The Mother Images In Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre, a famous novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte, was published in London in1847by Smith, Elder&Co. The author used her pen name "Currer Bell". It is widely believed that the novel was revolutionary in the Victorian society because the heroine was an intelligent and individualistic young woman with intensive rebellious spirit. Jane was a poor and plain woman without fascinating charm. Although she suffered much, Jane was never a damsel in distress who needed rescuing. She was highly self-reliant and had a deeply pious personal trust in God.In the novel, Charlotte Bronte created a lot of mother images. The thesis sorted out, through close reading, the tacit and explicit the mother images in Jane Eyre, investigated the influence of historical background and the experience of the author on the reason for her creating these images, and the deeper connotation.The mother images in the novel fell into three types:the terrible mothers, the defective mothers, and the good mothers. Ms. Celine Varens and Mrs. Sarah Reed stood for the terrible mothers:the former abandoned her daughter and ran away to Italy with her lover; the latter spoiled her own children, but abused Jane.Bessie was a defective mother. She was the only person who sometimes cared about Jane at Gateshead. Jane regarded her as mother. However, she had a passionate temper and lacked intelligence. Miss Temple was also a mother in Jane’s mind. She was intelligent, cultured, and right-minded. However, she was short of courage to react against injustice.Jane was Adele’s governess and later became her stepmother. In the novel, she always looked after Adele as a mother. She was gentle, kind-hearted, and took so much care of her. Meanwhile, Jane corrected her mistakes and paid much attention to her education. Jane was a perfect mother in the novel. The moon and the nature were regarded as mothers, too. They cared about Jane, and encouraged her to make right decisions.That Charlotte Bronte created so many mother images in the novel implied that she believed to be a mother was an absolutely essential part of an ideal woman’s life. Her criticism of the terrible mothers, and to praise and glorify the good mothers, reflected her opinions not only on new mothers but also on new woman. In this respect, to study the different kinds of mother images will definitely enhance our understanding of the novel and the author.Charlotte Bronte created these mother images, which stemmed from her life experience and the development of feminism in the Victorian era. Her mother died when she was five, which led to her strong desire for maternal love. In the Victorian era, feminism had made great strides. To be independent and educated was banner. Charlotte Bronte highlighted the idea that a perfect mother should attach importance to the education of children and provide them with moral guidance, which reflected the feminist characteristics at that time.