Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre

[oyceter]

Ehm, yes, this is the first time I've read this...

Anyhow! I actually knew all of the plot, having read Jenna Starborn (Sharon Shinn's sci-fi take on the tale) and The Eyre Affair. Mostly I was afraid that I would detest Mr. Rochester and thereby not respect Jane, largely because I completely failed to understand the attraction in either of the two books mentioned above. rachelmanija had also told me not to worry too much, because the book is more about Jane than the romance.

I really liked Jane. I wasn't expecting to, largely because the many romance takes on the story of poor governess meets rich employer, falls in love and is lifted out of poverty have left me cold. But I liked Jane's determination and her morals, I liked that she was never willing to compromise what she felt was right, even in the face of adversity.

In a romance (I shall compare this to romances, since this is probably the only gothic I've ever read), this would be termed "spunk" or "spirit" and make me roll my eyes and want to whack the heroine over the head. But Bronte characterizes Jane so that she isn't so much high-spirited as stubborn, and there's an underlying strength of character, even when she's head over heels in love with Mr. Rochester. I also like that Jane's aunt doesn't end up forgiving her, I like that Adele isn't a charming, adorable child who brings Jane and Rochester together, I like that Mr. Rochester's attempts to prettify Jane and give her expensive things is unambiguously disliked by both Jane and the narrator.

It's actually rather amusing seeing how many romance cliches Bronte subverts, even though she was writing a good many, many years before the contemporary romance industry was formed.

I still dislike Mr. Rochester, though not as vehemently as I expected to. At some points, I was even persuaded to like him by Jane! I forgave him for the incessant questioning of Jane in the beginning (I personally abhor being talked to like that, so he rubbed me the wrong way to start with) and grew to like him until he proposed to Jane. Then he drove me batty by continually attempting to remake Jane and force things on her that she obviously didn't want. Also, I seem to be completely not in tune with his angst, because the Big Revelation did not spark any sympathy at all toward his previously rakish behavior. But I fondly dislike him, if that makes sense.

And although Bronte and Austen are polar opposites in terms of romance and the level of emotion expressed, the characterization of the Reeds and the Ingrams reminded me of Austen.

I'm glad that the book was in first person POV and that it was so Jane-centric (I feel stupid saying that, given the book's title), but I was a little afraid that it would be extreme moodiness and angst and woe. But it really isn't. The elements are there, but at the core is Jane herself, sturdy, stubborn, small, plain, and in possession of herself.

Comments

[susanw.livejournal.com]

Jane Eyre was one of my favorite books of my early adolescence, but I liked the earlier sections, about Jane's childhood and her time at school, better than anything that happened after. When I tried to re-read it a year or two ago, I couldn't get into the childhood section at all. Maybe I should try it again, but start at the point where she meets Mr. Rochester.

[oyceter]

I actually really like her at Lowood, but my favorite bits are just Jane herself!

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

It's actually rather amusing seeing how many romance cliches Bronte subverts, even though she was writing a good many, many years before the contemporary romance industry was formed.

Bronte was riffing on a good many Gothic cliches, lots of which got turned into contemporary romance cliches -- she said to her sisters that her heroine would be "poor and plain as herself," altho Woolf says it is impossible to believe in Jane's plainness (heh). Jane is unpious, stubborn, rebellious, and passionate. The "good" heroine (sort of like Melanie in Gone with the Wind) is Helen Burns, a model child (with a model heartrending Victorian death) who was based on one of Charlotte's older sisters (the parts about school and a lot of the governess bits are based on Charlotte's personal experience, and IIRC her paintings are Jane's, Charlotte thinking at one point she would be an artist til she ruined her eyes copying engravings). The "good" heroine would necessarily marry St. John Rivers (whose words end the book), too. It was quite daring of Bronte to present Brocklehurst as a heartless hypocritical prig and St. John as pretty much equally so.

The Brontes go in for a lot more social criticism than is generally thought -- Charlotte's later novel Shirley is a deliberate attempt at a sort of Eliotesque larger social canvas, altho not being Eliot it comes off v oddly (but interestingly). I think one of Jane's best lines is when she thinks, well, I'm an orphan, why not run off to the South of France -- who will care? And her response is, not family (she doesn't have any), nor friends, nor God -- she will care; she is responsible for herself, and she's looking out for herself.

I didn't like Rochester because of all the blah blah teasing spoil the flower really an indestructible gem wtf-ever, guy. It made me want to poke him.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I was actually quite surprised by how rebellious Jane was. And not in the acceptably spunky way of most romance heroines, but actually rebellious and with a backbone and strong beliefs of her own. I really liked that.

Rochester makes me want to poke him too, especially his totally weird behavior before the wedding.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

the characterization of the Reeds and the Ingrams reminded me of Austen.

I love how Blanche Ingram would likely be the "heroine" in any other novel (even Eliot had Rosamund), but by the time we are immersed in her unpleasant personality, she's actually sort of ugly, or certanly revealed as self-serving and grasping. The portrait of her "hammering" away on the piano babbling about how she "dotes on Corsairs" is priceless.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Jane Eyre has numerous illegitimate offspring, but only 2 legitimate daughters: du Maurier's Rebecca (the narrator, not R) and Sara Burton in Winifred Holtby's South Riding. And just possibly Ellen in Rebecca West's The Judge.

[oyceter]

I need to read du Maurier. And I haven't heard of the Holtby or the West, so thank you!

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

My first exposure to Jane Eyre was an A&E adaptation. I didn't like Mr. Rochester in it. But when I read the book, there are two conversations between him & Jane that made me fond of him. (One was when she was asking for money to visit her family, and I don't remember the other. They made me smile, and showed a silly side of him.)

When I read the Eyre Affair, I liked him even more.

Maybe the difference is Heathcliff. If I may advise, don't read Wuthering Heights. *shudder* Broody, mean, brutish, with no redeeming characteristics. *shudder*

[oyceter]

I read Wuthering Heights once way back in middle school and totally didn't get the angst, and I was considering re-reading it after this, just to give it a fair chance. But then... they sound like people I would dislike.

I, eh, didn't like The Eyre Affair and was already feeling stubborn toward Rochester because of Jenna Starborn.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

It's actually rather amusing seeing how many romance cliches Bronte subverts

It was amusing to me when I read the book last year to see the extent to which Jane Eyre really does codify the genre romance in the same way that Wilkie Collins's books codified the genre detective story.

[fresne.livejournal.com]

Yes, subverts, creates, codifies, transforms.

I sometimes think that many of the the sappier Romances in the same vein become sappy because they don't grasp Jane's essential core of steel and turn it into spunkyness instead.

I love her line, "Do you think because I am plain and little that I soleless and heartness. I have just as much sole as you and full as much heart." or something like that. It often meanders in my head and perhaps may mutate.

But that whole sequence when she is wandering and she sees the moon. There is that wonderfully gothic sense of the sublime.

I had a college class where we discussed Jane Eyre and Sense and Sensibility as grandparents, in their way, of the modern romance genre. I think I was the only person in the class, who would admit, to reading romance novels. I forget what romance we read. I remember thinking it wasn't the best choice.

Although, returning to Jane Eyre, I also quite like the line, "Is this my pale little elf, if this my mustard seed." because I quite like Rochester as well. He's a jerk, but in an incredibly vibrant way. Since this is a gothic novel, the novel is resplendant with the Other. He Other to her. The madwoman in the attic the darker/burning brightly/red room self.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Now you should read Villette!

Or maybe not, because it's kind of depressing. But I love it anyway.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

I love this book, particularly because of Jane but also because of Rochester (I also have a sneaking sympathy with Sayers' Dowager Dutchess, who makes a brief but snide comment about Jane being a bit of a pill with the way she always turns down Rochester's pretty gifts). They're both so strongly drawn that they move as real people, and while Rochester can frequently be a jerk, he's a jerk I kind of enjoy.

Actually, coming back to Sayers, I wrote a nice little paper on gift-giving in Jane Eyre and contrasted it with Harriet and Peter and the gift-giving dynamic between the two of them. Wish I still had a copy of that thing.

[canandagirl.livejournal.com]

I love Jane Eyre, and I think your feelings towards Mr. Rochester is interesting. Actually, I'm quite fond of Mr. Rochester, even more so than I like Jane. I feel there's a kindness in him that isn't evident in either is apperance or on first meeting, but I don't get the impression he's this dangerous rake that's about to explode which most modern historical romances tend to make their heroes out.

I also really liked him in the "Eyre Affair". I was wishing I could jump into books and meet characters.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Sharon Shinn did a Jane Eyre adaptation? I'll have to check that out. In Telling and Retelling we did Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, and The Eyre Affair. Oh, and I thought thought Mr. Rochester was wonderful in The Eyre Affair (which I read after I read Jane Eyre).

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I thought you would like Jane. Did you like the description of her paintings? I found it really haunting, and I wish I could see them.

[canandagirl.livejournal.com]

Last night, (after reading this post and commenting on it), I dreamt that I had to write an essay on Jane Eyre. Knowing the book so well, I skipped reading it and wrote this kick-ass essay.

Unfortunately, the assignment was NOT on Jane Eyre.

I blame you for this nightmare. :)