----Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë) 1.Introduction
The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England. The England literature's history include Heroic Age (also the Old English) Dark Age, Renaissance Age, Early Modern period, Enlightenment Age, Romantic Age, Victorian literature, Modernism ,Post-modern literature. In these ages, there are many writers and masterpieces. For example Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Charlotte Brontë and so on. They influence not only people but also human culture.
The Old English's main article is Anglo-Saxon literature.The first works in English, written in Old English, appeared in the early Middle Ages. The oral tradition was very strong in early British culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were thus very popular and many, including Beowulf, have survived to the present day in the rich corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature that closely resemble today's Norwegian or, better yet, Icelandic. When such poetry was brought to England it was still being handed down orally from one generation to another, and the constant presence of alliterative verse, or consonant rhyme (today's newspaper headlines and marketing abundantly use this technique such as in Big is Better) helped the Anglo-Saxon peoples remember it. Such rhyme is a feature of Germanic languages and is opposed to vocalic or end-rhyme of Romance languages. But the first written literature dates to the early Christian monasteries founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury and his disciples and it is reasonable to believe
that it was somehow adapted to suit to needs of Christian readers. The feelings of Beowulf that nothing lasts, that youth and joy will turn to death and sorrow entered Christianity and were to dominate the future landscape of English fiction. The Renaissance literature's main article is English Renaissance. Following the introduction of a printing press into England by William Caxton in 1476, vernacular literature flourished. The Reformation inspired the production of vernacular liturgy which led to the Book of Common Prayer, a lasting influence on literary English language. The poetry, drama, and prose produced under both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I constitute what is today labelled as Early modern (or Renaissance). Shakespeare also popularized the English sonnet which made significant changes to Petrarch's model. The Italian Renaissance had rediscovered the ancient Greek and Roman theatre, and this was helpful in the development of the new drama, which was then beginning to evolve apart from the old mystery and miracle plays of the Middle Ages. The Italians were particularly inspired by Seneca (a major tragic playwright and philosopher, the tutor of Nero) and Plautus (especially that of the boasting soldier had a powerful influence on the Renaissance and after). However, the Italian tragedies embraced a principle contrary to Seneca's ethics: showing blood and violence on the stage. Though most dramas met with great success, it is in his later years (marked by the early reign of James I) that he wrote what have been considered his greatest plays: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest, a tragicomedy that inscribes within the main drama a brilliant pageant to the new king. This 'play within a play' takes the form of a masque, an interlude with music and dance coloured by the novel special effects of the new indoor theatres.Linking Shakespeare to the Virginia Company itself. The \"News from the New World\and Shakespeare's interest in this respect is remarkable. Shakespeare also popularized the English sonnet which made significant changes to Petrarch's model. Besides Shakespeare, whose figure towers over the early 1600s, the
major poets of the early 17th century included John Donne and the other Metaphysical poets. The romantic era was also rich in literary criticism and other nonfictional prose.
2.Analysis
As these famous writers and woks.The writer who was famous is Charlotte Brontë .And his famous work is Jane Eyre. The protagonist Jane Eyre was a women who pursuited freedom and faced life bravely .
Charlotte Brontë was born in 1916.Jane Eyre is the most famous novel. This is also her second novel. This novel formed a women character with influenced spirit. The novel is rich in poetry, symbolism and metaphor. It does not fit easily into a definite pattern, being neither a novel of \"manners\" in the tradition of Austen, or a straight forward Gothic Romance in the style of Mrs Radcliffe. What Charlotte Brontë did was to create a work which cleverly blends elements of the two styles, and which remains uniquely independent of them at the same time, since it addresses issues which were at the time rather controversial.
The novel is written in the first person, and thus magnifies the central character - the reader enters the world of Jane Eyre and is transported through her experiences at first hand. This at once makes the work subjective, especially since we know that Charlottes Brontë own life and experiences were so closely interwoven with the heroine's. As well as this we learn only at the end of the novel that the events are being related to us ten years after the reconciliation with Rochester - thus the narrative is RETROSPECTIVE. Charlottes Brontë is clever in blending the narrative so that at times Jane seems to be speaking as an adult with adult visual angle, while at others she is
\"in the middle\" of them, as a child or young woman. The indecision which is a central issue in the book, is heightened by this device. We never know, as readers, whether to be entirely trustful of Jane actions and thoughts, because we are never sure whether she is speaking impulsively or maturely.
This intensifies the readers dilemma as to what is \"right\" and \"wrong\" in the dramatic relationships which are part of Jane Eyre's life. Can we believe what the heroine says, or is she deceiving herself? The novel is primarily a love story and a \"romance\" where wishes come true but only after trials and suffering. The supernatural has its place, as do dreams, portents and prophesies. The heroine begins poor and lonely and ends up rich and loved; the orphan finds a good family to replace the wicked one; all the basic ingredients of classic romantic fairytale are present.
The romantic element is present in two forms in Jane Eyre; the \"family\" aspect is dealt with in the Gateshead, Lowood and Moor House episodes, which involve the exchanging of the wicked Reed family for the benevolent Rivers one; and the Love romance is dealt with in the Thornfield and Ferndean episodes. Both aspects are, of course linked and interwoven throughout the novel.
There is also a strong element of realism in the novel, which, married to the romantic aspect, enhances the novel's strength.The sense of place is very strong; we are able to experience both exterior and interior settings with startling clarity throughout the story, in a series of vivid deive passages. The central characters are also realistic and their confrontations and sufferings change them in a believable way. Even the unlikely is made plausible, with a unique blend of high drama and perceptive low comedy (the attack on Mason, for instance)
The more fantastic romantic aspects; the coincidences; the secrets; the supernatural occurrences, are balanced by the realism, and this is of course a major strength. The Gothic influence cannot be ignored, although Charlotte Brontë has refined the technique considerably from the \"authentic\" Gothic of the 1790's. In the original genre, the heroine would typically be abducted and threatened with seduction, or worse!. There would be a lover - a respectable, well-bred young man - who would endeavor to rescue the heroine and would succeed after many trial. The seducer would be a brigand \"Know that I adore Corsairs!\" and he would lock the girl up in a remote castle.
There was little freedom for middle class women during the period of the Gothic novel, and this was still the case in the time of Charlotte Brontë . Marriage especially was often a bargain, whereby fortunes were secured by using the female as a pawn. A woman's value largely depended therefore on her sexual purity and she was guarded and secured as a result. Men, on the contrary, were potent and free; lovers and mistresses were common. Ironically the women who provided their services were social outcasts as a result.
In Jane Eyre we see elements of the Gothic romance, in that Thornfield Hall and Rochester are described very much in the brigand/castle style but Jane Eyre is not abducted by R. On the contrary she chooses to go there of her own free will. And she is clear in her determination to have Rochester as a husband. Neither is there a gentleman rescuer; St John Rivers may look like a Greek God, but he is neither kind nor benevolent; driving Jane back to Ferndean, not rescuing her from it.
The trials which the hero is supposed to undergo in a Gothic romance are in fact undergone by the heroine in Jane Eyre. The bandit Rochester is only skin-deep. Underneath the brooding exterior is a sensitive soul, which a
women frees. In this way we see that Charlottes Brontë created rather a daring departure from conventional fiction, although there are still many aspects of the novel which remain true to Victorian convention.!
This is a story about a special and unreserved woman who has been exposed to a hostile environment but continuously and fearlessly struggling for her ideal life. The story can be interpreted as a symbol of the independent spirit.
It seems to me that many readers’ English reading experience starts with Jane Eyre. I am of no exception. As we refer to the movie Jane Eyre, it is not surprising to find some differences because of its being filmized and retold in a new way, but the spirit of the novel remains----to be an independent person, both physically and mentally.
Jane Eyre was a born resister, whose parents went off when she was very young, and her aunt，the only relative she had，treated her as badly as a ragtag. Since Jane’s education in Lowwood Orphanage began, she didn’t get what she had been expecting——simply being regarded as a common person, just the same as any other girl around. The suffers from being humiliated and devastated teach Jane to be persevering and prize dignity over anything else.As a reward of revolting the ruthless oppression, Jane got a chance to be a tutor in Thornfield Garden. There she made the acquaintance of lovely Adele and that garden’s owner, Rochester, a man with warm heart despite a cold face outside. Jane expected to change the life from then on, but fate had decided otherwise: After Jane and Rochester fell in love with each other and got down to get marry, she unfortunately came to know in fact Rochester had got a legal wife, who seemed to be the shadow following Rochester and led to his moodiness all the time ----Rochester was also a despairing person in need
of salvation. Jane did want to give him a hand, however, she made up her mind to leave, because she didn’t want to betray her own principles, because she was Jane Eyre. The film has finally got a symbolist end: Jane inherited a large number of legacies and finally returned. After finding Rochester’s misfortune brought by his original mad wife, Jane chose to stay with him forever.
I don’t know what others feel, but frankly speaking, I would rather regard the section that Jane began her teaching job in Thornfield as the film’s end----especially when I heard Jane’s words “Never in my life have I been awaken so happily.” For one thing, this ideal and brand-new beginning of life was what Jane had been imagining for long as a suffering person; for another, this should be what the audiences with my views hoped her to get. But the professional judgment of producing films reminded me to wait for a totally different result: There must be something wrong coming with the excellence----perhaps not only should another section be added to enrich the story, but also we may see from the next transition of Jane’s life that “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you would get”(By Forrest Gump’s mother, in the film Forrest Gump)
What’s more, this film didn’t end when Jane left Thornfield. For Jane Eyre herself, there should always be somewhere to realize her great ideal of being independent considering her fortitude, but for Rochester, how he can get salvation? The film gives the answer tentatively: Jane eventually got back to Rochester. In fact, when Jane met Rochester for the first time, she scared his horse and made his heel strained, to a certain extent, which meant Rochester would get retrieval because of Jane. We can consider Rochester’s experiences as that of religion meaning. The fire by his frantic wife was the punishment for the cynicism early in his life. After it, Rochester got the mercy of the God and
the love of the woman whom he loved. Here we can say: human nature and divinity get united perfectly in order to let such a story accord with the requirements of both two sides. The value of this film may be due to its efforts to explore a new way for the development of humanism under the faith of religion.
Life is ceaselessly changing, but our living principles remain. Firmly persisting for the rights of being independent gives us enough confidence and courage, which is like the beacon over the capriccioso sea of life. In the world of the film, we have found the stories of ourselves, which makes us so concerned about the fate of the dramatis personae.
In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement, both physical and mental effects on us call for a balance. We are likely to find ourselves bogged down in the Sargasso Sea of information overload and living unconsciousness. It’s our spirit that makes the life meaningful. Heart is the engine of body, brain is the resource of thought, and great films are the mirrors of life. Indubitably, Jane Eyre is one of them.
2.Conclusion
With this novel, we can learn a lot from it. A kind of spirit, a kind of love. Independence honest express emotion bravely and persist.The character Jane Eyre reflected the writer herself.Charlotte borned into a poor family,her mother died at her childhood.She interested at literature as soon as her childhood because of her father’s affect.But the misfortune of her family and social situation decided her road of literature was not smoothly. However she never give up her career.She wrote this famous and profound and lasting
effected novel---- Jane Eyre.In this novel the writer told us that human’s value is dignity and love. It is pour and real and pursuit simple love.It was like a cup of water .purified readers’hearts.And it is a guide to readers’ that resonance,especially women reader.From Jane Eyre we could know that we should have the qualifications of willpower independence strong being a women. Jane Eyre did know control her life and value.She had a rational understand of her thought and personality.From Jane Eyre we could see a new image of today’s women:self-respect self-possess and support themselves .I can learned from Charlotte and Jane Eyre that ordinary people obeyed destiny,only stronger can dominated themselves. This is the inspiration of Jane Eyre’s personality charm, also the purpose of this novel.
Bibliography: page 88
Jane Eyre(Wordsworth Classics)
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