The Comparison Between Jane Ryre and Tess

The Comparison Between Jane Eyre and Tess

Class 3,Wendy

Jane Eyre and Tess are the two images of women in Victorian period. Both of them came from the low class, lived a hard life and were oppressed by a patriarchal society. However, their fate were totally different in the end. Jane harvested eternal love and got happiness while Tess ended her miserable life on the gallows. What caused such a different fate? The life background, social communication and the attitude towards destiny can be the major reasons.

Firstly, they have different life background. Jane, as an orphan, lived in her aunt’s home which was a wealth family. She had the opportunity to read books when she was a child. After she was sent to Lowood(a boarding school), she learned to draw, speak French and other knowledges, which made her as a tutor after leaving the school. Jane Eyre could survive herself independently all her life and become an intelligent woman because she had received education, all of which made her a happy life in the end.

At the same time, Jane as an orphan, was abused by her aunt which made her begin to pay attention to her own feeling and form a strong self-awareness. She tried to get along well with her aunt but in vain. So she started to find reasons on herself: “ I know that had I been a sanguine, brilliant, careless, exacting, handsome, romping child—though equally dependent and friendless—Mrs. Reed would have endured my presence more complacently; her children would have entertained for me more of the cordiality of fellow-feeling; the servants would have been less prone to make me the

scapegoat of the nursery.” Those ideas made Jane feel inferior, frustrated and lack confidence. She tasted sadness, pain not belong to the age of ten. So she was more quiet and more low-key than other children. She dared commit no fault; she strove to fulfil every duty;. However, she was termed naughty and tiresome,sullen and sneaking, from morning to noon, and from noon to night. Her cousin John also stroke her wantonly: “He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when he came near.” Excessive physical trample made Jane melancholy but also inspired her rebellion consciousness. In the last straw, she started to resist without hesitation and began to have a strong sense of personality. The lack of equal status in her childhood made her long for equality and independence particularly. The awakening of consciousness of individual rights laid a solid foundation for her perfect ending.

Tess was a daughter of a poor family which had seven children. She didn’t have a chance to receive better education which made her not know what rights she should have and fought against the fate. The death of the old horse destroyed her family. Tess’s parents deliberately arranged her to claim kindred with a more prosperous branch of the D’Urbervilles family which pushed her into an entrance of abyss. As Thomas Hardy wrote in his book: “All these young souls were passengers in the Durbeyfield ship—entirely dependent on the judgement of the two Durbeyfield adults for their pleasures, their necessities, their health, even their existence. If the heads of the Durbeyfield household chose to sail into difficulty, disaster, starvation, disease,

degradation, death, thither were these half-dozen little captives under hatches compelled to sail with them—six helpless creatures, who had never been asked if they wished for life on any terms, much less if they wished for it on such hard conditions as were involved in being of the shiftless house of Durbeyfield.” These children including Tess didn’t have sense of self and they even didn’t know the rights they should have as individuals. Tess had no choice but to make concessions to help support her family. She must take responsibility for her family(Jane was free. She needn’t be responsible for her aunt’s family). Besides, lacking of knowledge and rebellious spirit, she didn’t know how to refuse her parents’ requirement which caused her to start her tragic destiny.

Secondly, the influence of social communication plays an important role for Jane and Tess’s fate. When Jane was in Lowood, it is Helen and Miss Temple who had the most profound effect on her. “While, if I have spoken truth of Helen, she was qualified to give those who enjoyed the privilege of her converse, a taste of far higher things. Yet I never tired of Helen Burns; nor ever ceased to cherish for her a sentiment of attachment, as strong, tender, and respectful as any that ever animated my heart.” When Jane was isolated, Helen gave her warmness which she eagered for a long time. Jane learned understanding and tolerance and had a belief in death “I believe God is good; I can resign my immortal part to Him without any misgiving.” And this belief gave her power after she got in trouble several times. Miss Temple was a great person -- kind, thoughtful and intelligent -- all good qualities rolled up into one. She was a ray of sunshine in the darkness which took Jane to the light. When Mr. Brocklehurst,

the head of Lowood, declared that Jane was “a liar”, it was Miss Temple gave her trust, helped her clear from every imputation and lit the enthusiasm of her pursuit of new life. As Jane’s navigator, Helen and Miss Temple also brought her the sustenance of life and successfully made her cross the road of pursuit of happiness.

Jane met mentors in Lowood, while Tess was not so lucky. She didn’t met “Helen” or “Miss Temple” but notorious Alec. After Alec avidly courted her in a short time, he raped her. She did not want to be his plaything and desperately struggled with him, then she decided to leave Trantridge and back home. While she was pregnant and gave birth to a son, who died in infancy. Alec gave Tess with a deadly stain and let her lost her right to live freely. Alec was the person who pushed her into abyss when she hadn’t appreciated the wonderful life. How about Angel? After Tess married him, they confessed their pasts to each other. Tess forgave Angel for his past indiscretions, but Angel couldn’t forgive Tess for having a child with another man and then left her for Brazil. Angel was her only love and her spiritual being in her whole life. Therefore, compared with the way that Alec’s hurt her, Angel’s was more thorough and more deadly. His discard made Tess lose her strength to pursuit a new life. In one word, different people Jane and Tess met in society had a really important influence for their later life.

Thirdly, the different understanding in self-esteem, self-confidence and equality affects their final destiny. In order to gain equal and independent personality, Jane was willing to pay any price. When she was bullied by John, she dared to risk punishment to struggle against him. She shouted: “ Wicked and cruel boy! You are like a