http://www.timelyart.com/GuardianAngelPage.htm
Limbo
Our conversation regarding Helen Burns stuck with me as I
continued to read Jane Eyre. Her title as “friend” seemed too simple and
mundane for the lasting affect she projects on Jane throughout the rest of the
story thus far. Helen not only gives Jane the gift of friendship, but the
teachings of the Bible, as well as a path to success at the Lowood school. I
will argue that without Helen, Jane would have come nowhere near the goal of a
student and teacher, and perhaps further accomplishments later in the novel.
To fully understand Helen’s crucial role I will first go
back to Jane’s childhood at Gateshead. She is lost, and constantly overwhelmed
with depression. Gateshead has dark colors associated with the estate,
especially red, and the weather is never agreeable. While at Gateshead, Jane
feels enclosed in her own sort of Hell. She feels the need to glance around
“occasionally to make sure nothing worse than [herself] haunted the room” (87).
There are no inhabitants of the house to calm Jane’s fears until the moment she
is set to leave, Bessie. Bessie, perhaps present to guide Jane through her Hell
has failed until the moment of escape. Her realization of her love of Jane is
not enough to tie Jane to Gateshead, and her sense of not belonging is far
stronger. I believe Bronte intended Gateshead to be Jane’s Hell, and her
humbling beginning.
She next travels to the Lowood school, keeping her behavioral
characteristics she found in hell with her because Bessie, her previous guide,
has failed to instill ones that will help. Jane first meets Helen when she is
in search of a friend, or at least an accomplice to understand the way of the
school. Helen not only quotes the Bible, but embodies the teachings of Christ
to the frustration of Jane. I believe Helen to be Jane’s guardian angel, who
seems to always say the right words or be present in a time of need. Jane does
not know her place at Lowood, and feels to be a state of Limbo. She has left
her Hell, but is not convinced that this new place is a form of Paradise. Helen,
is her guide through this new journey. Jane’s Limbo (Lowood) is full of
terrible ironies that keep the reader is a perpetual state of guessing, for
example the girls all are miserable in the cold of winter, however once the
promise of spring arises the deaths of many girls follow.
Once Jane has learnt the tricks of the school, Helen falls
ill. Now that Jane no longer needs a guide to understand this new place, Helen,
as a character, is no longer needed. However Helen transcends the earthly title
of “guide” and reaches “guardian angel” through her last words when Jane asks
where she is going, “To my long home- my last home” (146). As a child of
fourteen these words seem out of place, and unearthly. She is so sure that she
will be in Paradise instead of Hell, and hopes that Jane too will forget her
past Hell. Her tombstone is later marked with, “I shall rise again” (148),
suggesting she will again guide Jane in her lifetime.
I have not yet learnt enough of Thornfield to declare it a
Hell, a state of Limbo, or a Paradise. However after I have decided I hope it
will lead to some greater suggestion of Bronte’s view of religion. Is there an
overarching motif of guides and religion, and how does this correspond with the
view of religion at the time? Is there such thing as Paradise on earth?
-Alexa Culshaw
No comments:
Post a Comment