“Theme of Education in Charlotte Bronte's ‘Jane Eyre’”

2148 words 9 pages
Set in the nineteenth century, Jane Eyre describes a woman’s continuous journey through life in search of acceptance and inner peace. Each of the physical journeys made by the main character, Jane Eyre, have a significant effect on her emotions and cause her to grow and change into the woman she ultimately becomes. Her experiences at Lowood School, Thornfield Hall, Moor house, and Ferndean ingeniously correspond with each stage of Jane’s inner quest and development from an immature child to an intelligent and sophisticated woman
Ten-year-old Jane, orphaned by the death of her parents and uncle, led a discontented life under the care of her aunt, Mrs. Reed. Due to the harsh treatment she was subject to by both her aunt and cousins, Jane had
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Brocklehurst had wrongfully accused Jane. Miss Temple had to follow Mr. Brocklehurst's rules because he was her boss, and many of the under teachers and other workers enforced the rules much more than she did. Miss Temple is upheld as the ideal teacher by Jane. Both Jane and Helen idolize her, and she becomes Jane's mentor when she becomes a teacher. Miss Temple is someone who Jane admires and respects. Helen Burns, a fellow student opens up ways of thought which Jane had never experienced and Mr. Brocklehurst is one person who helps her understand the hypocrisy the world is capable of as well as the kind of class bias that people like her experience. Jane arrived at Lowood wearing her heart on her sleeve; by the time she leaves she has become a sophisticated restrained woman like those the Victorians approve of. She is exposed to the type of Christianity Helen practices: to love even those who hurt you. Jane tries very hard to understand and practice what Helen believes in but is ultimately unable to do so completely. Jane herself cannot quite profess Helen's absolute, selfless faith. Jane does not seem to follow a particular doctrine, but she is sincerely religious in a no doctrinaire way. As she leaves Lowood, Jane is a different person from who she was when she joined. However, when she did join she was but a young girl of ten and therefore maybe Lowood had not reformed but formed her.

Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in 1847, after the

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