Female Self—consciousness on Love in Jane Eyre

【Abstract】Nowadays，majority of marriages are based on social statue and wealth，ignoring the true love.This paper will research correct attitude towards love from Janes female self-consciousness so as to encourage the modern female to set up a brave view of love，to pursue their true love without only thinking of the background 、the statue of the property、or something else objective of the lover，to be an independent women in economy and politics area with independent personality.To do the research，plenty of materials have been collected including journal articles、academic theses and so on.It is from dignity，equality and persistence three aspects to discuss Jane Eyre's female self-consciousness in the pursuit of love.By Jane Eyre's love view，readers can calm down and read it carefully，carefully，feeling great and happy love of Jane Eyre.In front of this kind of common distorted love view，Jane Eyres love view still emits the shine，showing the significance in a new era.All in all，true love should be pure，it is humans nice emotion，it should be cherished by heart.Women towards love should have equality，dignity，and persistence.

【Key Words】female self-consciousness； true love； dignity； equality； persistence

Introduction

With the influence of the industrial revolution in nineteenth，most of the European countries economy had a certain development，but the society rank was still rigidly stratified，and womens social status was also underprivileged.Under this background，producing massive works about feminine self-consciousness，those have been reviewed，analyzed，and discussed from different aspects.

The study of the female self-consciousness in Jane Eyre is very important on the area of female consciousness.It from the unique perspective of womens status problem，through the heroine Jane Eyre and Rochesters love story between the twists and turns，created a never give up in secular pressure，independent，positive enterprising female image.It struck the male-centered society，it was the early struggle of the awakening of female self-consciousness，it has an important significance in history.

This study will help to arouse the publics attention to women and problems of women around the world，it also helps to realize the female self-consciousness and self-awareness and identity，besides，it means breaking the male-centered consciousness，thus to build a relationship intimacy，love--pursue freedom，harmonious society.

The female self-consciousness in Jane Eyre has been studied by majority people around the world.Kang Dan thought that Charlottes consciousness of women's economic independence and women's self-consciousness awakening could read self-awareness and low self-esteem in the novel on Reading the self-consciousness of Jane Eyre and low self-esteem.Western sexual activists read Jane Eyre victory against patriarchal oppression for women，in praise of Jane Eyre's consciousness of resistance.These previous studies have developed a lot of valuable views for reference.All those have made enormous contribution to providing multitudinous academic foundation for a further study.

The study of the female self-consciousness in Jane Eyre has reached a certain depth，but the study continues to deepen and will extend to a broader domain.So this paper is going to do a deeper research through Janes view of love so as to encourage the modern female to set up a brave view of love，to pursue their true love without only thinking of the background 、the statue of the property、or something else objective of the lover，to be an independent women in economy and politics area with independent personality.

This paper will reach the aim of sharing correct attitude for readers towards love，and analyzing Janes love view dialectically.Plenty of materials have been collected including journal articles、academic theses，but it might be not enough to achieve the goal，so more research should be done to figure out the present study situation of Jane Eyre and study the details about the female self-consciousness in Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre and Rochester's love is the main content of Jane Eyre，Jane thinks love should be established on the basis of spirit equality，and it should not depend on social status，wealth and appearance.Only when men and women both love each other，can they get real happiness.This essay is in light of Jane Eyres dignity，equality，and persistence to discuss her female self-consciousness in pursueing love.

In front of Rochester，Jane Eyre never feels inferior although she is a nidering family teacher，insteadly，she thinks they are equal，she should be respected by others.Her integrity，noble，pure，making Rochester shocked.He puts her as a heart talker on the spirit of equality，and is deeply in love with her.In Jane Eyre and Mr Rochesters wedding，an unexpected fact is revealed.When Jane Eyre knows that Rochester has a wife，she feels her dignity has been ridiculed，so she makes a very rational decision，under the beautiful and rich life temptation，she still insists on the individual dignity of herself，she does not want to tread on her personality and do a mistress without dignity.In faced with the choice of living shamed or maintaining personal dignity，she chooses the latter without doubt，after a night thinking，she resolutely leaves，crossing out of the door of Thornfield.In more than a century ago，for a women without social status and money，to make this choice is shocking.This is Jane Eyre who has independent dignity，it is a significant performance in female self-consciousness.The strong awareness of dignity makes Jane to be a extraordinary woman.

Jane can fall in love with Rochester，because he can treat others equally，he regards her as a friend，and she pays attention to friendship and equality，rather than the great wealth of Rochester and prominent family.She is outspoken and in the presence of the owner of the rich and arrogant coquetry，she totally has no flattery.When Jane founds herself is deeply in love with the master，although the gap of status is deep，but she dares to love，because she believes that people are equal in spirit.At the time of the concept of the hierarchical society，it seems a bold challenge.At the same time，it also means bearing laughed and insulted.It is because of Jane's strong female consciousness awakening that makes her not to succumb to the secular and not to afraid of pursuing their love.While Rochester pretends to marry Miss Ingram，Jane Eyre issues from the heart to defend spiritual personality equality.She maintains women's independent personality，and claims independent marriage and the idea of equality between men and women.They may be regarded as her desire for the whole human societys freedom and equality.She feels that marriage must be based on love，and true love does not depend on outward conditions.

Jane wins the dignity，wins the equality，and the persistence is shocking.Even she leaves Thornfield mansion，and leaves her beloved I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed：“We hold these truths to be self-evident，that all men are created equal.”

This is an abstract from Martin Luther Kings famous speech I Have a Dream，which we all learnt in middle school.“All men are created equal”，he said，and he devoted his whole life to anti-racism.However，from my point of view，it is a dream that cannot be achieved easily.

Racism has existed throughout human history.Many scholars are applying themselves to the study in this field now，hoping to change the current situation and make a brighter future for the whole world.

The book Ethnic America，a History，written by Thomas Swowell，traces the history of nine American ethnic groups--the Irish，the Germans，the Jews，the Italians，the Chinese，the Japanese，the Blacks，the Puerto Ricans，and the Mexicans--in order to explain their varied experiences in adapting to American society.

The author has a good commend of words，which one can easily tell from the words he chose to use and his writing style.Americanism can be sensed between the lines.He also used a lot of data to make his point more clear and convincing and made a parallel comparison to highlight different culture.After reading，you will be amazed to find that，though Chinese immigrants are mostly criticized at present，discrimination happened to all the races，regardless of your skin color or where you come from.Also，it confused me that even coming from the same country，the earlier immigrants held an attitude of exclusion towards the latter ones.

In this book，the author also considers the ancient China as an extremely prosperous country，and，to find a reason to explain the collapse of China，he describes the Ming and Qing Dynasty as cruel and oppressive.However，anyone knows Chinese history intimately will say that though these two dynasties didnt take many measures to drive the development of the country，they didnt oppress it either.It is not sufficient to blame the collapse on these two dynasties.

Back to the topic，though so many people had made their contributes to make people understand all men are born equal，racism still remains as one of the most serious problems.Even in America，where education and economy are highly developed，exist racial discrimination.

The root of racism may be traced back to the time when Columbus discovered the New Continent.Thousands of blacks were transported to America to do hard works.Whats more，one can never forget the Holocaust started by Hitler，whose racial policies had culminated in the mass murder of at least eleven million people，including the deliberate genocide of about six million Jews，and the systematic killings of many other groups and nationalities.

There is no doubt that the oppressed will fight back one day，they will show to us all that they are not different with the so-called superior race at all.Improvements have been made all over the world.For instance，the history of the slavery in America was ended by the Civil War，in which more than 600，000 men lost their lives.Whats more，the success of Obama is a strong evidence to show the racial equality in American society.Nevertheless，there is still a large number of black American living in poverty，they still have to go through discrimination in their life.The progress has been slow and difficult.

Will racism die out in the future？

I believe so，though it may took a long time.Anti-racist movements such as African-American Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Apartheid Movement are making efforts.Moreover，UNESCO marks March 21 as the yearly International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination，in memory of the events that occurred on March 21，1960 in Sharpeville，South Africa，where police killed student demonstrators peacefully protesting against the apartheid regime.

Just as the author argued in the book，all the races have their own shortcomings.E.g.the Irish are irritable，the Italian are inactive，and the black are not far-sighted.All of these things dont make them different from each other in the root.People will gradually learn that there is no such thing like inferior race and superior race.We should not judge a person by his race and skin color，but by his ability，education，and his soul.

It doesnt require much from us.A little tolerance will be quite enough.

I believe all men are created equal.

Its not a fantasy，but a dream we can achieve one day.

Rochester，loses her love，she never gives up her true feeling.when she is cold 、hungry、and homeless，Jane Eyre meets St John.However，St John and Jane Eyre have very big different views on love.St.John can not enjoy the pleasure of life，he thinks work is above everything，including life and love.And Jane thinks love is noble，love should not be sacrificed for work，on the contrary，should work for the love of lovers.When St John proposes marriage to Jane，to ask her as his assistant to India as missionaries，although Jane Eyre thinks he is a good man，she rejects his marriage proposal，because in Jane Eyre's view，St John's love is not true，he loves god more.And what more important is that Jane Eyres true lover is still Rochester，although Jane Eyre leaves Mr Rochester，she does not want to abandon him.Because she thinks that herself and Rochester both love each other，they should get real happiness.

Conclusion

Jane Eyre's female self-consciousness in the pursuit of love reflects in three aspects： dignity，equality and persistence.Jane can fall in love with Rochester，because he can show equal treatment to her and respect her，regard her as a friend.When knowing that Rochester has a wife，in order to defend dignity，she endures great pain and resolutely chooses to leave.Love for Rochester，Jane Eyre refuses the St John's proposal of marriage，when Rochester has nothing，she comes back to his side.So the combination of the two people eventually is based on equality，dignity，and love on the basis of the female consciousness.

Modern society emphasizes the equality between men and women，female citizens at work and in life have the opportunity of fair competition as male citizens.In love and marriage，some girls are confused by money and status，love plays the role of hunting for money and status.Some men desire for beauty，to confuse young women.In front of this kind of rising phenomenon of distorted love view，Jane Eyres love view again emits the shine，showing the significance in a new era.

By Jane Eyre's love view，readers can calm down and read it carefully，carefully，feeling great and happy love of Jane Eyre.The right attitude towards love is the pursuit of full equality，dignity，and love.

This paper might be not enough to achieve the aim of sharing correct attitude for readers towards love，，so more research should be done to figure out the present study situation of the details about the female self-consciousness on love in Jane Eyre.

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作者简介：陈琪琪（1994-12），女，江西九江人，南昌大学对外汉语专业本科生。