Jane Eyre And The Price She Pays

Written by Charlotte Brontл "Jane Eyre"is hailed by many as the first work where a female character truly portrays a heroine. The novel is also seen as the perfect courtship work. It tells the highly clichй story of what happens of "boy meets girl." While the novel also creates a woman who has been proclaimed a mold breaker by many, it does come with a dark side. The main character, Jane constantly asserts her independence, however it does not come cheap. Along with a secondary criticism, we will come to see Jane as an extremist, and by using the aid of "Wide Sargasso Sea" we will also discover that the cost of any obsession will inevitably consume it's host leaving them as nothing more than a ghost of the being they strived so hard to be.

Jane is a young girl who is being brought up by a wealthy aunt, who does not particularly care for her 'extra baggage.' It is only through a lower class servant that Jane finds any sense of kindness while living with her cruel family member. One day, as punishment for fighting with her bullying cousin, Jane is imprisoned in a red-room, a room in which she is tortured by thoughts of her dead uncle (who is said to have died in the room). While inside Jane faints from the horror and awakens in the care of a kind woman who suggests Jane be sent away to school.

Once at school, Jane finds that her life is far from idyllic. The school's headmaster turns out to be a cruel, hypocritical, and abusive man. Ironically, Jane grows to hate this environment just as much as her previous. Her feelings of loneliness grow, and then propel out of proportion when the one friend she makes dies suddenly.

As she grows older Jane yearns for new experiences, and escape from the life she has come to know. These sentiments are what cause her to accept a governess position at a manor called Thornfield. While heading there to teach a young girl Jane begins to encounter her employer. A dark, impassioned man named Rochester. What starts as interest slowly evolves into attract, as Jane finds herself falling secretly in love with him. Though she often denies her feelings, Jane sinks grows quite upset when Rochester brings home a beautiful but vicious woman named Blanche Ingram. Jane expects Rochester to propose to Blanche. But Rochester instead proposes to Jane, who accepts almost disbelievingly.

Unfortunately when the wedding day arrives Jane finds out that Rochester is already married, to a woman he has been keeping secret inside the attic. The knowledge of this propels Jane's defenses back online. She not only refuses to marry Rochester, but also leaves Thornfield to set out again on her own. Penniless and hungry, Jane is forced to sleep outdoors and beg for food. When finally taken in Jane begins to rethink her feelings for Rochester, and whether she could truly live without him. Although she is well aware of the personality clashes they cannot avoid, she asserts that she still loves him. As a result she returns to his side, and despite an improbable future agrees to become his wife.

Jane finds herself rebelling against authority very often. In Jane's outburst to her aunt just prior to her departure from Gateshead for Lowood School, she says,

"You think I have no feelings and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I shall remember how you thrust me back . . . into the red-room . . . And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me--knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions this exact tale. 'Ere I had finished this reply, my soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt. It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and that I had struggled out into unhoped-for liberty. . . ." (Bronte 96)

Upon speaking these words about her aunt and her treatment of Jane we see a young woman confess her independence. Her assurance of the freedom she feels after denouncing her immediate family member reveals Jane asserts her authority over and against her tyrannical aunt. Despite the liberation of her phrasing it does not come without a price. Jane soon finds herself shipped off to a new school, which turns out to be no better initially then her Aunt's care. Jane not only severs connection with the one relative she maintains contact with, but also creates a persona for herself. Her assertion of authority over a superior labels her early on as both a rebel and one who will not be told what to do, by anyone regardless of status. This can be heavily regarded as the beginning of the extremist perspective Jane creates surrounding her own life. For the first time she takes herself away from people in order to prove she will not a member of a dictatorship.

One of the most famous scenes in the entire novel is a highly direct assertion of Jane's independence. Jane again asserts her strong sense of moral integrity her intense immediate feelings. Rochester has been trying to convince her to stay with him despite the fact that he is still legally married to another women. His argument almost persuades Jane, however she replies with,

"Feeling . . . clamoured wildly. "Oh, comply!" it said. ". . . soothe him; save him; love him; tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for you? or who will be injured by what you do?" Still indomitable was the reply: "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself." (Bronte 145)

Jane's quote starts off what appears to be an assertion of her subjugation to Rochester, however by the end we see it for what it truly is. Jane states how submission to Rochester would cost her his respect, as well as her own. By this she means that what Rochester finds so fascinating about her is her mold breaking personality, and rebelliousness. If she bowed to his whims, she would lose that 'flare' that Rochester finds himself so immersed in. Although she cannot deny her feelings for Rochester, Jane believe that staying with him would mean compromising herself, because she would be Rochester's mistress rather than his wife. Her statements about the more friendless, and unsustained she becomes, the more she respects herself pertains to Jane's own self image of herself. In some ways she is speaking of the stereotypical woman of her time. She puts her independence above her own well being, claiming that regardless of how alone she may feel it is all worth it if it keeps her from becoming like the "others." Once again Jane sacrifices to ensure she is not under the control of another's will. Similarly, once again she truly denies her own feelings.