Religious Role Models In Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte
For many years, religion has been used as guidance between choosing what is right and wrong, and the way one acts towards others. The idea of religion is refined in Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre. Set in the Victorian era, an orphan girl, Jane Eyre, goes through many hardships to find happiness. Through her journey, Jane encounters three religious role models Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John that ultimately change her.
Through the chapters in which Mr. Brocklehurst is first introduced and his time during Jane’s staying at Lowood, Charlotte Bronte presents the flaws in his definition of religion. After Mrs. Reed lies to the manager of the school Jane will be attending (Mr. Brocklehurst) about Jane’s obedience, he tells her that ‘naughty children’ go to hell, “I buried a little child of five years old, only a day or two since-a good little child, whose soul is now in heaven. It is to be feared the same could not be said of you…”. Tyrannically, when Jane is asked if she finds the psalms pleasurable to read in which she replies no, Mr. Brocklehurst replies, “‘That proves you have a wicked heart; and you must pray to God to change it-to give you a new and clean one- to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh’”. Instead of being understanding and gentle, he is spiteful and criticizes Jane, a child. His misguided religious views are evident in pages 77-79 when he shuns Jane at school for being careless and orders to cut off all of the girls hair while his family lavishes in silk, fur clothing, and get to style their hair. Mr. Brocklehurst neglects, dehumanizes, and strips Jane and her peers of their freedom which is very unchristian. He uses religion as rationalization for being cruel and subjecting his students to abuse. Additionally, Helen Burns has openly proclaimed her devotion and patience to God when conversing with Jane. As Jane befriended Helen, she did not understand why Helen did not stand up for herself when Helen’s teacher, Miss Scathered, whipped her neck with twigs for not washing her nails to which Helen replies, “‘It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you- and besides, the Bible bids us return good for evil’”.
Not to mention, when Helen is dying she reveals more of her submissive ideals about her faith when she said, “We all must die one day, and the illness which is removing me is not painful; it is gentle and gradual; my mind is at rest. I leave no one to regret me much; I have only a father; and he is lately married, and will not miss me. By dying young I shall escape great sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way very well in the world; I should be continually at fault’”. She believes in turning the other cheek and restraining herself from keeping her place when someone mistreats her. In the end, Helen believes that those who are unfair to her will be punished by god while she will be graced by his open arms when she leaves all of her suffering behind and goes to heaven.
Moreover, Bronte shows the selfishness, ambition, and limitations of religious faith through St. John. Jane Eyre’s cousin, St. John is a clergyman who thinks that he needs to fulfill God’s purpose he was given. Therefore, he tells Jane that he is going to India to become a missionary and wants her to go with him as his wife, “God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal but mental endowments they have given you; you are formed for labor not for love. A missionary's wife you must- shall be. You shall be mine; I claim you- not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s Service”. Because Jane continues to refuse St. John’s persistent proposal, St. John tries to guilt her by telling her that she will go to hell. He does not love Jane, but uses her for his own advantage. In actuality, he is in love with Rosamond, a benefactress. However, he cannot marry her because she does not meet the requirements of being missionary's wife, “‘. . . She could sympathize in nothing I undertook. Rosamond a sufferer, a laborer, a female apostle? Rosamond a missionary's wife? No!’”. Subsequently, he goes to India without Jane and works himself to death. He sacrificed his love and the joy of life by pursuing his extreme ideals trying to be a ‘saint’ to please God. The protagonist, Jane Eyre, was able to conclude her religious views based on herreligious role models. Mr. Brocklehurst impacted Jane by teaching her morality against religion as she was targeted and humiliated by him. Jane does not adopt Helen’s passive nature and believes that she should stand her ground when she does not believe that something is right to which she says, “‘To gain some real affection… I would willingly submit to… stand behind a kicking horse and let it dash its hoof at my chest’”. She does not allow herself to give into St. John’s Christian conduct to sacrifice her emotions and morality, “‘I feel the adequate cause to be happy, and I will be happy’”.
In the end, she does not believe that she should give up her happiness for religious purposes and sets forward to find the merriment she has been looking for all her life. Each character had their own way of exhibiting their religious credences. CharlotteBronte expresses the many failures in religion through Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John. Their religious beliefs showed the way they treated themselves and others. But, do the faults in religious beliefs justify one’s conduct?
