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[theniwokesoftly]

In December, Melissa Marr (aka melissa_writing) and Robin McKinley (who no longer uses her LJ and can be found here) had a small debate back and forth on their blogs about Rochester and whether he's an attractive character. I started to read them, but having not yet read Jane Eyre and knowing only "Jane is the governess, she and Rochester fall in love, he has a

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[innoittaa]

So at work there's a sale going on on the Criterion dvds, and when I cover breaks in music, I look at the backs of them out of curiosity. Recently I came across one called Fish Tank, which stars a "lethally attractive" (the back cover's words)...Michael Fassbender. I was curious, but when looking it up on imdb it says something about his character and an underage girl having sex and that has potential to be...uncomfortable.

Why is this randomly on your Jane Eyre post? Cause it's Michael Fassbender.

[theniwokesoftly]

He seems very polarizing, but I'm sort of in the middle. He's a dick, he's manipulative, yes Bertha is crazy but that doesn't excuse the way he treats Jane. I just added another paragraph that I wrote last night when I was posting this to dreamwidth but LJ wouldn't let me edit my post- a lot of people say that no, he likes Jane because she stands up to him! Well, yes, she does stand up to him sometimes (and only in the way that's appropriate for her to do to her employer, of course), but that doesn't mean she can't be manipulated.

[prydenme]

http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=202

[theniwokesoftly]

That was lovely. I am actually going to read Agnes Grey after I finish Ghost Story (how hilarious is it that I went from Charlotte Brontë to Jim Butcher?), The Eyre Affair, and perhaps my reread of Wuthering Heights. WH could of course wait until after Anne Brontë.

OMG I JUST LEARNED TO DO AN ë WITH MY KEYBOARD IT'S VERY EXCITING

[seftiri]

I have to say that I've read/experienced Jane Eyre at two completely separate times in my life. When I read it the first time, I was 22 and just coming to terms with who I really was. I found the book terribly romantic and enjoyed it immensely

[theniwokesoftly]

Cousin, cousin, not brother! But yes. I'm not happy with St John. He let the woman he loved escape him and tried to marry Jane not because he loved her but because he thought she'd make a good missionary's wife. WTF no.

[prydenme]

As a novel of the period, Jane obviously had to get married. So CB was faced with the choice: the not-so-attractive, strong-willed, passionate (yes, manipulative, but) save-able man that she had somehow fallen in love with, or the man who was the height of romantic attractiveness, but cold and a little weak and unwilling to fight for (or even really acknowledge his) love.

Unfair? Of course. But that's the 19th century for ya.

(I could go on all day about the modern literary/postfeminist vs. romantic period-accurate reading of this, but I won't because...well, neither of you deserve such torture)