Moral Development In Jane Eyre

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Before Evangelical movement entered England, Victorian women’s freedom were hampered. They should fit the image “Angel in the House”—“pure and innocent, tender and sexually undemanding, submissive and obedient” (Andersson, 2011). After being married, a woman lost her legal rights and property and depended financially on her husband (Xiaojie, 2010) which gave men authority to exercise their power. Furthermore, it seems that the Anglican Christian turned the women into a second class being who were submissive to their Lords and Masters—the men (Griesinger, 2008). However, this idea was challenged by Evangelical which believed that every person has the ability to communicate with God directly (Lamonaca, 2002). This “religion of the heart” gave the women opportunity to serve their God directly; their spiritual integrity should not have to be mediated through the men who were formerly considered as their hope of heaven. This movement is reflected through Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre that was published under the pseudonym Currer Bell in 1847. Jane Eyre is a Bildungsroman; it is a novel that narrates the story of Jane’s life chronologically from childhood to adulthood and how she experiences some form of moral development. There are two interesting issues raised in this novel, the first one is how Jane, a Christian woman, develops her religious…show more content…
Rochester, Jane is almost tempted by his offer after she hears him preaching. She obeys his words saying that missionary work is a form of service to God before at the end of the novel she hears Mr. Rochester’s cries. Griesinger (2008) argues that the voice that has saved her from scarifying herself is the evidence of God’s presence. It implies that, as Evangelical belief, God has communicated directly to his being, a woman. At the end of the novel, it is told that she chooses to marry Mr. Rochester as her form of service for God and also because she is able to do it, not because she depends on
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