This is one of the classics that I have been meaning to read for years. I read a Franklin Library leather bound edition that I have had on my shelf along with quite a few other classics that I also hope to eventually read. As for Jane Eyre, I did for the most part enjoy it although the descriptions and dialogue in the novel were really pretty overblown and wordy. In addition, the novel used the classic literary device of coincidence and wish fulfillment to finally resolve the story which to me in modern times was somewhat ridiculous. The novel was written in 1847 when I'm sure these devices were used frequently in the writing of the time so I guess I can forgive that.
Anyway, the story was very familiar to me mainly because I know I have seen one or two movie versions of the novel. The classic 1943 version starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine is probably the one I remember best although I don't think the entire story was included in it.
Of course the story is about Jane Eyre and her struggle to survive. As a child, she suffers at the hands of her Aunt who she lives with after her father dies. Her aunt then sends her to the oppressive Lowood School, with all of its hardships. But Jane manages to survive there and eventually makes it as a teacher who then advertises as a governess. She goes out on her own and finds a position at Thornfield Hall where she is put in charge of the young Adele, the possible illegitimate daughter of the master of the Hall, Mr. Rochester. Jane falls in love with Rochester and eventually wins him over but on their marriage day, it is disclosed that he is already married to a madwoman who is imprisoned in the attic of Thornfield Hall. So the wedding is off and Jane leaves on her own only to find her long lost cousins in a town far to the south. (This is where the really eyerolling coincidences comes into play). It also turns out that Jane is an heiress and inherits £20,000 that she shares with her cousins before she is finally reunited with her love Rochester.
Basically, Jane Eyre is a love story of the Victorian era but it also has themes of struggles for survival and eventual fulfillment without the support of money, family, or class privilege. "Jane Eyre still speaks powerfully for the plight of intelligent and aspiring women in the stiflingly patriarchal context o Victorian Britain."
Anyway, the story was very familiar to me mainly because I know I have seen one or two movie versions of the novel. The classic 1943 version starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine is probably the one I remember best although I don't think the entire story was included in it.
Of course the story is about Jane Eyre and her struggle to survive. As a child, she suffers at the hands of her Aunt who she lives with after her father dies. Her aunt then sends her to the oppressive Lowood School, with all of its hardships. But Jane manages to survive there and eventually makes it as a teacher who then advertises as a governess. She goes out on her own and finds a position at Thornfield Hall where she is put in charge of the young Adele, the possible illegitimate daughter of the master of the Hall, Mr. Rochester. Jane falls in love with Rochester and eventually wins him over but on their marriage day, it is disclosed that he is already married to a madwoman who is imprisoned in the attic of Thornfield Hall. So the wedding is off and Jane leaves on her own only to find her long lost cousins in a town far to the south. (This is where the really eyerolling coincidences comes into play). It also turns out that Jane is an heiress and inherits £20,000 that she shares with her cousins before she is finally reunited with her love Rochester.
Basically, Jane Eyre is a love story of the Victorian era but it also has themes of struggles for survival and eventual fulfillment without the support of money, family, or class privilege. "Jane Eyre still speaks powerfully for the plight of intelligent and aspiring women in the stiflingly patriarchal context o Victorian Britain."
