Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre
温州师范学院98英专① 吴碧茹
Abstract: Charlotte Bronte is a famous female writer in Victorian Age. All Charlotte's
novels are successful, Jane Eyre is by far the best known of Charlotte Bronte's
novels. It was punished in August, 1847. This poetic, imaginative story of the
love of a young governess for her married employer also has undoubted connections
with Charlotte's experiences in Brussels. There are many similar qualities between
Jane and Charlotte herself.
Key words: Jane Charlotte Rochester love
Charlotte Bronte is one of the daughters of a poor country clergyman at Haworth,
Yorkshire, in northern England. And Jane Eyre, this story evolves round the titular
heroine who, a penniless orphan girl, is brought up by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, a
harsh and unsympathetic woman .At Gateshead Hall Jane knows ten years of neglect
and abuse. She reacts strongly against the aunt's bad treatment of her gradually.
At last, Jane fights back. From this point, we can know Jane is a strong-willed,
rebellious girl. Later, feeling that she could no longer keep her unwanted charge
for Jane, Mrs. Reed make arrangements for Jane's admission to Lowood School, a
charity school for poor girls, without giving her any farewells. When Jane knows
that she will be sent to Lowood School, she does not feel any upset for leaving
her aunt and cousins, on the contrary, she feels a little happy because she will
leave the family. She hates them very much. She does not want to see him again.
Jane Eyre contains not alone the author's criticism of bourgeois attitude toward
marriage and love, but more importantly her ruthless expose of inhuman misery
in charity schools of her day which were established and run in the name of philanthropy.
It also shows us women at that time begin to ask for the equal right with men
in politics. We can say Jane Eyre is a feminist novel.
Jane is a strong-willed, fiery-passionate, self-respect, independent minded woman
who fights bravely for her own right as individual human being, and look for the
true love and marriage. Just like Charlotte herself, when we have read Jane Eyre,
we will know most personal qualities about Charlotte Bronte. To some extent, we
can say Jane is Charlotte. Charlotte uses the high romantic spirit in Jane Eyre.
In the end of story, Jane and Rochester has a happy life, but when Charlotte marries
her father's curate, the Reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls, only to die after a brief
period of great happiness nine months late. When she died, she was only thirty-nine.
主要参考文献
① Chen Jia 1986 PA History of English Literature ,The Commercial
② Harry Blamires 1988,The Victorian Age of Literature,York Press World Publishing
Corpw
③ 英国文学史及选读 第二册 1988,外语教学与研究出版社
④ G.C. Thornley and Gwyneth Roberts 1985,An Outline of English Literature,Produced
by Longman Group (FE) Ltd ,Printed in Hong Kong
