Parallels Between Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre

When Charlotte Brontë was in the midst of writing Jane Eyre, she told her sisters she would show them a "heroine as plain and as small as myself." (Brontë) That is exactly what she proceeded to do. Brontë created a character that strayed wondrously far from the stereotypical convention of the beautiful but weak heroine. She was able to create such a character because Brontë herself didn't fall into the standard definition of what a woman was supposed to be in the mid 1800's; she was not beautiful, nor was she docile or resigned.

While Jane Eyre is a work of fiction, there are many autobiographical aspects embedded within the story. Jane Eyre's upbringing parallels in many ways with that of Charlotte Brontë's. Both had incredibly difficult childhoods. Jane's parents died when she was very young, while Brontë, at the age of five, lost her mother to cancer.

After the loss of their respective family members, both were sent to live with and be raised by their aunts. While not much information is given in regards to the treatment Charlotte Brontë received while remaining under the care of her aunt, Jane gives a detailed account of the abuse (both physical and verbal) she endures at her Aunt Reed's house. In speaking of her cousin John, Jane says, "He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in a day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him and every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near. Mrs Reed was blind and deaf on the subject: she never saw him strike or heard him abuse me, though he did both now and then in her very presence; more frequently, however, behind her back." (5)

Both Jane and Brontë were sent away to boarding school before they'd reached the age of ten: Brontë attended the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, while Jane attends Lowood School for Girls. Brontë maintained that the poor conditions at the Clergy School permanently affected her "health and physical development." (Brontë) The school was a breeding ground for illness and vermin: Charlotte Brontë's two elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, contracted typhus during their time at the school, and both died while at the school.

Brontë used both her observations of and experiences at the Clergy School to create the harshness present at Lowood School; "Our clothing was insufficient to protect us from the severe cold; we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes and melted there; our ungloved hands became numbed and covered with chilblains as were our feet." (77) Jane says, telling of the inadequacy in the clothes Lowood students were made to wear.

Jane and Brontë also both found love in unconventional places: Jane in Mr. Rochester, a rude, abrupt man twice her age and Brontë in Constantin Heger, a married man who was the master of a school where she taught. Brontë eventually left the school, but sent pitiful letters to Heger, some of which are mirrored in prose to the way Jane reacts in the presence of Mr. Rochester. An excerpt from a letter sent to Heger from Brontë reads, "Nor do I, either need much affection from those I love. I should not know what to do with a friendship entire and complete- I am not used to it. But you showed me of yore a little interest and I hold on to the maintenance of that little interest- I hold on to it as I would hold on to life." (Brontë) Charlotte Brontë is willing to sacrifice being properly loved if she can be with Heger, and Jane acts in the exact same manner, even as Mr. Rochester grows more and more abrupt and abrasive with her.

When I first began reading Jane Eyre, I knew of the obvious resemblances between the two women: the fact that they had both suffered the mutual loss of parents and that both attended unfit boarding schools as children. The deeper I took my research into the life of Charlotte Brontë, and the more of Jane Eyre I read, I was able to draw a startling number of similarities between the author and her fictional protagonist.

As I read, the existing knowledge of these similarities enabled me to relate to Jane Eyre in a much deeper way. Because I understood that Charlotte Brontë had put so much of her personality and so many of her intimate sorrows into the character, Jane instantly gained more depth and became much more personable for me. One of the largest criteria that must be present in order for me to really enjoy a book is some kind of personal connection. I was having a lot of difficulty making any kind of connection to Jane Eyre, partially because her character simply was not someone I could relate to, but also because she lived in such a different cultural period from the one I live in today. However, my awareness of Charlotte Brontë's background and the way she turned her hardships into a critically acclaimed novel, allowed me to feel more allied with Jane, thus making my reading experience much more enjoyable.