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Jane Eyre

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Novels

   CAPTION: Title Jane Eyre

   Title page of the first edition of Jane Eyre
     Author   Charlotte Brontë
    Country   England
    Language  English
    Genre(s)  Romance novel
   Publisher  Smith Elder and Co, Cornhill
    Released  16 October 1847
   Media type Print ( Hardback & Paperback)
     Pages    521 pages (Penguin Classics edition, 2006)
      ISBN    ISBN 0-141-44114-3 (Penguin Classics edition, 2006)

   Jane Eyre is a classic romance novel by Charlotte Brontë which was
   published in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Company, London, and is one of the
   most famous British novels.

   Charlotte Brontë first published the book as Jane Eyre: An
   Autobiography under the pseudonym Currer Bell, and it was an instant
   success, earning the praise of many reviewers, including William
   Makepeace Thackeray, to whom Charlotte Brontë dedicated her second
   edition.

Summary

   Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. (The status of spoiler
   warnings is being discussed at this Request for Comment.)

   The narrator and main character, ten-year-old Jane Eyre, is a poor
   orphan being raised in the home of her wealthy aunt, the widowed Mrs.
   Reed. Although bound by a deathbed promise to her husband to raise his
   orphaned niece, Jane, Mrs. Reed dislikes her and likewise her children
   are unkind to Jane, and frequently harp on Jane’s inferior social
   status. Jane's plainness, her perceptive and passionate nature, and her
   occasional "visions," or vivid dreams, do not help to secure her
   relatives' affections.

   When tensions in her foster home escalate, Jane is sent to Lowood, a
   boarding school run by the inhumane Mr. Brocklehurst. Although Mr.
   Brocklehurst attempts to prejudice her fellow pupils against her as a
   "liar" (Mrs. Reed's accusation), she finds kindness both from Miss
   Temple, a teacher, and Helen Burns, a fellow student. Helen is learned
   and intelligent, has a patient and philosophical mind, and has an
   unwavering faith in God. Helen, although often chastised by teachers
   for her disorganisation and forgetfulness, is unfailingly humble and
   patient under chastisement, and encourages Jane to be so, also. To be
   so submissive is against Jane's nature; although Jane learns while at
   Lowood to hide her temper and character, the injustices of the world
   still burn in her soul.

   After some time, a typhus epidemic sweeps through the school, worsened
   by the semi-starvation the pupils have been enduring. Many of the girls
   die, although Jane is unaffected. At the same time, Helen is dying of
   consumption, the fate that she accepts with an utterly calm and saintly
   attitude. After Helen's death and the typhus epidemic, conditions at
   Lowood improve. This is due to an inquiry of why typhus fever struck
   Lowood that revealed Mr. Brocklehurst's uncaring ways. Jane slowly
   finds her place at the institution, eventually becoming a teacher, but
   when her mentor, Miss Temple, marries and moves away, Jane decides to
   leave. She is desperate to see the world beyond Lowood and, at the age
   of eighteen, places an advertisement in the newspaper. She soon secures
   a position as governess in Thornfield Hall.

   At first, her life at Thornfield is quiet. Jane's only companions are
   her pupil, Adèle, the young French ward of the absent Mr. Rochester,
   and Mrs. Fairfax, a genteel elderly widow who is Mr. Rochester's
   housekeeper. But everything changes when Edward Rochester, the owner of
   the manor, arrives. The manner of their meeting is unusual: on a dark
   winter's afternoon, Jane takes a walk to the nearest village to post a
   letter. On the way, she is startled by a large hound appearing eerily
   out of the mist; at first Jane takes the dog for the spirit Gytrash,
   but soon realises no supernatural forces are at work when a horse and
   rider follow after. Spooked by Jane's sudden appearance, the horse
   slips on some ice, and the rider is thrown to the ground. Jane comes to
   his aid, and assists him to mount his horse again, since he has twisted
   his ankle. His manner is abrupt and curt; he inquires of her where she
   lives, and what her position at Thornfield is, then rides away.
   Returning from her walk, she sees the same hound, and is informed by
   the servants that Mr. Rochester has returned - the mysterious
   traveller.

   The next evening, Mr. Rochester sends for Jane to speak with him in the
   library, and she undergoes an odd sort of interview at his hands. His
   manner is still abrupt and rather harsh. He is about thirty-eight, dark
   haired and dark eyed, square of brow and strong of feature, and
   ruggedly athletic; however, he is not a handsome man, as Jane bluntly
   points out on one occasion. Mr. Rochester's quirks of temper surprise
   Jane at first, although they do not discompose her; she is more
   comfortable with honesty and poor manners than she is among the
   hypocrisies and smoothnesses of polite society. As Mr. Rochester seeks
   out her company more frequently, she comes to understand and respect
   him, and the two become friends. Mr. Rochester eventually takes Jane
   into his confidence, and reveals that Adèle may be his daughter,
   although he disbelieves this to be the case; she is, however, the
   illegitimate daughter of a French opera dancer with whom Mr. Rochester
   once had a liaison.

   As their acquaintance grows closer, Jane finds herself falling in love
   with her employer; but she believes, despite the strong intellectual
   and emotional connection that has grown between them, that he cannot
   care for her because of her low status and plain looks. During this
   time an incident occurs, which turns out to be a foreshadowing of dark
   events to come. Startled awake by a noise in the hall, Jane goes into
   the corridor, hears a strange laugh and smells smoke coming from Mr.
   Rochester's room. Throwing open the door of his room, she discovers his
   bed-curtains ablaze, and Mr. Rochester deeply asleep on the bed. She
   manages to wake him and to extinguish the fire with water from the
   washstand. Mr. Rochester then leaves the room for several minutes. When
   he returns, he says he has resolved the matter to his satisfaction, and
   hints that the culprit is Grace Poole, an odd servant who lives on the
   otherwise abandoned third floor. He then takes Jane's hand and thanks
   her tenderly for saving his life; he seems reluctant for her to go.
   However, feeling cold (and aware that she and Mr. Rochester should not
   be alone in his bedroom in the middle of the night), she soon takes her
   leave.

   The next morning, after encountering an oddly sanguine Grace Poole,
   Jane discovers that Mr. Rochester has just left to go and visit the
   family of a local beauty, Miss Blanche Ingram, and is not expected to
   return for some weeks. Within a few weeks, however, he brings Miss
   Ingram and other guests to Thornfield for an extended house party, and
   forces Jane to sit in company each evening, where she observes his
   attentions to the beautiful Miss Ingram. Although pained, Jane is not
   jealous, because she perceives that, while beautiful, Blanche is proud
   and unpleasant, and incapable of capturing Rochester's love. During the
   house party, another dramatic incident occurs. A mysterious Jamaican
   gentleman, a Mr. Richard Mason, appears, to Mr. Rochester's apparent
   distress. That night, the entire household is awakened by terrific
   yells. Mr. Rochester dismisses the fears of the guests by saying that a
   servant has had a bad dream. However, Jane knows better; she dresses
   herself and soon Mr. Rochester fetches her and takes her to the third
   storey, where Mason lies bleeding. He has been stabbed and bitten,
   although by what or whom it is not clear–perhaps Grace Poole. After
   promising not to say a word, Jane stays with Mason while Rochester
   fetches a surgeon. When the surgeon arrives, Rochester has Mason
   bundled out of the house before dawn.

   As the house party continues, Jane receives a visit from her Aunt's
   coachman, informing her that her Aunt Reed is dying after suffering a
   stroke, and wishes to speak with her. Jane gains a reluctant leave of
   absence from Mr. Rochester and travels to Gateshead. She learns that
   her cousin John Reed had committed suicide following a long period of
   debauchery; the news of the suicide brought on Mrs. Reed’s stroke. Mrs.
   Reed dislikes Jane as much as ever, but wishes to clear her conscience
   before death by revealing to Jane that she had once received a letter
   from Jane's uncle John Eyre (on her father’s side long estranged), who
   having heard of Jane's friendless situation wished to make amends and
   adopt her. Mrs. Reed had spitefully replied to this letter that Jane
   was dead. She gives Jane the letter, and Jane freely forgives her,
   being finally moved out of her long anger at her aunt by pity. But Mrs.
   Reed doesn't want to make friends; once she has made her confession,
   she has no wish to see more of Jane. Eventually Mrs. Reed dies.

   After a month, Jane returns to Thornfield. A few weeks after her
   return, Jane takes to the garden one evening for a walk. Mr. Rochester
   follows her there. He informs Jane that he has found a new situation
   for her, in Ireland; when he marries, Jane must go to her new position,
   and Adèle must go to boarding school. Hearing this news, Jane breaks
   down and weeps, saying that she finds it hard to bear the thought of
   leaving Thornfield and Mr. Rochester. Rochester then asks her to marry
   him, revealing that he has loved none but her all along; the charade
   with Miss Ingram was merely an attempt to induce Jane to love him by
   stirring her jealousy. Jane accepts his proposal, and they plan to be
   married in a month's time.

   Although very happy, Jane finds her month of engagement to be something
   of a trial. Mr. Rochester wishes to lavish extravagant gifts and praise
   on her, but Jane feels oppressed by the sense that he is treating her
   as a sort of doll to dress up. She is haunted by comparisons with the
   attentions Mr. Rochester paid to former mistresses, such as Adèle's
   mother; she doesn’t want to be "kept", and fears that Mr. Rochester
   will tire of her after they are married, as he tired of his mistresses.
   In order to keep him in line, and satisfy her own conscience, she
   continues to serve as Adèle's governess throughout the month, and
   continually attempts to provoke Mr. Rochester into irritation, in order
   to keep him from becoming too sentimental.

   Finally, the wedding morning arrives. However, barely has the ceremony
   started when it is interrupted by Richard Mason and his lawyer, who
   claim that the marriage cannot go on because Mr. Rochester still has a
   wife living: Mason's sister Bertha, a Creole whom he married fifteen
   years earlier in Jamaica. Mr. Rochester admits the marriage and takes
   the assembly to the "deserted" third floor of Thornfield. There he
   reveals that Mrs. Rochester is a violent lunatic kept under the care of
   Grace Poole; it is Bertha who was responsible for the fire that nearly
   killed Mr. Rochester, and for attacking her brother; by stealing the
   keys on several occasions when Grace Poole was drunk. Jane, in shock,
   retreats to her room. She stays there in mental anguish most of the
   day. When she finally emerges, Mr. Rochester tells her the story of how
   he was tricked into an arranged marriage with the wealthy Bertha Mason
   by his father, who knew the history of mental illness and drunkenness
   in her family. After the marriage, Rochester discovered that his wife's
   tastes were antipathetic in every way to his own, and that he hated
   her. After four years of unhappy marriage, Bertha went mad, and he
   brought her back to England where he confined her to Thornfield. Mr.
   Rochester then entreats Jane to stay with him and be his wife in all
   but law, but Jane refuses, although sorely tempted. Her strong internal
   moral guide will not allow her to become Mr. Rochester’s mistress.

   Feeling that Rochester will attempt to detain her, and not trusting
   herself to resist temptation for much longer, Jane sneaks out from
   Thornfield in the middle of the night, with a meagre bundle of
   possessions and twenty shillings: all the money she has. She finds a
   passing coach and rides as far as her money will take her. She
   disembarks without a penny, and accidentally leaves her bundle of food
   and clothes in the coach. Completely destitute, she wanders to the
   nearest town, and attempts first to find work, then to beg for food.
   She sleeps out on the open moors for two nights, becoming ever hungrier
   and more desperate. Finally, starving, weather-beaten, and at the end
   of her strength, she collapses on the doorstep of a lonely cottage on
   the moor. One of the residents, St. John Rivers, a handsome young
   clergyman, takes pity on her and gives her shelter. St. John
   (pronounced "Sinjun") lives there with his sisters, Diana and Mary. The
   three nurse Jane back to health, and find her employment as the teacher
   of the village school. Jane begins to find life tolerable again,
   although she pines for Mr. Rochester. By a remarkable coincidence, Jane
   discovers that the Riverses are in fact her cousins, and that their
   mutual uncle, John Eyre, has died and left Jane his fortune of twenty
   thousand pounds. The Riverses were left out of the will due to an old
   family feud. Jane, in her gratitude, decides to share the inheritance
   equally among the four of them. This still leaves her a wealthy woman.
   Meanwhile, St. John, who plans to go to India as a missionary, has been
   teaching Jane Hindi (Hindostanee) and reveals that he wishes Jane to
   come to India with him as his wife. However, while Jane admires St.
   John and has a sisterly affection for him, she finds him cold and knows
   that he does not love her – is in fact incapable of the sort of love
   that Mr. Rochester had for her. She rejects him, but his force of
   personality and moral persuasion are difficult to refuse, and she is on
   the point of being browbeaten into coming to India, when she hears Mr.
   Rochester's anguished voice calling to her supernaturally.

   Unable to bear any longer not knowing what has become of him, and
   whether he has returned in despair to his previous immoral ways, she
   returns to Thornfield. To her shock, she finds a hollow ruin -
   Thornfield has burned to the ground. From the local innkeeper, she
   learns that the insane Mrs. Rochester escaped one night and set the
   fire, then ran to the roof and threw herself off. Mr. Rochester
   attempted to stop her and failed, but returning through the burning
   house, was hit by a falling beam. One hand was crushed and had to be
   amputated, he lost one eye, and the sight of the other. He is now
   living in another house he owns, Ferndean Manor, about thirty miles
   off. Jane hurries to Ferndean. They are reunited, and though Mr.
   Rochester fears at first that Jane will no longer wish to marry him now
   that he is crippled and blind, she soon puts his fears to rest. Three
   days later, they are married.

   Speaking from a vantage point ten years on, Jane tells of their happy
   marriage, and reveals that she has given birth to a son. Eventually Mr.
   Rochester regains some sight in his remaining eye. In the last
   paragraphs of the novel, she reads a letter from St. John Rivers, now
   apparently dying in India, but welcoming his impending union with his
   Saviour, echoing the death of Helen Burns near the beginning of the
   novel.
   Spoilers end here.

Background

   The early sequences, in which the orphaned Jane is sent to Lowood, a
   harsh boarding school, are based on the author's own experiences. Two
   of her sisters died in childhood as a result of the conditions at their
   school, the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge, near Tunstall in
   Lancashire. Mr Brocklehurst is based on the Revd William Carus Wilson
   (1791-1859), the founder of the school, and Helen Burns is a
   representation of Charlotte's sister Maria. These facts were revealed
   to the public in The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) by Charlotte's
   friend the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and caused considerable
   controversy at the time. The Gothic Thornfield was probably inspired by
   North Lees Hall, near Hathersage in the Peak District. This was visited
   by Charlotte Bronte and her friend Ellen Nussey in the summer of 1845
   and described by Ellen Nussey in a letter dated 22 July 1845. It was
   the residence of the Eyre family and its first owner Agnes Ashurst was
   reputedly confined as a lunatic in a padded second floor room. (Davies
   2006).

Literary motifs and allusions

   Jane Eyre uses many motifs from Gothic fiction such as the Gothic Hall,
   the Byronic hero (Rochester) and the The Madwoman in the Attic (Bertha)
   who is perceived by Jane to resemble 'the foul German spectre - the
   vampire' (chapter 25) and who attacks her brother in a distinctly
   vampiric way: 'She sucked the blood: she said she'd drain my heart'
   (chapter 20). Literary allusions from the Bible, fairy tales, The
   Pilgrim's Progress, Paradise Lost and the novels and poetry of Sir
   Walter Scott are also much in evidence (Davies 2006). The novel also
   deliberately avoids some conventions of Victorian fiction, e.g. not
   contriving a deathbed reconciliation between Aunt Reed and Jane Eyre
   and avoiding the portrayal of a fallen woman.

Quotes

   “ A Christmas frost had come at mid-summer: a white December storm had
        whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the
     blowing roses; on hay-field and corn-field lay a frozen shroud ... and
     the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy and fragrant as groves
     between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests
           in wintry Norway. My hopes were all dead. ... (Chapter 26)       ”

Adaptations

   Jane Eyre has engendered numerous adaptations and related works
   inspired by the novel:

Silent film versions

     * Three adaptations entitled Jane Eyre were released; one in 1910,
       two in 1914.
     * 1915: Jane Eyre starring Louise Vale
     * 1915: A version was released called The Castle of Thornfield.
     * 1918: A version was released called Woman and Wife.
     * 1921: Jane Eyre starring Mabel Ballin
     * 1926: A version was made in Germany called Orphan of Lowood.

Sound film versions

     * 1934: This film featured Colin Clive and Virginia Bruce.
     * 1940: Rebecca (film), directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based upon
       the novel of the same name which was influenced by Jane Eyre. Joan
       Fontaine, who starred in this film, would also be cast in the 1944
       version of Jane Eyre to reinforce the connection.
     * 1943: I Walked with a Zombie is a horror movie based upon Jane
       Eyre.
     * 1944: Jane Eyre, with a screenplay by John Houseman and Aldous
       Huxley. It features Orson Welles as Rochester, Joan Fontaine as
       Jane, and Elizabeth Taylor as Helen Burns.
     * 1956: A version was made in Hong Kong called The Orphan Girl.
     * 1963: A version was released in Mexico called El Secreto (English:
       "The Secret").
     * 1970: Jane Eyre, starring George C. Scott as Rochester and Susannah
       York as Jane.
     * 1978: A version was released in Mexico called Ardiente Secreto
       (English: "Ardent Secret").
     * 1996: Jane Eyre, directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring William
       Hurt as Rochester, Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jane, supermodel Elle
       Macpherson as Blanche Ingram, Anna Paquin as the young Jane, and
       Geraldine Chaplin as Miss Scatcherd.

Musical versions

     * A musical version with a book by John Caird and music and lyrics by
       Paul Gordon, with Marla Schaffel as Jane and James Stacy Barbour as
       Rochester, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on December 10,
       2000. It closed on June 10, 2001.
     * An opera version was written in 2000 by English composer Michael
       Berkeley, with a libretto by David Malouf. It was given its
       premiere by Music Theatre Wales at the Cheltenham Festival.

Television versions

     * 1952: This was a live television production presented by
       "Westinghouse Studio One (Summer Theatre)"
     * Adaptations appeared on British and American television in 1956 and
       1961.
     * 1963:Jane Eyre. It was produced by the BBC and starred Richard
       Leech as Rochester and Ann Bell as Jane.
     * 1973: Jane Eyre. It was produced by the BBC and starred Michael
       Jayston as Rochester and Sorcha Cusack as Jane.
     * 1983: Jane Eyre. It was produced by the BBC and starred Timothy
       Dalton as Rochester and Zelah Clarke as Jane.
     * 1997: Jane Eyre, with Ciaran Hinds as Rochester and Samantha Morton
       as Jane.
     * 2006: Jane Eyre. It was produced by the BBC and starred Toby
       Stephens as Rochester, Ruth Wilson as Jane, and Georgie Henley as
       Young Jane.

Literature

     * 1938: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was partially inspired by Jane
       Eyre. ,
     * 1966: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. The character, Bertha Mason,
       serves as the main protagonist for this novel which acts as a
       "prequel" to Jane Eyre. It describes the meeting and marriage of
       Antoinette (later renamed Bertha by Rochester) and Rochester. In
       its reshaping of events related to Jane Eyre, the novel suggests
       that Bertha's madness is the result of Rochester's rejection of her
       and her Creole heritage. It was also adapted into film twice.
     * 1997: Mrs Rochester: A Sequel to Jane Eyre by Hilary Bailey
     * 2000: Adele: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant
     * 2001 novel The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde revolves around the
       plot of Jane Eyre.
     * 2002: Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn, a science fiction novel based
       upon Jane Eyre
     * 2002: Jane Rochester by Kimberly A. Bennett
     * 2006: The French Dancer's Bastard: The Story of Adele From Jane
       Eyre by Emma Tennant. This is a slightly modified version of
       Tennant's 2000 novel.
     * 2007: Thornfield Hall: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant.
       This is another version of Jane Eyre.

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