The Faces of Christianity: Helen Burns in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This is a mini series on Jane Eyre, one of the most well-known and well-loved Victorian novels. I’m going to look at four characters in this series, Mr Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, St John Rivers and Mr Rochester, specifically at their Christian worldview. Charlotte was the daughter of an Irish Anglican clergyman, she was a Christian herself and you can tell from the novel that she knew her bible well. Jane Eyre quotes and alludes to the passages in the bible more than almost any other novels I read. You might have a vague impression that Christians believe more or less the same things and one Christian would look similar to another. But Charlotte Brontë shows us in the novel that’s certainly not the case. We’ve looked at Mr Brocklehurst. Today we’re looking at Helen Burns.