Names In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Names are very significant in our lives. For an example, in the Korean culture, parents name their children in hopes that they will live a certain way. There is the surname and then two syllables, which would be the child’s first name. The first syllable from my name, Se, is derived from the word “world”. The second, Ri, is derived from the word “sacrifice”. My mother gave me this name in hopes that I would be willing to sacrifice “the world” to help other people or to fulfill a dream. In other words, I was to be deliberate in this life and not do things offhandedly. My brother’s name derives from “world” and “treasure”. Apparently, my brother is a treasure the world gave to my mom. People in Korea even go to fortune tellers to get their names changed, so they can achieve a dream or have more luck in getting a job. In most literature, names are of the utmost importance in relation to the theme of the story or to convey the character. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë names Jane Eyre and the characters she interacts with and the places she journeys to, with the intention of disclosing a deeper meaning. Throughout the book, Jane Eyre is depicted as a “Plain Jane”. She has “the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple,” (Brontë 112). Her surname, “Eyre”, …show more content…
They help the reader to get an insight on the characters and to help understand the characters and the story better. The names of the characters are meaningful, as are the names of places. There is a reasoning behind the name that authors choose these names for their characters and the locations. They do not use a random name generator. A lot of deliberate thinking was done in their process of writing. The names are meant to be understood and intended to be noted. With the names Charlotte Brontë chose for her main characters, she creates more to depth to the perceptions of Jane Eyre, Helen Burns, and Mr. Rochester, and the sense of them as real