Susannah Clements 27 that serve only to puff ourselves up. Because Brocklehurst is one of the earliest H[DPSOHV RI D &KULVWLDQ LQ -DQHœV OLIH KLV K\SRFULV\ KDV VHULRXV FRQVHTXHQFHV RQ her attitude toward Christianity as a whole, something else that we can see is consistently true in our lives and communities. 7KXV ZKLOH %URFNOHKXUWœV Christianity is clearly a negative portrait, it still reflects Biblical truth. Not until Jane meets and befriends Helen Burns does she realize that Christianity does not have to be SDLUHG ZLWK K\SRFULV\ DQG +HOHQœV VLQFHUH DQG FRPSDVVLRQDWH IDLWK LV DQ HVVHQWLDO LQIOXHQFH RQ -DQHœV JURZLQJ V\PSDWK\ ZLWK &KULVWLDQ SULQFLSOHV Another example of religion that initially seems negative but actually UHIOHFWV &KULVWLDQ WUXWK LV %URQWsœV Sortrayal of spiritual despair. Her depiction of -DQHœV ORZHVW SRLQW SRZHUIXOO\ H[HPSOLILHV KRZ ZH DV KXPDQV DQG DV &KULVWLDQV experience Dark Nights of the Soul. On the eve of her wedding to Rochester, after discovering the secret Rochester has been hiding throughout their entire relationship, a secret that destroys her happiness, Jane retreats to her room and reflects: My eyes were covered and closed: eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and reflection came in as black and confused a flow. Self-abandoned, relaxed, and effortless, I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river; I heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, and felt the torrent come: to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength. I lay faint; longing to be dead. One idea only still throbbed life-like within me²a remembrance of God: it begot an unuttered prayer: these words went wandering up and down in my rayless mind, as something that should be whispered; but no energy was found to express them:² ³%H QRW Iar from me, for trouble is near: there is none to KHOS ´
Certainly, any Christian (any person) who has experienced such deep despair can FRQQHFW WR -DQHœV IHHOLQJV LQ WKLV PRPHQW DQG -DQHœV UHIHUHQFH WR WKH 3VDOP LV one of the most noteworthy aspects of the passage. Through the voice of Jane, BrontÍ often quotes and alludes to passages from the Bible and traditional Christian works like 3LOJULPœV 3URJUHVV. This characteristic is one of the reasons Christian students get so excited about the novel²WKH %LEOLFDO UHIHUHQFHV FDVW LW DV ULFK IRU &KULVWLDQ H[SORUDWLRQ %URQWsœV use of the Bible is not straightforward, however. %DUU\ 4XDOOV QRWHV WKDW -DQHœV choice of this language from the Psalms exemplifies her state of being: she is confused at this SRLQW LQ KHU MRXUQH\ DQG VKH KDV QR QDUUDWLYH RQO\ ³SRHWLF SUHVHQW´ 5REHUW -DPHV 0HUUHWW FODLPV WKDW WKH 3VDOP KHOSV KHU WR ³H[SUHVV KHU GHVSDLU´ However, the point of the passage is not that Jane turns to the Psalm in her time of need as we understand Christians should do²rather, it is that Jane cannot turn to Psalm 22, to the whole Bible, or even to God. Notice that before she quotes the verse from the Psalm, she explains that she wants to express the sentiment but cannot. While this may be an example of how BrontÍ refuses to