The question of the figurative system of artistic works is one of the most important for literary studies. It touches on the features of depicting the relationship and interaction of characters, their influence on the plot development of the text, and also plays an important role in revealing the author's intention. The literary space of the “artistic image” is the most important category of a work, which serves as the basis of any literary text. The artistic image can be modified various forms: images-details, landscapes, interior and others. The most important object for reflecting reality is the image of a person.

The literary encyclopedic dictionary of V. M. Kozhevnikov and P. A. Nikolaev gives a definition of the above concept: “an artistic image is a generalized artistic reflection of reality in a specific form, a picture human life(or a fragment of such a picture) created using creative imagination the artist and in the light of his aesthetic ideal. It is worth noting that an image is characterized by a generalization of some features and properties inherent in an object. The process of creating a literary image depends on the creative skill of the writer, the era of creation of the text and various social, everyday, economic and cultural aspects of the time in which the author lives and which is described in the text. A literary image is characterized by certain features that distinguish one character from others similar to him in the context of one work, as well as among other typical characters of the same time. Distinctive features include: the place and role of the hero himself in the work, his actions in relation to other characters, to nature, appearance and character, as well as the reader’s opinion about the hero, formed while reading the literary text.

The writer S. Bronte created a gallery of images reflecting the peculiarities of life in England. The main character of the novel “Jane Eyre” also belongs to such images.

The work of S. Bronte was studied by domestic researchers: E.A. Sokolova, V.M. Bazilevich, M.S. Mikhailova, O.M. Peterson; as well as foreign: E.N. Besarab, W. Wulf, E. Gaskelli etc. Many researchers turned to the image of Jane Eyre in their works, among whom we can highlight E.E. Borunov, Yu.E. Genieva, Z.T. Civil, M.A. Gritchuk, W. Wolf, W. Stevenson, E. Tyler, etc.

The relevance of the work lies in studying the features of the image of the main character and determining the importance of such images for literature.

In the novel “Jane Eyre,” S. Bronte raised important issues affecting public life. The themes of raising children and their education, justice and mercy, love and dedication are clearly presented. Each of the themes touches on the formation of the character’s character and the events that occurred in his life. When creating the type of new heroine, the writer set herself a goal - to create the image of a plain-looking girl who would be beautiful in her own ways. internal qualities, upbringing, education and depth of soul. She embodied this image in the novel “Jane Eyre.” The writer E. Gaskell, who studied the life and work of S. Bronte, wrote about how the image of Jane Eyre was created: “She once told her sisters that they were wrong in usually portraying their heroines as beautiful . They replied that it was impossible to make the heroine interesting in any other way. Her answer was: you will see that you are wrong: I will show you a heroine as ugly and small as myself, and she will be as interesting to the reader as yours.” The writer sought to create an image opposite to the generally accepted literary beauty.

Literary critic E.E. Borunova wrote about the educational potential of S. Bronte’s novel and argued that “in the image of the heroine, the writer embodied her ideas about modern woman, capable of defining her life, becoming not only a wife, but also realizing herself in the public sphere. In the conditions of Victorian England, such a statement of the problem was perceived as a manifestation of the extreme courage of the writer’s views. None of Bronte's contemporaries had an image similar to Jane Eyre. She was the bearer of a new type of self-awareness, spiritual education and morality." The researcher identifies the type of the main character against the background of the era of creation of the work and notes that the author endowed her with features that were not characteristic of a girl of the 19th century. The novel “Jane Eyre” is a socio-psychological novel, on the pages of which the life conflicts of the main character unfold.

Researcher E.Yu. Genieva noted that Jane Eyre is “a romantic heroine in the non-romantic strata of society.” This idea is confirmed by the writer W. Woolf: “it is not always convenient to be Jane Eyre herself in all cases. First of all, this means constantly remaining a governess, and, moreover, in love, in a world where most people are not governesses and are not in love.” The sensitivity of the young girl’s soul is immersed in everyday circumstances, which constantly force the heroine to make the most important decisions.

The image of Jane Eyre is presented in a specific social and everyday setting. S. Bronte builds the features of the formation of Jane Eyre’s character from childhood in order to focus the reader’s attention on the specifics of the situations that influenced the image of the girl and her character. The little orphan girl's main fear is the red room where Miss Reed punished her. The heroine, telling her story, noted: “... it seems that until my death I could not forget the terrible incident in the red room,<…>nothing could soften the memory of that mortal fear that squeezed my heart when Mrs. Reed rejected my fervent pleas for forgiveness and locked me a second time in a dark red room alone with a ghost. The heroine did not seek her consolation in people: “I always put a doll with me: every human being should love something, and, in the absence of more worthy objects of this feeling, I found joy in attachment to a shabby, cheap doll, more like a small garden scarecrow. From childhood and adolescence, Jane felt that she was not worthy of being loved and desired. This belief clearly affected her future relationship with Mr. Rochester. The man, admitting his love for his governess, said that “I have never met a creature more fragile and more invincible. This is explained by the fact that Jane struggled with adversity and problems, but at the same time remained a girl with a sensitive and persistent mental organization.

Jane Eyre's character was also influenced by Lowood Orphanage School. The harsh conditions of the educational institution formed in the heroine a thirst for knowledge, hard work and a moral conviction of the need to be merciful.

Another main character in the novel, Mr. Rochester, said this about Lowood and his influence on Jane: “Eight years! Well, that means you are very tenacious. It seems to me that if you live there half of this time, you will undermine your health even less. No wonder you look like a creature from another world." Not only Rochester called Jane a “creature,” but also many other characters in the novel. For example, the maid Bessie says that she is a “small, lonely creature”, “a strange, frightened, shy little creature”, “a small, observant creature”. With this word, the woman did not want to offend the girl, but to feel sorry for the child who is alone among people. We see a different, negative treatment from Miss Abbott, for whom Jane is a “secret creature.” It is worth noting that an unfriendly attitude, loneliness and a difficult life did not form a negative opinion about the world and life in the teenager. Let us highlight the features of the internal characteristics of Jane Eyre:

· desire for freedom and independence: “I am a free human being with an independent will”;

· high moral education: “Life is too short, and you shouldn’t waste it cherishing enmity in your soul or remembering grievances”;

· temperament: “I don’t know the middle of anything; and never in my relations with people more powerful and firm, endowed with a character opposite to mine, could I find a middle ground between complete submission and decisive rebellion. I always honestly obeyed until the moment when an explosion of protest occurred in me, sometimes with volcanic force”;

· synthesis of feelings and reason: “Feeling without reason is not very nutritious food; but the mind, not softened by feeling, is bitter and dry food and is not suitable for human consumption”;

· fear of loneliness and rejection by the public: “...I understand, the main thing is to know that I am not to blame; but this is not enough: if no one loves me, it is better for me to die. I can’t stand loneliness and hatred, Helen”;

· craving for drawing as a way to express one’s own feelings and thoughts: “Did you feel happy when you painted these pictures? - Mr. Rochester suddenly asked me. “I was completely absorbed in them, sir; yes, I was happy. In a word, when I painted them, I experienced the greatest joy in my life.”

The priest St. John said that Jane Eyre is “diligent, understanding, disinterested, truthful, constant and fearless.” He saw her as a companion and assistant, which characterizes her as a faithful friend. Being Mr. Rochester’s wife, the heroine says: “I’ve been married for ten years now. I know what it means to live fully for the person you love more than anything in the world. I consider myself infinitely happy, and my happiness cannot be expressed in any words, because my husband and I live for each other. No woman in the world belongs so completely to her husband.” This formulation characterizes the heroine as a responsible girl, deeply devoted to her lover.

Regarding the specifics of the heroine’s external characteristics, it is worth noting that her plainness and not particularly attractive appearance are often mentioned in the expressions of other characters and in the internal monologue. When revealing the image of her heroine, S. Bronte turns specifically to the internal monologue as a way to accurately recognize the emotional state of the heroine. Most often, this monologue is emotional, expressive, and impetuous. For example, a young girl calls herself “poor, homely and small.” The author deliberately focuses on the unshowyness of the young girl, in order to highlight the originality of her inner beauty. A detailed description of Jane’s appearance, associated with the girl’s character, is given through Mr. Rochester’s monologue: “ flames flash in her eyes; their gaze is transparent like dew, it is soft and full of feelings; those eyes are smiling; they are expressive; impression after impression is reflected in their depth; they are mocking." He further describes the mouth: “...he loves to laugh, he is ready to express everything that the mind suggests; this is a mouth that is ready to talk a lot and smile often, to express warm human feelings; but he will remain silent about what his heart is experiencing.” These descriptive quotes reflect the emotional state of the heroine through her appearance, which is closely related to the girl’s character traits. It is worth noting that the author even describes the girl’s appearance through her morals.

Many authors of domestic and foreign literature turned to the image of Jane Eyre, who combined a pleasant human character and unattractive appearance, despite her neatness in everything. For example, Marya Bolkonskaya in the novel by L.N. The author describes Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” as follows: “It was not the dress that was bad, but the face and the whole figure of the princess.” Similarities in the description of the heroine are also observed in speech characteristics: “everyone only confirmed his conviction that she was a very special and extraordinary creature.”

O. Henry in the story “Tildy’s Debut” also resorts to the image of “small, plump, ugly,” “with a button nose and straw-colored hair,” but who “was a good worker,” as well as a sensitive girl.

Thanks to this, we can conclude that the image of the main character of the novel “Jane Eyre” is relevant, because the writers paid attention to the type of unattractive girl with positive character traits.

Conclusion. Thus, the image of Jane Eyre was a new type of young girl for English literature, which was characterized by external plainness and depth of the inner world. The image of the main character of the novel “Jane Eyre” is relevant because... Previously, as well as in modern literature, authors often turned to an image that synthesizes opposing external and internal data.

Bibliography:

1. Borunova E. E., Stolyarova E. V. Educational potential of Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre.” –2017. – No. 1.1. – pp. 18-21.
2. Bronte S. Jane Eyre. – M., 1991. – 425 p.
3. Wulf V. “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights. – M.: “Fiction”, 1989. – 780 p.
4. Genieva E Yu. Indomitable spirit. –M.: Khud. l-ra, 1990 –S. 5-14.
5. Gaskell E. The Life of Charlotte Bronte. – M.: “Eksmo”, 2016. – 167 p.
6. Henry O. "Tilda's Debut"; [ Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://poesias.ru/proza/ogenri/ogenri10013.shtml
7. Kozhevnikov V. M., Nikolaev P. A. Literary encyclopedic dictionary. – M.: Soviet encyclopedia, 1987. – 752 p.
8. Sokolova E. A. Traditions of romanticism in the works of Charlotte Bronte. – M., 1995. – 185 p.
9. Tolstoy L.N. War and Peace. Collected Works in eight volumes. T. 3.4. M., "Lexika", 1996; [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: https://ilibrary.ru/text/11/index.html (access date: 10/11/2018).

Charlotte Bronte

2.1 Portrait image of Jane Eyre

One of the main advantages of the novel “Jane Eyre” is the creation of a positive image of the heroine. The novel attracted and amazed readers with the image of a brave and pure girl, alone leading a difficult struggle for existence.

The image of Jane Eyre, like most other images, is built on the principle of contrast, which in this case consists in the fact that the writer contrasts the heroine’s appearance with her inner appearance. When creating the image of the heroine, Brontë set herself a goal - in contrast to the generally accepted “beauty”, which was usually depicted in literary works, to show a plain-looking heroine, but attractive due to her inner nobility. In his book about Brontë, Gaskell quotes from the anonymous obituary, “On the Death of Correll Bell,” in which the author writes:

“She once told her sisters that they were wrong in usually portraying their heroines as beautiful. They replied that it was impossible to make the heroine interesting in any other way. Her answer was: you will see that you are wrong: I will show you a heroine as ugly and small as myself, and she will be as interesting to the reader as yours.” 1

Jane's plainness is constantly emphasized by the author in the speech of various characters, in her internal monologue, and in the narrative itself. So, the maid Abbott simply calls her a freak (such a little toad as that p. 39.). Rochester, when he first meets her, says that she looks like a person from the other world (you have rather the look of another world), like a family

Rivers, she gives the impression of a pale, very ugly girl, devoid of charm (pallid... not at alt handsome... grace and harmony of beauty are quite wanting in those features).

Drawing the image of Jane, Bronte shows her as an extraordinary, thinking girl with a strong will and spiritual purity.

We meet Jane's characteristics, as well as her appearance, in the speech of other characters and in the internal monologue. Already in the first chapters of the novel, where the author describes Jane's life in the Reed house, we can get an idea of ​​the girl's character. From the statements of Mrs. Reed, her children, and mainly the servants. Thus, the servant Besi, who takes pity on the girl, considers her a strange child; When talking about Jane she constantly uses the word “thing”, Little roving solitary thing... a queer frightened shy little thing... you little sharp thing... ). Another maid in the Reed house, Abbott (thing Fa -5), also calls her a “hidden creature”.

The characteristics that the characters in the novel give to Jane Eyre, to some extent, also serve as characteristics of themselves. So, Blanche’s words about Jane are “creeping creature” (nonentity), “that person” (this person); the contemptuous tone in Blanche’s speech is not accidental: it emphasizes the disdainful attitude of a spoiled aristocrat towards a girl who lives by her own labor.

From the characters' statements about Jane, we learn about her character traits. Rosamond Oliver considers Jane calm, balanced, firm in her decisions, St. John, wanting to convince Jane that she has the qualities necessary for a missionary’s wife, says: “You are diligent, understanding, unselfish, truthful, constant and fearless.” The statements of St. John and Rochester about her self-sacrifice are also essential for the characterization of Jane. When Jane agrees to marry the blind cripple Rochester, the latter says that she "finds joy in sacrifice"

(you delight in sacrifice). Saint John expresses the same idea more sublimely: “...a soul that revelled in the flame and excitement of sacrifice” (a soul that experiences pleasure in the exciting flame of sacrifice). For St. John, this is connected with Jane's attitude towards the inheritance that she divided between him and his sisters; To voluntarily give money, according to St. John, is a very big sacrifice, which is why he talks about it so pompously.

We receive a detailed description of Jane's appearance related to her character through Mr. Rochester's monologue. He is disguised as a gypsy, Jane Eyre guesses: a flame flashes in her eyes; their gaze is transparent like dew, it is soft and full of feelings; those eyes are smiling; they are expressive; impression after impression is reflected in their depth; they are mocking, etc. He further describes the mouth: ... it loves to laugh, it is ready to express everything that the mind suggests; this is a mouth that is ready to talk a lot and smile often, to express warm human feelings; but he will remain silent about what his heart is experiencing. The forehead seems to say: “I can live alone if self-respect and circumstances require it.” Rochester makes a general conclusion: “the forehead declares, `Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and will not let the feeling burst away and hurry her to wild chasms …judgement hall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interpres t the dictates of cjnscience." (this forehead declares: “the mind sits firmly in the saddle and holds the reins, and does not allow feelings to break out and drag it into the abyss... the decisive word in any dispute will always be with the mind. Violent winds, earthquakes, fires, so that I am not in danger, I I will follow the still small voice that expresses the dictates of my conscience” (vol. 1, p. 305).

When describing the appearance of the heroine, S. Bronte uses vocabulary of various emotional tones. So, speaking about the first impression that Jane made on the Rivers, she uses figurative means of expression and vocabulary that emphasizes the heroine’s difficult condition: comparison as white as clay or death (pale as chalk or death), expressions such as a mere spectre (just a ghost ), fleshless and haggard face... very bloodless (haggard, haggard face... completely bloodless). Rochester, in describing Jane's appearance, also often resorts to comparisons: (you look like a nun, a little pale elf, a mustard seed, etc.). On the other hand, in the description of Jane's appearance, after she finds out that she is loved, the vocabulary of the evaluative order predominates: blooming, smiling, truly pretty, sunny-faced girl, dimpled cheeks, blissful mood, radiant hazel eyes, etc. (blooming, smiling, truly pretty, beaming girl, dimpled cheeks, blissful state, radiant brown eyes). As we see, Bronte constantly connects the description of the heroine’s appearance with her internal state and achieves this by using appropriate vocabulary and figurative expressions.

Gradually, during the course of the narrative, Brontë continues to reveal the character traits of her heroine, and the same trait is perceived differently by different characters. For example, Elena Burns condemns Jane for her impulsiveness and passion, and Rochester calls her “a self-confident, independent creature, fragile outwardly, but inflexible inwardly, freedom-loving and persistent in achieving her goal. What was unacceptable in her for the humble Elena were precisely the qualities that Rochester loved in her and St. John appreciated.

The spirit of protest and independence also makes itself felt in Jane Eyre’s relationship with her loved one. Exhausted by the strange, bizarre game that her master plays with her, Jane is, in fact, the first to tell him about her love, which was unheard of and unacceptable in a Victorian novel. Jane's very declaration of love takes on the character of a bold declaration of equality. “Or do you think that I’m an automaton, an insensitive machine?.. I also have a soul like you, and the same heart... I’m talking to you now, disdaining customs and conventions and even throwing away everything earthly...”

As already noted, the novel is narrated in the first person. The tradition of such narration began in the 18th century, at a time when the psychology of the hero began to attract the attention of writers. In the analyzed novel, this form of narration, as well as other features of the artistic method, contributes to a deeper revelation of the psychology of the characters.

In the novel under analysis, this form of narration, as well as other features of the artistic method, contribute to a deeper revelation of the heroine’s psychology. In the form of an internal monologue, Jane's thoughts about the morals of the people around her, norms of behavior, and her own aspirations and experiences are given. It should be noted that the internal monologue often expresses the thoughts of Charlotte Bonte herself.

In the novel “Jane Eyre,” inner speech serves as one of the main means of characterizing the heroine. The internal monologue in the novel is very emotional. A certain elation of style in the heroine's internal monologue is achieved by using book vocabulary and complex syntax 1. The most characteristic thing in the novel is the reflection of the heroine in the form of a conversation between two voices. For example, after her failed marriage to Rochester, the author describes in detail Jane’s experiences. Her hesitation, painful thoughts about her later life given in the form of a dialogue between reason and feeling. The passage below is not only one of the most striking examples of this form of inner speech, but also seems to be characteristic of Bronte’s style of internal monologues in general.

Some time in the afternoon I raised my head and…asked `What am I to do?`

But the answer my mind gave -`Leave Thornfield at once` - was so prompt, so dreaded, that I stopped my ears: I said, I could not bear such world now. `that I am not Edward Rochester bride is the least part of my woe,` I alleged: `that I have wokened out of most glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is a horror I could bear and master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly, entirely, is intorable. I cannot do it."

But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it, and foretold that I should do it. I wresfled with my own resolution: I wanted to be weak…but conscience, turned tyrant, held passion by the throat, told her tauntingly, she had yet but dipped her dainty foot in the slough, and swore that with that arm of iron, he would push her down to unsounded depths of agony.

`Let me be torn away, then! `I cried. `Let another help me!`

`No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you: you shall, yourself, pluck out your right eye: yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victim; and you, the priest to transfix it.

The emotionality with which Jane's experiences are conveyed is achieved here through various stylistic means of expression. First of all, this is a form of “polemical dialogue between reason and feeling, which actually expresses the internal struggle of the heroine, and this internal dialogue is commented on by the heroine herself. In the dialogue itself, the voice of “feeling” merges with the voice of the heroine, the voice of “reason,” although it opposes her desires, wins - Jane leaves Thornfield Castle. The entire passage has a somewhat elevated character: this is facilitated by the use of words of a bookish and literary nature (dread - terrible, terrible, allege - to assert, aver - to prove, slough - swamp).

“A ridge of illuminated heath, alive, glancing, devouring, would have been a meet emblem of my mind when I accused and menaced Mrs. Reed: the same ridge, black and blasted after the flames are dead, would have represented as meetly my subsequent condition."

“Glorious discovery to a lonely wretch!” This was wealth indeed! Wealth to the heart!

2.2 Portrait description of Rochester

Sir Rochester Fairfax is in many ways a romantic, Byronic hero - in any case, he has all the attributes of one, for example, a romantic, mysterious appearance. Even Jane's first meeting with Rochester is depicted by the author in a romantic style. From the first meeting and throughout the novel, Charlotte Bronte, through the mouth of Jane Eyre, characterizes Rochester and describes his external characteristics.

His figure was enveloped in a riding cloak, fur collared, and steel clasped; its details were not apparent…the general points of middle height, and significant breadth of chest. He had a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow; his eyes and gathered eyebrows looked ireful and thwarted just now; he was past youth, but had not reached middle age; perhaps he might be 35.

It was difficult to see his figure, but he seemed of average height and broad shoulders. The face is dark, the features are stern, the forehead is massive. His eyes, under his fluffy, fused eyebrows, glowed with angry stubbornness - he could have been about 35 years old.

Bronte, showing us Mr. Rochester, draws more of his external facial features.

…his decisive nose, more remarkable for character than beauty; his full nostrils... his grim mouth, clin and yaw - yes, all three were very grim... it was a good figure in the athletic sense of the term - broad chested and thin flanked; though neither tall nor graceful.

“... a sharply defined nose, more characteristic than beautiful, flaring nostrils... hard contours of the lips and chin. No different tall, nor grace, he was still built excellently, for with broad shoulders and chest he had a slender figure.”

The author emphasizes the gloomy gloom of the hero. Rochester is ugly, but his very uglyness is expressive and significant. He is disappointed and shrouded in mystery. He talks a lot and very vaguely about himself and makes it clear to Jane from the very first conversations that his conscience is restless, that his everyday experience is of a nature that society disapproves of.

His form was of the same strong and stalwart contour as ever: his port was still erect, his hair was still raven black; nor were his feature altered or sunk: not in one years space, by any sorrow, could his athletic strength be quelled, or his vigorous prime blighted. But in his countenance...that looked desperate and brooding- that reminded me of some wronged and fettered wild best or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullen woe. The cadet eagle, whose gold-ringer eyes cruelty has extinguished, might look as looked that sightless Samson.

Rochester can be selfish and treacherous. In a word, in Rochester, unlike the other heroes of the novel, there is much of the traditional romantic loner hero. Rochester, with his dark mop of hair, fiery eyes and courageous appearance, evokes the images of the Giaour and the images of other heroes of Byron. But in this situation this is justified, because all the romantic feelings of Jane Eyre are associated with the image of Rochester.

Blind as he was, smiles played over his face, joy dawned on his forehead: his lineaments softened and warmed.

2.3 Charlotte Brontë as a master of landscape

Charlotte Bronte proved herself to be a brilliant master of landscape. She saw the world through the eyes of an artist, and she was not only a writer, but also an artist. The nature of northern England described in her novel is beautiful and infinitely diverse, all these heather valleys and hills, sometimes shrouded in a blue haze, sometimes bathed in moonlight or icy, carved by a cold wind.

Descriptions of nature are subordinated to action. We will not encounter a single “neutral” landscape. Nature serves as one of the means of revealing characters in the novel.

From the very beginning of the novel "Jane Eyre" the landscape is in tune with the experiences of little Jane. She has a hard time living with her aunt, where the children bully her and Mrs. Reed constantly and unfairly punishes her. The nature that the author draws here is in tune with the heroine’s mood - sad, dreary: rain, wind, cloudy sky and cold. It is no coincidence that the events that the author narrates here take place in autumn and winter. It is autumn and winter that best emphasize the darkness and melancholy in Jane’s soul.

The emotionality of the description is enhanced by epithets: ceaseless rain (endless rain), black frost (gloomy frost), opaque sky (gloomy sky), howling wind (howling wind), beclouded sky (cloudy sky), lamentable blast (plaintively moaning wind) and many others .

Not only figurative means of expression, but also the vocabulary literally used by Bronte to describe late autumn contributes to the creation of an atmosphere of gloom and melancholy. Nature is the background for little Jane's gloomy thoughts; it is in complete harmony with her mood. The landscape here is not divorced from a person, but is given through the perception of the heroine, whose mood it illustrates.

In the chapters dedicated to Lockwood Shelter, the landscape is also gloomy and harsh: the iron sky of winter, mists as chill as death, that beck a raving sound wild rain or whirling sleet ( pouring rain or the howl of a blizzard), the forest showed sleet only ranks of skeletons (instead of a forest there were dead trees). The description here is even more emotional and figurative compared to the first chapters. Nature in these chapters serves as the backdrop for an even darker period in Jane's life.

In some cases, nature in the novel not only serves as a background for the heroine’s experiences, but also becomes, so to speak, an active force.

Thus, an example of the active role of landscape is the description of the storm during the explanation of Jane and Rochester. By proposing to Jane, Rochester, according to Bronte, violates social and moral laws. The writer expresses her attitude to this symbolically, describing the wrath of nature.

But what had to fall the night? The moon was not yet set, and we were all in shadow... and what ailed the chestnut tree? It writ and groaned; while the wind roared in the laurel walk…a liquid, vivid spark leapt out of a cloud at which. I was looking, and there was a crack, a close rattling peal... Before I left my bed in the morning, little Adele came running in to tell me that the great horse chestnut at the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away.

The thunderstorm that broke out while Rochester was proposing to Jane is a symbolic warning, and the chestnut tree that was split by lightning is the embodiment of the impossibility of their marriage. The life together of Jane and Rochester must be sanctioned by marriage, and pure, unspoiled nature opposes Rochester’s act and, as it were, warns Jane. In this case, the landscape is not a passive background of the events described, but a symbolic image of the author’s attitude to what is happening; nature actively intervenes in the fate of the heroine.

The description of the moon on the eve of Jane's wedding plays a similar role.

“The moon appeared momentarily...her disk was blood-red and half overcast; she seemed to throw on me one bewildered? Dreary glance and buried herself again instantly in the deep drift of cloud" (The moon appeared for a moment... its disk was blood red and half covered with clouds; it seemed that she cast a sad, confused look at me and immediately hid in a thick veil of clouds" T 2, p. 84).

The personification of the moon, its confused, sad look - all this seems to be preparing a tragic denouement. With the help of personification, Bronte transforms inanimate nature into an animate being, as if reacting to current events.

The use of landscape as a special artistic medium is characteristic of the Bronte style. The chestnut split on the night of Jane and Rochester's explanation appears later both in Jane's internal monologue and in Rochester's speech. In Jane's thoughts on the eve of the wedding, the author develops this image - the chestnut stood black, charred, split in two; the tree did not fall apart only because it had strong roots that held it up. The chestnut was a dead ruin, but invisible to the eye both fragments were connected to each other. And the author’s description of the chestnut and Jane’s thoughts about it - all this serves as a symbolic image of the future of Jane and Rochester, their broken happiness; Even though they break up, they continue to love each other. The deep roots of the chestnut tree connecting the charred rubble symbolize the faithful, deep love of Jane and Rochester, which endures difficult trials but triumphs.

In some cases, Brontë's landscape becomes a metaphorical description of the heroine's experiences. These are Jane's thoughts after the failed marriage:

“A Christmas frost had to come at midsummer; a white December strom had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hey-field and corn-field lay a frozen shroud: lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow...” (In the middle of the summer, the Christmas frost struck; in June, a snowy December blizzard swept through; frost bound the ripe apples ; icy winds crushed the blooming roses; a white shroud lay in the fields and meadows, the lawns, covered with flowers yesterday, today became impassable due to the deep snow ... "

If at the beginning of the novel the cold winter and dreary autumn served as the backdrop for the description of Jane's hard life, here the contrast of the dark cold winter with the blooming fragrant summer is the very description of Jane's experiences in the form of an extended metaphor.

Nature plays the same role in describing the confusion that Jane experiences when she realizes that she has fallen in love with Rochester. Here again the landscape appears as an extended metaphor in Jane's internal monologue.

I regained my couch, but never thought of sleep. Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where bills of trouble rolled under surges of joy. I thought sometimes I saw beyond its wild waters a shore, sweet as the hills of Benlah; and now and then a freshening gale awakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly towards the bourne: but I could not reach it, even in fancy, a counteracting breeze blew off the land and continually drove me back.

The stormy waves of life into which fate throws her, the inability to reach a happy shore - all this is a figurative description of what awaits Jane in the future. By using various artistic means, one of which is the use of landscape, Bronte prepares the reader for a tragic outcome. The landscape here, as throughout the novel, plays a big role in creating the image.

Thus, the landscapes that the writer so artistically paints not only make it possible to clearly see the scene of action, but also help to more deeply understand the subtle artistic nature of the heroine. Apparently, the fact that the author was also an artist helped her so organically and subtly weave the colors and smells of northern England into the fabric of the narrative.

(1936-1937)

Appearance

Jane Eyre is described as an inconspicuous young girl whose appearance resembles an unearthly creature, an elf. She considers herself “poor, homely and small.” Mr. Rochester once says that her eyes are brown, but in fact Jane's eyes are green.

Biography

Childhood

Jane's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eyre, died shortly after the birth of their daughter. The girl was adopted by her mother's brother, Mr. Reed. On his deathbed, he made his wife Sarah swear to take care of her niece, which was a real punishment for Mrs. Reed, because her aunt disliked her from the first minute of her appearance in the house. After the death of her uncle, Jane's life in the Reed house became unbearable: constant humiliation, insults and clashes with her cousins ​​John and sisters Eliza and Georgiana, whom her aunt instigated.

At the age of ten, the aunt sends her unloved niece out of sight, or rather, to the Lowood orphanage school. The school's mentor, Mr. Brocklehurst, loves sanctimonious moral teachings about the benefits of humility of the flesh and does not care that the girls are constantly hungry and cold. There Jane finds her first friend Helen Burns.

In the spring, a typhus epidemic breaks out in the orphanage and the girls, who are in poor health, die one by one, including Helen. Before her death, her friend tells Jane: “I believe and hope: I am going to God.” These words and the peace with which Helen accepts her imminent death greatly influence the girl’s Christian perception of the world.

Jane has been at Lowood for eight years, the last two years as a teacher.

Youth

Jane has grown up. The headmistress Miss Temple, who had been the girl's only friend all these years, gets married and leaves Lowood. Miss Eyre advertises for work and gets a position as a governess at the Thornfield estate. She assumes that she will teach her daughter (Adele Varens) Mrs. Fairfax, but finds out that she is only a housekeeper, a housekeeper, and the owner is a certain Mr. Edward Rochester. Mrs. Fairfax warns Jane that the owner is rarely at home and she will not see him often.

Jane first meets Rochester while walking near the estate in the approaching dusk. Not seeing the girl because of the fog and trying not to crush her with a horse, the owner of the house falls from his horse and injures his ankle. Jane helps him get to the horse, although at the time she does not yet know what kind of man he is. Only after returning from a walk does Jane find out that it was Rochester. The homeowner jokingly claims that Miss Eyre is a witch who has bewitched his horse.

Jane realizes that she has feelings for the owner of the estate, and the same thing happens with Rochester. There follows a declaration of love, and then preparations for the wedding. However, right before the altar, the girl has to find out that her chosen one is already married. His legal wife, Bertha, is a third-generation madman. Rochester despairingly tells Jane the story of his family life with Bertha - only after his marriage did Edward learn about his beloved’s mental illness. Then he decided to protect her from her too by placing her in the attic and assigning a supervisor, Grace Poole.

If Mr. Rochester married his current lover, he would become a bigamist. However, Jane has self-esteem and does not agree to be a mistress. Under the cover of darkness, a desperate girl runs away from the man she loves. Jane wanders for several days before collapsing exhausted on the steps of the house, where she is picked up, barely alive, by the young priest St. John Rivers. The pastor's sisters, Mary and Diana, are nursing the girl. When her strength returns, Miss Eyre gets a job as a teacher at a local rural school and hides under the name Jane Elliot.

St. John loves a local girl, Rosamund Oliver, but overcomes his passion for the young beauty, arguing that she would not make a good wife for a missionary (whom he plans to become). Later, the priest finds out Jane's true name and tells her that her deceased uncle John Eyre (who lived in Madeira) left her an inheritance of twenty thousand pounds, and the Rivers' mother is John Eyre's sister, and then he, Mary and Diana are cousins and sisters Jane. Terribly delighted by the sudden relationship, Jane divides the inheritance equally. All this time, St. John carefully watches his newfound sister. Shortly before leaving, the pastor asks Jane to marry him, because she is more suitable than anyone for the role of a missionary's wife. After some resistance, Jane agrees to go with him to India, but not to become his wife. However, this does not suit Rivers and he almost persuades her when at the last moment she hears Rochester’s voice coming from somewhere, calling her - “Jane, Jane, Jane.” The girl knows nothing about the fate of her beloved and, wanting to see him, quickly returns back to Thornfield. But on the site of the once majestic estate, only blackened stones remained. As Jane later learns, shortly after her disappearance, Bertha set the house on fire and jumped off the roof. Trying to save his wife, Rochester became blind and lost his left hand. Having found out his new place of residence, she immediately goes there and finds her beloved in a depressed state of mind.

Jane and Edward reunite. Finally, the couple is getting married. And after two years, the husband’s vision partially returns and he can see his first-born.

Literature

• Charlotte Bronte"Jane Eyre" = Jane Eyre. - Eksmo, 2008. - (Foreign classics). - ISBN 978-5-699-12993-5

Links

• Jane Eyre (character) (English) on the website Internet Movie Database

Wikimedia Foundation.

References 25

Chapter 1. Charlotte Brontë - 19th century writer

Chapter 2. The influence of Charlotte Bronte's biography on the plot of the novel.

Chapter 3. Female images in Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre”

3.1. Jane Eyre image

3.2. Image of Mrs. Reed

3.3. Images of Eliza and Georgiana Reed

Both daughters of Mrs. Reed at the beginning of the story appear before the reader as spoiled, headstrong, arrogant and rude favorites of their mother, all the guests and most of the servants.

Since childhood, Eliza had entrepreneurial abilities: “She had a turn for traffic, and a marked propensity for saving…. As to her money, she first secreted it in odd corners, wrapped in a rag or an old curl-paper; but some of these hoards having been discovered by the housemaid, Eliza, fearful of one day losing her valued treasure, consented to intrust it to her mother, at a usurious rate of interest-fifty or sixty per cent.; which interest she exacted every quarter, keeping her accounts in a little book with anxious accuracy. "(6) And did not share the interests of her beautiful sister Georgiana, who was most interested in fashion and beauty; outfits and jewelry. Mrs. Abbott about Georgiana: “Little darling! - with her long curls and her blue eyes, and such a sweet color as she has; just as if she were painted! "(6)

Having matured, Eliza and Georgiana became even more distant in their development and interests. Eliza turned to religion and began to adhere to ascetic principles: “...very tall, almost as tall as Miss Ingram - very thin too, with a sallow face and severe mien. There was something ascetic in her look, which was augmented by the extreme plainness of a straight-skirted, black, stuff dress, a starched linen collar, hair combed away from the temples, and the nun-like ornament of a string of ebony beads and a crucifix. This I felt sure was Eliza, though I could trace a little resemblance to her former self in that elongated and colorless visage. “(6) Georgiana, during the entire time that Jane Eyre was absent from the Reed house, did not grow either culturally, morally, or spiritually; she remained the person most interested in the physical shell of the soul: “This was a full-blown, very plump damsel, fair as waxwork, with handsome and regular features, languishing blue eyes, and ringleted yellow hair. The hue of her dress was black too; but its fashion was so different from her sister’s—so much more flowing and becoming—it looked as stylish as the other’s looked puritanical.”(6)
Jane Eyre spoke as follows about her cousins ​​- insensitive and smart, and stupid and emotional: “Feeling without judgment is a washy draught indeed; but judgment untempered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition.”(6)
Due to their bad upbringing, the sisters Eliza and Georgiana did not differ in their moral qualities from each other in the same way as they did from Jane Eyre, but they also took little interest in each other’s lives. Even living together, they lived on their own. When the three of them met, and these were the last days of Mrs. Reed's life, Jane Eyre felt more emotion about this than any of Mrs. Reed's daughters. Neither Eliza nor Georgiana said goodbye to Mrs. Reed as to their own and beloved mother: “Georgiana, who had burst out into loud weeping, said she dared not go…. Eliza surveyed her parent calmly. After a silence of some minutes she observed - “With her constitution she should have lived to a good old age: her life was shortened by trouble.” And then a spasm constricted her mouth for an instant..."(6)

They, like their mother and brother, behaved towards Jane Eyre in such a way that she did not think that anyone in the Reed house loved her, that she was valued here, or that she was even part of their family. This circumstance, again, helped Jane Eyre become a strong and independent person in the future.

3.4. Image of Helen Burns

3.5. Miss Temple image

3.6. Image of Mrs. Fairfax

Since childhood, Jane Eyre had no close relatives who loved her in any way. She had no loving mother, no father, no sisters or brothers. But over time, Jane found Helen Burns, who became a gentle “sister” for her, Miss Temple, who was a loving “mother”, and also, having arrived in Thornfield, Jane Eyre met Mrs. Fairfax, who very soon became a kind and caring aunt .

From Jane Eyre's first acquaintance with Mrs. Fairfax and everything that surrounded her: “...an arm-chair high-backed and old-fashioned, wherein sat the neatest imaginable little elderly lady, in widow's cap, black silk gown, and snowy muslin apron ; exactly like what I had fancied Mrs. Fairfax, only less stately and milder looking. She was occupied in knitting; a large cat sat demurely at her feet; nothing in short was wanting to complete the beau-ideal of domestic comfort.”(6) nothing has changed; Mrs. Fearfax was the ideal of thoughtfulness, guardianship and good nature to the very end.

Mrs. Fairfax is the type of person that everyone should have in their life, to whom they can come and talk about their sorrows and receive sincere help; who will wrap you in a warm blanket and drink hot tea on a rainy day. She saw in Jane Eyre a delicate nature that needed support.

As a result, Jane Eyre “found” all those people who replaced her loving relatives and became a “shelter” from all life’s troubles.

3.7. Blanche Ingram's image

3.8. Bertha Mason image

Conclusion

List of used literature

Civil. Article: “Charlotte Brontë's novel “Jane Eyre”” Pravda Publishing House, Moscow, 1988;
V. Tatarinov “Indian Summer” of English Literature, introduction to Charlotte Bronte’s work “Jane Eyre”. Publishing house "Eksmo", Moscow, 2003;
I.N.
Vasilyeva. Article “Bronte Sisters in England; The Bronte Sisters in Russia" Comp. I.N. Vasilyeva and Yu.G. Friedstein;
- M.: AST; Folio, 2001;
Charlotte Brontë - "Jane Eyre". Translation from English by V. Stanevich. Publishing house "Pravda", Moscow, 1988;
Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Life of Charlotte Brontë";

English writer Charlotte Bronte came from the West Yorkshire village of Thornton. By coincidence, of the six children (Mary, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emilia, Anne and Patrick Branwell), only four remained. Maria from tuberculosis and Elizabeth from consumption soon died in the shelter. The father, having lost his mother, did not want to lose his remaining daughters, so he took Emilia, Anne and Charlotte and the establishment. The older sisters Emilia and Anne Bronte were fond of art, and this probably served as the impetus for Charlotte to take up literary activity.

Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre became famous throughout the world. She took the image of Jane Eyre, the main character, from herself. Bronte herself was of average height, fragile, thin, not beautiful, but her facial features were not bad.

A very smart and modest person who had a non-feminine core, which was not typical for a lady at that time. We see the same girl in the novel "Jane Eyre". But the novel cannot be called personal and autobiographical in the same way that the comings in the books are not facts from Charlotte’s life.

Undoubtedly, the main character of the novel was not an ordinary person. Here she is a “downtrodden” little girl who is offended by her stepbrother, but suddenly a strong personality awakens in her, who is able to fight back against her offender and cause a protest against the injustice of the new family’s attitude towards her. She was not broken by the situation in the Lowood orphanage, although she was not loved there either, and her only friend Helen Berne died in the arms of little Jane from consumption.

The death of a friend influenced the girl and she opened her heart to God. Her future was also influenced by the school's headmistress, who offered Jane a job after six years of study. Having spent two years at Lowood as a teacher, her heart wanted new sensations, communication with new people. Feeling with all her guts that she didn’t like school, she found a solution to her problem. Having written to the newspaper and given a recommendation about herself, she offered the services of a governess. Soon she received a good offer at the Thornfield estate. Upon arrival, she was greeted by a sweet elderly lady, Mrs. Fairfax. During the tea party, she told about herself that she was a housekeeper, and the owner of the house was Mr. Edward Rochester. She explained that her student would be his daughter Adele, who was left in the care of Mr. Rochester by his mistress, leaving the two of them.

The first meeting took place when she went to send a letter on behalf of Mrs. Fairfax. Then the girl saw Rochester on a horse with a dog. For some unknown reason, the rider fell from his horse and Jane helped him sit down and he rode off. Afterwards, the heroine meets an unknown horse on the estate and finds out that he is Mr. Rochester. Despite the rudeness, strangeness of his character and very unattractive appearance, something about him attracted the girl. During her long stay as a governess, she experienced many different feelings: jealousy, passion, hatred, fear of losing a loved one and, of course, love. After all the trials and tests of Edward Rochester, Eyre thought, and maybe even hoped, that marrying him would forever free her heart from pain and disappointment. But during the engagement, she is informed that her betrothed is married to an insane woman and is simply hiding his wife behind bars.

After mourning her love and collecting all the money she had, she decided to run away. After starving and wandering for several days, they still manage to find shelter. Fate arranged a meeting with her brother St. John and sisters Diana and Mary, gave her an inheritance, which she soon divided between kindred souls and went to her beloved because her heart yearned for him. Upon arrival, I learned that there was a fire on the estate because of the owner’s wife, who could not save her, but sacrificed his eyesight and hand. The girl found Mr. Edward, forgave all his sins and accepted him for who he is.