Currently Reading: 1984 by George Orwell
First impression of Jane
Eyre: my God this book is a lot
longer than I always thought it was!
Lasting impression of Jane
Eyre: I’m incredibly jealous of Jane Eyre and greatly admire her. However,
I am also glad that I don’t live in an era with the same levels of religiosity,
propriety and deficient psychology knowledge.
WARNING: This blog post contains some major spoilers so if
you haven’t read Jane Eyre, you
should probably stop reading now.
I’m jealous of Jane Eyre in two senses. The first is that
she is a brilliant role model and has numerous character traits that I wish I
also had. She has such an intense fiery spirit that initially makes her
slightly volatile and prone to outbursts of restlessness. Yet she eventually
masters this fire so that it’s no longer aimlessly raging and instead becomes
the fuel necessary to maintain the inner strength required to hold to her
convictions and sense of self no matter what. I envy her steadfastness and her
ability to remain true to herself and her beliefs in any circumstance, even
when it upsets others. I find her constant hopefulness, her discipline, and her
goodness admirable and it makes me long to be more like her. I’m jealous of her
for not being wishy-washy or overly concerned with others’ opinions, traits she
outgrows yet that I cannot shake.
The second reason I’m jealous of Jane Eyre is because of the
love she shares with Mr. Rochester. Sorry to be a girl, but I really hope
someone loves me the way Mr. Rochester loves Jane Eyre someday. I want to find
a relationship like theirs that’s based on respect and shared intellect; a
relationship in which we understand each other for who we really are, strengths
and flaws included, and love each other for all of it. I hope I find a love
like theirs in which it really feels like finding your soul mate. I’m envious
of their passion for each other and their ability to not lose themselves
entirely in each other while maintaining this passion – a balance I haven’t
always been great at striking.
In these ways, I adored reading this novel about growing up
and finding your great love.
However, in other ways, this book just reminded me how glad
I am that I live in a different time period.
Throughout the story, I was surprised by the large role
religion played. Perhaps it’s because my exposure to other novels of this genre
– i.e. Wuthering Heights and all of
Jane Austen’s novels – largely did not have particularly faithful characters,
but I really did not anticipate Jane Eyre to be so religious. I was taken aback
when she spent so much time in a repressive, religious school and came out of
it with an intense love of God. I was further surprised that she very nearly
became a missionary’s wife out of a sense of duty, even though she loved
another man. I was stunned (and honestly, a little disappointed) that the last
character mentioned in the novel is the overly religious missionary - a
character whose faith is intense to a point that Charlotte Bronte does not condone.
Despite the fact that he isn’t introduced until more than half way through the
novel and that he isn’t ever seen as especially likeable, he’s the one with the
last word in the story? It didn’t seem fitting to me. Maybe it was a bothersome
element of the novel to me because I’m simply not religious at all, but I’m
glad that religion isn’t such a dominant and prevalent force in my life that I
feel compelled to throw all my happiness away for the chance to do my duty to
God.
I’m also glad that I wasn’t born in an era when propriety
was so important. There’s a specific instance in the novel when this became
overwhelmingly clear to me. It came after Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester became
engaged. Mr. Rochester describes the life he envisions for them, including
extravagant adventures to show her all the places she’s wanted to see, showers
Jane with gifts, and insists that she will spend more time with him once she’s
his wife. To me, and I believe to most women of my era, this sounds incredible!
However, Jane insists that none of this would be proper. She
insists that even after they are married, everything should continue as it has
been, with her still acting like his inferior rather than his equal. She firmly
believes it wouldn’t be proper to do otherwise. Honestly, this sounds insane to
me. She wants to get married and not have anything change? She wants to
continue acting like her husband’s inferior even though he’s repeatedly told
her he finds her to be his only equal (I’m paraphrasing here)? I’m so relieved
that I didn’t grow up believing that this was proper.
The last aspect of the novel that made me really, really
grateful that I live in the time period I do is Mrs. Rochester.
Again, I repeat that this is a big time spoiler! Just want
to make sure you’re warned.
On the day that Jane and her beloved Mr. Rochester are to
finally be married – which only comes halfway through the novel so you know
something is going to go wrong – Jane discovers the horrifying truth about her
betrothed. Turns out, he’s already married and his wife is still alive, living
like a caged animal in the attic of his house. When Mrs. Rochester is
introduced, she’s an obstacle keeping the protagonists from happiness. She’s a
terror, vicious and both homicidal and suicidal. Her character makes Mr. Rochester
more sympathetic and makes the reader greatly pity the poor, unknowing and
crushed Jane Eyre.
However, I have to admit that I bizarrely felt terrible for
Mrs. Rochester. As a sufferer from a mild anxiety disorder (not even close to
the ranks of Mrs. Rochester’s illness for the record), I have great sympathy
for people who clearly have mental illness in a time when mental illnesses were
not understood at all, beyond that it meant they were crazy and broken. Mrs.
Rochester appears to suffer from schizophrenia or some other equally intense
mental illness and to be treated the way she is seems so dehumanizing. She’s
trapped and ignored and literally treated like a rabid animal when she’s
suffering in the most awful way possible. I mean, her mind is essentially
attacking itself, that’s pretty unbearable. Thus, even though I know that Mrs.
Rochester is supposed to be seen as a psychopath – which she is – I still feel
sorry for her because if she lived in a different time she’d be viewed very
differently.
So… overall impression of Jane Eyre? The good parts outweigh the bad and it’s a wonderful
novel worth reading.
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