Review Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Full disclosure, Jane Eyre was not my first choice to read and the fact that intra library loans weren't able to get Havemercy by Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett for me in time made me a little sad when I started reading it and I'm quite sure this affected how I interpreted particular actions as I was reading.
The basic summary is that Jane is a poor girl brought up as a charity relation in her aunts house, before being sent away to a Christian girls schools for orphans or at least partial orphans. She learns well at school eventually becoming a teacher - and then a governess for a little rich girl. As a governess she finds love, only there's a catch in the way and has to be resolved within the story.
When I first started reading Jane Eyre, I couldn't quite remember if it was a book I had read before or not. I though I had at least started it once before, so it came as a slight surprise that I hadn't nothing in it was vaguely familiar, and I consequently needed to struggle through what I found an irritating style and somewhat forced interaction - as a child she struck me as a little too precocious. When I found I couldn't quite figure out where she had fallen in love until she waxed on about how she had fought against it....(somewhere a good third in) I had to grit my teeth and start again from the beginning.
The second try was much more successful, as I was able to get into the flow of the novel much more easily. Though my dislike of the style meant that I became much more analytic and sceptical of actions, instead of more mildly going along with the story. This also meant that I also got caught up on Jane's logical, pragmatic, actions as she's able to hold her own, etc, blinding me to the flair and dramatic part of Jane's nature that was always a part of her personality and never went away in the story.
Although Jane still seemed precocious she also seemed a lot more alive within her setting, part of an active imagination and high intelligence than a flaw of the authors writing. I found Jane a much more enjoyable character and could identify with her more easily, although her internal love confession - the point where I needed to go back and reread - still struck me as a bit too sudden.
Edward was more fascinating on the second go as well - looking to see what Jane saw in him and pondering how Jane's love might be returned, though his confession also struck me as a bit too sudden, considering his approach was to trick a confession out of her by forcing her to believe he was marrying someone else - and he hadn't seen her for about a month before that, with her visit to her sick aunt!
My favourite scene with the two, was shortly before she left though, him playing the trickster though, disguising himself as an elderly fortune teller - I was expecting the fortune teller to have been paid by him, to have Edward revealed was an interesting twist which I greatly appreciated.
It's at this point we come to the real tragedy of the story, the point where the plot approaches the "love overcomes all obstacles (or not)" factor that defines this novel. (the previous differences in station not striking me as a reader as being particularly worrisome, considering Mr Rochester's eccentric manner that bonded well with Jane's combination of pragmatic/dramatic thoughts and Jane's perception of him being able to control his guests well with being the focus, and his past behaviour with Adele's mother admitted had never struck as being /real/ obstacles to the story, my own assumptions striking once more upon reading).
Although Jane's life has been fairly sad in many regards, it's been more of an overall gloom where her personality is able to strive forward, where as this was a clear and focused disaster brought through the irony of wanting to be able to help Edward - she instead causes his darkest secret to become public and causing Jane to flee the place where she found happiness.
Upon reflection, I think Jane Eyre as a novel has a knack of making me expect things base and turning my expectations around, which is why I find it surprising. For example where I expected use of money to bribe, it became a trick, manipulative, but one that I found surprisingly touching and personal scene of a man who is struggling to find out who he can trust and what people think of him. (for all his confident behaviour and deft handling of the lovely ladies of the party, he's desperate for Jane Eyre's words.)
Where I expected news that could lose a potential wife of insufficient motivation, bankruptcy via Mr Mason, I found a that rather being about physical possessions that cause Edward to mislead Jane, it;s a strong personal desire, and a reason that definitely would lose him a new wife - the existence of an old one. Where I expected courting for a better way of life with Mr St John, it became courting for a cause, a loveless marriage all the same but one with a different layer of complexity (and added strength of emotion to the novel as I quite wanted to punch John for his manipulations a a young girl, highly intelligent, just getting over a disaster which he knows the details of, wanting to take her to a climate that would likely kill her, for a life of hardship, and his behaviour seeming less and less caring as he settles down that path as an extremist.)
... I may just be a wee bit to suspicious of classic love stories you see.
Getting back on topic, Edward's motivations stuck me as sympathetic, he was tricked into a marriage and is unable to even make the best of it as a loveless one. The moral issues brought up are far more worrisome than money. But at the same time his actions struck me as well. dubious. To this very moment I'm not sure what the "correct" course of action could be, other than waiting for the Mrs to die, as divorce was not possible. But this still strikes me as a bit convenient, yet Jane Eyre's strength of character would not allow her to be with a bigamist or a murderer. (also of course, of course murder = bad. :P)
Despite that, I am glad that Jane got her happy ending. My assumptions on her personality did not seem likely to shy away from health or money issues, but the moral issues that came up were a true test and testimony to her character, and the only way from the way the story started I find at the end a believable significant obstacle.
Few Sidenotes:
I delighted in the beginning with Adele's cute little phrases in french, which became slightly annoying when I dived for my dictionary as my French vocabulary didn't cut it, and the by the time the German phrases with Diana entered I was resigned to just guessing the nature of the conversation.
Although I've used the word a few times, the problem with Jane's dialogue which I described as precocious for a child continued throughout the novel - is more of a personality trait that I can't quite accept? Get into? It was the largest problem I had with the book and continued right across. As an adult she struck me as talking down to Hannah, somewhat childish and a little outrageously upset for someone who had fainted on their doorstep, which very strongly brought me back to the way she spoke to her aunt, which is why I found her precocious to begin with! Her dialogue always stuck me as being fairly largely in control of herself and the situation, even as she descends into dramatics - their usually the fanciful dramatics that seem to play into her rich imagination which we get hints of time to time. Er. It made her seem more play-acting than real, and the people around her less real as they feed into this nature.
All in all I found it a surprising book, in both good ways and bad. It's not a favourite of mine, but I don't regret reading it, as it was definitely thought provoking and Jane is an interesting character character that I both respect and would avoid if I came across in real life.
The basic summary is that Jane is a poor girl brought up as a charity relation in her aunts house, before being sent away to a Christian girls schools for orphans or at least partial orphans. She learns well at school eventually becoming a teacher - and then a governess for a little rich girl. As a governess she finds love, only there's a catch in the way and has to be resolved within the story.
When I first started reading Jane Eyre, I couldn't quite remember if it was a book I had read before or not. I though I had at least started it once before, so it came as a slight surprise that I hadn't nothing in it was vaguely familiar, and I consequently needed to struggle through what I found an irritating style and somewhat forced interaction - as a child she struck me as a little too precocious. When I found I couldn't quite figure out where she had fallen in love until she waxed on about how she had fought against it....(somewhere a good third in) I had to grit my teeth and start again from the beginning.
The second try was much more successful, as I was able to get into the flow of the novel much more easily. Though my dislike of the style meant that I became much more analytic and sceptical of actions, instead of more mildly going along with the story. This also meant that I also got caught up on Jane's logical, pragmatic, actions as she's able to hold her own, etc, blinding me to the flair and dramatic part of Jane's nature that was always a part of her personality and never went away in the story.
Although Jane still seemed precocious she also seemed a lot more alive within her setting, part of an active imagination and high intelligence than a flaw of the authors writing. I found Jane a much more enjoyable character and could identify with her more easily, although her internal love confession - the point where I needed to go back and reread - still struck me as a bit too sudden.
Edward was more fascinating on the second go as well - looking to see what Jane saw in him and pondering how Jane's love might be returned, though his confession also struck me as a bit too sudden, considering his approach was to trick a confession out of her by forcing her to believe he was marrying someone else - and he hadn't seen her for about a month before that, with her visit to her sick aunt!
My favourite scene with the two, was shortly before she left though, him playing the trickster though, disguising himself as an elderly fortune teller - I was expecting the fortune teller to have been paid by him, to have Edward revealed was an interesting twist which I greatly appreciated.
It's at this point we come to the real tragedy of the story, the point where the plot approaches the "love overcomes all obstacles (or not)" factor that defines this novel. (the previous differences in station not striking me as a reader as being particularly worrisome, considering Mr Rochester's eccentric manner that bonded well with Jane's combination of pragmatic/dramatic thoughts and Jane's perception of him being able to control his guests well with being the focus, and his past behaviour with Adele's mother admitted had never struck as being /real/ obstacles to the story, my own assumptions striking once more upon reading).
Although Jane's life has been fairly sad in many regards, it's been more of an overall gloom where her personality is able to strive forward, where as this was a clear and focused disaster brought through the irony of wanting to be able to help Edward - she instead causes his darkest secret to become public and causing Jane to flee the place where she found happiness.
Upon reflection, I think Jane Eyre as a novel has a knack of making me expect things base and turning my expectations around, which is why I find it surprising. For example where I expected use of money to bribe, it became a trick, manipulative, but one that I found surprisingly touching and personal scene of a man who is struggling to find out who he can trust and what people think of him. (for all his confident behaviour and deft handling of the lovely ladies of the party, he's desperate for Jane Eyre's words.)
Where I expected news that could lose a potential wife of insufficient motivation, bankruptcy via Mr Mason, I found a that rather being about physical possessions that cause Edward to mislead Jane, it;s a strong personal desire, and a reason that definitely would lose him a new wife - the existence of an old one. Where I expected courting for a better way of life with Mr St John, it became courting for a cause, a loveless marriage all the same but one with a different layer of complexity (and added strength of emotion to the novel as I quite wanted to punch John for his manipulations a a young girl, highly intelligent, just getting over a disaster which he knows the details of, wanting to take her to a climate that would likely kill her, for a life of hardship, and his behaviour seeming less and less caring as he settles down that path as an extremist.)
... I may just be a wee bit to suspicious of classic love stories you see.
Getting back on topic, Edward's motivations stuck me as sympathetic, he was tricked into a marriage and is unable to even make the best of it as a loveless one. The moral issues brought up are far more worrisome than money. But at the same time his actions struck me as well. dubious. To this very moment I'm not sure what the "correct" course of action could be, other than waiting for the Mrs to die, as divorce was not possible. But this still strikes me as a bit convenient, yet Jane Eyre's strength of character would not allow her to be with a bigamist or a murderer. (also of course, of course murder = bad. :P)
Despite that, I am glad that Jane got her happy ending. My assumptions on her personality did not seem likely to shy away from health or money issues, but the moral issues that came up were a true test and testimony to her character, and the only way from the way the story started I find at the end a believable significant obstacle.
Few Sidenotes:
I delighted in the beginning with Adele's cute little phrases in french, which became slightly annoying when I dived for my dictionary as my French vocabulary didn't cut it, and the by the time the German phrases with Diana entered I was resigned to just guessing the nature of the conversation.
Although I've used the word a few times, the problem with Jane's dialogue which I described as precocious for a child continued throughout the novel - is more of a personality trait that I can't quite accept? Get into? It was the largest problem I had with the book and continued right across. As an adult she struck me as talking down to Hannah, somewhat childish and a little outrageously upset for someone who had fainted on their doorstep, which very strongly brought me back to the way she spoke to her aunt, which is why I found her precocious to begin with! Her dialogue always stuck me as being fairly largely in control of herself and the situation, even as she descends into dramatics - their usually the fanciful dramatics that seem to play into her rich imagination which we get hints of time to time. Er. It made her seem more play-acting than real, and the people around her less real as they feed into this nature.
All in all I found it a surprising book, in both good ways and bad. It's not a favourite of mine, but I don't regret reading it, as it was definitely thought provoking and Jane is an interesting character character that I both respect and would avoid if I came across in real life.