r/JaneEyre

I noticed from social media etc that the Jane / Rochester romance gets a LOT of hate from contemporary observers and for a brief moment I also thought Mr Rochester was toxic and why did Jane marry him. I have read Wide Sargasso Sea and enjoyed it very much as a standalone novel but let's be frank it had nothing really to do with the plot and characters of Jane Eyre so the Bertha Mason situation should not be based on that book.

One thing that is made SO clear from the very beginning of the book is that human affection has a high claim on Jane. She always strives for a real and true intellectual and emotional connection and can only find that with a few people, first Helen Burns, then Mr Rochester, then her cousins at Moor House.

So first, let's be frank about her situation. By the end of the novel she is financially independent but not wildly rich because she split her fortune. She can only ever live a comfortable life, she wouldn't have a job and her cousins will marry. She could maybe marry someone respectable and nice but with whom she has no real 'fellow feeling', a concept very important to her.

The beauty of Mr Rochester's and Jane's relationship is that they fully SEE each other. I think when you're in your twenties you might think this is easy to find. It is NOT. They are both highly unusual, unconventional and have intellects that traverse different planes from most around them. Can you imagine how terribly lonely that could make you, especially in the 19th century. I'm sorry but for all his toxic traits (massively overblown except the deception part, but the wife in the attic is the least problematic given mental health institutions at the time IMHO) Mr Rochester always treats Jane with intellectual and emotional EQUALITY. He does not try to subdue her spirit like St John does. He loves her free spirit, and unconventional mind. He even states clearly that he would still love her if she became mad.

He becomes purified by his suffering and truly repents.

It may be unrealistic but GODDAM in the horrible digital age of dating wouldn't many of us be so happy to find someone who sees us and wants our spirit to be free? Even if you don't like the character of Mr Rochester you have to see that there was no-one else for Jane and she is a lover girl who was not destined to live alone.

There is currently a best book vote between Harry Potter 1 and The Hobbit. Guess what? The Hobbit is currently losing!! Help me vote for it so that it can surpass Harry Potter.

Hello All,

I have written an adaptation that is truly an adaptation; it's faithful to the story and spirit of the book, but I've focused on the community of women and the way they reflect and project Jane's feelings. I'm including my statement of purpose at the end of my questions in case you want to see more specifically what I'm talking about. I have a couple of questions that you, as lovers of the book, might answer.

So without further adieu:

1. One of my biggest hurdles is the Moor House section with St. John. It is such an essential obstacle for Jane to finally leave. I'm far more interested in linking her behavior to her character rather than contextualizing the reason for her staying in the time period and the few choices women had. She knows that she's extreme, either seeking approval or going for rebellion, so her needing for St. John's approval is understandable. It's just that he's so dislikable! Does anyone have thoughts on that?

2. I've set up the play in a way that makes it clear that Rochester wishes he knew how Jane feels about him and that his dressing as the gypsy is about infiltrating the community of women. The book makes it fairly clear that Jane doesn't know Rochester is the gypsy until fairly late in their conversation. What do you think it would do if we thought that Jane knows early on? Also, what do you make of the gypsy scene.

Thank you so much. I'm working on finding resources on some initial workshopping of the play, which will definitely be a developing process.

Jenny

Here is my statement of purpose:

My adaptation of Jane Eyre focuses on Jane’s central relationships with Bertha and the other women who populate the worlds Jane moves in. The community of  women project her anger, sense of injustice, and desire for selfhood while also playing foils to those feelings. While Jane rages at Aunt Reed, the girls of Lowood School destroy their classroom and Bertha shreds her guitar alone in her prison attic, all expressing fury with their individual lives.  Using bold movement and dance, humor and occasional commentary from Charlotte Bronte, this adaptation invites an audience to see Jane both as exceptional and themselves

Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are two of my favorite books of all time. I know they are very different novels, with different plotlines, styles, characterization, and narration, but I could still notice many interesting parallels between them.

Let me think of a few examples:

1) Products of Romanticism: Although they were written during the Victorian period, both novels are products of Romanticism. We know that Charlotte and Emily Bronte were greatly influenced by the Romantic poets (Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge) and their ideas. Their influence can be seen in all of their works.

Charlotte and Emily Bronte were also forerunners of Gothic fiction, and both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are, in my opinion, perfect Gothic Romances. This is why I find it strange when people say that we are not supposed to find the relationships in these books romantic because they are dark or unconventional. Is that not the point? The creepiness and shock factor of it is exactly what makes the romances Gothic. It is also why their male leads are perfect for their stories.

2) Byronic heroes: Edward and Heathcliff are both Byronic heroes. Both are dark, brooding, strong and masculine. Both are tormented by their past. They love passionately, hate fiercely, and allow their passions to consume them. Yet I would argue that Edward has a much stronger moral compass than Heathcliff. Edward feels guilt and shame, acknowledges when he errs, and seeks forgiveness. Heathcliff lives outside the world of morality. In his world, there is no distinction between right and wrong. He does what he wants without feeling a hint of remorse.

3) Fatal flaws and repeating the suffering inflicted upon them: Both Edward and Heathcliff have fatal flaws, and both try to inflict upon others what was inflicted upon them. Edward was deceived and manipulated by his family into a miserable marriage that ruined his life. Yet later, he is willing to deceive Jane into a bigamous marriage. Heathcliff was abused and treated like a monster by everyone around him. In the end, he becomes a monster himself and enjoys inflicting the same suffering upon others.

4) Unloved and abused orphan: Both novels feature an unloved and abused orphan. Jane Eyre and Heathcliff are mocked, beaten, and treated as inferiors because they lack the status others have. They are made to feel ugly. They are locked away when the adults around them find them troublesome. Jane suffers because she is poor. Heathcliff suffers because he is poor and also, an outsider with mysterious origins.

5) Bad parenting and parental favoritism: It is quite evident. In Jane Eyre, Mrs Reed favors John Reed, who then uses his position to abuse Jane. I think this favoritism is mostly what makes him the person he becomes, and also leads to resentment between him and his sisters. In Wuthering Heights, Mr. Earnshaw openly favors Heathcliff over his own son, Hindley. This makes Hindley spiteful towards Heathcliff, creating a rivalry between them that eventually destroys both.

6) The role of the household servant: Since Jane and Heathcliff are orphans, the household servants (Bessie and Nelly) become motherly figures in their childhood. Bessie's love for Jane is flawed, but she does show occasional moments of kindness. Nelly raises Heathcliff, but unlike Bessie, she does so more out of Christian duty, and has no genuine love in her heart for him.

7) Gothic elements: Both novels share many Gothic similarities - dark secrets, haunted house, moors, volatile weather, obsession, death, madness, suffering, cruelty, and violence.

8) Passion beyond human reasoning: This is another similarity I find in both the novels. The love between Jane and Edward, and more so between Heathcliff and Catherine, has a supernatural or metaphysical quality in them. In Jane Eyre, Edward has a strong connection to Jane. He tells her that the cord between them will snap if she leaves him, and that he will bleed inwardly. When Jane does leave, he is completely shattered. He is almost suicidal and begs God to take him to Jane. Then, Jane hears his voice calling her from miles away, and she suddenly has a premonition that he is in some terrible danger, and she returns to help him. Wuthering Heights takes this connection even further. Heathcliff begs Catherine's ghost to haunt him until he dies. He even digs up her grave to embrace her, because he cannot bear the separation. It is almost as if the Brontes were trying to tell us about the idea of soulmates - two people whose connection is so strong that it goes beyond human reasoning, and even beyond physical separation.

9) Rebellion against class snobbery: They also feature a rebellion against class snobbery. Jane is a poor, plain orphan, but she refuses to let people of a higher social position look down on her or treat her as inferior. She stands her ground and demands to be treated as an equal. Heathcliff is also an orphan who is always reminded of his inferior position, and instead of accepting the unjust treatment, he is determined to destroy the very class that looked down on him and abused him.

10) Contrast between two houses: There is a contrast between the two houses in both the books. In Jane Eyre, Thornfield Hall represents the dark, dangerous, and passionate life Jane could have with Edward. While at Moor House, Jane would have a more religious, disciplined, stable life. In Wuthering Heights, Wuthering Heights represents the feral, untamed, and primal life Catherine sees with Heathcliff. Thrushcross Grange offers a more comfortable, stable, and civilized life she could have with Edgar Linton.

11) Rejection of the proper Victorian men: St. John and Edgar Linton are both honorable men with refined manners. Edward and Heathcliff, on the other hand, are bad, mad, and dangerous men, with unrestrained passions. In a way, you could say that both novels question the idea of whether a woman should just accept a respectable but cold and passionless marriage. Jane realizes this early on, and rejects St. John, choosing Edward instead. Catherine gives in to societal pressure and marries Edgar, and realizing that she can never be her true self without Heathcliff, pays for her choice with her life.

12) Hypocritical religious figures: Mr. Brocklehurst and Joseph are both deeply religious, yet they use God as a tool to bully, judge, and oppress others. Both are especially cruel to those who are weaker than them.

13) Feminist female characters: Jane Eyre is a fiercely independent character from the beginning. She has agency and makes choices of her own. She refuses to let others decide what kind of life she should live. Most importantly, she refuses to compromise her principles and self-respect, even if it means losing the man she loves. Isabella Linton is another example, and I see her as the most feminist character in Wuthering Heights. She begins as a naive young woman, and falls for Heathcliff (I cannot blame her for this because of her sheltered upbringing). But once she realizes her mistake in marrying an abuser, she runs away to London and raises her son there entirely on her own. At a time when women were often treated as their husband's property, to be used and abused, Isabella's decision to leave her abusive husband was very daring for her time.

14) Maiming the Byronic hero: Neither Charlotte nor Emily allows her Byronic man to remain unpunished. Edward is eventually redeemed through Jane's love, but also through suffering and his own repentance. He changes from a selfish and impulsive man into someone much more selfless, who learns to put the thoughts and needs of others before his own. Not only does he try to save Bertha's life from the fire, but he also acknowledges his terrible sin of trying to commit bigamy against Jane. His redemption is moral, religious, and spiritual.

However, we never see Heathcliff atoning for his wrongdoings. Heathcliff is never redeemed, but that is because Wuthering Heights is not a book we are supposed to read morally. Unlike her sister Charlotte, Emily Bronte rejects that kind of moral framework for Heathcliff's story. Still, I think Emily maims Heathcliff well by killing him at the end, while also making us sympathize with him because of his tragic past.

15) Criticism then and now: Both books also attracted strong criticism when they were first published. Jane Eyre was criticised for lacking morality, for being anti Christian and for its negative depiction of Christian characters, for its unfeminine and unconventional heroine, and for an immoral, ungodly and flawed hero. The criticism of Wuthering Heights was even more brutal. It disgusted many Victorian critics and readers. The story was criticised for its complete lack of morality, its vulgar language, its wild and savage heroine, and its evil, almost demon like hero who seemed to have no redeeming qualities at all.

Fast forward to today, not much has changed. People still judge these novels according to the standards of their own time. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights still remain polarizing, the latter even more so. They have their fans and haters alike. Now we hear that Jane Eyre is antifeminist, and that both novels romanticize unhealthy relationships and bad men. Then there is also the argument that Anne Bronte was the superior Bronte because she called out bad men in her novels, while Charlotte and Emily had terrible taste in men.

It is funny to me that Jane Eyre was once criticized for being too feminist and unconventional, while now people criticize it for not being feminist enough. How times and opinions change. The standards by which we judge books change as well. I would not be surprised if, some hundred years from now, people find even more things to condemn in these novels. Nothing stays the same, after all.

I finished the book today, I loved it. So much so that I have just started the BBC series and only half way through the first episode and a bit disappointed at how much they have skimmed past. The bullying she endured by her cousin and the treatment she had seemed to be very rushed, followed by the school where they barely introduced Helen Burns and some of the things she struggled with that she got punished for often (which when reading I cried at)... Alongside some other things so far. Seems very hurried.

>!rochester (roch bc rochester is too long to type hahaha) was literally so down bad for jane but she literally had NO idea and when he confessed she was like "ur joking right....u dont love me..... im just a peasant compared to you😭😭😭😭" but then he says its real and then they were both like "OMG u love me omggg i love u too yay" but like can we like remember how roch is like sooooo dramatic but like suuuper sweet at the same time?? i hated it when it all fell apart cause roch was hiding a whole WIFE in his attic like holy plot twist. they were so perfect for each otherrrrr. at least they were both together at the end (minus an eye and a hand and the crazy wife ofc). and roch was literally dramatic hahaha like he literally said"SAY YOU LOVE ME JANE. YOURE KILLING ME. SAY. IT." hahahahahaha anyways i probably have more to say but this is all i can think of rn. and im trying to get my friend to read jane eyre too but she literally still hasnt finished the LAST series/book i suggested to her (she read book 1 and never finished book 2. theres 5 books in the series btw😭) so i dont think shes going to end up reading jane eyre. and apologies for the bad grammar and stuff im too lazy for it lol i swear i my grammar isnt usually this bad anyways yeah this is a really long post i guess and one more thing- WHY did helen have to die😭😭!<

When I was reading it I thought this would be a great place for an illustration. Has anyone actually tried painting these?

According to Deadline Hollywood website, BBC will be involved in developing a new "Jane Eyre" TV adaptation starring Aimee Lou Wood. It will likely be aired on the BBC in the future. The new series is being developed ahead of the celebration of 180th anniversary of the novel, which will take place in 2027.

So I was recommending Jane Eyre to my students (12-15 yr old), and I brought up the age old complaint that the actors in the movie adaptations are way hotter than described in the book

I provided visual aids (context: I’m in my thirties, but the kids don’t know my age)

“Ew, miss. He’s supposed to attractive?” (Fassbender)

“Miss, you… like that? Are you sure? Ok…” (Stephens)

“He’s so old and rocky-faced. He looks like a super unc” (all of them)

“Why do you like grandpas, miss?”

Now they think I have a thing for geriatric men with skin issues 😂

First, here's her timeline as far as I can figure it out:

1. Around 7-8 years before the main events of the novel, Adele is born to Celine as the putative child of Mr. Rochester.
2. Around 6 months old, Mr. Rochester discovers that Celine has been dallying with a vicomte so he breaks up with her.
3. For some years, Celine keeps Adele -- long enough to teach her to dance and sing -- and then abandons her at some point.
4. Adele lives with Madame Frédéric until Mr. R takes her to England.
5. Adele is about 7-8 when she comes to England and Jane becomes her governess.

In the narrative, Adele says that she wanted to come to England with Mr. R rather than stay in France with Madame Frédéric, because she had known Mr. R longer. This has always sort of bothered me because she was only 6 m/o when he broke up with Celine over her affair, and it would seem that he would have at that time likewise had nothing more to do with Adele -- yet Adele knew him longer than she knew Mme F. This would make a rather large plot hole, and that's how I've always felt about it, since Adele couldn't possibly remember him from when she was but a few months old.

However, I've figured out a way that it can work:

Mr. R breaks up with Celine, but still takes care of Adele and visits her sometimes, only much later coming to believe that she is not his child because she looks nothing like him. By this time, however, he has been caring for Adele for years, so when he hears that Celine has run off and Adele is thrown on the mercy of strangers, he takes her to England.

Is there anything I forgot? Did others have the same question about the timeline?