《简爱》电影分析

Analysis on the theme of

Jane Eyre

Subject: Analysis

Analysis on the theme of Jane Eyre

Synopsis

Jane Eyre is a famous and influential novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte. It was published in London, England in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name \"Currer Bell\". The American edition came out the following year published by Harper & Brothers of New York.

Jane Eyre was a born resister, whose parents went off when she was very young, and her aunt，the only relative she had，treated her as badly as a ragtag. Since Jane’s education in Lowwood Orphanage began, she didn’t get what she had been expecting——simply being regarded as a common person, just the same as any other girl around. The suffers from being humiliated and devastated teach Jane to be persevering and prize dignity over anything else. As a reward of revolting the ruthless oppression, Jane got a chance to be a tutor in Thornfield Garden. There she made the acquaintance of lovely Adele and that garden’s owner, Rochester, a man with warm heart despite a cold face outside. Jane expected to change the life from then on, but fate had decided otherwise: After Jane and Rochester fell in love with each other and got down to get marry, she unfortunately came to know in fact Rochester had got a legal wife, who seemed to be the shadow following Rochester and led to his moodiness all the time. Rochester was also a despairing person in need of salvation. Jane did want to give him a hand; however, she made up her mind to leave, because she didn’t want to betray her own principles, because she was Jane Eyre. The film has finally got a symbolist end: Jane inherited a large number of legacies and finally returned. After finding Rochester’s misfortune brought by his original mad wife, Jane chose to stay with him forever.

Theme Analysis

— Morality Jane refuses to become Mr. Rochester's paramour because of her \"impassioned self-respect and moral conviction.\" She rejects St. John Rivers' Puritanism as much as the libertine aspects of Mr. Rochester's character. Instead, she works out a morality expressed in love, independence, and forgiveness.

— Love and Passion One of the secrets to the success of Jane Eyre lies in the way that it touches on a number of important themes while telling a compelling story. Indeed, so lively and dramatic is the story that the reader might not be fully conscious of all the thematic strands that weave through this work. Critics have argued about what comprises the main theme of Jane Eyre. There can be little doubt, however, that love and passion

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together form a major thematic element of the novel.

On its most simple and obvious level, Jane Eyre is a love story. The love between the orphaned and initially impoverished Jane and the wealthy but tormented Mr. Rochester is at its heart. The obstacles to the fulfillment of this love provide the main dramatic conflict in the work. However, the novel explores other types of love as well. Helen Burns, for example, exemplifies the selfless love of a friend. We also see some of the consequences of the absence of love, as in the relationship between Jane and Mrs. Reed, in the selfish relations among the Reed children, and in the mocking marriage of Mr. Rochester and Bertha. Jane realizes that the absence of love between herself and St. John Rivers would make their marriage a living death, too.

— Independence Jane Eyre is not only a love story; it is also a plea for the recognition of the individual's worth. Throughout the book, Jane demands to be treated as an independent human being, a person with her own needs and talents. Early on, she is unjustly punished, precisely for being herself — first by Mrs. Reed and John Reed, and subsequently by Mr. Brocklehurst. Her defiance of Mrs. Reed is her first active declaration of independence in the novel, but not her last. Helen Burns and Miss Temple are the first characters to acknowledge her as an individual; they love her for herself, in spite of her obscurity. Mr. Rochester too loves her for herself; the fact that she is a governess and therefore his servant does not negatively affect his perception of her. Mr. Rochester confesses that his ideal woman is intellectual, faithful, and loving — qualities that Jane embodies. His acceptance of Jane as an independent person is contrasted by Blanche and Lady Ingram's attitude toward her: they see her merely as a servant. Lady Ingram speaks disparagingly of Jane in front of her face as though Jane isn't there. To her, Jane is an inferior barely worthy of notice, and certainly not worthy of respect. And even though she is his cousin, St. John Rivers does not regard Jane as a full, independent person. Rather, he sees her as an instrument, an accessory that would help him to further his own plans. Jane acknowledges that his cause may be worthy, but she knows that to marry simply for the sake of expedience would be a fatal mistake. Her marriage to Mr. Rochester, by contrast, is the marriage of two independent beings. It is because of their independence, Bronte suggests, that they acknowledge their dependence on each other and are able to live happily ever after.

— Social class Jane's ambiguous social position — a penniless yet moderately educated orphans from a good family — leads her to criticize discrimination based on class. Although she is educated, well-mannered, and relatively sophisticated, she is still a governess, a paid servant of low social standing, and therefore powerless. Nevertheless, Bronte possesses certain class prejudices herself, as is made clear when Jane has to remind herself that her unsophisticated village pupils at Morton \"are of flesh and blood as

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good as the scions of gentlest genealogy.\"

— Atonement and Forgiveness Much of the religious concern in Jane Eyre has to do with atonement and forgiveness. Mr. Rochester is tormented by his awareness of his past sins and misdeeds. He frequently confesses that he has led a life of vice, and many of his actions in the course of the novel are less than commendable. Readers may accuse him of behaving sadistically in deceiving Jane about the nature of his relationship with Blanche Ingram in order to provoke Jane's jealousy. His confinement of Bertha may bespeak mixed motives. He is certainly aware that in the eyes of both religious and civil authorities, his marriage to Jane before Bertha's death would be bigamous. Yet, at the same time, Mr. Rochester makes genuine efforts to atone for his behavior. For example, although he does not believe that he is Adele’s natural father, he adopts her as his ward and sees that she is well cared for. This adoption may well be an act of atonement for the sins he has committed. He expresses his self-disgust at having tried to console himself by having three different mistresses during his travels in Europe and begs Jane to forgive him for these past transgressions. However, Mr. Rochester can only atone completely — and be forgiven completely — after Jane has refused to be his mistress and left him. The destruction of Thornfield by fire finally removes the stain of his past sins; the loss of his right hand and of his eyesight is the price he must pay to atone completely for his sins. Only after this purgation can he is redeemed by Jane's love.

Book report

This is a story about a special and unreserved woman who has been exposed to a hostile environment but continuously and fearlessly struggling for her ideal life. The story can be interpreted as a symbol of the independent spirit.

It seems to me that many readers’ English reading experience starts with Jane Eyre. I am of no exception. As we refer to the movie “Jane Eyre”, it is not surprising to find some differences because of its being filmed and retold in a new way, but the spirit of the novel remains to be an independent person, both physically and mentally. I don’t know what others feel, but frankly speaking, I would rather regard the section that Jane began her teaching job in Thornfield as the film’s end especially when I heard Jane’s words “Never in my life have I been awaken so happily.” For one thing, this ideal and brand-new beginning of life was what Jane had been imagining for long as a suffering person; for another, this should be what the audiences with my views hoped her to get. But the professional judgment of producing films reminded me to wait for a totally different result: There must be something wrong coming with the excellence perhaps not only should another section be added to enrich the story,

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but also we may see from the next transition of Jane’s life that “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you would get.”

What’s more, this film didn’t end when Jane left Thornfield. For Jane Eyre herself, there should always be somewhere to realize her great ideal of being independent considering her fortitude, but for Rochester, how he can get salvation? The film gives the answer tentatively: Jane eventually got back to Rochester. In fact, when Jane met Rochester for the first time, she scared his horse and made his heel strained, to a certain extent, which meant Rochester would get retrieval because of Jane. We can consider Rochester’s experiences as that of religion meaning. The fire by his frantic wife was the punishment for the cynicism early in his life. After it, Rochester got the mercy of the God and the love of the woman whom he loved. Here we can say: human nature and divinity get united perfectly in order to let such a story accord with the requirements of both two sides. The value of this film may be due to its efforts to explore a new way for the development of humanism under the faith of religion.

Life is ceaselessly changing, but our living principles remain. Firmly persisting for the rights of being independent gives us enough confidence and courage, which is like the beacon over the capriccioso sea of life. In the world of the film, we have found the stories of ourselves, which makes us so concerned about the fate of the dramatis personae.

In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement, both physical and mental effects on us call for a balance. We are likely to find ourselves bogged down in the Sargasso Sea of information overload and living unconsciousness. It’s our spirit that makes the life meaningful.

Conclusion

In my mind, though a person’s beauty on the face can make others once feel that one is attractive and charming, if his or her mind isn’t the same beautiful as the appearance, such as beauty cannot last for, when others find that the beauty which had charmed them was only a falsity, it’s not true, they will like the person no more. For a long time, only a person’s great virtue, a noble soul, a beautiful heart can be called as an everlasting beauty. I can feel that how beauty really is, as we are all fleshly men, so we can’t distinguish whether a man is of nobleness or humbleness, but fleshly men, so we can’t distinguish whether a man is of nobleness or humbleness, but as there are great differences in our souls, and from that, we can know that whether a man is noble or ordinary, and even obscure, that is, whether he is beautiful or not.

Her story makes us thinking about life and we learn much from her experience, at least, that is a fresh new recognition of the real beauty.

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References

1. Bronte, Charlotte. 1847. Jane Eyre. London. Smith, Elder & Co.

2. UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Measuring Worth: UK CPI.

3. Biggs, Victoria \"Caged in Chaos\" Chapter 1 page 18 Jessica Kingsley 2005 4. http://www.freewebs.com/parnassus/whatisdyspraxia.htm. Retrieved

2010-05-16.

5. Stevie Davies, Introduction and Notes to Jane Eyre. Penguin Classics ed.,

2006.

6. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203319.html.

7. http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/182042/plot.jhtml. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 8. http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/62950/plot.jhtml. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 9. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1057656-jane_eyre/. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 10. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61821-2004Mar15.html. 11. Lifehouse Theatre presents Jane Eyre - accessed May 10, 2008

12. http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/janeeyre/history.shtml. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 13. http://www.sctvguide.ca/episodes/sctv_s54.htm#Show_4/. Retrieved

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