一般认为简·爱是一个自由与平等的精神追求者。笔者以为由于地位悬殊,简与罗切斯特之间一直处于一种征服与反征服的状态之中;她从桑菲尔德府出走似乎是为了逃离父权统治,寻求精神上的独立,但更是她迫于法律和社会习俗压力的无奈之举,从因果关系来看,或许这是她以退为进的一种策略;她最终实现社会地位的逆转,成为女主人,与她的个人奋斗不无关系,但主要还是得益于其叔叔的遗赠,即经济状况是她社会地位提升的决定性因素。因此,与其说简是一个自由与平等的精神追求者,不如说她是一个对社会下层和权威态度暧昧不明,通过权力算计和外来经济援助获得成功的女性。基于对当时社会、历史和文化语境的考察,《简·爱》可看作一部反映19世纪中叶社会实用主义自我教育观的成长小说。 It is generally believed that Jane Eyre is a spiritual pursuit of freedom and equality. The author thinks that Jane’s relationship with Rochester has always been in a state of conquest and anti-conquest because of her status; she seems to have fled from Thornfield to escape from the rule of patriarchy and seek spiritual independence, but even more forced by her Law and social customs of the pressure of helpless move, from a causal point of view, perhaps this is her retreat into a strategy; she eventually realized the reversal of social status, a hostess, and her personal struggle are not unrelated, But mainly due to the bereavement of her uncle, that economic status is the decisive factor in her promotion of her social status. Therefore, rather than being a free and equal spiritual pursuer, Jane is less a woman who has ambiguous attitudes toward lower levels of society and authority, succeeded through the calculation of power and foreign economic aid. Based on the investigation of social, historical and cultural contexts at that time, Jane Eyre can be regarded as a growing novel that reflects the concept of social pragmatism self-education in the mid-19th century.