Jane Eyre is by far the best known of Charlotte Bronte's novels. The story is interesting and impressive because the heroine's personal character is quite different from the common run. In other novels, the heroines are always beautiful or powerful or rich, but Jane Eyre is only a short, penniless and plain woman. Once you read the novel, you can not forget Jane's strong personal character. Her bravery, persistence, self-respect and confidence run through the book. We can say in this book Charlotte Bronte creates a image of new woman of the 19th century. .
1.Jane Eyre's Rebellious Spirit .
When Jane was at Lowood, she once said to Helen: "When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard: I am sure we should so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again." (P51) .
"Strike back again very hard!" That is the typical rebellious spirit of Jane that hit me between the eyes and it has already shown at the beginning of the novel. In chapter one, though Jane was very young, she had the courage to fight back with her cousin when she was insulted and hit time and time. She denounced indignantly at the boy in her direct way: "Wicked and cruel boy! You are like a murderer-----you are like a slave driver----you are like the Roman emperors."(P5) .
These innocent words were just the true portrayal of Jane's rebellious spirit. Robert Browning once said: "when the fight begins within him, a man is worth something". Jane's catachrestic charm and value is embodied for the first time. John is the first object that Jane strikes back with. Then comes the next----Mrs. Read, a cold-blooded aunt who considered herself Jane's benefactor. When they quarreled, the little girl cut her down to size declaring aloud what she thought about the woman: "I am not deceitful: If I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Read.
