The novel Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte in 1847, tells the tale of a young, beautiful, driven woman who attempts to reconcile her high morals with her own desires and temptations. One of these struggles involves her religion; Jane is an extremely pious person who believes in God, but her own sense of self often conflicts with what she feels God wants from her. In this essay, the motif of religion will be explored, particularly through the interactions with religious and religiously-minded characters within the book.
Throughout Jane Eyre, Jane is attempting to reconcile her desire for happiness and pleasure with her own spiritual pressures. There are a variety of religious figures encountered in the novel who represent this struggle, from St. John Rivers to Mr. Brocklehurst, as well as Helen Burns. Jane gets to examine three distinct religious models through these figures, weigh her own ideals and passions against them, and ultimately reject them in favor of her own individuality.
St. John Rivers is a member of the clergy who becomes Jane’s friend. He represents the more reserved, detached view of Christianity, wherein all things must be done to serve God. He is ambitious and self-important, bearing his own crosses in order to feel important and highly moral, something that Jane ultimately does not want to be a part of. As Jane sums him up, St. John “is a good and a great man; but he forgets, pitilessly, the feelings and claims of little people, in pursuing his own large views. It is better, therefore, for the insignificant to keep out of his way, lest, in his progress, he should trample them down” (Ch. 35). His version of religion elevates those who practice it at the expense of others.
Mr. Brocklehurst provides the most stereotypical and tyrannical version of Christianity, where he seeks to punish all those who do not follow God’s way. When he tells off Miss Temple for the extra food she gives the girls, he tells her that she “may indeed feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal souls!” (Ch. 7). This shows that he feels that Christianity is a doctrine to be followed, instead of a philosophy for furthering kindness in people. He carries quite a bit of Evangelical hypocrisy, as he asks for virtuous behavior in others, but punishes them for misbehaving, failing to follow his own instructions.
Helen Burns is the wild card of the three, eschewing traditional religious dogmatism for sunny, unwavering optimism and forgiveness, never seeking vengeance of guilty upon another party for any wrong doing – even as she dies, she is sure that she will go home to heaven, as she is “sure there is a future state; [she] believe[s] God is good” (Ch, 9). No matter what bad things happen to her, she always believes that everything will work out for the best, carrying a certainty that Jane lacks. She represents the most positive aspects of religion, something that Jane aspires for in her faith, but cannot quite match. At the very least, she can find it in herself to forgive the Reeds for their emotional abuse and poor attitude towards Jane. However, Helen’s form of passive faith is far too passive for Jane, who seeks something more proactive in her own spirituality.
In the end, she ignores all of these varying perspectives on religion and remains true to herself, while forming a personal relationship with God. Instead of devoting herself entirely to it, however, she instead finds her own sense of beliefs in her relationship with Mr. Rochester. Once she is married at the end of the book, she recognizes that she knows “what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth” – Mr. Rochester (Ch. 38). Perhaps the most important statement given to Jane is by Helen, when she is admonished by Mr. Brocklehurst; “If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends” (Ch. 8). This shows Jane that she need not feel bad about herself for others judging her on the level of her faith; she should think well of herself instead.
Jane Eyre herself finds a tremendous amount of difficulty navigating her way through this patriarchal, religious world she finds herself in. All of her role models for religion are simply not enough – Mr. Brocklehurst is too authoritarian, Helen is too sunny and forgiving, and St. John is far too religiously-minded to the exclusion of all else. In the end, she has to take from them all of their positive qualities (discipline, forgiveness, piety, respectively) and meld them into her own identity. In this way, she is free from judgment and can allow herself to be a unique individual.
