Jane Eyre is a novel that strongly advocates changes that were even considered shocking or even heresy in the 1840s: due to the strong religious and social messages illustrated in the book. Charlotte Bronte wanted to change many of the customs and traditional rules during the 1840s, and she uses many techniques and literary ploys to influence her readers and silently communicate her ideas to her readers. Charlotte Bront’s setting of the novel in regards to Jane experiencing certain emotions and experiences in each part of the novel (in each of the houses) purposely sets a “gradient” for her to introduce her ideas one at a time, and gradually twists these into the plot of the story.  Even the parallelism that was present in the story and the dialogue between characters, such as when Jane refers to God even though she rejects many versions of the religion she meets at these different estates, were also of great importance toward Bronte’s purpose.

In my opinion, the greatest technique Bronte uses to her advantage is the Gothic theme present in various parts of the novels.  The gothic elements include encounters with the supernatural forces (the voice) and dark gloomy giant mansions with deep histories and secrets (Thornfield, Gateshead, Lowood) and these contribute, and enhances novel, and in some ways hide the message it is bringing through adding suspense and erratic sudden twists.  The revelation of bertha through the use of this technique also enhances the quality of the message that follows later in the novel and it also build up the tension for what was about to happen to Jane.  Another great technique that Bronte utilizes is how her characters were set up. Each character had a foil and they were juxtaposition of each other (the Reeds and the Rivers, Mr. Brocklehurst and St. John) and thus adding to novel: like if the novel was split in two, it would be identical to each other (one side being evil and the other good; or at least in terms of those).

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All of these techniques are used to explain various traditional and social attitudes that Bronte wanted to address in a passive way but sometimes with slightly more obvious way. One major theme that Bronte introduced through Jane and her relationship with Rochester is marriage and love. In fact, Jane did not want to marry just to be married to someone. St. John offered her that, but she refused because she wanted love in her life and that is exactly what she did by marrying Rochester. This was a shock to Victorian society because women were married to their class and married whoever they were told to marry. There was no love or running away. By Marrying Rochester, Bronte also shocked society by having a married man marry again while the first wife is still alive. This was forbidden by the religion and social restrictions; Bronte introduced this in order to shock and revile the society and at the same time create some sympathy within the readers and make them think maybe we should change some of our way of thinking.  With this also goes hand-in-hand that fact that Jane wanted to marry Rochester in an even terms. She did not want to feel inferior, contrary to what society held of women during these times and this is evident when she says, “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you and full as much heart” Jane presents here a revolutionary though that female should be equal or more so equal to the males than they are during these time period. Jane also shows a woman capable of developing and evolving without help from men. She becomes independent financially and gains experience by working on her own; this is of major importance since women were not allowed to venture on their own during these times.

Another great theme that Bronte touches on delicately on various parts of the novel is the association and the definition of religion. Jane travels to find who she is inside and what ideology best fits her. Jane encounters three people in the novel that represents 3 various ideologies that she comes in contact with, and these people are Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John. Mr. Brocklehurst is the “white washed tombstone” who is a hypocritical Christian; saying one thing and doing completely the opposite in terms of possessions and enriching himself. Meanwhile, Helen represents another version of Christianity that is most agreeable with Christ himself and that is if “someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other also” and this version of Christianity was rejected by Jane even though she respected Helen because she perceived it as weak and too passive. St John represents an ultra conservative version of the religion that only places the religion above all else and thus alienating Jane who is seeking something above that just a menial meaning to life. Jane rejects all this and ultimately chooses a role in which religion acts as a moderating tool in a person’s life; this idea shocked the religiously zealous people that were realizing what Bronte was suggestion about their own hypocritical ways.

Charlotte Bronte, wrote Jane Eyre with a purpose and that was to suggest and imply changes in the society by focusing on the faults of society and the various experiences that Jane, her main character, went through.  She sometimes convenes these messages by writing in a negative and hidden way and leaves the reader with the message being “slammed into the face” without even realizing it. Her technique and the use of the Gothic and Romantic elements bring out a whole new aspect within the characters and the nature loving gloomy gothic settings.  The play of the characters finding themselves in a much more inter-connected web of plots and similar traits as well as the foils of these characters create a unique taste to the story and it actually reinforces the message that Bronte is trying to communicate without many people not even realizing it.