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Jane Eyre Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is the one of the best pieces of British and world literature. This book is a tremendous source of themes and ideas. Bronte has made it an extremely full and interesting novel, which brings new experiences to the readers. Some of the major issues of the book are class relations, religion and human nature.
Charlotte Bronte expresses a strong sympathy for the working class and the poor, forcefully condemning both upper-class exploitation and arrogance. Janes own struggle makes clear the integral relationship between wealth and survival. In Jane Eyre Bronte shows that two moral creeds exist: one for the lucky few and another for everyone else. What becomes apparent towards the end of the novel is that Jane herself endorses the social caste system. Throughout the novel, Bronte uses animal imagery to describe the untamable and the uncivilized. Right at the beginning of the story John Reed calls Jane a rat and the servants refer to her as a mad cat.
Mr. Rochester often compares her to a bird when she refuses to be contained by him and his ways. When Jane returns in the end to Mr. Rochester and finds him hidden away from society she comments to him, Your hair reminds me of eagles feathers; whether your nails are grown like birds claws or not, I have not yet noticed (Bronte, Jane Eyre). Animals do not follow the laws of our social world and so they provide a very appropriate image with which to describe the uncivilized.
In Jane Eyre, Janes relationship with religion starts at the very beginning of the book and lasts till the end of it. The religious theme is first introduced with Mr. Brocklehurst, who asks Jane about her religious beliefs. There are many proscriptions about Brocklehurst that are difficult to follow and understand, at times. For example, he asks Jane about her opinion of Psalms and she relies, Psalms are not interesting.
Brocklehurst replies saying, That proves you have a wicked heart; and you must pray to God to change it, to give you a new and clean one, to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (24). In Jane Eyre, religion is the guiding path that Jane strides to walk on. Religion provides Jane with a comfort zone she has lacked in her life. When her surroundings and situation change, Janes faith in God is the only constant that she has learned to rely on. Perhaps because Jane is presented with both extremes of belief in God by other characters in her life - Mr. Brocklehurst and Helen, it is easier for her to find a middle ground that is comfortable to her, one that is neither too aggressive nor too passive.
Jane is able to set her own morals and ethics to help guide her to happiness. Bronte expresses some of the same doubts about mans significance in Jane Eyre, but she does not do it in the explicit manner. When Jane beaks free of Thornfield and travels on her own through the wilderness, the reader begins to wonder here, too, if nature, God, and man do not all stand in conflict. I have no relative, Jane says, but the universal mother, Nature: I will seek her breast and ask repose (284). Jane instinctual believes in the goodness of Nature and God.
She naively believes that Nature will work in her favor - a good reason why she starves. Ironically, it is man, from whom Jane anticipates only mistrust, rejection, insult, who ends up saving her (285). Jane Eyre is a rich and powerful book. Its variety of themes and issues impresses the readers and urges many interpretations and views on the book.
However, it is certain that nobody can stay untouched by the deepness of Charlotte Bronte's novel. Bibliography: Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, Penguin, 1996 Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation, 2001
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