Jane Eyre- the Rebel

Jane Eyre is shown to us as a rebel in this book by Charlotte Bronte. She is an orphan child who is being raised in a house where she is abused on a daily basis and rejected by those who are her last living family. Instead of adopting the attitude of a victim accepting defeat, Jane responds by becoming a rebel. She sees herself as a slave and the living Reed family as the tyrannical slave-owners:

“I was conscious that a moment’s mutiny had already rendered me liable to strange penalties, and like any other rebel slave, I felt resolved, in my desperation, to go all lengths.”

Unlike Fanny Price, Jane Eyre is not a grateful slave. She is a proud and rebellious one as is evident from her outburst to Mrs Reed: “They are not fit to associate with me” This might stem from her belief of being different and unconnected to the Reeds. She sees herself as an “interloper” who is not of Mrs Reed’s race. Moreover she does not buy into the Christian morals or appears to think that she won’t be able to live by them as is evident by her talk with Mr. Brocklehurst:

“- Do you know where the wicked go after death?”

“They go to hell” was my ready and orthodox answer.

“And what is hell? Can you tell me that?”

“A pit full of fire.”

“And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?”

“No, sir”

“What must you do to avoid it?” …

.. “I must keep in good health, and not die.”

Jane is able to get her freedom from the Reeds but she still remains the passionate creature who will rebel at the first sign of captivity. Morally, she refuses to buy the Christian philosophy of turning the other cheek but roots for the old eye for an eye philosophy despite Helen Burns’ attempts to the convert her.

P.S. I have not finished the novel as yet so treat my analysis as incomplete.