ENG2DI ISU Creative Project ~ Edward Zhang

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

What are the boundaries of love and sacrifice and where does one draw the line between them?

Each song was selected to reflect the recurring themes of love explored in the novel. They are all (in my opinion) wonderful pieces of music that aesthetically and lyrically communicate the intimacy of desire and romance while simultaneously battling with self-control to maintain independent values.

identity

"Sacrifice! What do I sacrifice? Famine for food, expectation for content. To be privileged to put my arms round what I value-to press my lips to what I love-to repose on what I trust: is that to make a sacrifice? If so, then certainly I delight in sacrifice." (Brontë 517)

The first thing I want to clarify is that sacrifice is not a bad thing. Sacrifice is "the act of giving up or losing something of value for the sake of something else." In that light, sacrifice is very natural and organic in all relationships.

The defined boundary between love and sacrifice is difficult to discern: love is one of the strongest bonds that unite people together and often facilitate a deep sense of care and loyalty for one another, thus justifying many acts that may otherwise be considered 'sacrifice'. The boundary exists when an act of sacrifice does not serve as a compromise under mutual reciprocation, but a one-sided consumptive act that destroys the individual without benefit or understanding for the relationship. When your sacrifice degrades your identity and attacks your health, it stops benefiting the relationship and the individual entirely.

In Jane Eyre, you can draw many such instances of the most dramatic sacrifices for the sake of love and relation. Rochester's loss of his sight, arm, and estate symbolically represents retribution for his misdeeds in his affair with Bertha Mason and the requirement to make good with Jane.

independence

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will." (Brontë 280)

Independence ties very nicely with our discussion on the limits of sacrifice: it is a more controversial and flexible idea that gets tossed around when it comes to discussing the power dynamics of relationships. Relationships can healthily accept different levels of independence and reliance while still being happy and secure between partners, but this sweet spot is very dependent and situational on the people involved and the means to make a skewed relationship work.

It is important to acknowledge that when I talk about reliance, I mean perhaps one partner pulls more weight than the other in specific aspects of their relationship, such as money or errands. Furthermore, such a relationship is only successful if both partners are completely willing and happy to fulfill their designated responsibilities while simultaneously still maintaining a relationship where both individuals can be independent! It is abysmal to be in a relationship where you are not just dependent, but completely controlled by your reliance.

In the novel, Jane Eyre is heavily characterized as an independent and passionate woman with strong principles towards moral character and self-respect. She is scorned and admonished in her youth as a rebel for standing up for herself against her superiors whether it be the Reed family or the staff of Thornfield Hall, her orphanage. Her story perfectly encapsulates this dilemma when she refuses to marry Edward Rochester, her employer as a governess at his estate, Thornfield Hall, as it violates her personal will to be independent as she would be completely reliant on his estate from that point.

authenticity

"I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate." (Brontë 287)

Authenticity is the foundation of a relationship. It is the assurance that you understand and trust what you are given by other people. It is important to be authentic to everybody, especially yourself, in order to honor the values of you and everyone else around you.

There is a great requirement that all sacrifice is authentic and done in good faith to the characters of everybody in a relationship. In fact, authenticity is simply a necessity demanded for a healthy relationship for all parties. A lack of authenticity, even for the sake of other people, only serves to erode the personal health of the feigning individual, which ultimately builds resentment and detachment from the relationship.

Jane Eyre again masterfully represents this idea as Jane persistently asserts her true nature to Mr. Rochester and demands not to be viewed in any being higher than who she portrays herself to be. Furthermore, deeper in the story, when the austere St John demands Jane’s hand in marriage for the transactional sake of being a wed couple for the Church in order to pursue a missionary, Jane outright rejects him despite being indebted to his kindness as his transactional marriage lacked all authenticity to the desires and love of both characters.