Beşliu Maria, 2nd year, Group 2, English A – German B Victorian Literature, Seminar Tutor: Eliana Ionoaia

JANE EYRE: THE STORY OF A HEART’S PILGRIMAGE

Undoubtedly, since its birth and up till now, Charlotte Brontë’s splendid novel, Jane
Eyre, has encountered sundry reactions, positive, as well as negative, and has generated
numerous miscellaneous readings. The aim of my essay is to briefly analyse Brontë’s much
loved novel by providing an allegorical reading of Jane’s “pilgrimage” through life and by
focusing on her spiritual evolution and her quest for identity. Furthermore, the present work also
tackles the author’s distinct manner of challenging conventionality, both in the religious and in
the literary sphere.

Given Charlotte Brontë’s specific fondness for Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Jane Eyre
could be regarded as a pilgrimage novel – the heroine’s spiritual journey and her relationship
with God, as well as her evolution throughout the stages symbolized by the different
geographical places she moves to. Consequently, the book could be divided into five distinct
parts represented by the five houses where Jane resides, each period in her life having its own
allegorical meaning, as stated in Kimberly Downes’ analysis. Thus, we first encounter little Jane
at Gateshead, where she lives with her aunt and her three cousins, for whom she is an outsider,
being hated and despised. As Downes suggests, Mrs. Reed is a symbol for “Envy”, while her
son, John, who is a tyrant for little Jane, stands for “Wrath” (Downes, 9). Their cruel, unjust
behaviour towards Jane, her trauma suffered in the red-room episode, the general atmosphere of
hatred – all these elements make Gateshead a place of death, terror and coldness. However, as
the name of the house suggests, this place is only a “gate” through which Jane must pass in order
to start her pilgrimage. Her first encounter with the outside world starts with Lowood school,
compared by Downes to Bunyan’s Valley of Humiliation and Valley of the Shadow of Death. In
spite of the harsh conditions mingled with injustice and severe punishments, what softens Jane’s
experience here is her friendship with Helen Burns and Miss Temple, whose characters shine
brightly in this dark, hostile world. After having learnt her lessons and acquired a superior
education here (because despite its austere regime, Lowood’s merit is the high level of
instruction it offers), Jane resolves to leave and start a different life somewhere else. Thus, we
are introduced to Thornfield, which lies at the very centre of the story, as “it is here that she finds
her heart, and her love” (Downes, 26). Although, as the name suggests, there are “thorns” to be

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found here, Jane is also to find “flowers” and joys. The “two passions at war in the house”
(Downes, 27) are personified by Mr. Rochester (the symbol for love) and his mad wife, Bertha
(standing for lust). Though Rochester is often regarded as “a Byronic hero”, we could also see
him as a personification of Bunyan’s allegoric Man in the Iron Cage – a sinner having little to no
hope of redemption. After her “aborted wedding” (Downes, 35), Jane resolves to leave
Thornfield, in spite of her bleeding heart and Rochester’s desperate attempts to make her change
her mind. Her terrible journey to Morton (interpreted as a town of death) could be understood as
Bunyan’s Slough of Dispond, for not only does Jane suffer from physical starvation, but her soul
is also overwhelmed with deep grief and desolation. Marsh End is indeed, as the name suggests,
the end of this Slough. Her pilgrimage could not have been whole had it not been for this period,
as it is here that Jane finds her family and her identity, the inheritance she receives placing her on
an equal footing with Rochester. Finally, her decision to refuse St. John’s proposal and to follow
Rochester’s voice heard by miracle leads her to Ferndean, where she finds happiness through
marriage. Only after Jane has been purified from her idolatry for Rochester and after he has fully
repented by God’s chastening and become humble, can the two lovers finally be united in perfect
harmony.

Furthermore, Jane’s pilgrimage can be interpreted as a spiritual journey centred on her

individual personal relationship with God. Challenging the traditional Victorian concept that
women are supposed to rely on men for understanding God, Brontë’s heroine learns, throughout
her pilgrimage, how to discern His will on her own, by having a close, intimate relationship with
her Creator. This aspect is best reflected in her connections with Rochester and St. John, the two
most important men in her life. According to Maria Lamonaca’s analysis in her journal article,
the first, trying to persuade her not to leave him, “puts upon Jane’s shoulders the responsibility
for his moral rebirth” (Lamonaca, 249). Nevertheless, as she had already told him on a previous
occasion, “a wanderer’s repose or a sinner’s reformation should never depend on a fellow-
creature” (Brontë, 222). Knowing what God requires from her in this situation, Jane chooses to
submit to Christ’s commandment: “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from
thee” (The Holy Bible, Matthew 5:29-30, 6, KJV,) by abandoning her idol. On the other hand,
St. John’s strong belief that he knows God’s will for him, as well as for her, throws Jane into
confusion. Nevertheless, she is able to distinguish the danger that lies in a marriage without love
and, helped by the divine intervention, she finally refuses him. Thus, “Jane, in the course of her

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moral reflection, eschews both Rochester’s and St. John’s attempts to dictate God’s will to her”
(Lamonaca, 252). Jane learns how to have an unmediated relationship with God, seeking Him
“in Nature, as well as in the stillness of her own heart” (Lamonaca, 253) and not relying on a
human idol.

Last but not least, Brontë’s unconventionality is reflected, first of all, in her character’s
idiosyncrasy. It is a known fact that she intentionally chose to create Jane (as well as Rochester)
in a different manner from the general prototypical fairy-tale characters. Jane is “plain”, yet
“piquant”; Rochester is also “plain”, but “virile, dashing, and infinitely attractive” (Clements,
468). The story’s denouement is also far from the traditional fairy-tale’s ending:

Now that his mad, oversexualized wife is dead, now that he he has been purified by fire and by
mortification of the flesh, now that he must be utterly depended upon our heroine, only now can we be
sure that the once dashing lord won’t tire of and abandon plain Jane, and only now can they be soul
mates. (Clements, 470).
In addition, the author’s unconventionality lies in the manner she chooses to expose the
hypocrisy and Pharisaism of most Christian officials, Brocklehurst being the best example.
However, she was harshly judged for this at first and she defends herself in her Preface, arguing
that it is not Christianity itself which she addresses her critique to, but its representatives:
“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. (…) To pluck the mask from
the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.” (Brontë, 3).
Brontë also provides us with female Christian models, such as Helen, or Miss Temple, who put
into practice what they preach, but who are, nonetheless, neglected by the society.

All things considered, not only does Jane’s fascinating story takes the form of a
pilgrimage “through the spiritual crises and moral dangers of the inner life” (James, 53), but it
also mirrors Charlotte Brontë’s unique style of challenging the “conventionality” of her time. As
Erica Jong states in her introduction to the novel, “When a book is beloved by readers and hated
by contemporary critics, we should suspect that a revolution in consciousness is in progress.”
(Jong, v). Throughout her journey, passing the tests she is submitted to, Jane finds her identity
and spiritual fulfilment, being probably “the first heroine in fiction to know that she needs her
own identity more than she needs marriage.” (Jong, ix).

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 Bibliography
Brontë, Charlotte et al. Jane Eyre. New York: Signet Classics, 2008. Pp. v, ix, 3, 222, 468, 470.
Downes, Kimberly Anne. "Pilgrim Of Love:Soul's Search For Fulfillment In Jane Eyre". pp. 9,
26, 27, 35. Iowa State University, doi:10.31274/rtd-180813-6152. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
James, Louis. The Victorian Novel. Blackwell Pub., 2006. Pp. 53
Jong, Erica. „Introduction” at Jane Eyre. New York: Signet Classics, 2008. Pp. v, ix
LAMONACA, MARIA. “JANE'S CROWN OF THORNS: FEMINISM AND CHRISTIANITY
IN ‘JANE EYRE.’” Studies in the Novel, vol. 34, no. 3, 2002. Pp. 249, 252-253. JSTOR, JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/29533514.
Marcelle Clements. „Afterword” at Jane Eyre. New York: Signet Classics, 2008. Pp. 468, 470.
The Holy Bible. Authorized King James Version, Iowa Falls: Riverside Book & Bible House.
Pp. 6

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