The Study on the Personality Characteristics of Jane Eyre

Abstract： The classic book Jane Eyre is written by Charlotte Bronte （1816-1855）， which is of great significance in English literature. In this masterpiece， Charlotte Bronte successfully portrays and presents a great and dependent heroine Jane Eyre，. This essay is to analyze the heroine’s characteristics and help people understand more. 
　　Key words： character； independent； equal； resist 
　　I.Brief introduction of the author 
　　Charlotte Bronte is a great female English writer in 19th century， and Jane Eyre is the greatest book for her.In 1847， she published the full-length novel-Jane Eyre， which has a magnificent influence in literature field. Unfortunately， her brother and two sisters died in succession and surrounded by death shadow she insisted in completing the book Shirely. In this book， Charlotte expressed her memories on her sister Emily and also demonstrated spontaneous early labor movement. Her another two books Villette（1853） and Professor（1857） are written according to her own life experience. Her book is featured by lyric style in writing natural scenery with deep emotional coloring. 
　　II. Jane Eyre’s Story 
　　Jane Eyre has a miserable and misfortunate childhood： living in a poor pastor family she became an orphan girl after her parents died. However， Jane Eyre is a born resister， humiliated and suffering a lot in the orphanage， she learnt to be patient， independent， persistent and prize dignity over anything else. She devoted herself to gained knowledge which gave her a chance as a tutor in Thornfiled Garden， whose owner Rochester is a man with irritable and moody temper. With mutual acquaintance and understanding， they fell in love with each other. But unfortunately， Jane found Mr. Rochester had a legal life. She made up her mind to leave. But finally， she thought she has loved Mr. Rochester so much and returned after suffering a lot in her leaving way. After finding Rochester’s misfortune brought by his original mad wife， Jane decided to stay with him forever. 
　　III. Detailed analysis of characteristics of Jane Eyre 
　　a. Strong sense of independence， resist and self-esteem 
　　With misfortune and suffering at young age， her aunt’s cold and cruel treatment， her cousin’s contempt ，isolation and abuse， she chose to endure everything at beginning， but when her basic principle of self-respect was challenged， she struggled to resist the discriminations she suffered. A strong sense of resistance can be seen from the part when she was beaten by her cousin， she strove to fight back and shouted “Wicked and cruel boy！ You are like a murderer-you are like a slave driver-you are like the Roman emperors！” Her aunt told her children to stay away from Jane， she said：“ They are not to associate with me”. Face with her cousin’s humiliation， she resisted and said “ People think you are a good man， but you are bad， hard-hearted. You are deceitful”. In the orphanage， Jane’s strong characteristics of being brave， caring and having a clear stand on what to love and what to hate are presented vividly， which is shown in the dialogues with her best friend Helen， she said ： “When we suffer beating without cause， we should backstroke ruthlessly.”