The Sermon on the Mount Allusion in Jane Eyre

 
Torrie Bush

The night before Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, he had spent hours praying in the mountains east of the Sea of Galilee, and the following morning he chose his twelve disciples. Even though he was probably extremely tired, Jesus welcomed the people, healed the sick, and began his sermon. He extended himself even though it would have been easier for him to go somewhere quiet and rest. His unselfishness and kindness reminds us of a young girl Jane meets early on in the novel.

Helen Burns lives by the Sermon on the Mount. The connection of Helen Burns to the Sermon on the Mount is a deliberate and skilled move on the part of Bronte, to give the reader further insight on Helen’s thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. When the saintly Helen Burns is first introduced in chapter five, she astonishes Jane with her ability to endure punishment:

Jane is flabbergasted by Helen’s humility and courage: “Were I in her place, it seems to me I should wish the earth to open up and swallow me up” (62; ch.5). Helen’s bravery does not come from worldly wisdom or hope, but stems from her belief in the words of Christ. That “something” that she is thinking of “beyond her punishment,” the reader cannot be sure of. We cannot be certain that the “kingdom of the heaven” (Matthew 5:3) is what Helen has in mind, because she never explicitly says it, although she does express faith in Christ and his teachings. Marianne Thormählen sheds light on this issue of faith, in The Brontës and Religion: “Such confidence enables Helen Burns in Jane Eyre to anticipate death in peace, even joy. Young Jane, whose spiritualneeds have hitherto been as neglected as her physical and emotional welfare, receives her first true religious instruction from the dying girl whose unusual character she had sensed from the first” (60). Thormählen’s account points the reader to afamiliar scene in Jane Eyre, where Helen is on her death bed, and once again is ambiguous as to where she is going when Jane inquires. Notice she does not explicitly say the “kingdom of heaven” but leaves Jane to wonder what she means:

“But where are you going to, Helen? Can you see? Do you know?”

“I believe; I have faith: I am going to God.”

“Where is God? What is God?”

“My maker and yours; who will never destroy what he created...I am sure there is a future state; I believe God is good: I can resign my immortal part to him without any misgiving. God is my father; God is my friend: I love him; I believe he loves me.” (90; ch. 10)

These powerful words will undoubtedly stick with Jane. It is no wonder then, that why Thormählen calls Helen’s last few words “the most decisive moment in the religious education of Jane Eyre” (61). When Jane returns to the home of Mrs. Reed and her children, she does not return to condemn or scorn the Reeds. In fact, just the opposite occurs. She says “ I came back to her now with no other emotion than a sort of ruth for her great sufferings, and a yearning to forget and forgive all injuries”(230; ch. 21).

Further allusions to the Sermon on the Mount come when Jane challenges Helen’s Christ like behavior with some ideas of her own:

You are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way...When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard. (67; ch. 6)

Jane cannot fathom why Helen would treat those who are mean to her with kindness. However, Helen has been taught the teachings of the bible, and Brontë will use those teachings to defend Helen’s stance and also to teach Jane. Helen responds:You will change your mind, I hope when you grow older: as yet you are but a little untaught girl...Read the New Testament, and observe what Christ says, and how he acts--make his world your rule, and his conduct your example. (67; ch. 6) From these words the reader can infer that Helen is talking about the words at Matthew 5:39: “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy rightcheek, turn to him the other also.” Helen is trying to teach Jane that if someone does harm to her, she should turn the other cheek, and not seek vengeance against that person. Helen could have also been drawing on Matthew 5: 44-46 to show Jane the importance of loving those who may err against her: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” These are strange words to a child who up to this point has only encountered evil, even when she showed kindness. Her cousins and aunt have persecuted her, even though she was kind to them. However, Helen is trying to show Jane that there is a reward for her endurance, and this reward is what allows Helen to continue down a path of good conduct.

Brontë uses Helen to allude to Christ’s teachings and to prepare Jane for bigger obstacles that she will later encounter. Indeed, as Thormahlen puts it, “...the maltreated orphan grows into a woman able to overcome temptation when it confronts her...the memory of Helen’s deathbed helps her to extend her ‘full and free forgiveness’ to her aunt, the tormentor of her childhood” (61). This is certainly a true statement, forin the coming days at Lowood, Jane will have an opportunity to repeat “by heart...the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew,” a difficultfeat that will also prove beneficial when she encounters Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers (70; ch. 7).

Not all those whom young Jane encounters, however, seek to teach her the scriptures and use their life as a model. Mr. Brocklehurst is a man who does not practice the teachings he so loves to speak aloud. When Jane first meets Mr. Brocklehurst, the conversation is clouded with biblical allusions. Mr. Brocklehurst asks her what books she likes to read from the Bible, and Jane replies that she likes to read Revelations, Daniel, Genesis, and Jonah. Immediately Mr. Brocklehurst condemns her for not liking the songs of praise to God found in Psalms, and says: “That proves you have a wicked heart; and you must pray to God to change it: to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (44; ch. 4).These are fitting harsh words coming from someone Jane describs as “a black pillar” (42; ch.4). Mr. Brocklehurst dehumanizes more than just Jane. When he visits Lowood and finds that Ms. Temple has given the children more than the usual ration of food, he tweaks the real meaning of a biblical passage to support his argument:

You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence, but to render them hardy, patient, self denying . . . a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of primitive Christians . . . to the exhortations of our blessed Lord . . . to his warnings that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (72; ch. 7)

How can we be sure that Mr. Brocklehurst knew that when Christ at Matthew 4:4 said, “…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” he did not mean that children should be deprived the necessities of life, nor did he mean children should literally “hunger and thirst after righteousness” as mentioned at Matthew 5:6? We cannot be certain that Mr. Brocklehurst understood the meaning of Christ’s words. We can however, look at the evidence Brontë gives us that may indicate Mr. Brocklehurst was well aware of his hypocrisy. One clue we have that Mr. Brocklehurst came from a religious home, where the scriptures would have been read and followed, is found in an inscription a Lowood. Tkacz notes that the inscription Jane reads when she first arrives at Lowood reads-- “Lowood Institution: This portion was rebuilt by Naomi Brocklehurst, of Brocklehurst Hall, in this county. ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven’” (59; ch. 5). In quoting those words, however, Naomi Brocklehurst is merely “showing that the construction [was] undertaken for the glory of Naomi Brocklehurst, not of God” (Thormählen 8). Similarly, Mr. Brocklehurst uses thescriptures to make himself look and sound good, while not really understanding their full application. Perhaps we could simply call Mr. Brocklehurst ignorant, if he unknowingly interpreted the scriptures this way, while trying to make the girls and his own family live in such a manner. Hypocrisy however, is what we must call it, because when Mrs. Brocklehurst and his daughters pay a visit to Lowood, we find their lifestyle, clothing, and eating habits are quite the opposite of the way which Mr. Brocklehurst has forced the young orphans to live: “Mr. Brocklehurst was soon interrupted: three other visitors now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired...a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled;” (74; ch. 7). Mr. Brocklehurst uses the Bible to support his extreme views on dress and eating, yet he does not enforce these views within his own household.

Another character that Bronte uses to foreshadow events, is Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester is on the brink of knowingly committing adultery, just before Jane stops the wedding. In the Sermon on the Mount, adultery is specifically addressed:

But I say to unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should parish and not that the whole body should be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:28-30)

As Thormählen brings out, “the loss of hand and eye is a ‘profitable’ sacrifice enabling one to avoid full punishment for uncountered lust” (10). Mr. Rochester’s life is surely an example of how this passage can be true. To support this idea, in Fallen Women in the Nineteenth-Century Novel, Winnifrith remarks, “Rochester loses his sight and one arm, a punishment which is likely to owe more to the biblical injunction about plucking out eyes than to any Freudian symbolism” (38). Mr. Rochester prepares to marry Jane even though he knows he is already married; in doing so he would clearly be committing adultery. When Jane discovers the truth, the words in Matthew from the Sermon on the Mount spring her into action:

I asked “What am I to do?” But the answer my mind gave—“Leave Thornfield at once”...But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it; and foretold that I should do it. “Let me be torn away, then!” I cried. “Let another help me!” “No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you; you shall yourself, pluck out your right eye: yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victim; and you, the priest transfix it.” I rose up suddenly, terror-struck at the solitude which so ruthless a judge haunted. (294; ch. 27)

When Jane decides to leave Thornfield, it is for her safety and well being in life: “Now that she knows he is married, she is bound to either leave him or become guilty of adultery. Thus the reference to the sacrifice of hand and eye is relevant, for by this figurative sacrifice she avoids sin” (Thormählen 11). Mr. Rochester however, does not enjoy a similar fate. Because he knew the whole time that he was married, Rochester is not sparedfrom his punishment: “Rochester’s losses in the fire are striking realizations of the stern justice of Matthew 5: ‘One eye was knocked out and one hand so crushed that Mr. Carter, the surgeon had to amputate it directly’” (Tkacz 11). Mr. Rochester does however, acknowledge his wrong course, saying later “That I merited all I endured, I acknowledged--that I could scarcely endure more, I pleaded” (436; ch. 38).Because he was truly sorry, even though Mr. Rochester loses one eye and one hand, he is able to reunite with Jane and “he eventually recovered the sight of that one eye” (440; ch. 38).Tkacz makes a similar point:

On one level, the loss of his left hand and eye punishes him for attempting bigamy; in gaining faith through his experiences, however, he finds that his loss proves profitable and, in regaining Jane and his sight, he discovers that justice is tempered with mercy. (12)

Mr. Rochester gains partial vision, and ultimately reaps the greatest reward, Jane, after enduring his punishment. Bronte uses Mr. Rochester to show that the principles in the Sermon on the Mount can be beneficial to those who follow them, and calamitous to those who do not.

Understanding the Sermon on the Mount allusion is key to understanding Jane Eyre. The connections Bronte makes are deliberate and done in such a way that even those without a Biblical background can understand. Although Jane dreaded reciting the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew while at Lowood, her life was greatly influenced by these verses.

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