"Jane Eyre" and A Picture of Dorian Gray's emphasis on individual morality.

It is important to read Jane Eyre and A Picture of Dorian Gray in order to catch the subtle messages about the importance of individual morality. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte provides readers with a message that morality is a manner of acting, rather than speaking. Bronte uses satire to illustrate how religion preached but not followed is useless. The first example of this comes while Jane is at Gateshead. "God will punish her: he …

…a fresh impulse of joy that we would... return to Hellenic ideal- to something finer, richer, than the Hellenic ideal."(Wilde13) and Dorian does not rebut this or even respond to it. He tells Lord Henry to stop, to give him time to think, and then modifies that. "Let me try not to think" he says.(Wilde14) Influence does not allow Dorian to develop and individual morality and as a result, his character never develops.