JANE EYRE

JANE EYRE
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
GENRE : BILDUNGSROMAN, GOTHIC FICTION, ROMANCE NOVEL
FIRST PUBLISHED : 1847

“I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into it’s expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst it’s perils.” -- Jane Eyre.

Brontë's iconic novel of 1847, Jane Eyre, is subtitled ‘An Autobiography’. It is an example of a Bildungsroman: a work that traces the education and development of its heroine, and follows her journey through life. The text combines realism with fairy tale and Gothic motifs. 

During the Victorian era the ideal woman's life revolved around the domestic sphere of her family and the home. Middle class women were brought up to “be pure and innocent, tender and sexually undemanding, submissive and obedient”. A woman had no rights of her own and; she was expected to marry and become the servant of her husband. Few professions other than that of a governess were open to educated women of the time who needed a means to support themselves. Women were certainly not expected to be on a quest for own identity and aim to become independent such as the protagonist in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. When Brontë published Jane Eyre she used a pseudonym that did not reveal the sex of the author, the name she used was Currer Bell. Negative reviews started coming when it became known that there was a female author behind the name. To some critics it was inappropriate for a female writer to write such a passionate novel and to have some knowledge of sexuality.

The character Jane Eyre can be seen as an unconventional female of the time, she is passionate and with a strong urge to fight injustice. Passion and a hot temper in a woman were not appropriate at the time and had to be repressed. Jane fights convention by resisting the male dominance, on her quest for identity and independence she remains true to herself by putting herself first and caring for her own wellbeing, even though she is longing for love and kinship.

“I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.” -- Jane Eyre.

The novel starts at the Reeds, where Jane is a bullied, but rebellious, orphan, living with her cousins and her aunt. At the tender age of ten, Jane rises up against this treatment and tells them all exactly what she thinks of them. She’s punished by being locked in "the red room," the bedroom where her uncle died, and she has a hysterical fit when she thinks his ghost is appearing. The episode of the Red Room is important as it shows the maturation in young Jane.

“Do you think I am an automaton? a machine without feelings? And can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!–I have as much soul as you,–and full as much heart! " -- Jane Eyre

The next stage shows Jane sent sent to Lowood School, but her sufferings dont seem to come to am end. Jane befriends Helen Burns and soon becomes an excellent student. But unfortunately, her only friend dies. Burns had an impact on Jane's life and she considered her to be a role model. Helen taught Jane not to dwell on injustices of the past, to be happier in the present. In a sense Helen was like a mother figure for Jane.

“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.” -- Helen Burns

She eventually becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets her employer, Edward Rochester. Jane's relationship with Rochester, a Byronic figure, is complicated with a power imbalance being unequal on many points; he is twenty years older than her, more experienced, he is from a higher social group, he is rich and she is poor and he is her master, inequalities that were a major barrier at the time. Rochester and Jane seem to connect slowly, and soon enough Rochester proposes to Jane. Things seem to be alright, Jane finds her love and a person who respects her for who she is. 

"Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still.” –Mr. Rochester

But Rochester holds a dark secret, and Jane comes to know about his wife, Bertha, "The Madwoman in the Attic". Rochester had tried to live with Bertha as husband and wife, but she was too horrible, so he had locked her up at Thornfield. Jane is heartbroken and angry. The fact that she refuses to be his next mistress and runs away before she’s tempted to agree, shows how much respect she has for herself. Jane feared  staying there would undermine her independence and thinking.

"I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss" -- Jane Eyre.

Jane travels in a random direction and arrives at the Rivers family. They take whole-heartedly to Jane. Jane wants to earn her keep, so St. John arranges for her to become the teacher in a village girls’ school. Jane comes to know that her uncle has left his fortune to her. and that the Rivers siblings are actually Jane’s cousins. Jane's longing for kinship is finally completed. 

St. John,a pragmatist and her cousin, asks Jane to marry him and go with him to India. Jane offers to go, but just as his cousin, not as his wife. She tells St. John that if she marries him without love, he would perhaps kill her. Her clear idea of love shows how mature she is. When Jane goes back to Thornfield she finds out that Rochester searched for her everywhere and, when he couldn’t find her, sent everyone else away from the house and shut himself up alone. Bertha set the house on fire one night and  Rochester rescued all the servants and tried to save Bertha, too, but she committed suicide and now Rochester has lost an eye and a hand and is blind in the remaining eye.

Jane offers to take care of him as his nurse or housekeeper. What she really hopes is that he'll ask her to marry him—and he does. The fact that they marry in spite of circumstances shows their true love for each other. They have a quiet wedding, and after two years of marriage Rochester gradually gets his sight back. 

“Her coming was my hope each day,
Her parting was my pain;
The chance that did her steps delay
Was ice in every vein” ---Song sung by Mr. Rochester

The novel ends in a feel-good manner and the reader seems satisfied that Jane gets what she craved for since childhood, a family and love and respect. Finally, through her ordeals, she learns that she must be independent and happy and that she soon achieves to be.

"It is always the way of events in this life... no sooner have you got settled in a pleasant resting place, than a voice calls out to you to rise and move on, for the hour of repose is expired."