{"id":556,"date":"2020-10-08T17:47:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T17:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/?p=556"},"modified":"2020-10-08T17:47:06","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T17:47:06","slug":"gradations-of-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/2020\/10\/08\/gradations-of-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Gradations of Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world:\u00a0 but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain, – the impalpable principle of light and thought, pure as when it left the Creator to inspire the creature:\u00a0 whence it came it will return; perhaps again to be communicated to some being higher than man \u2013 perhaps to pass through gradations of glory, from the pale human soul to brighten to the seraph!\u00a0 Surely it will never, on the contrary, be suffered to degenerate from man to fiend?\u00a0 No, I cannot believe that:\u00a0\u00a0 I hold another creed:\u00a0 which no one ever taught me, and which I seldom mention; but in which I delight, and to which I cling:\u00a0 for it extends hope to all:\u00a0 it makes Eternity a rest \u2013 a mighty home, not a terror and an abyss.\u00a0 Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last:\u00a0 with this creed revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low:\u00a0 I live in calm, looking to the end. (p. 49)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Why does the author place this passage here so early in the story and so early in Jane\u2019s life? And why does she use the voice of such a young child to explain these profound thoughts?\u00a0 Why again, as in Oliver Twist\u2019s<\/u> Dick, do we have a child so focused on his final home when he should have the whole of life before him?<\/p>\n

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In Religious Belief in Jane Eyre,<\/em> Mary Schwingen writes \u201cBront\u00eb also undermines Helen’s absolute and self-abnegating religious beliefs. Jane’s questions may not plant any seeds of doubt within Helen, but the reader would be hard-pressed to miss her point. Helen and, later, St. John Rivers seek happiness in Heaven; Jane is determined to find hers here on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I partially agree with the author\u2019s statement, but I think Bront\u00eb is saying more and \u201chappiness\u201d is too shallow a word to describe what awaits us in the \u201cmighty home\u201d. Helen is sharing her view that life is too short to harbor feelings of resentment, that we should leave redemption to the Creator.\u00a0 Yes, the final resting place will be Heaven, but she is trying to teach Jane how to live her life to the fullest here on earth.\u00a0 She is giving guidance on how to separate the crime from the criminal, how to manage injustice which will always be present on earth.\u00a0 She is providing guidance to Jane, how to put in perspective, wrongs which she will surely encounter.<\/p>\n

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As a result, Jane is strengthened. She challenges Helen but Helen\u2019s being so grounded in her faith provides assurance to Jane for the future.\u00a0 Jane continues to be focused on justice, but her view does change, and she is subsequently able to forgive both Mrs. Reed and Mr. Rochester.<\/p>\n

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The passage, then, foreshadows the wrongs that will be committed by many throughout the novel with the author\u2019s continuous assertion that redemption will be predominant. The language used is also a precursor to what will evolve later in the novel: Helen speaks of \u201cdegeneration\u201d from \u201cman to fiend\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cDegeneration\u201d is the process that Mr. Rochester uses to describe his wife turning into a monster.\u00a0 But it also describes his slow moral decline and as such his need for Jane to bring about his redemption.<\/p>\n

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Man and sin are undivided but seen through the Creator\u2019s eyes, there is nothing that is not redeemable and we are given this view, this lens, early on in the novel to set a framework for how Jane may then interpret justice and sin. Looking toward a better place, a home, eternal rest where untouchable principles of thought and light and purity reside, there is no need to hold on to resentment or injustice in this world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world:\u00a0 but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall … Continue reading Gradations of Glory<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4449,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2020"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4449"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/19thcennovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}