Approaching Easter

In its issue of March 31, Church Times publishes an article by Jane Williams titled "Modern myth about love" where Jane Eyre's morality is discussed from a Christian point of view. The article is an extract from a recently published book, Approaching Easter ( Lion Hudson Plc).

The article nevertheless begins with a charming description of how the author discovered Jane Eyre:

My sisters and I, very typically of teenage girls, were greatly interested in the idea of love. We occasionally bought a magazine that was full of impossibly lovely girls and handsome, square-jawed men, who broke each other’s hearts, and then mended them again with kisses. Each story finished with a couple locked mouth to mouth, and the words "The End" appearing in a heart-shaped bubble. We knew that that was what that kind of love was supposed to look like.

So I remember vividly the day I discovered Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. As I read on, and re-read, it was the relationships that Jane formed that fascinated me more and more. Not one of them was the kind of "normal" relationship that I had read about in other books. (...)

I know Jane Eyre spawned a whole genre of romance literature, which has its own illusions, like any other. But I still think it is a tougher, less sentimental myth than many of the modern versions. For one thing, Jane does not allow her love to overrule her morals. When she discovers that Mr Rochester is already married, even though his wife is a violent lunatic and no one could expect him to remain faithful to her, still Jane leaves him.

Most modern films of the book cannot make this choice comprehensible, because the modern myth of love is all about sexual fulfilment. Nowadays, people seem to think that to satisfy sexual desire is an overriding imperative, and they are prepared to break up families and sacrifice careers for it. So Jane’s choice seems simply cold and harsh. (...)

Like Jane Eyre, Jesus will not accept the simplistic, idolising love that people are prepared to offer him when they think he is going to make their lives more exciting. Many people see Jesus as attractive and charismatic; they see him as someone who can change their lives and give them excitement and purpose, but on their own terms. Jesus refuses to be manipulated. Like Jane, he waits, offering his own tough brand of love, refusing to settle for anything less. (...)

The last issue of Brontë Studies also included an article (reprinted from Church Times) in which a similar discussion took place, "Re-Reading Jane Eyre as a Christian Allegory" by Alison Shell.

Categories: Books, Jane_Eyre, Charlotte_Brontë