『제인 에어』에 나타난 기독교 신앙의 ‘진실’과 ‘외양’의 문제 - 제인과 연계된 세 명의 남성 등장인물을 중심으로

Abstract

Since its publication in 1847, Charlotte Brontë’s (1816–1855) Jane Eyre has often been accused of being an "anti-Christian composition." Still Brontë, a daughter of the pastor of Church of England, used a variety of key passages from the Bible in her masterpiece. In the Preface to the second edition of Jane Eyre, Brontë tells the reading public the real purpose of her writing: a "protest against the bigotry - that parent of crime" in some evangelical denominations of Victorian Christianity. Brontë places strong emphasis on the difference between "appearance" (or the "narrow human doctrines") and "truth" (or "the world-redeeming creed of Christ")in her first novel. The aim of this paper thus is to discuss Brontë’s three male characters – Mr. Brocklehurst, Reverend St. John Rivers, and Edward Rochester – in terms of "truth" and "appearance."Jane Eyre first meets Mr. Brocklehurst at Gateshead. He is an evangelical clergyman responsible for the financial and managerial problems at the Lowood Institution, a charity school for poor or parentless young girls. To the Lowood girls, Brocklehurst preaches Christian humility, objects to their adorning any ornaments, and barely provides them with food and heating. But his wife and daughters live at a comfortable manor and wear luxurious furs and silks. His stinginess and cruelty contradict his principle of care as Christian duties; mistaking Christian love for human oppression and persecution, Brocklehurst is portrayed as a hypocritical, inconsistent and self-righteous man of religion. St. John Rivers is a Calvinist clergyman who plans to go to India as a missionary. He is a very devout and dutiful Christian, but he is cold, and indifferent to people around him. Even though St. John proposes to Jane and asks her hand in marriage, it is only for his missionary ambition. When Jane declines his request, St. John accuses her of not observing God’s direction. With religious mania he only wants to exploit Jane as a tool for his austere missionary duties. In this way, he is inhuman, merciless, and confounds the true meaning of Christian love and the apparent mission of Christian duties. St. John, not unlike Brocklehurst, is shown as a self-righteous man of religion. Edward Rochester is a very sinful man when Jane first meets him at Thornfield Manor. He conceals his marriage to Bertha Mason, whom he neglects and confines in the attic of the manor. Rochester regrets many of his past deeds and tries to forget them; to become a better person, that is, Rochester believes that he needs the help of a good woman in order to be born again. Finally he manages to marry Jane and find peace with God. He prays and praises God for everything. By the novel’s end, Rochester becomes a born-again Christian. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë tries to mark the line of separation between good Christians and bad Christians. Mr. Brocklehurst and St. John Rivers are both clergymen, but they do not practice the true Christian love for their neighbors. In contrast, Edward Rochester becomes a born-again Christian and comes to love Jane as an equal. Moreover Brontë uses many Biblical allusions and themes throughout the novel. Despite its label as "anti-Christian," Jane Eyre encompasses many elements which allow us to regard it as a "Christian novel."