The Realisation of Jane Eyre as a Bildungsroman

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Bayreuth, course: Heroins of Victorian Fiction, language: English, abstract: Every human being undergoes changes during his life-time. From childhood through adolescence until old age he or she is constantly in a learning process. One can never say that a person is absolutely mature and at the end of his or her maturing process but one can say that there are certain steps in life most people pass or go through. Also Jane Eyre betakes herself on the journey of life and in the novel the reader can watch the different steps she passes and accompanies her. On the one hand they can observe her behaviour objectively, her changes, her maturing process, her fears and challenges in a distant and objective way. They see how other people manage their life and are made aware of their changes without directly being a part of it. On the other hand the reader is able to identify with Jane Eyre and imagine how she must feel because, as I said before, every person changes during their life and experiences certain problems and challenges. Although those must not necessarily be exactly the same as Jane experiences, we can feel with her. There is just a certain amount of feelings a human being is able to feel and as we, together with Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë and many others, belong to the same species we feel similar for example about things like love. [...] I think it is exactly this point of identifying with the heroine that makes Jane Eyre such a popular novel and that also draw my attention to it. However, it is even more the specific topic of the genre Bildungsroman that caught my interest. The development of a character, no matter if in fiction or reality, is always interesting and inspiring. Jane is not afraid of changes and shows the intention to go on the journey to herself. She plays the 'inner wheel' to change her life for the better. In my opinion this is something really important because you first have to understand yourself before you are able to understand other people.