Emotional and Moral Development in Jane Eyre Essay Example

teacher, she led students with her morality. During her time at Thornfield is when Jane grew the most emotionally and morally. Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and they are to be married.

But, when Jane discovers that Mr. Rochester is already married, she has to make an emotional and moral decision of whether or not to continue her engagement to Rochester. This conflict between her love for Rochester and her morals forces her to make a tough decision. She must fight within herself, what her emotions desire, and what her morals tell her what is right. She begins to lose her own personality in her love for Rochester. Her inner conflict resulted in her leaving Thornfield, and following her moral conduct because it was what she believed was right, contrary to what her heart wanted.

She refused to let her passions overshadow her moral convictions. After Jane flee’s Thornfield, she develops into a stoic, emotionally cold woman. She then arrives at the home of St. John when she is cold, alone, and near death. The family takes her in nurses her back to health, and through the help of St. John, her happiness is somewhat restored as he is the second strong male figure in her life. St. John proposed to Jane for the purpose of taking her to India with him to serve as his helper and wife as missionaries there.

Initially Jane turns down because emotionally she does not feel it is right to go to India and serve as his wife because she did not love him. But, then Jane did change her mind and agreed to

marry St. John to help serve because she felt it was morally her calling to serve Christ in any way possible. But, the closer the time came to leave for India, the more Jane felt her calling to be with Rochester, and her emotions took over. In the end, she goes back to be with Rochester and they end up together, albeit the disaster which finally brought their conflict to a close.

In the end, Jane finally finds a balance between her morality and her emotion. She becomes honest with herself emotionally to accept that being with Rochester is not immoral, and she is not forced to punish herself by being with a man in a situation she does not want. She is given the stability in herself as she marries Rochester and finds true happiness and peace. Jane Eyre develops from a small, child, only listening to her elders to avoid punishment, to growing into a mature adult who has a balance between her conscience and emotional ability to “rule her heart with her will”.