Autrey Hummel
"Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you." In Charlotte Bronte's deviant novel of love, mystery and human emotion
Jane Eyre;
a teacher uses this quote from the bible to illustrate that even though people may say and do things that can influence our everyday lives, the resolution to overcome these circumstances and speculations so that they do not dictate what we get from life and how we act towards others as portrayed by the autobiographical protagonist Jane Eyre.
Throughout the novel, Bronte uses situations and emotions she herself felt throughout her own life in her protagonist's story. One of the most prominent emotions in the novel is anger. Jane feels anger towards her aunt and cousins for treating her like a trivial piece of sand, even though she is their own blood relative. Jane also feels some anger and resentment towards her deceased parents for leaving her alone on this earth at such a young age. Charlotte also felt many of these feeling and emotions as her mother died when Charlotte was just a young girl. Also when her father had her aunt move into the house as a mother figure.
Although anger is a very prominent feeling in the novel the protagonist always ventures to overshadow anger with love. Their situations are paralleled as Jane's parents die in the novel just as Charlotte's mother died early in her childhood. When Jane begins to attend the Lowood Institution, she finds the hard way of life humbling. Being humble helps Jane forgive her family and helps her the learn to love them again. It is also the harshness of Mr. Brocklehurst that leaves Jane emotionally empty, which is contradicted by the love and friendliness of Miss Temple that helps Jane put her past behind her and open her heart to the people who have hurt her the most.
Charlotte Bronte uses her own life and childhood experiences, while changing the setting and altering some events, to tell us that we should not let the judgments of others dominate how we react to situations and live our lives.