Jane Eyre Motif Analysis (Revision)
During the Victorian Era, much of the literature is about struggle and societal problems. This type of writing is seen in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre, the protagonist, is a female orphan who faces many struggles throughout her life in Victorian England. The lack of a paternal figure is just one of these many struggles. Throughout Jane’s life, she encounters many older, more mature, female and male characters. The finding of these paternal figures is just one of the many motifs that are found in Jane Eyre. The way Jane consistently comes across a paternal figure shows how, subconsciously or consciously, she is searching for someone to fill the void of not having a paternal figure during her …show more content…
Lowood is a charity school for orphans, specifically females. At first, she felt lonely as she is in a new place with no one whom she knows. After some time, she meets a teacher there named Mrs. Templeton. Since Jane is in an unknown place, with no one she knows and Mrs. Templeton gives her that affection Bessie once gave her, she clings on to her like a mother. Jane thinks “She kissed me….where I was well contented to stand, for I derived a child’s pleasure from the contemplation of her face.” (Bronte 72) The quote, almost opposite to the one stated before with Bessie, acknowledges the fact that she understood that she was denied the affection of a parent in her childhood and embraced the fact that she was getting affection from Mrs. Templeton. Inferring from this, she’s almost “evolved” as before she wouldn’t have even thought about her lack of someone to look up to. With this consistency of Jane’s search for a mother-like figure, and actually finding one in both Bessie and Mrs. Templeton, the motif of Jane searching for a motherlike figure could be easily supported with many quotes from Jane Eyre. In many ways, this is one of the positive aspects of Jane’s early years. Regardless of the fact that they are not blood relatives to her, she still looked up to them, showed and received affection from them, and talked of them highly in her reflection of her
During the Victorian Era, much of the literature is about struggle and societal problems. This type of writing is seen in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre, the protagonist, is a female orphan who faces many struggles throughout her life in Victorian England. The lack of a paternal figure is just one of these many struggles. Throughout Jane’s life, she encounters many older, more mature, female and male characters. The finding of these paternal figures is just one of the many motifs that are found in Jane Eyre. The way Jane consistently comes across a paternal figure shows how, subconsciously or consciously, she is searching for someone to fill the void of not having a paternal figure during her …show more content…
Lowood is a charity school for orphans, specifically females. At first, she felt lonely as she is in a new place with no one whom she knows. After some time, she meets a teacher there named Mrs. Templeton. Since Jane is in an unknown place, with no one she knows and Mrs. Templeton gives her that affection Bessie once gave her, she clings on to her like a mother. Jane thinks “She kissed me….where I was well contented to stand, for I derived a child’s pleasure from the contemplation of her face.” (Bronte 72) The quote, almost opposite to the one stated before with Bessie, acknowledges the fact that she understood that she was denied the affection of a parent in her childhood and embraced the fact that she was getting affection from Mrs. Templeton. Inferring from this, she’s almost “evolved” as before she wouldn’t have even thought about her lack of someone to look up to. With this consistency of Jane’s search for a mother-like figure, and actually finding one in both Bessie and Mrs. Templeton, the motif of Jane searching for a motherlike figure could be easily supported with many quotes from Jane Eyre. In many ways, this is one of the positive aspects of Jane’s early years. Regardless of the fact that they are not blood relatives to her, she still looked up to them, showed and received affection from them, and talked of them highly in her reflection of her