Tocompare-Jane-Eyre-and-Great-Expectations简爱与远大前程比较分析.doc

Tocompare Jane Eyre and Great Expectations, the first thing to do is to have abetter understanding of their authors. As we all know, Jane Eyre is written byCharlotte Bronte, one of the most famous authoresses.Charlottewas short, unlovely, self-contemptuousdeep inside, which made her sensitive. However, all these couldnt ruin herdesperation for bright, holy and good life. Like Charlotte Bronte, CharlesDickens, the author of Great Expectations, was also born in 1810s, who was the representativeof the realism literature in that time. He made his way to success by studyingindependently assiduously and working hard.Besides what Id like to mention is that inthe middle of the 19thcentury,Englandwas transiting from anagricultural country to an industrialized country, during which period, theemerging bourgeoisie is growing rapidly. The social status really left animprint on their works.Next,I will compare Jane Eyre and Great Expectations from the following threeaspects, character, writing technique and theme.First, lets talk about Jane Eyre and Pip. They are both orphans, depending on somebody for a living. However, Jane has her own belief, protecting her from desperation, self-destruction and downfall. All the unfortunate just brings her confidence and courage which are required in constructing the indomitable personality. Oppositely, Pip lacks such a powerful inner strength and denies himself constantly. The changing of his personality can be divided into three phases. Initially, Pip is a kind young boy, who is innocent and generous. With the changing of the environment, he becomes snobbish, seeking for vanity and self conceited and a little greedy. After going through ups and downs, he turns into a person with high morality.Besides, as we can see, the characters in Great Expectations are richer and more varied than that in Jane Eyre, and the relationship among them is more complex. Apart from Pip, some other characters also leave a deep impression on us readers such as Joe, Miss Havisham, Magwitch and so forth. Take Miss Havisham as an example, her experience tells us that women are supposed to show a good attitude towards life. No matter what is encountered with, women should be strong enough to survive. Never punish ourselves by others mistakes. Second, lets appreciate the writing techniques used in the two pieces of works. Jane Eyre is a typical Gothic style writing. The story is mainly set in the old Thornfield Hall. Furthermore, nightmares, hallucinations, and premonition create the atmosphere of hell. And at last, Mr. Rochesters mad wife appears, uncovering his biggest secret, and contributing to the big fire in the end of the story. Gothic style writing usually involves in decay and death, which make it mysterious and horrible. And the truth is always hidden in those seemingly romantic stories. Great Expectations isnt so typical as Jane Eyre, but it consists of some Gothic elements like Gothic material environment and spirit space. At the beginning of the story, through Pips eyes, it demonstrates a mouldering mansion to us which looks like a deserted castle. And the house gives out some kind of peculiar smell, making people depressed. When it comes to Gothic spirit space, we should take a good look at Miss Havisham. She leads the quiet life only with her adopted daughter Estella. Due to loss of love, she closes her heart off emotionally without enjoying life. In the shadow of revenge, she lives as a ghost. Consequently, she destroys herself.I tend to talk about Great Expectations deeply. In this piece of work, Dickens mainly utilizes realistic writing technique, and inserts romanticism, plot play, detective story writing technique, but also joins massive symbols enabling the novel achieve the peak in ideological nature and artistry. Except Gothic style technique, Jane Eyre and Great Expectations have other similarities in writing technique. Take empathy as an example. Empathy is adefensemechanisminwhichthereisanunconsciousshiftofemotions,affect,ordesiresfromtheoriginalobjecttoamoreacceptableorimmediatesubstitute. In Jane Eyre, Jane thinks that Mr. Rochester belongs to the same kind of people as herself and that they have some interests and feelings in common. Mr. Rochester also says:” You are my sympathizer, a strong dependence connects you with me.”In Great Expectations, Magwitch tends to be a man in the upper class, but he cant make it. Instead, he makes Pip such a gentle man. Only by his appreciation for Pip, he is unlikely to provide Pip with such a large fortune. The main reason lies in his desire for great expectations.Third, were going to think over the theme or the value of the two great pieces of work. I can still remember the famous words Jane Eyre says, it goes like that you think because Im poor, Im plain, I have no feelings? I promise you, if god is gifted me with wealthy and beauty, I should make it does as hard for you to leave me just as for me to leave you now, but he didnt. If my spirit can address yours, as we both pass the grave stood before him equal. From my point of view, it can best describe the value conveyed in Jane Eyre. There is no doubt that Jane Eyre speaks out females wish for independence and a place in the world of man. On the contrary, Charles Dickens had some kind of male chauvinism. He attached much importance to strictly observing morality of sex. In addition, love is celebrated in Jane Eyre. It isnt a conventional story between Cinderella and the prince, instead, the love is built up in soul. The value of Jane Eyre is still applicable in modern society. Now many young girls are druncken with material life thus ignoring refining their inner world. They long to marry wealthy guys despite the fact that they only love their money.Love