Book Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Rating: 10/10
Hello Book Dragons,
Today we are discussing Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I have had some kind of mental block when it came to this book. I did not pick it up for years despite planning to over and over again. I never understood what my block was, and I still do not. Now that I have read the book. While this book hasn’t beat out Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Great Expectations out of their top three spots on my list of classics it defiantly is close to the top. Granted I have many classics to read and to reread before that list will be definite.
Jane was a great heroine. While sometimes she was too pious and desperate to please for my linking, she still had a mind, desires, and will of her own. She didn’t hesitate to use those things either. There were a few moments I wanted to shout at her for being too forgiving, and a few moments she acted rashly but overall Jane is very much a great heroine. She appealed to me because I was that child sitting quietly in the corner with a book as well. I still am. I appreciated that she would rather hide behind the curtains in a gathering/ social citation than interact with other humans. Yes, Jane, other humans are the worst. Keep the books, ready girl.
I am now heading into SPOILER LAND because I don’t know how people do spoiler-free book reviews. Seriously? How do they do it? Please, someone, come tell me. This book has been out for over a hundred years, so technically the rules say I’m allowed to get away with not giving a Spoiler Land warning. But I’m being nice. You have a SPOILER LAND heads up.
Okay, we start with baby Jane being treated like absolute crap. This poor girl is the punching bag of everyone in that house. I’m sorry! This is your family! Maybe have some compassion and decency? I just don’t understand the people who can help and chose to be absolute assholes about it. This happens a lot in classics because apparently when you are a poor relation, a person of color, or a different religion you are not human and thus are treated like shit. Jane gets beaten up by her little shitface cousin (who later dies so Karma at least got him) because she was reading “his” books. Excuse me bitch, she lives in the house and those are the books of the house. You did nothing to contribute to their acquisition. I was cheating on Jane as she beat up the little turd face. Then adults had to go and ruin it. Her stupid aunt. Also, who has a giant red room? Like all red? Everything in it is red? Why would you put a dying person ina red room? That is the least calming color, or so I have been told by people who are not color blind, and you put a dying man in there? I think you’re trying to make your dying husband suffer ma’am.
Jane gets sent off to boarding school and on one hand, I’m cheering for her because I would love to just study in the middle of the English countryside. Honestly, it’s a dream of mine. But on the other hand, this school doesn’t have any heat and the headmaster is an absolute hypocrite. I think he and her aunt will end up sharing a torture chamber in hell. The torture will be enduring each other’s company. There we meet Helen, and while I found myself rolling my eyes at Helen at her spoutings and moral lessons, Jane loved her. I mean she had to be torn off her dead body. If that was me I would run away screaming from a dead body. Dead bodies, even of those I love, are not for me. I also find it ironic that Jane was so terrified to be in a room where her uncle died but had to be pulled off someone else’s dead body. The girl needs therapy.
After this series of unfortunate events, we skip over the next eight years of Jane’s life because nothing happens according to her. Well, that’s a matter of opinion but okay. We pick the story back up when jane decides she’s done with the school and there is a world out there. I am not sure how she expected this to go but I think it went much better than she expected, she also got lucky not to be a victim of a hoax. Anyone can answer an advertisement in a paper, and they don’t have to be honest. So good on you Jane for actually finding a valid job. Jane packs her bags and skedaddles off to Thornfield. Take me with you, Jane! I want to move to an isolated manor house in northern England with beautiful gardens and a giant library.
Once Jane gets there things are not how she expected them to be. If I was Jane I’d be suspicious. I have a suspicious nature. But this is victorian England and if someone looks respectable that’s good enough. There are no background checks. What would a Victorian background check look like anyway? I might have to find out.ANyhow Jnane rolls with it and seems to be enjoying herself for the most part and then Mr. Rochester shows up. I did love their first meeting I have to say. First of all his dog likes her right off because he comes to her wagging his tail. Second of all, he calls her a witch because she just appeared out of the mist and the visual is just… perfection. Jane seems to be done with his theatrics from the start. She is a practical soul and his random thoughts when they meet are no appreciated. There are more important things to focus on. Jane can be fanciful when she’s done benign practical.
I have a lot of feelings about Mr. Rochester. I keep telling myself that there is only one Mr. Darcy and I need to stop expecting other men in classic literature to live up to him. The closest one was Mr. Knightly, and he too was a jane Austen invention. Jane Austen just had good taste in men. Mr. Rochester is far from the worst of the so-called romantic heroes but I was still ready to smack him with a book on multiple occasions. He is very good at gaslighting. Jane while conscious of her position in life is not stupid and she has a backbone and that is just irresistible to him. But instead of asking her to take walks with him he throws a house party and pretends to be interested in another woman. Then he dresses up as a gypsy fortune teller. I don’t even know where to start with that. Why? Why do you feel the need to dress up as a gypsy fortune teller? Someone come to explain it to me. I understand if he had like to uncover a murder plot or something, but he just wanted to spy on his guests and jane. I cant. Sir, you need some more tea. Jane shares my sentiments but whereas would stay angry and keep throwing this in his face. She lets it go and moves on thus proving that she is a better person than me.
I also keep thinking about the age difference b3etween the two. Rochester obviously loves jane but he is also about twenty years older than she is. That’s just a bit too much for me considering that she is nineteen. I keep telling myself that it’s not a huge deal because she’s okay with it but then I think of the fact that he has his wife locked up in an attic and is replacing her with someone who technically could be the age of his children. you know this is why I appreciated My Plain Jane by the Lady Janies so much. it fixed these problematic issues for me while still giving me the story. I’ll have to do a reread soon.
There are other things I have issues with, like the fact that he keeps his wife locked up in the attic and pretends she doesn’t exist. I read various articles on this and while I would love to get into it I am not going to because I still really loved this element of the story. She just walked around the house in the dark setting things on fire. Like her husband for example. I am sorry but that is a mood. If he locked me up in the attic I would try to set him on fire too. What do you mean that’s an overreaction? I would also stab the brother that lets me stay locked up. Like sir, that’s your sister. Take some fucking responsibility for her well being. Both Rochester and Jane point out he is a weak man, and I agree with their assessment. At least Rochester took responsibility, although his choice was no at all the right one.
I have a few more issues, like the fact that he judged his mistress so harshly when he was the one who wanted her to be his mistress. Don’t act like you are blameless and a victim. Because that will not fly. His attitude towards Adele also was not my favorite. He assumes she’s an idiot. I don’t think she’s an idiot. She’s a small child who is learning English still. She might not be as serious as Jane but she is not stupid. I am also a firm believer that if you don’t want a child to grow up stupid you can’t treat them like they are. At least he didn’t leave her to starve on the streets of Paris to starve. That’s all the credit I am willing to give. Yes, I am a harsh critic.
Then we get to Jane getting the news that her dying bitch of an aunt wants to see her. She goes off course. I would go too, just out of curiosity. And also to get away from the awkwardness that was Rochester’s contrived house party. I mean really what is that all about Rochester? Jane goes off on her journey, and we get to find out her turd face cousin died. And we all cheer. Her female cousins are super weird and whiney. We don’t like them. Well, I mostly don’t like them. I also feel sorry for them. Their mother seems like an absolute nightmare to grow up with. Then we get to see the aunt and I had to laugh because Karma exists. Jane is once again a better person than me because she genuinely feels sorry for the woman. She forgives her on the spot. Jane would be a nice friend and I would be a vindictive friend. Jane might think she’s not as good as Helen, but I would have just thrown Helen in a pond or something when she started preaching at me. The girl was dying of tuberculosis so she grew up knowing that she would die eventually, but that did not mean she had to preach moral lessons at other people. I’d have liked her better if she was more relaxed about things. This paragraph demonstrates once again why my reviews are so long. I keep jumping trains of thought.
Anyhow, Jane’s aunt ends up confessing that she never sent Jane letters from her uncle who was looking for her. Excuse me? How dare you? Those are not yours! And your justification was that you didn’t want Jane to get an inheritance? Lady, you are going to hell despite what you think. And you told the man that Jane died? What the actual fuck? I can’t with these people. You wanted Jane out of your hair, so she was out of your hair. How difficult would it be to give an address and ensure she would be out of your hair forever? Well, Jane gets over this news quickly and spends the next month helping everyone out. No one is properly grateful.
Jane finally comes back as in love with Rochester as ever fully expecting to find him engaged or married by now. Instead, she finds him moping around the garden wondering why Jane isn’t back yet and if she doesn’t like him back. Cute. They get talking and the next thing we know he askes Jane to marry him although he’s already married. If I didn’t know that bit I might have thought it a romantic spontaneous gesture. As I do know that he’s already married I found myself making outraged squawking sounds. Jane agrees immediately. She’s so happy. She has no idea he’s, you know, a liar. I keep hearing John Mulaney saying “And I said no. you know like a liar.” He keeps their engagement on the down-low and asks her not to tell anyone just yet. He also wants to get married as quickly as possible.
The night before her wedding Jane has a terrifying experience. Her dress and veil are slashed to ribbons by someone. We know it was the locked up wife, but she still has no idea. She tells Rochester and he blames the nurse. In what universe does that make any sense? I guess jane just wants to believe him so she accepts the ridiculous explanation. She puts up with a lot from him and while I admire her dedication I wish she would just tell him he’s spouting gibberish. I also enjoyed that jane refused to let Rochester buy her all new things. They had arguments about it and I enjoyed those arguments. I can just tell that all her life Jane would be telling Rochester to sit down. Anyhow it’s finally the wedding day. They go to church. Everything is going great.
And then we get to the objections part of the ceremony and things to go hell in a handbasket. (where does that saying come from?)
Someone does object. Rochester’s brother in law in fact. Rochester is shocked that someone outed him as a married man on his wedding day. I mean legitimately shocked. SIr! What did you think would happen? How did you imagine this would go? Mr. Rochester proceeds to give a self-pitying speech all while Jane stands there shocked. If I was her… I don’t know what I would do in her place. He whisks everyone back to Thornfield and jane whisks herself away to her room and locks herself in. I approve of Jane. Oh, wait we get to meet the wife first. She’s described as looking insane. Well, she’s allowed because she’s locked up in an attic. Who’s going to judge her? I also would not have been shocked if Jane tried to set Rochester on fire herself after this. Yeah, so it’s after Rochester tries to make everyone feel sorry for him, instead of the poor woman he’s got in the attic, that jane locks herself away in her room to think. She is absolutely shocked as well she might be.
Rochester and Jane have a super dramatic conversation in the library in the middle of the night. This is the only proper way to have dramatic conversations in my opinion. Rochester tries to convince jane they can just go to Italy and live happily pretending to be married. Jane is not about that because the girl has self-respect and she knows it’s a legal marriage or nothing. She also makes an interesting point. She thinks to herself that if she agrees to Rochester’s idea he would not feel about her the same way and would lose all respect for her. I had to put the book down for a moment after reading this because it is such an astute statement. Rochester is fundamentally a judgemental man, and he just can’t help himself. Jane knows him well and loves him despite his flaws so it works in the end but she also knows exactly what not to do.
So her rational decision is to run away in the middle of the night with hardly andy money and just her original possessions. She ends up wandering in the moors penniless with no food and with no way to ask for help. Jane for someone so smart you have not made the smartest decision. Luckily for Jane, she stumbles upon a house full of charitable people willing to take her in. The sisters seem nice, even though I already forgot their names. Mary? I don’t know. I think the w was a Mary. They also have a brother and I wanted to throw said brother under the proverbial bus. Sadly there were no buses in 1847 for me to throw him under but maybe a horse-drawn carriage could do the job… I’ll add this to my list o things to research. The FBI really has a great time tracking my search history.
Here is my issue. I am not a fan of the white man who wants to be a martyr by going off and sacrificing himself to save the savages. China dd just fine without the invasion of the white man for thousands of years thank you. No one wants you there. Luckily we got a note in the last chapter that he has, in fact, caught something and is dying much to his delight. I’m sure no one will care about him after his sisters die. Anyway back to the chronology of the story.
StJohn offers jane a job which she takes because she’s not dumb when not heartbroken. She gets to be a schoolmistress. She utilizes her skills much more than she did teaching Adele I have to admit. Her comments on the peasants were pissing me off though. She just assumes they are all stupid. I mean that was the belief of the time but I don’t care for it. People’s “role” in life has nothing to do with their intelligence and capacity to learn. Jane comes to see this a little bit but never truly gets over her idea that commoners can never be as smart as the noble class. we l jane the noble class gave themselves a lot of genetic disorders by inbreeding so maybe they should rethink that whole intelligence thing. Queen Victoria was married to her first cousin by now. Her first cousin! And granted it was Victoria all by herself who introduced hemophilia to most of the royal families in Europe (the gene spontaneously appeared first with her), and Albert was just there, but still. What was I talking about again?
Oh yes. Jane keeps trying to convince StJohn to ask a girl he’s in love with to marry him but he’s being an annoying jerk and refuses because she’s too good for what he wants a wife for. At this point, I back over him with my imaginary carriage. Someone mentions their uncle left them no money and everyone is sad. Than jane accidentally signs something with her actual name and she’s the person who got left all the money! Yay Jane is rich. Jane overjoyed at having a family she likes and who like her immediately splits the money with them. I get her giving the girls money but StJohn can go fuck right off. But Jane is much nicer than I am as previously stated. It is then that StJohn asks Jane to marry him because “she was made for labor”. Excuse me? How dare you. Just leave already and die. Jane says she’’ go with him only if they go as a family and not as a married couple. He just can’t believe she told him no. he really can’t. How could someone tell him no! He is an average man after all, and thus no woman can resist him if she is sane. Oh, do I ever have news for you. This goes on for a while. I am not enjoying myself any more than Jane is.
The next thing we know Jane is hearing a voice calling her in the night and she decides she must go check on Mr. Rochester. When she gets to Thronfild she finds it in ruins. She finds out that the wife got out of the attic again, and succeeded in setting the house on fire. Then she jumped off the roof because once you get revenge there is nothing left to live for. Jane skims over this detail and wants to know if Rochester was okay. She’s told he lived but was not okay. Jane goes to find him once again. When she does the other household members are thrilled to see her. She finds out Rochester lost a hand, is burned and blind. While jane feels bad for him, because this really limits his anatomy in life, she is thrilled for herself because she feels like he will finally need her in his life. Girl, I’d rather my man wanted me in his life, which Rochester already did. I think her whole life just makes her feel that she has to be needed to be wanted. You are worth more Jane!
She goes to see him and has a little too much fun while he is in disbelief that she came back. I mean I get it… but also Helen would not approve. Soon enough they confess their love for each other. Rochester points out that he’s no longer whole for her, and I cry. She then assures him it doesn’t matter to her, and that she loves him and not his exterior. I cry again. She also tells him she now feels like she has something to bring to the relationship. In her eyes, this made them more equal. I love equal partnership. She also tells him she found some cousins, and inheritance while on the run from him. He gets super jealous that StJohn proposed to her, and she lets him. I mean sometimes it’s nice to know your man appreciates you like that. I just hate this casual attitude about cousins marrying. I’m glad we got over that being acceptable. The last chapter is my favorite because it gives me all the things I wanted. Jane is happy. She and Rochester are living their best lives. Her cousins are happy. StJohn got his wish and caught something that will kill him soon. I wanted all these things to happen. It was a really satisfactory ending and I sighed with satisfaction.
This book was great. I really loved it. It did a lot of things right, and it also did a lot of questionable things. I did not love the wife in the attic. I did not love Rochester lying his behind off at eerie opportunity. I didn’t love the age difference. I hated StJohn with a burning passion of a thousand stars. These things did not detract from the book for me at all added to the experience and gave me things to talk about (frantically checks word count of this review so far) 3700 words. The book is going in my list of top ten favorite classics. Maybe I’ll make a list one of these days. Or maybe I’ll make a list after I read a few more classics I promised myself I would read. Who knows. We are free spirits in here.
Alright, we are OUT OF SPOILER LAND. we are OUT. it is safe to return.
If you have not read this book yet and enjoy gothic fiction with a good if not perfect relationship at the center of the story you will like this book and should go read it. If you like quiet bookworms who come out on top you will like this book. If you like the most over the top dramatic men you will like this book. If you like happy endings you will like this book.
There is so much in this story. I, being the nerd that I am, went to research it and found a whole mountain of information. If you enjoy research and analysis check out some databases. I would also like to say that I was on the side of the locked-up wife most of the time, but I can’t hate jane as she didn’t do it. and I can’t hate Rochester either even though I want to. oh, the beauty of complicated characters. But when in doubt set the mansion on fire everyone!
This review took a really long time, the schedule hs once again been thrown out the window. I will see you all next time hopefully sometime soon. I gave up on expecting my brain to behave.
Goodbye Book Dragons,
Anna
