The Correlation Between Biblical Allusions and Romantic Relationships in Brontë’s Novel Jane Eyre Anonymous 12th Grade

From Romeo and Juliet to Cinderella and Prince Charming, there are a few romantic couples whose stories have been echoed time and time again throughout literature and film. Famous pairs such as these have love tales so well-known that nearly every fictional love story contains some element of them, and some stories have even been given modern renditions, including Disney’s three different versions of modern Cinderella, all featuring a different brunette forced to live in her stepmother’s garden shed. However, in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, Jane uses famous Biblical couples rather than fictional ones to illustrate her relationship with Mr. Rochester. From Samson and Delilah to God and his children, the progression of Biblical couples alluded to mirrors the progression of Jane and Rochester’s relationship going from hopeful to doomed to hopeful once again. After following a series of characterizations as different Biblical pairs, Jane and Rochester’s relationship becomes obviously unequal when it takes on the form of man’s relationship with God and is only able to become balanced again once Jane’s idolized view of Rochester is severed and she can finally see him as an equal.

Jane and Rochester’s relationship initially...