Jane Eyre, an orphan, was fostered in her aunt's house and bullied in every way. Later, she entered Lowood Orphanage, a charity school. Her soul and body suffered greatly, but she completed her studies with indomitable will and excellent results. In order to pursue an independent life, she was employed as a governess at Thornfield Manor. The focus of the story is the bitter love between Jane Eyre, a junior tutor, and Rochester, the male host. The disparity between the social status and personality of the hero and heroine makes this love full of fierce collisions, while similar hobbies and sincere love make this love have a brilliant spark. The author tells the story with Jane Eyre's distinctive female perspective and narrative style, which is true and artistic. In particular, Jane Eyre's unique personality and thoughts, while impressing the noble protagonist, also firmly grasped the hearts of our readers.
As the heroine of a love novel, Jane Eyre appeared as an unprecedented female image in this19th century literary work. In the past, the heroines in love stories were all beautiful, gentle, noble and virtuous women. However, Jane Eyre is "poor, humble, humble and short", but she has a smart, strong and brave heart, which makes those external beauty overshadowed by this inner beauty. What is more commendable is that Jane Eyre did not feel inferior because of poverty and looks. On the contrary, she is brave and firm: "I am equal to your soul." "I have a soul like you-and an identical heart!" "I'm not talking to you according to customs, conventions, or even flesh and blood-it's my heart talking to your heart, as if we have all passed away, and we stand before God together, equal to each other-just like us!"
Because of this, Jane Eyre dared to love a man whose social class was much higher than her own, and even dared to voluntarily declare her love to each other-this was extremely bold in the society at that time. Happiness is no longer the patent of a certain person or class, but belongs to everyone in the world. Only two equal souls can form a complete love, so Jane Eyre insists that her independence and the pursuit of love integrity are inseparable. Later, Jane Eyre left Rochester sadly, and for the same reason, she could never allow herself to marry a married man. It will be an incomplete love. If she is with Rochester, she is not the same independent and equal Jane Eyre. If Jane Eyre's departure is a rational choice she has to make because of the unchangeable reality, then her final return is another rational choice made out of the pursuit of sticking to her feelings.
Here, what we see is not only a pale Cinderella story of a civilian woman winning the love between a man and a noble. It was Jane Eyre who bravely and decisively walked out of Cinderella's fairy tale and started a literary road of new women and true women. Jane Eyre despises wealth, social status and religious dignity. She believes that "true happiness lies in a beautiful spiritual world and a noble heart." The strength demonstrated by her beliefs and actions deeply touched the hearts of readers from generation to generation and purified the souls of people living in a society where money is everything. Jane Eyre is a woman who has a rational understanding of her own thoughts and personality, a woman who has a firm pursuit of her own happiness and feelings, a woman who is no longer just following men and secular requirements, a woman who has made independent judgments on her own values and feelings, and a strong and independent woman. Charlotte Brontexq created an unprecedented female image; Jane Eyre issued a female voice-the persistence and pursuit of equality, independence, integrity and freedom.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontexq is a realistic novel, which has been widely circulated in different languages and races all over the world since it was published in 1847. Female readers of every era use this nineteenth-century literary work to explore their lives, thoughts and emotions. Jane Eyre, the ideal and pursuit of women she symbolizes, has transcended time and space and become eternal in people's hearts.
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I am not an angel--on jane eyre's new female image.
2007-06-24 23:02
I'm No Angel
-Jane Eyre's new female image
Name: Wu * * * Military Academy StudentNo.: 011031319029.
Abstract: Jane Eyre is a new rebellious woman with self-respect, self-love and self-respect. She persistently pursues independence and self-improvement. He has both the characteristics of gentle obedience of women and the characteristics of strong courage and initiative of men. Jane Eyre pursues an equal, free and independent life and realizes her life value with a positive attitude towards life. It embodies the new concept of modern women.
Key words: modern view of women, rebellious women, personality liberation, personality independence.
1847, Jane Eyre, a novel by British woman writer Charlotte Brontexq, was born, breaking the shackles of the British marriage model in the first half of the 9th century. The heroine's spirit of Jane Eyre, Dare to Love, Dare to Hate and Dare to Resist amazed and admired the world. She is the most brilliant rebellious new woman in the Victorian female literature group, which is rare in the previous history of English literature. No wonder it aroused strong repercussions in the society at that time as soon as it appeared, thus gaining permanent charm.
When Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, the British bourgeois government ostensibly took some reform measures to split the labor movement, such as passing a bill to implement a ten-hour working day for female workers. However, women's social status has not improved, and they have not obtained equal rights. Even the Charter Movement, which experienced three climaxes, attracted hundreds of workers and working people to participate in the struggle for their rights, and did not raise the issue of gender equality. At that time, women had no right to control property and were not competitive in the marriage market. They think it beneath them to work in a factory. So teaching and being a tutor are almost the only choices, because this profession barely maintains a decent veil. The Bronte sisters have both been governesses. Obviously, many plots of Jane Eyre depend on the author's personal experience, which reflects the author's own feelings and is autobiographical. It can be said that Jane Eyre is "the Magna Carta of a governess" (1). What I wrote was a feeling of "rebellious independence" (2), which reflected the author's spirit of pursuing women's independence.
Jane Eyre, the hero of the novel, is a low-class woman with ordinary appearance and experience. The main line of the whole story revolves around the process of Jane Eyre, the only daughter who lost her parents and had no property, from being bullied to finally gaining a certain social status through self-struggle. Jane Eyre is not beautiful, but she never gives up the pursuit of beautiful things; She is poor, but she has a strong self-esteem; She has no love since she was a child, but she is very independent and still longs for love, never giving up the right to love; She was often bullied since she was a child, but she stood up bravely and showed unyielding character. Jane Eyre's strong self-esteem, independent personality and self-improvement spirit of fighting unfair treatment prove that she is not an ordinary woman. Charlotte, on the other hand, began to shape the heroine's character from her unique understanding of the truth of life and the true meaning of beauty, making her a representative of new women.
Aiming at the new female image of Jane Eyre, this paper will explain and embody its unique "new" charm from four aspects.
< 1 >
From the process of Jane Eyre's growth, Jane Eyre's spirit of self-esteem, self-reliance and self-improvement is displayed.
Jane Eyre is adopted by her uncle, Mr. Reed, and lives in his uncle's Gateshead House. When my uncle was alive, although my aunt Mrs. Reed and her daughters were full of hatred for Jane Eyre, and the servants at home even discriminated against and insulted her, little Jane Eyre was still protected by my uncle. After her uncle died, she was lonely and abused by Mrs. Reed and the children. She showed a strong spirit of resistance. Her cousin hit her, and she dared to fight back. When her aunt told her children to stay away from her, she shouted, "They don't deserve to be with me." In this environment, Jane Eyre did not feel inferior, on the contrary, she showed stronger self-esteem, and in her young mind, the flame of resistance was burning. When she was angry, she complained to Mrs. Reed, "I don't lie. If I lie, I will say I love you. " But I never said that. I don't love you, what I hate most in this world is you! "Being imprisoned in an empty room, I thought of my abuse and shouted' grievance' from my heart. This shows that when Jane Eyre was young, she had a brave resistance and a unique personality.
When Mrs. Reed couldn't stand Jane any longer, she sent Jane to Lowood Orphanage, a charity school for orphans, but it was actually a hell on earth. Jane is facing greater difficulties. But she longed for a new life and left Mrs. Reed, whom she hated, without hesitation. In Lowood, Jane suffered more cruel abuse, living conditions were bad, everyone was pale and emaciated, and death was a common occurrence. The quality of teachers is very low, and students are often punished by corporal punishment. Jane didn't give in to all this. She said to her good friend Helen Mince, "When we are beaten for no reason, we should fight back very hard. It must be very difficult for us to teach the person who hit us to quit. " This is in stark contrast to her friend Helen Mince's patient and obedient character. Although Helen is persecuted and believes in "loving your enemy", under the paralysis of religion, she has no hatred and can only submit to it, while Jane hates the cruel headmaster and the teachers who destroy them. She said to Helen, "If she hits me with that note, I'll take it from her hand and break it in front of her." It fully shows her stubborn character of not being humiliated and not giving in to fate. It is Jane Eyre's spirit of self-improvement that makes her survive in that hard bottom-up environment. At the same time, I learned perseverance and friendship at lowood school. Since then, Jane Eyre has made great progress and won respect and love by her diligence and hard work. No one bullied her any more, but because of Aunt Reed's lies, she felt knocked down and trampled on again.
If others don't love me, I'd rather die than live-I can't stand loneliness and other people's disgust. (3) (3) P73 What a frank inner monologue this is, and what a profound self-esteem it contains. It is really "life is precious, dignity is more expensive". It can be seen that the right to be a man and self-esteem are the pillars of Jane Eyre's life. All her struggles are for equality and strong self-esteem.
Because of Jane's deep desire for freedom, she "began to consider leaving it and pursuing a new life in a wider world". Therefore, she resigned as a teacher and was hired as a governess at Thornfield Manor. Rochester, the owner of the manor, saw Jane's unique personality and intelligence with her keen eyes in her turbulent life and fell in love with her soon. In the contact with Rochester, Jane feels that he never pretends to be the master and gets along with her, which makes her feel that Luo is more like her relatives than the master. She also loves Rochester deeply. However, when a banquet was held at home and Rochester pretended to marry Miss gleim, Jane's strong self-esteem made her unbearable, and the backlog of feelings broke out. The self-respecting heroine knows that her love is hopeless, saying that this kind of love leads people to a quagmire and dies in it. The despair that love is hard to achieve highlights Jane's self-esteem and self-love. She said to Luo fiercely, "Do you think that I am poor, humble, ugly and short, so I have no soul and no love?" ? You think wrong, my soul is the same as yours, and my heart is exactly the same as yours! ..... We are equal! "Her confession fully shows her self-esteem. Self-reliant personality and sincere feelings for Luo. This allowed Luo to prove his vision and naturally won love. She learned to love and be loved in Rochester's house, and finally she became a little wife (as her husband called her). She is really happy! Good people will eventually get god's care!
< 2 >
From Jane Eyre's tortuous love path, it reflects Jane Eyre's modern female characteristics.
In the traditional division of patriarchal society, women are either angels, lovely dolls, delicate "child brides" or lewd demons. As a symbol of patriarchal social power at that time, Rochester believed that the crazy wife in the attic was an evil devil, and Jane Eyre without secular experience was a pure angel, a light, a source of his happiness and a hope of salvation. However, Jane Eyre clearly told Rochester: "I am not an angel. Even if I die, I will always be myself." The division between angels and demons is imposed on women by the patriarchal society. This title cannot bind two restless souls forever. Jane and Bertha are both fighting against fate, but they represent two different forms of resistance and two different fates. Jane's resistance embodies the advanced side of modern women.
Although Jane Eyre loved Luo deeply, she didn't pin her whole life on Luo, because she was afraid of becoming an accessory of Luo, because she wanted to maintain her independent personality and strive for dignity and equal status as a human being. She proposed to continue to be a tutor before marriage and buy a wedding dress with her own money. In particular, her generous statement about "equality" will always be praised by the world. "Do you think that because I am poor, humble, plain and short, I have no soul and no heart? -There's nothing wrong with you? -My mind is as rich as you, and my heart is as full as you! ..... just like the two of us walked through the grave and stood at God's feet, equal to each other-that's it! " (4) (4) P284 This is her sincere wish and her belief in life. She demands independence, freedom and equality. This kind of thought is actually the most valuable part of her personality, revealing the dawn of women's thought in the new era.
Another feature of modern women is the integration of rationality and sensibility. Jane Eyre's rationality guides her life, expresses her thoughts and exerts her talents, which makes her have unique connotation, independent thoughts and will. The brilliance of reason leads to Jane's awakening, but the rational life lacks passion, and Jane's emotional life is also demanding her rights. Jane Eyre is madly in love with Rochester. However, when Rochester told her that he got married because he was credulous, reckless and blind when he was young, although he tried his best to defend his behavior in words and tried his best to exaggerate Bertha's illness, Jane Eyre was not fascinated by the attraction of the opposite sex because of her powerful rational power, and Jane Eyre still had the ability to think and did not lose her way. So after listening to these experiences, smart and sensitive Jane left Thornfield under the guidance of self-esteem, conscience and reason.
Jane, who ran away, met her cousin by chance in the swamp. With the help of her cousin, she regained the strength of women. But she can't forget her love, and there is always a fierce conflict between emotion and reason. Although her people are far from Thornfield, her heart has always been there. When her cousin proposed to her and asked her to go to India to preach with him as a wife and assistant, Jane didn't want to accept his arrangement and become his accessory, just like when she accepted Rochester's proposal, she didn't accept all kinds of gifts before marriage and didn't want to be a passive doll. In the love of combining sensibility and rationality, Jane finally listened to the call of inner perceptual life and resolutely returned to Rochester's side.
Because of Charlotte's modern consciousness, Jane Eyre has become a modern female image with independent external economic conditions and independent internal spirit, and boldly expressed the voice of women.
Jane is a clever woman, that's her charm! I admire Jane for being a clever person. She is extraordinary.
< 3 >
Through the process of Jane Eyre's love, Jane Eyre boldly pursues a new type of love that is relatively independent, free and equal. In this pursuit, we will strive for individual liberation, independence and equality.
Jane is an outstanding woman who regards freedom and equality as her life. I like her challenge to traditional ideas and admire her for always pursuing independence of personality and not being afraid of difficulties.
Love is equal, which is the primary criterion for Jane Eyre to choose a spouse, and it is also the manifestation of her independent personality, but women's independence lies in economic autonomy first. In Victorian England, although the bourgeois democratic reform was implemented, the possibility of women's equality in politics and personality was still far away. Jane has neither assets nor family status, and even looks equal. Her social status can be imagined. In Jane's mind, economic independence is the pillar of her personality independence. Only on the basis of economic independence can she feel that she has her own personality and dignity and that she is a real person. Therefore, when her economic status (inheriting an inheritance) and Rochester's economic status reversed, she went to Thornfield Manor with deep affection. There, with her extraordinary courage, Jane Eyre launched a shocking general attack on stale ideas and customs. In the end, she won, and her victory was based on an unusually solid foundation. Jane Eyre finally moved towards her goal, and therefore far surpassed the time when she gave birth to a child.
Jane Eyre entered Thornfield Manor with a gorgeous aura. She strutted confidently. This confidence is not due to Rochester's bankruptcy or his physical disability, but Jane Eyre feels that she is now on an equal footing with him. Equality here has two meanings: first, Rochester was a "single aristocrat" at that time, and Jane Eyre did not need to appear in public as neither fish nor fowl; Secondly, Jane Eyre no longer needs to get along with Rochester as a "beneficiary". Jane Eyre and Rochester have the same spirit and are completely equal. So she didn't feel oppressive around Rochester and became a free man with independent will. In this way, the new love pursued by Jane Eyre can achieve real independence and equality.
On the attitude towards marriage, Jane Eyre thinks that a happy marriage is the best destination for women. It puts forward that marriage should be based on mutual understanding, mutual need and interdependence, and emphasizes that the content of marriage is more important than the form. Therefore, in the love relationship and marriage relationship with Rochester, we should attach importance to the deep emotional foundation and maintain an independent and complete self.
When Jane and Mr. Rochester's love broke through many obstacles and were about to combine, Jane learned that Rochester had a "living wife" and her "nerves immediately began to tremble strongly." At this time, Jane is faced with the choice of life, which is to give up the pursuit of personal dignity, be a mistress and live her own life; Or resolutely run away. After the dream of happiness was shattered, Jane seemed to fall from the peak of happiness to the bottom of bitterness. She said: "There was a severe Christmas frost in midsummer, and a snowstorm in December blew in June. Mature apples are frozen, blooming roses are crushed by snow, and hay fields and wheat fields are covered with ice like a shroud. " Here, ice and snow have become the killers of all beautiful things. It seems to bury the freedom and happiness that Jane has been striving for. When Rochester asked her to stay, she felt "weak, like a grass in front of a raging fire." Indeed, it is an extremely painful struggle to wander between wanting to love and being unable to love. In the end, Jane, who is self-respecting and self-loving, and Jane, who is self-reliant and self-reliant, did not become slaves of feelings in the end. Although she loved Rochester so much, she resolutely suppressed the flame of love in her heart and broke with "stolen love". In exchange for the dignity of personality and moral purity at the expense of heartbreak. This cannot be said to be a painful choice.
However, Jane Eyre finally showed her determination with dangerous and hungry actions, in which the physical pain was unbearable. She lost a lot, but gained herself and self-esteem. This self-esteem gives her the courage to be a new woman who is not submerged by evil forces; This self-esteem earned her the respect of Rochester in her humble position at Thornfield Manor. This self-esteem made her feel that what she lost was not pure love, but a humiliating marriage, because love had been deeply branded in her heart; This self-esteem made her realize the ideal of independent personality, and also made the shaping of this image complete the last stroke, reaching the realm of perfection.
A humiliating marriage is not love, nor is it a gift from God. Jane Eyre is searching hard in the journey of life. It's not that she doesn't love Rochester, but if she only appears as a mistress, she can't bear it. St. John can save her from hunger and cold, and she can get the courtesy of the priest's wife, but if she has no feelings, she would rather abandon it. Jane Eyre seems to have lost a lot, but what she lost was the trite idea that Charlotte would be desperate to attack after the vicissitudes of the world, and what she lost was the chain she tried to break free.
In this way, Jane Eyre has matured. The image of this new Victorian woman tells us with her difficult life steps that she pursues not only the solid foundation of this marriage, but also her consciousness of making her economic independence a reality, as well as her dignity of personality and a happy marriage based on love and equality.
After reading Jane Eyre, I'm sure I'll see a rainbow after the storm. A woman, an unattractive woman, a woman without wealth. With noble morality, frank heart, and courage not to yield in the face of suffering, I got happiness! Sangyuan is the most beautiful place, heaven!
(4)
In the Victorian social turmoil and the conflict between old and new values, Jane Eyre actively fought against fate in a hostile patriarchal society, showing a strong spirit of resistance.
In Gateshead, perhaps because of her "orphan" status, Jane Eyre freed herself from the control of her family and developed the nature of pursuing independence and advocating herself, but she happened to encounter discrimination and abuse brought by poverty and gender in her aunt's house. Although the male owner of this family has passed away, john reid, the young cousin and the only male in the family, has ascended the throne of parents. Although he is a wet behind the ears, he has long been familiar with the provisions of patriarchal clan system on his son's inheritance of family property, and proudly declared that "home is mine, but it will be mine in a few years", mercilessly rejecting Jane Eyre, an "outsider" who is attached to others. Young Jane Eyre showed the courage of "newborn calves are not afraid of tigers". Instead of refusing to call her master Reid, she called him a murderer and a tyrant. Dare to fight back if you are beaten. The weak Jane Eyre was eventually imprisoned in a cold and horrible red house, but she still wanted to "run away, hunger strike or go crazy" to protest against this unfair world. Jane Eyre boldly exposed her hypocrisy and cruelty to her aunt who claimed to be a benefactor but supported her son. After the Red Chamber fell ill, Reed Gatehouse was badly abused, beaten and frightened. She resisted and had a direct conflict with Mrs. Reed. Here Jane has an inner monologue: "My heart is like a burning bush on the wasteland, full of fury and flames, which can almost engulf everything ..." This monologue vividly depicts Jane Eyre's rebellious character. Jane's anger and resistance at Gateshead House reflect her innate courage and sense of justice. In a word, young Jane is full of strong dissatisfaction with the oppressive hierarchical society and stubbornly defends her personality and dignity.
In the tortuous love between Jane Eyre and Rochester, our heroine, regardless of worldly obstacles and prejudice, dispels her pursuit of love equality, opposes being a slave favored by Sudan and wants to maintain her personality independence. Jane Eyre not only has her own self-awareness, but also dares to challenge the norms of social hierarchy and safeguard her dignity and independent personality. It is unprecedented for a humble, ordinary and helpless "weak" woman like Jane Eyre to consciously resist the powerful patriarchal society. Therefore, since then, Jane Eyre has become the most typical rebellious female image in the Victorian era.
To sum up, the image of Jane Eyre combines the basic characteristics of women's gentleness and obedience, but more is the pursuit of new characteristics of personality liberation, personality independence, love equality and self-esteem, making it a flesh-and-blood creature and a real new female image. From this artistic image, we can see that it contains rich ideological content and broad social significance, and has strong practical value. It encourages generations of women to get rid of the shackles and pursue a new life of equality, freedom and independence, which opens the way for women's self-liberation, thus making Jane Eyre, a new female image, immortal and eternal.
References:
Yang Jingyuan's The Bronte Sisters, China Social Sciences Press, 1983.
(2) Jane Eyre, chapter 1 1, translated by Yuen San Wong, Yilin Press, 1995.
(3) Self-esteem, Self-reliance and Self-improvement-On Jane Eyre's Image, Zhou Xia, Theory and Creation, 2002+0;
(4) I'm not an angel-Charlotte's view of modern women; Xiao Zhili, Journal of Social Sciences of Xiangtan University, May 2002;
5. The establishment of women's subjective consciousness from Jane Eyre. Li's Theoretical Observation, No.6, 2000.
[6] Seeking balance: On feminism in Jane Eyre, Journal of Sichuan International Studies University,No. 18, June 2002;
Once a new hermaphrodite woman-A new discussion on the image of Jane Eyre Guo Xiaomei Journal of Sichuan International Studies University, July 2006, Volume 5438+017;
On the theme of "women s liberation" in Jane Eyre by Li;
(9) Returning to the Garden of Eden: Surpassing the Inferiority of Women's Survival, Journal of Zhuzhou Institute of Technology, No.3 and No.4, 1998 Lu.