Jane Eyre part.2

Jane Eyre 2

Author

Charlotte Brontë written by

Publisher

Minumsa | Published 2004-10-30

Category

Fiction

Book description

Evaluated as the first work in English literature to deal with desire, to this day...

Author's rating

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In part 1, I started to talk about Mrs. Reed's death but stopped. Mrs. Reed's death signifies a 'settling of accounts' with the memory of the past. For Jane, 'Mrs. Reed' is like a kind of secret box that holds the unpleasant memories of the past. Suppressed memories and nightmares, and even that red room where she fell ill—the memories related to Mrs. Reed are nothing but negative memories. But when Mrs. Reed reaches death, Jane thinks. She recognizes the fact that there's no longer any reason to hate her, and that she herself is no longer bound by past affairs and has forgiven her. Before dying, Mrs. Reed tells Jane that she has an uncle. Mrs. Reed admits that, due to her own wicked heart, she did not tell Jane that the uncle had sent a letter saying he was looking for her, and briefly shows her that letter, through which Jane recognizes that she herself has an opportunity for 'social advancement.' Outwardly she rejoices that she too has family, but the point worth noting is that, to some degree, within her inner self lies the desire to obtain wealth and thereby rise in status, and through that advancement become roughly on par with Rochester.

Some readers might ask why Jane craves social advancement, but I think of course Jane wanted to rise in status. Because she despaired over and grieved at her own situation when rumors of Miss Ingram and Rochester's marriage went around, and came to think she had to leave Rochester. That's because it's not a thought that arises when one has made up one's mind, under a firm conviction, to overcome things like differences in status and marry Rochester. She herself knew. Given the social atmosphere of the time, she knew that it would be very hard for her and Rochester to marry. It's probably because, no matter how she thought about it, there seemed to be no social reason at all for Rochester to choose Jane. By contrast, Miss Ingram didn't match in personality at all, but since her external qualities were more than abundant, she had a high possibility of becoming Rochester's wife. (In a sense, it's also one part forming the tragedy.)

When comparing the relationship between Miss Ingram and Rochester with the relationship between Jane and Rochester, the most crucial difference is whether or not there is a 'soulful' exchange. When I read it, whether it's because it's seen from Jane's viewpoint—and therefore whether she's jealous seeing Miss Ingram and Rochester talking—is hard to judge. Miss Ingram was depicted as a woman full of arrogance, vanity, and hypocrisy, and as a result, even while talking with Rochester she couldn't catch well what Rochester wanted, and at the same time threw out too many flirtatious advances, so it was portrayed as if Rochester came to be put off. It's hard to judge this as objective fact. Since the narrator is strictly 'Jane,' the viewpoint through which the writing unfolds was developed by Jane's subjectivity. But because Rochester actually does show an indifferent reaction and a soulless reaction, I could tell that rather than Rochester preferring conversation with Miss Ingram, the conversation with Jane is a more enjoyable and pleasant conversation. Pretending to connect only on the surface is not true conversation. But I could tell through Jane that Jane and Rochester are having a 'true conversation.' A conversation in which not only the speaker but also the listener is glad.

The next topic is the matter of Jane's 'marriage,' and in the end Jane leaves Rochester's house after the wedding. This is behavior similar to Jenny's in 'An Education.' Jenny too breaks up right away as soon as she learns that David was a married man, and Jane doesn't break up immediately, but as the thought that she 'must leave' begins to strongly take hold in her heart, within a few days she comes out of Thornfield Hall penniless. It's because the values Jane held about marriage were as follows, so let's take a brief look at that part.

'It was good that the two of you stayed clinging so close together.' I spoke as if this monstrous, split tree were alive and could even understand my words. 'Though you stand so wounded and scorched and charred, within you there must still remain a consciousness of life, judging by how you cling without falling from faithful, true roots. But you will never be able to put forth green leaves again. Never again will birds build nests and sing upon your boughs. The season of pleasure and love has departed from you. Yet you are not lonely. Even as you rot, you have a friend to comfort each other.'

For her, marriage means not the act of piling up only happy memories in the shining days, but a relationship in which one can embrace, shelter, care for, and look after each other even in the times when everything has withered and faded. Through this part, which describes 'until black hair turns to white,' Jane was drawing the ideal point of marriage as she conceives it. To that extent, Jane trusted Rochester. She had never even thought from the start that Rochester might be a married man, and he shouldn't have been, but unfortunately, this couple's love nearly transcended status, yet transcending reality was impossible. Rochester, who had been married to 'Bertha Mason,' the sister of his friend Mason, shows the current state of his wife and says his marriage is not a marriage. Since Bertha Mason was afflicted with mental illness and had gone mad, that's understandable.

I was undergoing a painful ordeal. A hand of iron, glowing red-hot in fire, was gripping my vital point. It was a terrifying moment, full of struggle, darkness, and body-burning agony. More than anyone who has ever lived in this world until now, I wanted to be loved. I absolutely worshipped this person who had loved me so. But I had to abandon both the love and the idol. In one desolate word was contained my unbearable duty. 'Leave' ......omitted...... \"We were born into this world to strive and endure. You and I are the same. Please strive and endure. You'll probably forget me first, before I forget you.\"

Reading this part, readers can fully understand why Jane felt that inexplicable sense of duty about why she had to leave Rochester. In Jane's marriage values, there was no such thing as becoming the 'mistress' of a married man. This was a value that did not at all suit Jane's religious values. Rather, it merely violated them. Because Jane is a case of having embodied religion as 'life' at Lowood School, one could to some extent predict that her values would emerge very strongly at such a time. Moreover, since she's a very proactive woman, her power to put 'thought' into action would also have been stronger than other women's, and one could say that this very part appears here.

Jenny, too, left David, didn't she? Of course, some would point out that comparing a 21st-century work with a 19th-century work is a wrong method of comparison, but there's a commonality in that, then or now, in English society where religious values are widely spread, such a marriage is hard to accept. Whether it's David or Rochester, they deceived Jenny and Jane anyway. In the point of not telling at all what kind of situation the man was placed in, trust is lost, and because this thing called trust is one of the things a woman most values between a woman and a man, that also means the possibility of breaking off the relationship is highest.

In fact, a few days later Jane quietly packs her things and leaves Thornfield Hall. In this process Jane becomes a maiden whose face turns pale, who is hungry and starving, but in the point that the world does not help her, she ends up tasting 'cold, harsh reality.' Having briefly come out of the 'greenhouse' of Lowood School and Thornfield Hall, a very, very harsh reality was waiting for her, to the point that it even brings to mind Kim Gi-rim's poem 'The Sea and the Butterfly,' one well known among us.

Because no one has ever told it the depth of the water

the white butterfly is not the least bit afraid of the sea.

Thinking it a field of green radish, it descends,

only for its young wings to be soaked by the waves,

and it returns exhausted like a princess.

Sorrowful that the March sea bears no blossoms,

a pale crescent moon stings cold on the butterfly's waist.

Exactly like the content of this poem, she wanders about in a chilled state and then takes refuge at the house of the Rivers family, where she meets her own siblings. Even this fact of being siblings is something she learns only after becoming very close with them, but among these siblings, the eldest, 'St. John' (rendered as 'John Eyre' in the original text), proposes marriage to her. St. John is a clergyman, a person who considers practicing his religious ideals rationally to be his calling. Although he knows that his own emotional, passionate feelings are felt toward Rosamond, he doesn't act on them but acts and thinks according to his reason, and takes even greater pride in enduring himself. The reason he proposes to Jane is that, seeing Jane's life, he discovered an ideal in her. It's not proposing because he feels 'love,' but a truly cold-blooded mass of reason proposing because it's ideal. Through such a person, Jane comes to know, through 'Heaven,' what kind of person she loves. In the very process of the evangelist St. John proposing to her, she learns that someone is searching for her, and goes once more to find Rochester.

When she went to find Rochester, Thornfield Hall had already collapsed in a fire. 'Bertha Mason' caused the fire and the house collapsed, and she died, while Rochester survived with both eyes blinded. In the meantime, Jane had obtained an inheritance of 20,000 pounds from her uncle, divided it fairly with her siblings and taken 5,000 pounds for herself, and under a certain degree of social advancement, had refused St. John's proposal and gradually come to find her love—and she put that into action. Rochester rejoices. The fact that his partner has come to his side once more feels like a fantasy. Rochester at first seemed a little gloomy, but with Jane's playfulness he gradually regains vitality bit by bit, and the two go on to lead a happy life.

'Jane Eyre,' which could be called the very first model of a proactive woman, can be said to be a remarkable heroine novel found in the 19th century. How independent she is. Compared with Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Brontë, the difference stands out even more starkly, to the extent that a woman of that time possessing this degree of 'independence' could be called extremely progressive. While sharing Jane's feelings and thoughts, this book has value in the point that it's the first work to portray a future image of women, and at the same time, even coming to now, it seems one can recognize how important one's own convictions are, how important one's own values are.

In modern society, the issue of marriage is in reality gradually converging on the truth that both parties must concede, but there still seem to be many people who force only their own emotions and their own thoughts and don't try to understand the other person. The idea that my thinking is right and the other person's thinking is wrong, and therefore the other person's thinking must be matched to mine, is a very selfish idea. Of course, the problem with this judgment exists in the point that the other person's thinking is not necessarily right either. No one's thinking can be called right, but one can say that both people's thinking is 'precious.' Whoever it is, one's own opinion deserves to be respected, and I'd like to say this is a truth that cannot be conceded by even a hair, even in marriage.

It's a society where there are proactive women like Jane, and still passive women too. Meanwhile, there are men who pursue patriarchy like Rochester, men who say men and women should present equal opinions from an equal position, and men who'd prefer women take more of the lead. What's clear is that, while one cannot say everyone is wrong, neither can everyone be right. In the end, marriage is about acknowledging and understanding the other person, lowering oneself, and being considerate—not about asserting oneself, insisting on one's opinion, and pushing ahead.