Elizabeth Gaskell’s book The
Life of Charlotte Bronte records a pivotal and insightful conversation
between Charlotte and her sisters. Elizabeth records that Charlotte ‘once told
her sisters that they were wrong - even morally wrong in making their heroines
beautiful as a matter of course. They replied that it was impossible to make a
heroine interesting on any other terms. Her answer was, 'I will prove to you
that you are wrong; I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself,
who shall be as interesting as any of yours.' From this discussion, the
character of Jane Eyre was born.
I think that is what I find so refreshing about the story of
Jane Eyre. Never, at any point in the story, is she considered beautiful, save
by Mr. Rochester, right after they are first engaged, when he is delusional
with love. Just in case the reader gets any ideas about there actually being a
physical change in her appearance, she and others continue to make grounding
comments about her, delicately put, “plainness.” But, somehow, despite her
plainness, she is able to act on her world in such a way that she makes a significant
difference, and that action in her world is what makes her incredibly
interesting to us readers, in fact perhaps more interesting than the
conventional beautiful heroine.
But what is it about Jane that makes her so interesting? In
many ways, her story plays into the same principles and moralities that
mainstream love stories do. A strong
theme is the morality of love – that love is, itself, something worth fighting
for, something that overthrows societal standards and man-made conventions,
something that is itself a moral standard. This can be seen in the very match
between Jane and Rochester, a poor governess and the wealthy master of the
house, as well as in her refusal of St. John Rivers, who would have her marry
him simply so she could serve as a tool in his missionary work – a work she
does not refuse, but a position that she refuses because she knows that marriage
ought to be full of love, and his proposal has none. This theme is widely
accepted and appreciated in other books and movies, such as Pride and
Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, Hitch, and just about any Disney movie ever (particularly
Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast).
What really sets Jane
Eyre apart from many other love stories is the strong presentation of another
theme - the idea that there is a morality stronger than love, that of
self-respect, demonstrated through adherence to personal moral principle. In
the eye of the public, who is Jane Eyre, that she should have this precious
gift of self-respect? For most of the story, she doesn’t have a dime to her
name. She has some education, but aside from some small gift in drawing and
painting, she appears nothing above average, especially in the scope of the
world. She has no beauty, no connections or even family, nothing outwardly that
one could point to and say, “THIS is where her worth lies!” Yet the book shows
the development and fruition of a respect towards herself that allows her to
break from the weaker, though still significant and strong, morality of love.
This self-respect and sense of self-worth allows her to find independence and
ultimately is what gives her respect from other characters and from the reader.
Above this, her sense of innate self-respect is what frees her from the guilty
pleasure ending found in so many popular stories – that of her discovering that
she is worthwhile and wonderful because someone told her so. Her happy ending
and her love with Rochester is all the brighter and more satisfying because she
doesn’t need it to be happy with herself.
This is why I choose Jane Eyre as my model of
self-appreciation.
Over the course of my life, I have seen many people,
especially women, struggle with loving and appreciating themselves. This list
includes family members, dear friends, acquaintances, and, honestly, myself. And,
to be completely honest, there are few things that get me more frustrated than
to see people that I care about unable to see the incredible worth that they
have because they are too busy comparing their weight or body type or GPA or hair
color or skin type or some other measure on some outward, superficial scale to
what they think it should be. It absolutely breaks my heart. I know it makes me
want to do something to help these people find their worth and to change the
culture that fostered these feelings that bog them down. Unfortunately, I have
no idea what to do about it. However, I’m determined to find something to do to
follow through, but in the meantime, I will settle for helping those that I
come in contact with and starting a harmless little blog documenting my honest
thoughts and opinions, and occasionally perhaps my struggles, with innate
self-worth, self-love, and body image, with hopes that someone may benefit from
what I post. With such, I promise I will be as real with you as possible, and
I’ll try to not post anything that is superficially positive, but rather things
that I truly mean and believe. We’ll see how this goes. J
