Conflicts And Struggles In Jane Eyre Essay, Research Paper

This novel presents a number of conflicts and struggles within Jane and between Jane and other characters, conflicts which must be resolved for her to achieve self-fulfillment and happiness:

Reason and common sense range against feeling and imagination. Jane must learn to subordinate her passions to her reason. She must also learn to control imagination, which may take the form of superstition, as when she is locked in the Red Room. When she is a child, her passions erupt unchecked, with both positive and negative results.

Jane’s need for love is so great that, according to Charles Burkhart, “Love is a religion in Jane Eyre.” A closer scrutiny of Jane’s romantic relationships raises the question of whether they are really power struggles for control and, perhaps, show some sado- masochistic tendencies.