Jane Eyre Question# 6 Timeless Message/ Characters

Jane Eyre has been a popularly read book since its debut in the 1800s.  It is still read today because there is a lot we can learn from it and it inspires people to be more like Jane Eyre, who treats people fairly and lives a life of purity, even when the temptation to do otherwise is overwhelming.

The message of this book is timeless because no matter what time period you live in, you will always be faced with temptation in your life to do something immoral in order to achieve happiness, but if you are strong enough, like Jane, to pull through and not give in to the temptation, you can make it through almost anything. 

Jane is a timeless character because she is unique.  She is a brave and strong woman, especially for a woman in the nineteenth century, because during this time period women were expected to be submissive to men and never disagree with them.  After speaking her mind to St. John Rivers, Jane tells the reader,"He had not imagined that a woman would dare to speak so to a man.  For me, I felt at home in this sort of discourse." (Bronte 444)  

From this book, we can learn how to balance our actions between things done out of passion, and things done out of principle.  Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers represent the two extremes of this.  Many of the things Mr. Rochester has done are based on passion.  For example, the many mistresses of his past life were results of passion, and he married Jane out of his undying passion for her.  St. John, on the other hand, always acts on principle.  Although he is supposedly in love with Rosamond, (Bronte 443) he still asks Jane to marry him because he believes it will please God. (Bronte 476)  

Brontë, Charlotte, Susan Ostrov. Weisser, and George Stade. Jane Eyre. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Electronic.