母亲的缺席与母爱的在场——《简·爱》解读

Mother-Absence and Maternity-Presence ——Reading of Jane Eyre

“母亲的缺席”一直是困扰女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特的永恒的母题 ,也是她小说中的男女主人公们不得不面对的人生磨难。然而 ,母亲的缺席并不就意味着母爱的缺席 ,夏洛蒂在《简·爱》里以一系列母性形象 ,包括神奇的大自然 ,满足了孤女简对母爱的诉求。但母爱本身又远不是简的终极渴望 。

One of the most distinctive characteristics of Charlotte Brontё′s works is that all her novels are haunted by that ` mother-absence′ or `mother-want′ which is the gravest disaster her heronines and heroes have to suffer. But the mother-absence doesn′t spontaneously mean maternal-love-absence. In her masterpiece Jane Eyre, the yearning of Jane for maternal-love is met by a series of mother figures, including powerful Nature. However, maternity is not the ultimate of Jane′s desires, her refusal of motherhood can be sensed here and there from the lines.