Through Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte expresses numerous
issues of the Victorian Era, Class and gender inequality, race prejudices,
colonialism, and religious beliefs are all but few of the problems addressed.
Despite Jane’s simple life, Bronte often presents Jane various characters that
offer contrasting religious beliefs, and in doing so, Bronte shows her
disapproval of the Evangelical Movement. Charlotte Brontë often juxtaposes Jane
with characters who espouse strikingly different religious beliefs in order to
show the prevalent forms of religious thinking of the time and allowing the
readers to form judgements about the different ways people treated religion.
Superficially, Mr.Brocklehurst is seen as the most devout
Christian. However, he views religion as a means to bless the upper class and
chastise the lower. The way he runs the school and converses with his employees
and students at Lowood exposes his sanctimonious heart and belief that his
social status correlates to his status with God. We see this when he is
reprimanding Miss Temple for feeding the girls after they could not eat
breakfast he says, "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God; to his divine consolations, 'If yeh suffer hunger or thirst for My sake,
happy are ye'." Here he is explaining that though fasting may be cruel it
is necessary to bring these children closer to God. Mr. Brocklehurst is
hypocritical and his views only apply to orphan girls, not him or anyone that
is in a higher class then the orphans. This is made clear when his daughters
enter with a “profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled” hair.
Helen Burns, on the other hand, has a very contrasting
religious position. Being utterly passive and accepting of any abjection, Helen
embodies the Christian ideal of forgiveness. She seems to see Christianity as a
way to cope with her harsh living environment. In her own words, "'it is
weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to
bear.'" Jane describes it as a "doctrine of endurance." Helen
takes things as they come, viewing what happens as her fate to bear. She has
faith that her response to suffering and quiet endurance will be rewarded in
the next life. In this way, she has essentially gained the
"shame-facedness and sobriety" that Mr. Brocklehurst insists is what
is best for the girls.
Jane, however, does not seem satisfied with either viewpoint.
With her strict scrutiny to injustice, she notices Mr. Brocklehurst’s hypocrisy
in his view on religion and probably dislikes him more for it. She also fails
to reconcile herself with Helen's passive and accepting view on religion, or
her great faith. She doesn't want to forgive everyone for their wrongs against
her, as seen when she tells Helen, “Then I should love Mrs. Reed, which I
cannot do; I should bless her son John, which is impossible." Jane can be
seen in the middle of these two extremities. She respects Helen's maturity and
grace when dealing with negativities, but she knows that she wouldn't be able
to remain that patient with the world. However, she knows that she doesn't want
to be as strict and hypocritical as Brocklehurst. In some ways, Jane's own view
on religion is a slight mix of Helen's and Mr. Brocklehursts’ views on
religion, but is still very different from both of their views.
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