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3 General
The early sequences, in which the orphaned Jane is sent to Lowood, a harsh boarding school and witnesses the death of a close friend, Helen Burns, are based on the author's own experiences - two of her sisters died in childhood as a result of the conditions at their school, the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge . They contain some of the most devastating prose in the English language.
As an aside, some speculate that Rochester's wife, Bertha, the daughter of a Jamaican planter, is emphatically characterised as being in an advanced stage of syphilitic infection: e.g. "her vices sprang up fast and rank", "her excesses had prematurely developed the germs of insanity", etc. This would necessarily entail that Rochester was also syphilitic, a train of logical consequences which Miss Brontë fails to follow to the conclusion. However, others think that the "mad wife" is merely a plot contrivance, in place to force Jane to make a very difficult decision and to teach her a valuable lesson about herself ("I have no family or friends, who cares what happens to me? Who cares if I breach moral and ethics? --- I care. I matter.") Bertha Mason is more a powerful symbol than an actual medical case. Also, it is clearly stated that Bertha was not faithful in her marriage.
Despite this, and other incoherences within the novel, it is nevertheless an outstanding and compelling novel which is deserving of its position proximate to the pinnacle of English literature.
The narrative voice is very strong and convincing. Jane is an unconventional protagonist, both in thoughts and actions.
As already mentioned above, this novel has many thematic and stylistic similarities with Villette. One is the protagonist's predujice against French (school)girls, who are contrasted with English girls. English girls are described as morally and intellectually superior.
The chilling scenes featuring Rochester's first wife have inspired many mystery writers, one of the most obvious spin-offs being Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. A thematic "prequel" about Bertha, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), was the most successful novel by Jean Rhys. Another, more recent, use of 'Jane Eyre' has been in The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. In 2002, Sharon Shinn published a science fiction novel adapted from the plot of Jane Eyre, Jenna Starborn .
4 Quotes
- "I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt as long as I live" (Ch 4)
- "Women are supposed to be very calm generally; but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex." (Ch 12)
- "I think he was swearing, but am not certain; however, he was pronouncing some formula which prevented him from replying to me directly." (Ch 12)
- “'It’s a mere rehearsal of Much Ado about Nothing. Ladies, keep off, or I shall wax dangerous.'” (Rochester, Ch 20)
- "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself" (Ch 27)
- "'I scorn your idea of love,' I could not help saying, as I rose up and stood before him, leaning my back aginst the rock. 'I scorn the counterfeit sentiment you offer; yes, St. John, and I scorn you when you offer it.'" (Ch 34)
- "I recalled the voice I had heard; again I questioned whence it came, as vainly as before; it seemed in me--not in the external world. I asked, was it a mere nervous impression--a delusion? I could not conceive or believe: it was more like an inspiration." (Ch 36)
- "Reader, I married him." (Ch 38)
5 External links
1847 books Victorian novels
