How often does ones nature change? Jane Eyre is a novel that was written in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte and it was significant because it the one of the first diary-style books to be published. The book is about a girl named Jane who lived in a household with her aunt and cousins and was bullied by them. She was sent to a school and lived there for nearly eight years and became a teacher. She applied for a governess job at the faraway Thornfield Hall and met the owner, Mr. Rochester, soon after.
Eventually, he proposes to Jane, but before they can wed, it is revealed that Rochester was already married to a woman locked in his attic. Jane leaves and is on her own, and finds her long-lost cousins and receives an inheritance. She goes back to Rochester and they live happily ever after. Both Jane and Rochester did significantly change over the course of the novel in their independence, in their status, and in their character.
Throughout the story, both characters changed in how they depended on others. Jane, in the beginning, was heavily reliant on the people around her, whether it would be her aunt or her schoolmaster. However, as she grew up and the story progressed, she learned to be more independent when needed, like when she walked away from getting married to Rochester.
On the other hand, Rochester was a commanding man when we first met him. He even said himself, ‘The fact is, once for all, I don’t wish to treat you like an inferior: that is, I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years’ difference in age and a century’s advance in experience.’ Unfortunately, when his crazy wife Bertha burned down Thornfield Hall, Rochester lost his eyesight. Because of this, he had to become more dependent on the people around him for many things now. Both characters changed in their dependence upon others, however, the change was inversely related.
Through the novel, both Jane and Rochester changed in their status. Jane’s status only grew through the novel, since she started as just a poor orphan girl who was sent to a school for orphans, and eventually grew up to be a teacher, then a governess. Plus, she received an inheritance, which only helped. However, Rochester’s status went down through the novel, starting off as a wealthy man, but fell into misfortune after he was revealed to already have a crazy wife in his attic, then losing his eyesight and Thornfield, which held much of his money was just another beating on top of what already had happened to him. By the end, Jane and Rochester’s statuses became more equal, rather than wildly imbalanced.
Both Jane and Rochester changed in their character by the end. Jane started off as a scared little girl who was bullied by her aunt and cousins, and even when she went to school, she was bullied by the schoolmaster. However, she overcame her fears and became a teacher at the very same school, and eventually left to be a governess. Even that she stepped away from, when she was about to be married, and left to be on her own. Rochester also became a better person by the end as well. At first, he was so ashamed of his wife that he locked her in the attic to rot, and it appeared that he simply did not care for her at all. However, when Bertha set the house on fire, Rochester tried to save her, losing his eyesight in the process. Both managed to become better people through their own hardships.
Both Jane and Rochester changed through the course of the book. Jane became more independent, higher status, and a better person, while Rochester became more dependent on others, of a lower status, but still became a better person anyway.
