Morals And
Psychological Aspects in Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre takes
the idea of a fairy tale a step further by adding psychological
aspects to the
story.
Jane did the
right thing in regards to marrying Mr. Rochester because "what is
[considered] morally
wrong cannot be psychologically right."
In other words, Jane's
moral values told
her what Mr. Rochester had done wrong.
Because of this she cannot
"psychologically"
go along with it as if nothing was wrong.
Psyche and morals both are
products of the
mind. The mind may consider both
options, but it ultimately will choose
the option which
adheres to its moral foundation.
Jane's morals
include honesty, justice, and friendship.
Her past experiences
strongly support
this moral foundation. As a child she
was constantly accused of being
dishonest. Mrs. Reed even informed Mr. Brocklehurst that
she was deceitful when she
met with him
before sending her off to school. She
tells him that he should "keep a strict
eye on her, and,
above all, guard against her worst fault, a tendency to deceit." This both
infuriated and
crushed Jane. She through experiences
such as these came to hate the idea
of deceit along
with anyone who practiced it. In
addition, Jane never saw justice. No
matter how
obvious it was that John or one of his sisters were at fault Jane was always
blamed.
By looking at
Jane's moral values it becomes apparent what Rochester has, in
Jane's eyes, done
wrong. He was deceitful in many
ways. For one, he didn't tell Jane that
he was already
married when he asked her to marry him.
Big mistake! He also
pretended that he
was in love with and going to marry Blanche Ingram so that he could
make Jane
jealous.
Even though Jane
loves Mr. Rochester she cannot go against her morals; her
beliefs. Moral and psyche are one in the
conscience. Jane may have been mentally
weak
in resisting the
impulse to marry Mr. Rochester after she found out the truth, but she still
"[kept] the
law given by God; sanctioned by man."
She realized that she must uphold
"the
principles received by [her] when [she] was sane, and not mad." From this
perspective Jane
did the "right thing."
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