Confrontation between Apollo and Dionysus—Re-read of Jane Eyre

Abstract

Jane Eyre, the masterpiece of Charlotte Bronte, a famous British writer in the 19th century, is generally regarded as her autobiographical work, showing her “poetic life”. Jane Eyre, the protagonist of the novel, was orphaned at an early age and suffered a lot in her growing up. However, she pursued freedom and equality tirelessly, defended her personality and finally achieved her own happiness. In the process of creation, Charlotte Bronte is always in a dilemma, in order to let her passion and pursuit of the heart through the review of the patriarchal culture, she can only hide in the book, by creating a female image resisting and having to suppress her own inner passion to veil her ambiguous self and ambiguous attitude towards women passion. This article probes into Jane Eyre’s mind journey from the angle of the confrontation between the spirit of Apollo and the spirit of the Dionysus.