Jane Eyre And Foreshadowing Essay, Research Paper

Jane Eyre is one of the most popular pieces of fiction ever written. At different periods since its publication it has been accused of immorality, of irreligion, of being unfeminine or too feminine, of alarming independence from convention, or too much reliance on it, of rejecting male supremacy or encouraging. It has been called an account for bad structure, bad characterization, lack of control, lack of ideas, lack of philosophy and for containing irreconcilable paradoxes. As times changed, so did the views of the readers.

The author Charlotte Bronte has been criticized as well as praised about her writings. She was described by George Lewes to George Elliot as A little plain, provincial, sickly looking old maid , yet George Elliot added to her journal having been so overwhelmed by the novels What passion, what fire in her! Elizabeth Gaskell, her biographer as well as fellow female Victorian novelist remarked : In general there she sits quite alone thinking over the past . . . She has the wild strange facts of her own and her sisters lives, – - and beyond and above these she has the most original and suggestive thoughts of her own: so that, like the moors, I felt on the last day as if our talk might be extended in any directions without getting to the end of any subject . . .

Charlotte was born in 1816 and died at the age of 39 in 1855. Like her brother and sisters she died of consumption. She grew up on the moors in Haworth in Yorshire. For the Bronte children, they were poor and had very little to do.

Their father was Reverend Patrick Bronte who had been appointed Parson there. He was a strict martinet, very disciplined and self-righteous. All of the Bronte children were raised by their father alone without a mother. Their mother had died soon after the birth of the last child. TO offset the boredom of the parsonage life, the children lived rich imaginative lives. They spent whole days telling tales, creating their own towns, people and actions. In fact, each child in the Bronte family produced little books of closely connected series of stories and poems all concerning fictional characters they shared.

Charlotte had two sisters and 1 brother. Emily who was the most distinguished of the children, was a poet and a novelist who wrote Wuthering Heights. Anne Bronte wrote Agnes Grey and Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Their only brother Patrick did not write except for their personal manuscripts.

The children lived a hard life which created all four children s urge to elaborate their imaginary world. Some assumed pen names because it was a risk to write at any social status if you were a woman. If they had written using a woman s name it would have been seen as cheap and unpure. Charlotte s pen name was Currer Bell.

Jane Eyre was published in 1847. In England some major issues were the industrialization of factories and railroads as well as child labor, disease and money. English power was equal to America s power after the second world war. Yet Jane Eyre is not about all that. Jane Eyre is a novel about love, about a girl growing up and her social constraints.

Why is Jane Eyre still such a popular novel, even though it was published 152 years ago? Because it names something we still recognize today. We identify with Jane s need to regain her old love as well as find friendship.

Jane Eyre is set in England in the early 1800’s. She is a plain and poor and small” orphan living with her cruel Aunt Reed. When she rebels she is locked into a room in which her uncle died. Her aunt sends her away to a charity school run by a harsh man, Mr. Brocklehurst.

“do you know where the wicked go after death?”

“They go to hell” was my ready and orthodox answer.

“And what is hell?”

“A pit full of fire”

“And should you like to fall into that pit and burn there forever?”

“No, sir”

“What must you do to avoid it?”

“…I must keep in good health and not die”

Life at Lowood is bleak but Jane befriends Helen Burns who teaches her the virtues if kindness and forgiveness.

Jane continues at Lowood as a teacher for two years and then longs for change.

She is offered employment by Mrs. Fairfax, as governess to young Adele Varens, ward of Mr. Rochester of Thornfield Hall. Despite Rochester’s cynical and harsh exterior, Jane finds herself drawn to him.

A fire set in the house leads Jane to believe that Thornfield and it’s master are hiding a deep dark secret.

Jane has fallen in love with Rochester when she learns he is to marry Blanche Ingram, a beautiful and rich woman.

Jane is then called to the bedside of her dying Aunt Reed. She learns that she has an uncle who has been trying to find her. A month later, she returns to Thornfield to find that the engagement is called off. Rochester declares his undying love for Jane and asks her to marry him.

Jane’s wedding is stopped when it is announced that Mr. Rochester already has a wife, living in Thornfield Hall. She is a mad woman locked in the attic, the one who started the fire.

Jane flees from Rochester and days later, half dead and starving is rescued by St. John Rivers, a young pastor.

St. John and his sisters nurse her back to health and when she is better she becomes a teacher at a small school. She later discovers that her uncle has died and left her a fortune. She also learns that St. John and his sisters are her cousins. She shares the inheritance with them, overjoyed to have…

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