《简·爱》:精神追求抑或权力算计

Jane Eyre:Spiritual Pursuit or Power Struggle

一般认为简·爱是一个自由与平等的精神追求者。笔者以为由于地位悬殊,简与罗切斯特之间一直处于一种征服与反征服的状态之中;她从桑菲尔德府出走似乎是为了逃离父权统治,寻求精神上的独立,但更是她迫于法律和社会习俗压力的无奈之举,从因果关系来看,或许这是她以退为进的一种策略;她最终实现社会地位的逆转,成为女主人,与她的个人奋斗不无关系,但主要还是得益于其叔叔的遗赠,即经济状况是她社会地位提升的决定性因素。因此,与其说简是一个自由与平等的精神追求者,不如说她是一个对社会下层和权威态度暧昧不明,通过权力算计和外来经济援助获得成功的女性。基于对当时社会、历史和文化语境的考察,《简·爱》可看作一部反映19世纪中叶社会实用主义自我教育观的成长小说。

The heroine in Jane Eyreis generally interpreted as a spiritual seeker after freedom and equality.Based on close reading of the text,this paper points out：because of great disparity of social status,Jane and Rochester have been in the state of mutual subjugation;Jane’s departure from Thornfield is a reluctant action under the pressure of laws and social conventions,or rather her strategy of retreating in order to advance,rather than her active flight from patriarchal mastery,nor her spiritual pursuit of independence;the final reversal of her social status by becoming a matriarch profits from her uncle’s bequest,namely,her rise to power is determined by her current economic position,rather than because of her personal strivings.Therefore,Jane is not a purely spiritual seeker after freedom and equality,her success is achieved by means of power struggle and external financial assistance,and her attitudes toward lower class and authority are ambiguous.Further exploration of social,historical and cultural context of that time indicates that Jane Eyre is a typical Bildungsroman which reflects socially pragmatic Bildung in the mid-nineteenth century.