How Does Jane Eyre Change Throughout The Novel

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Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre portrays the character development of the protagonist, Jane Eyre, as central to the progression of the storyline. Brontë charts Jane’s growth as an individual from her inescapable and miserable childhood all the way to her becoming independent and blissfully married to the love of her life, Mr. Edward Rochester, while often making reference to Jane’s constantly changing environment and its correlation to her continually evolving character. Throughout the novel, Jane is confronted with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Such obstacles range from abusive relatives and teachers to the arising of untimely complications and fierce opposition often because of her initial lack of economic independence and social class. Yet, in every one of these situations, Jane’s hard-fought determination, independent nature, and rare intellect allow her to overcome such difficulties, in effect paving…show more content…
Rochester as completely defeating the purpose of her becoming a true individual because she surrenders her long sought independence and personal freedom. However, in the process of coming to Ferndean to see Mr. Rochester in the first place, Jane had to reject what would have been a restricting and suppressed marriage to St. John, in effect coming to terms with making decisions based on her own discretion and being true to her emotions and desires with regard to a situation rather than simply abiding by somebody else’s will. In the quote above, Jane also makes reference to the fact that she and Mr. Rochester are now near equals, not just socially, but financially. This realization by Jane provides a stark contrast to their differing social and financial statuses when they were first to be married a year before. By becoming married at this stage in her life, Jane has only become more of a complete individual, in effect concluding her both her character development and search for independence as seen throughout the

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