Religion in Jane Eyre
During Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, the protagonist struggles at a young age with the meaning of life, conformity, justice and death. Throughout each phase of this learning experience Jane is confronted with Religion and differing Christian beliefs that pervailed at the time the novel was written in 1847. In particular, Bronte uses various characters to personify religion in her time. Early readers saw Bronte as attacking the Church. Jane's experiences at the Lowood School serve to enlighten today's reader of the novel's attitude toward religion.During Jane's short ten-year existence, many characters greatly influence her searching enquiry into the meaning of life. Bronte often juxtaposes Jane with characters that espouse strikingly different beliefs. Where Jane is seen as searching and questioning, these other characters hold strongly to one form or another of Evangelical Protestantism.
Religion in the novel becomes a constant facade for abuse and Helen's attitude is hard to fathom by Jane or the reader. Paradoxically, Helen represents the fortitude that faith can bestow. It is easy to condemn Brocklehurst's religious doctrine, but here Bronte also undermines Helen's absolute religious beliefs through her blindness to oppression that is a consequence. The children at Lowood are forced to starve in order to "render them hardy, patient and self denying. An "eternal rest"(70) where "by dying young [she] shall escape great sufferings"(94) on Earth and succumb to peace. The image of Heaven as a "region of happiness"(95) is what Helen clings to with delight. Helen bases her beliefs and actions on the philosophies of the Bible: "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you. "(90) This form of abuse was justified in the name of God and Christianity. Hope is evident in Helen's declarations of faith even as death envelops her. Bronte paints a despondent picture of the role concerning religion in the mid nineteenth century. Great hope regarding life pervades the language Jane uses to describe Lowood in the spring: "Now vegetation matured with vigor; Lowood shook loose its tresses; it became all green, all flowery. Very controversial at the time of printing, today the novel is revered as a genuine and personal piece of literature displaying the prejudices, persecution and injustices of that time. "(75) Due to poor clothing, "semi-starvation and neglected colds"(89) Brocklehurst's children of Grace succumbed to disease and "death [became] a frequent visitor.
Common topics in this essay:
Bible Love,
Christianity Hope,
Paradoxically Helen,
Lowood School,
Jane Eyre,
Earth Bronte,
Helen Burns,
Protestantism Jane,
Church Jane's,
Charlotte Bronte's,
meaning life,
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