Hi everyone,
Where can I even start with Jane Eyre? To say I love it is an understatement! I completely and utterly fell in love with it. First of all Charlotte Bronte's writing is absolutely beautiful and I found not too hard to get into. The storyline is so masterful and you feel that Charlotte knew exactly what she was doing. I know it's been around for over 150 years but I am not going into spoilers in this post however I will talk about a few characters though maybe not in as much detail.
First of all- a summary. Jane Eyre tells the story of a young orphan who lives with her Aunt who sees her as a lesser figure and a naughty child and Jane is always in the margins. She then goes to Lowood school where she again is treated in ways that would be today unacceptable. (This reflects on Charlotte Bronte's own experience at Cowan Bridge school where her older sisters Maria and Elizabeth ended up dying.) Jane then becomes a governess in a big house owned by a man called Mr Rochester. The ending really struck me too.
Of course I have to start with Jane herself. As I mentioned in the Jane Eyre- Halfway There! post I think Jane and Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice are very similar in many ways. They refuse to conform to society's norm and find love on their own terms. They are both independent and figures of feminism. Specifically about Jane, she rebels against her appointed place in society because she grows up relying on the charity of her Aunt and then a charity school for orphans. And yet she wants to marry a man of a much higher social status. There is so much you can unpick about her character in relation to another female character who's name I will not mention for spoiler reasons! Possibly the most famous quote from Jane Eyre is 'I am no bird and no net ensnares me. I am a free human being with an independent will.' and this sums up Jane's character perfectly.
Mr Rochester is a character I have no idea what to think about. He is not always the nicest but I think deep down is a good person. There are many layers to his personality and I still haven't quite got over everything that happened!
A character I loved was Helen, who Jane meets at Lowood. She is wise beyond her years and a very religious character. She is Jane's only real friend at Lowood and has some wonderful quotes. I enjoyed reading about their friendship in general.
There is another character who is very interesting but I don't want to mention her for spoiler reasons.
Overall, Jane Eyre was such an incredible read and I treated myself to the clothbound edition so when reread it I can have a stunning copy. I think I will buy all my favourite classics in clothbound as they are beautiful and I also got Pride and Prejudice. I also recently purchased Shirley in penguin black spine (though I will only get it for my birthday) and in another second hand edition I couldn't resist as it was only £1 and I think pretty.
I am now so excited to read more Brontë soon. As I mentioned above, I own Shirley and I also own Wuthering Heights so I still need the others. I can't wait for where this will take me! I am still not really sure if I prefer Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre but I do really love Jane Eyre so I think I would go for that.
Please read it if you haven't already. If you are daunted by it then maybe watch the first part of an adaptation before reading it.
Thank you so much for reading this all about Jane Eyre, one of my new all time favourite classics!
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| The beautiful Penguin English Library edition I read from |
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| My new clothbound...stunning! |
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| Shirley I found for only £1 |
There will be a Jane Eyre Quotes post up in the next week or two so watch out for that! :)
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