Two universal themes that are found in the novel, Jane Eyre, are love and appearances. Love and relationships are found throughout the novel. Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester while living with him and all it truly caused her was a lot of pain. Though by the end of the book, she is back with him and they live happily together for the rest of their lives. The book also deals with false love, such as the “love” St. John Rivers has for Jane. He obviously did not have any true feelings for Jane besides the fact that he thought she’d make a good missionary wife. Having love as a theme of a novel is good because love is in almost everyone’s lives, or at least it should be. Having it as a theme helps people relate to it better and thus understand the book more.
The other universal theme found in this novel is appearances. The book constantly talked about how plain, or even ugly (in comparison to others), Jane was. There was a lot of diversity between the way people appeared throughout the book. For example, while Jane was at Lowood, the girls of the school wore plain, dull clothes, and no one really had a chance to be different. Except in Brocklehurst, the women were all dolled up and pretty. The novel shows us this diversity to explain how external appearances keep people from expressing their true identity from the inside. Jane obviously feels that if she obsesses over looks, she’ll lose herself in the process. This is a good theme to have because many people deal with their looks, thinking that it is the most important thing, while it is truly not.
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