Friday, January 24, 2020
Hysteresis :: essays research papers
Aim: To investigate the pattern in the amount by which a hanging piece of elastic stretches when a load force is applied and the amount by which the stretch is reduced when the load is removed. Aim (in simpler terms): To determine the relationship between the force on a rubber band and its stretch, both during extension and retraction. Hypothesis: Not required. Method 1)     Hang a piece of elastic on a clamp stand. Ensure the elastic is new. 2)     Clamp a ruler using the clamp stand. Ensuring the markings on the ruler is as close to the elastic as possible. -     Draw a diagram 3) Measure the length of the elastic and record the data. 4) Hang masses on the elastic until it reaches it point of irreversible distortion. Take note of this weight; do not hang more than this weight in the experiment. 5)     Add a weight of 100N (change appropriately). Wait for a few seconds for the system to â€Å"stabilise†. Measure the length of the elastic and record the data. Special care must be taken to ensure that when the mass is added the elastic should not retract. 6)     Add more weights, till the total weight is close to its point of irreversible distortion or till there are no more weights. 7)     Remove the weights one by one. Wait a couple of seconds for the system to â€Å"stabilise†. Measure the length of the elastic and record the data. Ensure that when the mass is removed the elastic should not be allowed to stretch further. 8)     Repeat, till there is no more mass on the elastic. Measure the length of the elastic. Equipment Elastic Clamp stand Ruler Different weights or a weight hanger Variables Independent: Mass hung on elastic Dependant: Length that the elastic extends or retracts. Controlled: Same conditions – thus the behaviour of the elastic is constant      Same equipment Results Force (N)     Length of elastic (m)     Length that elastic was stretched      During extension     During retraction     For extension     For retraction 0     1     1.2     0     0.2 100     1.5     1.4     0.5     0.4 .. .. .. .. .. .. ..     .. .. .. .. .. .. ..     .. .. .. .. .. .. ..          900     ..     ..          1000     ..     ..          Note: To find the length that the elastic was stretched. Simple subtract the value â€Å"During extension†by the original length of elastic. Then write the result in the column â€Å"For extension†for the appropriate weight. Repeat for retraction. Construct a graph of this data. For ease of data interpretation, graph force on y axis and length that elastic was stretched (that is the column â€Å"For extension†and â€Å"For retraction) on x axis. Also possible to have intervals of 0.98 N on y axis so that value of mass in grams can be plotted accurately (assuming g=9.8 m/s^2) Plot the points and draw a smooth curve.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Analysis of Bao-yu’s dream in Cao Xueqin’s ‘Story of the Stone’ Essay
The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin is an animated, lively account of life in a large Chinese household in the mid-18th century Qing dynasty. It remains a fascinating novel for modern readers with its vivid and detailed descriptions of the minutiae of daily life – from clothing, food and interior design to education, marriage and death. For all its realism however, The Story of the Stone is not set entirely in reality. The very premise of the whole tale, that of a single rock left out of the goddess Nu-wa’s repairing of the sky, is one based on a magico-religious dream world. The rock is found by a Buddhist and a Taoist who take it down to the mortal world where it lives out a human life, that of Jia Bao-yu, before attaining Nirvana. Once a rock again, a Taoist copies the inscription on its surface †from beginning to end and took it back with him to look for a publisher†. Cao Xueqin’s emphasis on dreams can be seen in the alternative titles for his m asterpiece. A Dream of Red Mansions is the title by which the book is perhaps most commonly known. Twelve Young Ladies of Jinling is also a title suggested in chapter one. Both of these titles refer to the same dream. As David Hawkes explains, ‘hong lou’, red mansion, has the more specialised meaning of the residences of the daughters of rich men and thus, the young ladies themselves. The dream alluded to in these appellations occurs in the fifth chapter of volume one, The Golden Days. Cousin Zhen’s wife, You-shi, has invited the women of the Rong-guo house, accompanied by Bao-yu, round for a flower viewing party. Needless to say, Bao-yu soon tires and asks to take a nap. Rather than going back to the Rong mansion, the wife of his nephew, Jia Rong, leads him to her chamber to sleep. Bao-yu immediately drops off into a vivid dream world. He meets the fairy of Disenchantment who shows him to the Land of Illusion and into the Department of the Ill-Fated Fair. Within this department is housed the ‘Jinling, Twelve Beauties of, Main Register’, a record of the twelve most notable females in Bau-yu’s own province of Jinling. The fairy of Disenchantment allows Bao-yu to read the fates of the twelve girls as recorded in the form of four-line verses. Bao-yu can make little sense of what he reads. Later, the quatrains are expanded into a series of twelve songs entitled A Dream of Golden Days. While the words are sung by a troupe of entertainers, Bao- yu reads along with the manuscript. He still does not understand. Indeed, both the verses in the register and in the song-cycle contain allusions and metaphors not immediately obvious and not easily deciphered. Yet at a most basic level, they provide an outline of the fate of twelve principle female characters in The Story of the Stone. Their fate unfolds throughout the course of the five volume novel. The Golden Days therefore, is only the beginning. But, by the end of the first volume, to what extent have the women already prepared the way for their future course? The first verse in the Main Register is a joint record of Lin Dai-yu and Xue Bao-chai. These two young girls share the affection of Bao-yu and Grandmother Jia. In their own individual ways, they are both paragons. It seems odd therefore that they share only one verse between them. Hawkes puts forward the argument that Dai-yu and Bao-chai †represent two complementary aspects of a single ideal woman†. Evidence for this interpretation lies in the first two lines of their quatrain: One was a pattern of female virtue, One a wit who made other wits seem slow. The combination of wit, or intelligence, and virtue were ideal traits in a Qing woman of the upper class. Arguably it was Dai-yu who held the upper hand in wit while Bao-chai, with her †generous and accommodating disposition†, was the more virtuous. Although in the song-cycle there are two songs for Dai-yu and Bao-chai, it is not the case that one is dedicated to Dai-yu and one to Bao-chai. Albeit the second so ng is solely about Dai-yu, but there are references to both characters in the first song. The character ‘lin’ in Lin Dai-yu is made up of two tree radicals and has the meaning ‘forest’. ‘Xue’ in Xue Bao-chai sounds the same as the Chinese word for ‘snow’ while ‘bao chai’ can be translated as ‘precious’ or ‘gold hairpin’. Thus, the references come in the form of gold, flowers, snow and trees. Bao-yu is alluded to using jade or stone as he was born with a jade stone in his mouth. The first song, The Mistaken Marriage, refers to †the marriage rites of gold and jade†. This foreshadows the marriage of Bao-chai (gold) and Bao-yu (jade). The speaker however, still remembers the relationship between ‘stone and flower’. There is indeed, a special bond between Bao-yu and Dai-yu. Although Bao-yu, †a child†¦whom nature had endowed with the eccentric obtuseness of a simpleton†, fails to recognise it, Dai-yu is an intensely jealous character and resents any time he spends with Bao-chai and not her. Bao-yu struggles to understand the cause of Dai-yu’s mainly irrational sulks, yet always attempts to comfort her: Take kinship first: you are my cousin on Father’s side; cousin Bao is only a mother-cousin. That makes you much the closer kin. And as for length of acquaintance: it was you who came here first. You and I have practicaly grown up together†¦Why should I ever be any less close to you because of her? There is a profound love between Bao-yu and Dai-yu that seems to grow with the progression of the first volume. They share an understanding †so intense that it was almost as if they had grown into a single person.†The speaker suggests however, that later on Dai-yu (†that fairy wood†) dies. Thus, even a wife †so courteous and so kind†as Bao-chai is no substitute for the wife that Dai-yu could have been. Their marriage, even though †others all commend it†, is a mistake. This is succeeded by Hope Betrayed which deals specifically with the close relationship between Dai-yu (†a flower from paradise†) and Bao-yu (†a pure jade without spot or stain†). They are clearly meant for each other but the poem augurs future disaster. The pain heartache that stems from such an ardent love will all be in vain. In one sense these two poems pose an insurrmountable contradiction. Fate, the belief in which provides the premise for this entire dream scene, will have them be together but they are not. They are meant to be but cannot and this inability is portrayed as some kind of mistake, a going against the natural order. Is there then, even such a thing as fate? This question aside, it can be seen that, in the case of Dai-yu and Bao-chai, their journey has barely begun by the end of The Golden Days. Their relationship with Bao-yu is entirely platonic (physically at least) and, although it is perhaps assumed that one of them, most likely Dai-yu, will be be Bao-yu’s future bride, this is only hinted at in jest among the maids and is a source of great embarassement to Dai-yu. The second quatrain and the third poem can be interpretted as Yuan-chun’s fate. Yuan-chun, daughter of Lady Wang and Jia Zheng, is Bao-yu’s elder sister. The first two lines describe her, age twenty, leaving her family to live in the emperor’s palace as a royal concubine. As can be seen by the subsequent effort put into a lavish garden compund in honour fo her visit, this was a posi tion held in great esteem. Although out of modesty, Yuan-chun later changes the name, the setting for her reunion with her family within Prospect Garden initially bears the inscription ‘Precinct of the Celsetial Visitant’. Hence perhaps, the use of the phrase †pomegranate-time†. Hawkes stresses the †redness’ of the original Chinese text, the colour red being a symbol of good-fortune and prosperity. Although much of this sense has inevitably been lost in translation, the red skin of the pomegranate could perhaps be taken as emphasising the great advantages such a position could bestow on both concubine and family. The second half of the quatrain however, does not bode so well for the future. Although Yuan-chun is superior if not in beauty and intelligence then in success to her half-sister Tan-chun and her cousins, Ying-chun and Xi-chun (the †three springs†), her charmed life will come to an end †when hare meets tiger†. Hare and tiger refer to Chinese years. Thus, this prophecy specifies that the date of Yuan-chun’s death will fall at the end of a tiger year and at the beginning of a rabbit year. The third song, Mutability, again prophesises Yuan-chun’s departure from the Rong-guo household to the emperor’s palace. It goes on to describe her appearing before her parents in a dream to pay her †final duty†, forewarning again of her death. By the end of The Golden Days Yuan-chun has indeed left home to become a royal concubine. Although the location of the Jia clan in The Story of the Stone is questionable, it is clear that Yuan-chun and he r family feel cut off from each other in spirit if not by physical distance. Their reunion in chapter eighteen is an emotional one and although the emperor allows visits in the palace once a month, special permission must be granted for a once-yearly return to the family home. It is for this reason, †so far the road back home did seem†, that Yuan-chun will be forced to pay her final filial duties in a dream. (Hawkes points out that this dream sequence never in fact took place. He suggests that Xueqin used the material for this episode in chapter thirteen instead, when Qin-shi appears before Xi-feng in a dream.) Tan-chun, half-sister to Yuan-chun, one of the †three springs†referred to above and daughter of Jia Zheng and a concubine, is the subject of the fourth quatraine in the Main Register. She is †by far the most gifted of the three springs†as well as possessing a kind, generous nature. The first line, †Blessed with a shrewd mind and a noble heart†, is countered however, by the second, †Yet born in time of twilight and decay†. Although The golden Days is essentially a story set in the happy, carefree years of childhood, the bigger picture reveals a time of political and social upheaval, a sense of which permeates many aspects of the novel. Tan-chun’s prophesised marriage in the final two lines will thus perhaps be related to economic considerations. The marriage will clearly not be a happy one. The very title of the fourth song, From Dear Ones Parted, suggests the insuperable distance between Tan-chun and her home and her intense homsickness. The song has Tan-chun referring to †our rising, falling†, meaning the rise and fall of the Jia family. As a result of this, †each in another land must be, each for himself must fend as best he may†, again suggesting that the marriage will be one of economic convenience. Apa rt from allusions to her wit and good character, we learn little about Tan-chun in the first volume of The Story of the Stone. There are however, hints to be found as to her fate. In chapter 22, she attends Grandmother Jia’s riddle party. Asked to compose a riddle, the answer to Tan-chun’s is ‘a kite’. This image of a kite as associated with Tan-chun symbolizes her departure †a thousand miles†away, her flight from the nest. Her riddle also foreshadows her unhappiness once in the marriage: My strength all goes when once the bond is parted, And on the wind I drift off broken hearted. This description of drifting off in the wind ties in with the suggestion in the song that she will be taken to her new husband by boat †through rain and wind†. Like Tan-chun, relatively little reference is made to Shi Xiang-yun, the subject of the fourth quatrain and fifth song. She is the daughter of Grandmother Jia’s brother’s son. Orphaned as a young girl, she first lived with Grandmother Jia before moving in with her uncle, Shi Ding, and his wife. It seems from both the register and the song, that Xiang-yun is destined to find the man of her dreams, †a perfect, gentle husband†. But happiness will be fleeting: Soon you must mourn your bright sunâ€⠄¢s early setting. The Xiang flows and the Chu clouds sail away. The Xiang was a river flowing through the ancient kingdom of Chu. This was believed to be home to a goddess of lovers. But soon †the clouds of Gao-tang faded, the waters of the Xiang ran dry.†This suggests another calamity, perhaps the sudden death of her husband. There is no intimation of Xiang-yun’s fate in The Golden Days. The main scene involving her is one of comic relief as Dai-yu teases her about her lisp and Xiang-yun responds good-humouredly. The impression created is of a happy-go-lucky, lively young girl, quite a contrast from the rather intense and moody Dai-yu. This is best illustrated in Xueqin’s description of them asleep: Dai-yu was tightly cocooned in a quilt of apricot-coloured damask, the picture of tranquil repose. Xiang-yun, by contrast, lay with her hank of jet black hair tumbled untidily beside the pillow, a white arm with its two gold bracelets thown carelessly outside the bedding and two white shoulders exposed above the peach-pink coverlet, which barely reached her armpits. ‘A tomboy, even in her sleep!’ Bao-yu muttered†¦ The sixth woman included in the register is the only one of the twelve who is not a member of the Jia family. Adamantina nevertheless lives among them in Prospect Garden after Yuan-chun issues an edict stating that the garden is not to be closed up. She is a nun and this is reflected in the descriptions of her †otherworldliness†and her †grace and wit to match the gods†that set her †with the rest at odds. Nauseous to [her] the world’s rank diet.â⠂¬ Her final destination however, is clearly one of disrepute. In both the quatrain and the song, she ends up in the mud, impure and shameful. The fact that down here, †only wealthy rakes might bless their luck†suggests that Adamantina will end her days as perhaps a prostitute. By the end of The Golden Days however, she is still a nun who †looks down on common flesh and blood†The seventh of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling is Ying-chun, the eldest of the three springs. She is Jia She’s daughter by a concubine. With the arrival of Dai-yu and Bao-chai, the three springs are relugated to a secondary position in Grandmother Jia’s affections. Ying-chun is thus a rather underdeveloped character in The Golden Days. The sixth entry in the register and the seventh poem both suggest that she will be married off to a violent, unfaithful and cruel bully. There is no hint of this fate in the first volume of the novel. The Golden Days gives away equally little about the subject of the next quatrain and song, Xi-chun. Sister of Cousin Zhen and the youngest of the three springs, seems destined to seek release †from youth’s extravagance†and †to win chaste quietness and heavenly peace†by becoming a Buddhist nun. Wang Xi-feng on the other hand, wife of Jia Lian and cousin to Bao-yu, plays a far more prominent role in The Golden Days. She is a very strong character, a feminist role-model. She has all the qualities of the ideal wife with her managerial prowess and defere nce to her elders, and yet she always manages to be on top. This combination of cunning and virtue can best be seen in the chapters dealing with Qin-shi’s funeral. Having been relegated posthumously to the status of a Noble Dame, the funeral is a grand affair. The sheer cost and man-power involved is staggering and Xi-feng is put in charge of it all. Nevertheless, she manages it with †the decisiveness of a little general†. On the night of the wake, her maturity and superior social skills are further demonstrated when it is left entirely to her to do the honours. Xi-feng’s vivacious charm and social assurance stood out in striking contrast†¦She was in her element, and if she took any notice of her humbler sisters it was only to throw out an occassional order or to bend them in some other way to her imperious will. This can be juxtaposed with the episode in the next chapter when, after the funeral, Xi-feng, Bao-yu and Qin-zhong spend the night in the Water-moon Priory. The prioress Euergesia, catching Xi-feng alone, tells her the story of a benefactor of the priory called Zhang. He is desperate to call off his daughter’s engagement to the son of a captain in the Chang-an garrison. The captain however, is being thoroughly unreasonable and refusing to take back the betrothal-gifts. Euergesia beseeches Xi-feng to use her unfluence to get Jia Zheng to write a letter to General Yun asking h im to †have a word with†the captain because †It is hardly likely that he would refuse to obey his commading officer.†Xi-feng coyly turns her down until Euergesia questions Xi-feng’s ability. Xi-feng ‘relents’ and agrees to take part for the the not so small sum of three thousand taels of silver. Xi-feng is clearly fiscally-minded and savvy, never one to let an opportunity for profit slip by. The hush-hush manner in which this matter of the captain is broached also suggests that it is rather shady business. Yet, any qualms Xi-feng feigns to have about getting involved seem to be easily forgotten. Xi-feng is indeed, as the ninth song states, †too shrewd by half†. She is too focused on self-advancement but with the fall of the Jia family later in The Story of the Stone, Xi-feng’s plotting and manouevering will all come to nothing: Like a great building’s tottering crash, Like flickering lampwick burned to ash†¦ Although the exact nature of Xi-feng’s future is not specified, it is clear that it is not a bright one. She will, as the title of the ninth song says, be †caught by her own cunning†. Although we see none of her decline in The Golden Days, there are hints of a fall to come. When Qin-shi appears to her in a dream, she warn s Xi-feng of the future fall of the Jai family as a whole. She quotes a proverb: †The higher the climb, the harder the fall.†Could this be referring equally to Xi-feng as to the family? Is there a reason why Qin-shi appears before Xi-feng specifically? The tenth Beautiy of Jinling, interestingly enough, does not even appear in the first volume. Qiao-jie, daughter of Xi-feng, nevertheless has some sort of trouble ahead of her. It seems that no one will be spared pain and grief as the Jia family declines. The penultimate Beauty included on the Main Register is Li Wan, mother of Jia Lan. Li Wan was married to Jia Zhu, brother of Bao-yu. Jia Zhu died before the start of the novel as implied by the third line in the eleventh song, ††¦the pleasures of the bridal bed†soon fled. The quatrain suggests that their son, Jia Lan, †her Orchid†, will be successful. The song goes further to describe the †awesome sight†of †the head with cap and bands of office on, and gleaming bright upon his breast the gold insignia†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Jia Lan will later pass the civil service exam and become a high official. It is perhaps slightly far-fetched but one of the few mentions of Jia Lan comes in chapter nine, set in the Jia clan school house. As for Li Wan, there is no hint that †the black night of death’s dark frontier lay close at hand.†It would seem that she tragically dies after her son’s appointment. Finally, there is Qin-shi, the twelfth Beauty of Jinling. She is the young wife of Jia Rong but dies of a mysterious unidentified disease half way through The Gol den Days. Of all the women, Qin-shi is the only one whose whole fate is played out in the course of the first volume. It does not, however, run according to plan. Both the quatrain and the song, The Good Things Have an End, explicitly express that she will hang herself. The most likely reason for her suicide is the family’s discovery of her incestuous affair with her father-in-law, cousin Zhen: Say not our troubles all from Rong’s side came; For their beginning Ning must take the blame. Indeed, there are indications of such intrigue. A drunken servant lets slip, in a fit of rage, †Father-in-law pokes in the ashes†¦Ã¢â‚¬ The reader is clearly meant to take note of this comment, as Bao-yu subsequently questions Xi-feng as to it’s meaning. Xi-feng is quick in quashing any ideas Bao-yu may have on the subject and †terrified by her vehemence, Bao-yu implored her forgiveness.†There is obviously something to hide. Cousin Zhen’s hysterical reaction after her death is also a sign that their relationship was not as it seemed. He is inconsolable, proclaiming: †Now that she has been taken from us it’s plain to see that this senior branch of the family is doomed to extinction!†The poem accordingly, states that her death, †the ruin of a mighty house protended.†Qin-shi’s suicide does not however, take place and she instead dies of natural causes. A reason for this discrepancy is put foward by Hawkes. While Xueqin did originally have Qin-shi hanging herself †from painted beams†, a notation by one of the commentators on the original manuscript states that her †ordered†Xueqin to remove the scene. Xueqin reluctantly did so but, unenthusiastic about the change, failed to make the necessary alterations to the rest of the text. Having examined the fates of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling as expressed in the Main Register of the Department of the Ill Fated Fair and in the fairy of Disenchantment’s song cycle, it becomes immediately obvious that tradgedy lies ahead. With the decline of the Jia family will come a decline in the fortunes of each of the women. It is also clear that by the end of the first volume of The Story of the Stone the story has, in fact, barely begun. The Jia household is still powerful and rich, the child heros are still young and and insouciant, these are still the golden days.
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
A Refutation of Gilbert and Gubars Anti-Christian Perspective of Jane Eyre - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1762 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/05/18 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Jane Eyre Essay Did you like this example? Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubars The Madwoman in the Attic is the seminal analysis of Jane Eyre, particularly with regards to feminism. The two assert that somehow Jane intentionally subverts not only social norms, but fundamental tenets of Christian morality, as though Christianity were by nature at odds with feminism, or even women themselves. This opinion is far from a recent development, seeing as Gilbert and Gubar cite several contemporary critics of Bront, which call the novel anti-Christian. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Refutation of Gilbert and Gubars Anti-Christian Perspective of Jane Eyre" essay for you Create order In truth, Jane is a highly virtuous and principled character. These are the qualities which in actuality make her a feminist role model, rather than mere rebellion against the status quo. Jane is morally and ethically superior to all but St. John, who she more than holds her own against. Janes Christianity is the foundation of her character, and Gilbert and Gubars analysis rests on uneven ground because of it. Since its publication in the mid-nineteenth century, Jane Eyre has been the subject of much controversy so far as Christian ethics are concerned. Jane herself was described by contemporary critic Elizabeth Rigby as being undisciplined and unregenerate (or unsaved), with the novel itself being preeminently anti-Christian (Gilbert and Gubar 1). This supposedly heathenesque bent, according to Gilbert and Gubar, comes from a refusal to accept the forms and standards of society in short rebellious feminism (1). The two waste no time linking their own analyses with these. They readily agree, Perhaps they were correct in their response to the book (Gilbert and Gubar 1). Charlotte Bront herself however, defended her writing passionately and authoritatively, admitting an intentional subversion of gender-norms, but declaring in the second edition of Jane Eyre that Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the ma sk from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns (Griesinger 5). In short, Bront was a Christian, through and through, as is her titular heroine Jane Eyre. Virtue being essential to discussions of faithfulness, it seems appropriate to me that Jane Eyres Christianity ought to be validated by an analysis of her moral character; something which contemporary critics, as well as Gilbert and Gubar, not only failed to acknowledge, but adamantly rejected. Gilbert and Gubar in particular connect Jane on a symbolic level with Bertha Mason, a character motivated by unbridled passion, governed by madness and violence. Marriage is one example used by Gilbert and Gubar as an analogy for principle, which, according to them Jane rejects. They state that St. John wants to imprison the resolute wild thing that is [Janes] soul in the ultimate cell, the iron shroud of principle (Gilbert and Gubar 11). Here they take things wildly out of context, forgetting the fact that Jane only finds herself in this predicament because she herself is a woman of principle in the first place. Jane leaves Rochester against her own will, on the grounds of principle and Chris tian decency. She refuses to play mistress to a married man (Bront Ch. 27). Janes virtue and faith both are evident throughout the entirety of the novel, as much as her feminist desires for equality. While Jane may temperately rebel against the status quo, she does not rebel against principle. It is not a prison to her. Gilbert and Gubars presumption of an incompatibility between faith and feminism is based upon a flawed understanding of Christian ideals of submission. This is why I bring up their comparison of marriage with prison. To Gilbert and Gubar, as well as contemporaries of Bront, marriage equals female subservience, and equality of the sexes is therefore incompatible with Christianity. The conclusion treats neither religion nor feminism with the proper modicum of respect and understanding. Gilbert and Gubar contend that Janes whole life-pilgrimage has, of course, prepared her to be angry at Rochesters and societys, [lovingly tyrannical] concept of marriage (Gilbert and Gubar 7). But who is to say that Rochesters and Christianitys are one in the same? The most striking, audaciously eloquent line in all of Bronts novel is when Jane challenges Rochester, just prior to his proposal, exclaiming it is my spirit that addresses your spirit as if we stood at Gods feet, equal, as we are! (Bront Ch. 23). To certain nineteenth century critics, this would have been seen as a grievous theological error, if not outright heresy. Gilbert and Gubar see it as a virtuous triumph of feminism, but still as anti-Christian. They rightly contend that Though in one sense Jane and Rochester begin their relationship as master and servant in another they begin as spiritual equals (Gilbert and Gubar 5). What they fail to recognize, is that spiritual equality is the Christian state of men and women. Such an analysis is hardly at odds with Christian values, or suggests any sort of innate rebelliousness. Long before Charlotte Brontes brand of feminism, Matthew Henry wrote in his Commentary on the Whole Bible That the woman was made of a rib out of the side of Ad am; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him (Henry 7). While one can readily see through an examination of scripture that equality of the sexes has never been anti-Christian, it stands to reason that Jane Eyres brand of emerging biblical feminism as Emily Griesinger calls it, contains a great deal of theological and cultural complexity (19). This is made evident by Janes relationship with her cousin St. John, his proposal, her rejection, and ultimately the supernatural events which occur bringing Jane and Rochester back together. When St. John makes his final proposal, Jane prays earnestly for guidance and direction. She pleads with the Almighty for some sort of intervention. She cries to heaven, Show me, show me the path! and indeed He does (Bront Ch. 36). Jane hears the voice of Rochester, and she speaks to him in kind, across miles and miles of space. Its a miraculous answer to prayer, and one for which Jane immediately gives worship and thanksgiving, contrary to assertions made by Bronts critics. Gilbert and Gubar admit as that Christian morality is a focus of the novel, but contend that Janes inward sense of morality is superior to the external one, the Christian one. They see St. John as symbolic of this supposedly inferior morality, and Janes hearing Rochester as her inward moral compass. The conclusion of the novel refutes this however. Whereas Gilbert and Gubar see the climaxs miraculous intervention as being somehow tied to Janes subconscious, Bront makes it abundantly clear that Providence makes the final decision. Jerome Beaty points out, the notion that the voice is only the product of her excitement is almost immediately denied (Beaty 4). Janes love for Rochester was never rebellious. It was always part of Gods plan, which Jane chooses to accept. Beaty uses these events in his own rejection of the anti-Christian labels applied to the novel. He points out that [Jane] does not depart from the religious, certainly not the Providentialist tenets, and the novel does not force her to choose between religion and life or love (Beaty 4). Frankly, critics are wrong to assert as much. Janes final decision is not one of rebellion, but of submission; submission to God. Hardly anti-Christian, rebellious sentiment, Jane readily submits to the will of God the moment she is certain of it. Jane ends her story, not independent, but wholly dependent on the hand of God. She learns the truth of the proverb; In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Authorized King James Version, Prov. 3.6). In conclusion, Emily Griesinger asserts that Jane Eyres Christianity is far more reminiscent of evangelicalism, which has since taken much of Christianity by storm. She writes that Evangelical religion opposed formalism, a type of spirituality that favored outward forms, decent and orderly, over inward heart faith where the Spirit could not be easily contained and often spilled over (Griesinger 8). The fact that Jane Eyre is a woman directly led by the Holy Ghost and not by the church is likely what her critics found so offensive. Jane Eyres Christianity is not an anti-biblical one, but rather one ahead of its time. It is Janes ability to discern the voice of God for herself, suggests Griesinger, that makes her a Christian feminist icon. She needs no man, namely St. John, to explain the will of God for her life. She prays, and she finds it. Maria LaMonaca writes that because of this, Jane demonstrates that women must experience God directly (LaMonaca 8). Near the novels end, Jane refers to Paul and Silas miraculous escape from prison as not unlike her own experience. In the story, Paul and Silas, in an evening of prayer and praise, are loosed from jail by a miraculous earthquake. Jane herself, through prayer, is loosed from the prison of her own indecision. Like with Paul and Silas, Janes escape came by divine intervention in the midst of principled submission, not human rebelliousness. In such, she is exemplary of Christian virtue. Jane Eyre is at once a God fearing woman of principle and a feminist icon. Gilbert and Gubar may get a great deal right in their analysis, but theyre wrong to connect feminism with Brontes critics. They unnecessarily place themselves at odds with an ideology which has done more for the cause of equality than any other, seeing as it was the Apostle Paul who proclaimed There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Author ized King James Version, Gal. 3.23, emphasis mine). Works Cited Beaty, Jerome. St. Johns Way and the Wayward Reader. PDF file. Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. From A Dialogue of Self and Soul: Plain9 Janes Progress. Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale University Press, 1979. PDF file. Griesinger, Emily. Charlotte Bronts Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre. Christianity and Literature, vol. 58, no. 1, 2008, pp. 29â€Å"59. EBSCOhost, login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibburl=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login.aspx?direct=truedb=mzhAN=2008653303site=ehost-livescope=site. LaMonaca, Maria. Janes Crown of Thorns: Feminism and Christianity in Jane Eyre. Studies in the Novel, vol. 34, no. 3, 2002, pp. 245â€Å"63. EBSCOhost, login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibburl=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login.aspx?direct=truedb=mzhAN=2002532785site=ehost-livescope=site.
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