Essay/Term paper: Jane eyre

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Literature Essays

Nate Bills
English
Jane Eyre

You can't judge a book by it's cover. In Jane Eyre by
Charlotte Bronte, we meet Jane Eyre, who finds her true love
to be someone she is not attracted to. Jane is attracted to
people who contain the same intellectual capacity as her,
and has no regard for those who have only beauty and money
to give. After attending an all girls seminary until she
reached the age of eighteen, Jane advertises for a job as a
governess, and receives one at an estate named Thornfield.
This is where she meets, Rochester, the owner of the
mansion, and her true love. When she learns of a dark secret
he has been keeping, she flees to another part of England
where she meets St. John, a man who she does find good
looking, but doesn't like his personality. From here she
returns to Thornfield where she marries Rochester. If Jane
had gone through her life looking for beauty instead of
someone who shared a mental similarity with her, she never
would of found happiness.

Jane is attracted to Rochester, even though she does
not find him to be handsome. "...it was not easy to give an
impromptu answer to a question about appearances; that
tastes mostly differ; and that beauty is of little
consequence..." After answering no to Rochester's question
of whether or not he was handsome, she goes on to tell him
that appearances mean little or nothing. Jane understands
that to have a true and loving relationship with someone,
that both must have not looks, but a similarity in thought,
and a like for the other's personality. Relationship's such
as this are ones of quality that will last for a long time.
Although Jane is not a beautiful women, she is able to find
happiness and that is what's most important.

Jane has no regard for the beautiful Miss Ingram, for
she has no intellectual capacity. She is not jealous of her
closeness to Rochester for she has no qualities to be
jealous of. "She was very showy, but she was not genuine;
she had a fine person, many brilliant attainments, but her
mind was poor, her heart barren by nature..." Jane knows it
is far better to have a good mind and to be a good thinker
than to have beautiful features and an abundance of money.
It is this attitude of Jane's that allows her to make the
right decisions.

Jane does not fall in love and marry St. John for even
though is more handsome than Rochester and she is attracted
to him, he does not have the same intellect. "He was young-
perhaps from twenty-eight to thirty-tall, slender; his face
riveted the eye; it was like a Greek face, very pure in
outline." St.John has beautiful features, but he cannot
communicate with and talk at the same intellectual level
with Jane as can Rochester. "...there was another barrier to
friendship with him: he seemed of a reserved, an abstracted,
and even of a brooding nature...he did not appear to enjoy
that mental serenity..." Jane never could of had a quality
relationship with St. John for they wouldn't have been able
to talk with each other, and they wouldn't have been able to
truly love one another. It is because of Jane's decision to
leave St. John due to a lack of soul likeness that allows
her to marry someone for their personality.

One of the purposes of this book is to make us realize
that love comes from within the heart, and that beauty is
actually only a bonus. When people fall in love with people
for their personalities, the love is stronger and it will
last longer.