religion \ Jane Eyre

[lady.R]

hi every1

plz can any1 help me in my project about religion !!

i need to talk in my introduction about the religion at the 19 century
then take a big talk in religion in Jane Eyre " the novel"

so can you help me with websites and give me an idea !!

thanx all (:

[Seasider]

Organised religion doesn't play much of a part except for the scene in the Church where Rochester's attempt to marry Jane is foiled by the announcement that there is lawful impediment to the marriage in the shape of the present Mrs Rochester living in the attic. Says much about Rochester's views of the demands of religion that he is prepared to make a bigamous marriage. Jane of course has high moral scruples, based on Christian morality which means that as much as she loves Rochester, she leaves him at once and tries to make a life for herself elsewhere. Unsuccessfully.
The Victorians have a reputation, whether deserved or not, for a lot of hypocrisy in their religious lives, living by the Laws rather than the Spirit of religion. Mr Brocklehurst, the clergyman Headmaster of Lowood School preaches privation and suffering to his pupils while enriching himself and his family on resources meant for the students. Mrs Reed, whom I fancy is a regular churchgoer is cruel and sadistic towards Jane.
St John Rivers, the young clergyman whose family takes Jane in is a sympathetic enough character and seems to have a more genuine calling than Brocklehurst. But he is in my view a rather vapid character. Not right for Jane at all.:)

[kiki1982]

That discussion revolves mainly around the free will. Paradise Lost is very important in this. Did the devil (in the form of the serpent) seduce Eve to eat from the tree, or did she allow herself to be talked round by the serpent to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and does she, as a finite and mortal being, really realise what 'Good and Evil' are in an eternal context despite eating from the tree (see Byron's play Cain for this too)? The same goes for Adam. In PL God is asked why he gave Adam & Eve the rree will if He is so angry that they disobeyed Him and he answers that he wanted them to be able to choose the good (God Himself) freely, otherwise there was nothing good in it.
Rochester is certainly compared to Satan in Paradise Lost through the drawings Jane shows him in the beginning, but also through the ice/snow/cold and white surroundings of Thornfield and its interior. He is mainly similar in that he is narcistic and thinks his views are the norm.
Still, his conduct is wrong on an absolute level, so was Satan's conduct and that's why God bannished him from Eden, but that does not prevent readers of Paradise Lost to really feel free to liking Satan more than God who is a little whingeing old man really.

Brocklehurst is a little bit of a social problem. Indeed, he preaches suffering and what-not and at the same time enriches himself, but in Victorian society you had to keep up your name by entertaining people in your hme, by dressing well and living well. Otherwise you could kiss goodbye to any career whatsoever. There were a lot of people like Brocklehurst managing prisons, workhouses and schools. They were not paid enough. Unless one had a fortune of oneself, one could not keep a family in a satisfactory way on one's salary. So, what do people do? Put their hands where the money is. That was a direct consequence of the hypocritical measures the government and unions (parish councils more or less) which managed those charity things introduced. The Victorians meant well, but their organisation needed some re-thinking.

Mrs Reed is more of a bad case. I mean, wanting rid of some child because she is the result of a marriage of your sister-in-law below her station... The child can't help it. Although she did what was required of her: care monetarily for it. And she can actually ultimatly be thanked for leading Jane to an existence in service, otherwise Jane would never have met Rochester.

St John Rivers is a strange case. He willingly relinquishes a marriage based on love because of his career wishes. Though maybe also because he does not want to kill the great love of his life, nor does he want to see her die probably for his own sake. Being a missionary in Hindustan was a very lonely existence: imagine being in a country where everyone ignores you (really the case because the buddhists and hindus were not waiting to be converted and only tolerated the missionaries), where you do not know the language, or only a little bit, and where regularly waves of diseases go around like yellow fever, dyptheria (?), cholera, etc Ok, in London too, but there much more because the hygene was much much worse and against things like yellow fever there were very few remedies. And it was a hot, humid climate, not something everyone can bear. So, for that life (which, if he came back, would make him a hero, otherwise he would die over there, which was more likely) he gives up the great love of his life and chooses to marry a woman whom he deems better suited for the purpose but whom he does not love. Strange.

To every bad side, there is a good side though. Only people make religion black and white.