a form of enslavement that would sacrifice her dignity and integrity and she has to face the harsh realisation that this was not a sacrifice she wishes to make. A similar situation also occurs between Jane
Last 5 comments…
There have been no comments posted for this article, but you need to register if you want to be the first!