Author Biography

Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21st 1816 at Thornton, Bradford in Yorkshire. Charlotte was raised in a strict Anglican home by her clergyman father and a religious aunt after her mother and two eldest siblings died. She and her sister Emily attended the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge, but were largely educated at home. Though she tried to earn a living as both a governess and a teacher. Charlotte missed her sisters and eventually returned home. Charlotte published her first novel, Jane Eyre, in 1847 under the manly pseudonym Currer Bell. Though controversial in its criticism of society’s treatment of impoverished women, the book was an immediate hit. She followed the success with Shirley in 1848 and Vilette in 1853. In 1854, Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, but died the following year during her pregnancy. The first novel she ever wrote, The Professor, was published posthumously in 1857.

Introduction to Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell. The novel tells the story of a young woman who, orphaned as a child. It was very successful , even though there was criticism that her writing was coarse, doubts about the gender of the author as well as questions about the morality of the novel. Jane Eyre is a novel which clearly states the childhood and the adult life of Jane, throughout the novel we read several different themes one of the most important being inner beauty at the age of ten years old, Jane is sent away to a school, where the students fall ill and many die. She remains at the school until she finds a job as a governess in the home of Edward Rochester. Jane Eyre has serious things to say about a number of important subjects: the relations between men and women, women's equality, the treatment of children and of women, religious faith and religious hypocrisy (and the difference between the two), the realization of selfhood, and the nature of true love.

Characters

Jane Eyre – The protagonist of the novel.Mrs. Sarah Reed – Widow of Jane’s uncle.Eliza Reed – Oldest daughter in the Reed family.Georgiana Reed – Youngest daughter in the Reed family.John Reed – Only son in the Reed family, a bully, Jane’s cousin.Bessie Lee – Servant at Gateshead Hall.Mrs. Temple – Kind teacher at Lowood School.Helen Burns – Jane’s best friend at Lowood school.Mr. Brocklehurst – Headmaster at Lowood School.Edward Fairfax Rochester – Master of Thornfield Hall.Bertha Rochester - Mad wife of Edward Rochester.Adèle – Ward of Mr. Edward Rochester, Jane’s Pupil at Thornfield.Mrs. Alice Fairfax – Housekeeper at Thornfield Hall.St. John Eyre Rivers – Minister of the parish at Morton.Diana & Mary Rivers - Sisters of St. John Rivers.

Jane Eyre

The protagonist and narrator of the novel Jane is an intelligent, honest, plain-featured young girl that has to face oppression, inequality, and hardship. Although she meets a series of people who threaten her autonomy, Jane repeatedly succeeds at preserving herself and maintains her principles of justice, human dignity, and morality. She also values intellectual and emotional fulfillment. Her strong belief in social equality, challenging the Victorian prejudices against women and poor.

Edward Rochester

Jane’s employer and the master of Thornfield He is a wealthy, passionate man with a dark secret that gives the reader much of the novel’s suspense. He is unconventional, ready to go against polite manners, propriety, and consideration of social class, in order to interact with Jane frankly and directly. He is rude, impetuous, and has spent much of his life roaming about Europe trying to avoid the consequences of his youthful past. His problems are partly the result of his own recklessness, but he is a sympathetic figure, and has been describing as a suffering character because of his early marriage to Bertha.

Bertha

She is a complex presence. She obstacles Jane’s happiness, but she also increases the growth of Jane’s self-understanding. The mystery surrounding Bertha establishes suspense and terror to the plot and the atmosphere. Bertha serves as a reminder of Rochester’s youthful libertinism. She can also be interpreted as a symbol: she could represents Britain’s fear that psychologically “locked away” the other cultures during the period of imperialism; Bertha was in fact from Jamaica. She also could be seen as the typical Victorian wife who is expected never to travel or work outside the house. She’s definitely is linked to the figure of social inequality of women in 19th century.

St. John Rivers

With his sisters, Mary and Diana He is described as Jane’s benefactor after she runs away from Thornfield, giving her food and shelter. He is a well-mannered man, fair, blue-eyed, with a Grecian profile, but cold and reserved, often controlled in his interactions with others. Because he is entirely alienated from his feelings and devoted solely to an austere ambition, he could be seen as a foil to Edward Rochester.

Plot Summary

The novel begins with a ten-year-old orphan named Jane, who is living with her maternal uncle’s family, the Reeds, at Gateshead. Mrs. Reed and her children take every opportunity to neglect and abuse her as a reminder of her inferior station. Jane’s only salvation from her daily humiliations is Bessie, the kindly servant who tells her stories and sings her songs. One day Jane confronts her bullying cousin, John, Mrs. Reed imprisons Jane in the red-room, the room where Jane’s uncle died. In this frightening room, Jane thinks she sees her uncle's ghost, screams and faints. When she awakes, Jane is being cared for the pharmacist, Mr. Lloyd, who suggests that she be sent off to school. Mrs. Reed is happy to be rid of her troublesome charge and immediately sends Jane to the Lowood School. At Lowood, which is run by the cruel and hypocritical Mr. Brocklehurst, the students never have enough to eat or warm clothes. Jane finds a pious friend, Helen Burns, and a sympathetic teacher, Miss Temple. Under their influence, she becomes an excellent student. Unfortunately, an epidemic of typhus fever breaks out at the school, and Helen dies of consumption.

The deaths by typhus alert the benefactors to the school’s terrible conditions, and it is revealed that Mr. Brocklehurst has been embezzling school funds in order to provide for his own luxurious lifestyle. After Mr. Brocklehurst’s removal, Jane spends eight more years at Lowood, six as a student and two as a teacher. Jane gets a case of wanderlust and arranges to leave the school and become a governess. The governess job that Jane accepts is to teach a little French girl, Adèle, at a country house called Thornfield. Jane goes there thinking that she will be working for a woman named Mrs. Fairfax, but Mrs. Fairfax is just the housekeeper, who runs the estate during the master’s absence. Jane likes Thornfield, although not the third floor, where a strange servant named Grace Poole works alone and Jane can hear eerie laughter coming from a locked room. Jane helps a horseman whose horse has slipped on a patch of ice and fallen. Jane discovers that this man is Edward Fairfax Rochester, Adèle’s guardian and the owner of Thornfield Hall. Mr. Rochester is a dark-haired and moody man in his late thirties. Jane feels an immediate attraction to him based on their intellectual communion. One night, Jane saves him from a fire in his bedroom. Jane is confused about the incident, but Mr. Rochester convinces her that there is nothing to worry about.

Jane sinks into despondency when Rochester invites a bunch of his rich friends to stay at Thornfield, including the beautiful Blanche Ingram. Rochester lets Blanche flirt with him constantly in front of Jane to make her jealous and pretends that he is engaged to Blanche. During the weeks-long house party, a man named Richard Mason shows up, and Rochester seems afraid of him. At night, Mason sneaks up to the third floor and somehow gets stabbed and bitten. Rochester asks Jane to tend Richard Mason's wounds secretly while he brings the doctor. The next morning, Rochester sneaks Mason out of the house. Jane gets a message that her Aunt Mrs. Reed, is very sick and is asking for her. Jane returns to Gateshead to see Mrs. Reed, who is on her deathbed. Mrs. Reed still dislikes Jane and refuses to apologize for mistreating her as a child, she also admits that she lied to Jane’s uncle, John Eyre, and told him that she had died during the typhus outbreak at Lowood. When Jane returns to Thornfield, Rochester tells her that he knows Miss Ingram’s true motivations, so he asks Jane to marry him and she accepts. It is the day of Jane and Rochester's wedding, but during the church ceremony, Richard Mason, interrupts the wedding by revealing that Rochester already has a wife, Mason's sister, Bertha, who is kept in the attic in Thornfield under the care of Grace Poole.

Rochester does not deny Mason’s claims, but he explains that Bertha has gone mad and he was unaware of her family's history of madness. Jane refuses to be his mistress and leaves Thornfield. Penniless and hungry, Jane is forced to sleep outdoors and beg for food. Fortunately, the Rivers siblings, St. John, Diana, and Mary, take her into their home at Moor House and help her to regain her strength. Jane becomes close friends with the family. St. John finds Jane a position working as a teacher at a school in Morton. One day, Jane learns that she has inherited a vast fortune of 20,000 pounds from her uncle, John Eyre. Even more surprising, Jane discovers that the Rivers siblings are actually her cousins. Jane immediately decides to share her newfound wealth with her relatives. St. John is going to go on missionary work in India and asks Jane to accompany him as his wife, but she refuses. Jane supernaturally hears Rochester’s voice calling her name from somewhere far away. Jane immediately goes back to Thornfield and discovers that the estate has been burned down by Bertha, who died in the fire, and Rochester has lost his eyesight. Jane goes to Mr. Rochester hoping he asks her to marry him – and he does. They have a quiet wedding, and after two years of marriage Rochester gradually gets his sight back and is able to see their first son at his birth.

The novel goes through five distinct stages (plot)

1. Jane’s childhood at Gateshead, where she is abused by her aunt and cousins.

2. Her education at Lowood school, where she acquires friends and role models, but also suffers privations.

3. Her time as governess at Thornfield, where she falls in love with her Byronic employer Edward Rochester.

4. Her time with the Rivers family at Morton, where her cold cousin St. John Rivers proposes to her.

5. Her reunion with her beloved Rochester at his house of Ferdean.

Themes

Social PositionBrontë uses the novel to express her critique of Victorian class differences. Jane is consistently a poor individual within a wealthy environment, particularly with the Reeds and at Thornfield. Her poverty creates numerous obstacles for her and her pursuit of happiness, including personal insecurity and the denial of opportunities. The beautiful Miss Ingram's higher social standing, for instance, makes her main competitor for Mr. Rochester’s love, even though Jane is far superior in terms of intellect and character. Moreover, Jane’s refusal to marry Mr. Rochester because of their difference in social stations demonstrates her morality and belief in the importance of personal independence, especially in comparison to Miss Ingram’s gold-digging inclinations. Although Jane asserts that her poverty does not make her an inferior person, her eventual ascent out of poverty does help her overcome her personal obstacles. Not only does she generously divide her inheritance with her cousins, but her financial independence solves her difficulty with low self-esteem and allows her to fulfill her desire to be Mr. Rochester’s wife.

IndependenceIn Charlotte Bronte's famous book Jane Eyre, a girl was portrayed that was growing up around the turn of the nineteenth century. Jane was an orphan with no family or friends. She was mistreated and misunderstood by the people around her. Jane seemed doomed for a life of failure, until she decided to go against all odds and stand up for the life of success she deserved. Jane's actions opened the doors for a new interpretation of women and showed that it was possible for a woman of the nineteenth century to achieve independence and success on her own. Women were seen as trophies and were never meant to develop a mind of their own. Because of this stereotype, it was difficult for women to be taken seriously. Jane proved to be the antithesis of all these things. She may have been portrayed as a plain woman, but also intelligent, strong-willed and self-confident. Jane used these traits as her guide in her journey to self-fulfillment throughout the novel. Jane had to overcome many barriers throughout her life. The first of these was the fact that Jane was an orphan since infancy as well as a member of the lower class. Jane never seemed to fit in at Gates head where she was absolutely despised by her Aunt Reed and her cousins. Jane was seen and treated as merely a servant. Similarly Jane was made aware of all that she lacked.

ReligionJane receives three different models of Christianity throughout the novel, all of which she rejects either partly or completely before finding her own way. Mr. Brocklehurst's Evangelicalism is full of hypocrisy: he spouts off on the benefits of privation and humility while he indulges in a life of luxury and emotionally abuses the students at Lowood. Also at Lowood, Helen Burns's Christianity of absolute forgiveness and tolerance is too meek for Jane's tastes; Helen constantly suffers her punishments silently and eventually dies. St. John, on the other hand, practices a Christianity of utter piousness, righteousness, and principle to the exclusion of any passion. Jane rejects his marriage proposal as much for his detached brand of spirituality as for its certain intrusion on her independence. However, Jane frequently looks to God in her own way throughout the book, particularly after she learns of Mr. Rochester's previous marriage and before St. John takes her to Moor House. She also learns to adapt Helen’s doctrine of forgiveness without becoming complete passive and returns to Mr. Rochester when she feels that she is ready to accept him again. The culmination of the book is Jane’s mystical experience with Mr. Rochester that brings them together through a spirituality of profound love.

FamilyThe main quest in Jane Eyre is Jane's search for family, for a sense of belonging and love. However, this search is constantly tempered by Jane’s need for independence. She begins the novel as an unloved orphan who is almost obsessed with finding love as a way to establish her own identity and achieve happiness. Although she does not receive any parental love from Mrs. Reed, Jane finds surrogate maternal figures throughout the rest of the novel. Bessie, Miss Temple, and even Mrs. Fairfax care for Jane and give her the love and guidance that she needs, and she returns the favor by caring for Adèle and the students at her school. Still, Jane does not feel as though she has found her true family until she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, he becomes more of a kindred spirit to her than any one else. However, she is unable to accept Mr. Rochester’s first marriage proposal because she realizes that their marriage - one based on unequal social standing. Jane similarly denies St. John's marriage proposal, as it would be one of duty, not of passion. Only when she gains financial and emotional autonomy, after having received her inheritance and the familial love of her cousins, can Jane accept Rochester's offer. In fact, the blinded Rochester is more dependent on her. Within her marriage to Rochester, Jane finally feels completely liberated, bringing her dual quests for family and independence to a satisfying conclusion.

Love & PassionJane is constantly in a search for love. She searches for romantic love in Rochester, motherly love through Miss Temple and Mrs. Fairfax, and friendship through the Rivers siblings and Helen Burns. Jane’s search for love might stem from the scorn she felt as a child. Jane is extremely passionate, yet also dedicated to a close personal relationship with God, struggles between either extreme for much of the novel. An instance of her leaning towards conscience over passion can be seen after it has been revealed that Mr. Rochester already has a wife, Jane undoubtedly is the central passionate character; her nature is shot through with passion. Early on, she refuses to live by Mrs. Reed's rules, which would restrict all passion. Her defiance of Mrs. Reed is her first, but by no means her last, passionate act. Her passion for Rochester is all consuming. Significantly, however, it is not the only force that governs her life. She leaves Rochester because her moral reason tells her that it would be wrong to live with him as his mistress. . Jane needs to feel loved and appreciated that she would do anything for that to happen. This is one of Jane’s struggles through her adventure as she is searching for a balanced life with a family who love her and independence. As Jane matures through her hardships she learns how to gain love without damaging herself.

External Beauty vs Internal BeautyThroughout the novel, Brontë plays with the dichotomy between external beauty and internal beauty. Both Bertha Mason and Blanche Ingram are described as stunningly beautiful, but, in each case, the external beauty obscures an internal ugliness. Bertha’s beauty and sensuality blinded Mr. Rochester to her hereditary madness, and it was only after their marriage that he gradually recognized her true nature. Blanche’s beauty hides her haughtiness and pride, as well as her desire to marry Mr. Rochester only for his money. Yet, in Blanche’s case, Mr. Rochester seems to have learned not to judge by appearances, and he eventually rejects her, despite her beauty. Only Jane, who lacks the external beauty of typical Victorian heroines, has the inner beauty that appeals to Mr. Rochester. Her intelligence, wit, and calm morality express a far greater personal beauty than that of any other character in the novel, and Brontë clearly intends to highlight the importance of personal development and growth rather than superficial appearances. Once Mr. Rochester loses his hand and eyesight, they are also on equal footing in terms of appearance: both must look beyond superficial qualities in order to love each other.