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JANE EYRE

--BY CHARLOTTE BRONTE--

 

 

Some words about the author:

Charlotte was born in Haworth, Yorkshire 1816. She was the daughter of an Irishman. Charlotte’s mother died early and left behind five daughters and one son. They were left to themselves. She was sent to a extremely conservative clergy daughters boarding school. Her sisters and Charlotte were unhappy to live under such bad conditions. Two of her sisters died at this school. Charlotte became a teacher and then a private governess. From 1846 she wrote fantastic novels. Her first novel was " The professor" which was refused by Messers. Her most famous work, "Jane Eyre" was written in 1847. It was followed by "Shirly" in 1849 and "Villete" in 1853. Charlotte’s sisters and her brother died early. She was left alone. She married in 1854 but she never came over the deaths of her sisters and her brother any longer. So she died a year after her wedding at the age of 39.

In her most famous novel "Jane Eyre" some parts are autobiographic. In Lowood Asylum Miss. Bronte depicted the daughters boarding school, where she spent some unhappy years. Two of her sisters died there which is portrayed in Helen Burns. Miss Bronte was a governess and a teacher in real life too.

 

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The main characters of the book "Jane Eyre":

Jane Eyre: She is a very beautiful girl who is left on her own. All through her young years she is in search of love and security. She is hated by her aunt and her cousins, who often hurt her. She is also very intelligent. Though she was brought up under inconvenient and hateful circumstances she developed a good-natured and loving heart. Jane is also friendly, helpful and is able to forgive. She works very hard to earn her money.

 

Mrs. Reed: She is an heartless old lady who abhor Jane. She thinks that she and her children are something very special. She keeps Jane only because she had promised it to her dying husband, but she most of the time does less than her mere duty.

 

Mr. Rochester: He lives at Thornfield Hall. He is a lonely, unhappy man. His egocentric behaviour that he shows in the beginning, soon turns out to be surface only, and seems he wants hide something or to flee from something. He is very seldom at home. He is a sympathetic, friendly and warm-hearted person underneath. He admires Jane.

 

John, the clergyman: He and his sisters take Jane under their care, when she appeared at their door. They are very religious and helpful people. They make friends with Jane very quickly. They are poor but hard-working people.

CONTENT:

 

The book is the story of a period in the life of Jane Eyre. It starts in her childhood and ends as a young married woman.

Jane’s parents died as she was a baby. Her uncle Mr. Reed promised her parents to take care of Jane and to tread her as one of his own children. So Jane grows up at Gateshead Hall. Her uncle John died 9 years later and his widow Mrs. Reed and her children John, Eliza and Georgina treat Jane cruly. They shout at her, beat her and sometimes punish her without reason. They really abhor Jane. Jane often gets locked up in the "red room". It’s the dark, scary chamber in which her uncle had died. Jane is afraid in this chamber and suffers. She cries because she thinks there is a ghost in it. She gets very ill after she had been locked up in that room again . An apothecary looks after her. Mrs. Reed would never send a real doctor to her because Jane is a terrible, ugly monster in her eyes. Bessie, the nurse at Gateshead Hall is a sympathetic woman who feels sorry for Jane. She treats Jane nicely and sometimes brings hidden cakes or tea to her. Jane really suffers under Mrs. Reed and especially John.

 

As Jane grows older Mrs. Reed sends her to Lowood School, with the superintendent Mr. Brocklehurst, to get rid of her. Immediately she makes friend with a girl called Helen Burns. Jane also admires her teacher Miss. Temple. Jane likes Lowood School because everybody accepts her. Mr. Brocklehurst had promised Mrs. Reed, to tell everybody at school about Jane’s bad behaviour. So one day Jane has to stand on a chair and the superintendent abuses her publicly. Conditions are really bad at Lowood. There is only cold water and no heater. The meals are meagre and they tastes awful. Miss. Temple sometimes demands an extra meal for the girls, which brings about problems and some quarrels with Mr. Brocklehurst. As a consequence of bad conditions typhus breaks out. Many girls die; also Helen Burns, Jane’s best friend. Jane stays eight years as a pupil and then two years as a teacher. In her free time she loves it to paint pictures, especially pictures of landscapes.

 

Jane wants to go away from this school. She wants to work as a private governess. So she advertises and a Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper and manager at Thornfield Hall, as she later finds out, answers her. Jane becomes the private governess for Adele, who is the daughter of a French opera dancer. Jane is told that Thornfield Hall belongs to a Mr. Rochester. He seldom comes to his estate because he loves it to travel. Jane never sees him. One day, however, as she is on her way to post a letter in the village, she meets a man on a horse as he had slipped on the ice and fallen from the horse. Jane helps him to mount the horse again. In the evening, she discovers that this man is Mr. Rochester.

This time Mr. Rochester stays longer than usual at Thornfield Hall. He likes the way Jane teaches Adele. One night Jane’s chamber door is touched. She wakes up and hears a laughter. She smells smoke and so she goes out into the corridor. The smoke comes out of Mr. Rochester’s chamber. She quickly runs to his room, where all the curtains are burning. Mr. Rochester sleeps in his bed. She takes water and succeeds in stopping the fire. Jane saves his life. Mr. Rochester asks her not to tell anybody about what had happened.

One day Mr. Rochester gives a party for some fine guests. Everything is prepared. All the fine rooms are cleaned. It’s a fine party. The guests stay a few days at Thornfield Hall. They make excursions, play pool, dance and have a lot of fun. One evening Mr. Rochester disguises as a gipsy to predict the lady’s fortunes. There is also a Miss. Ingram, a beautiful woman, who adores Mr. Rochester. It seems that they want to marry. During the party Mr. Mason arrives. In the following night Jane wakes up because of a loud, dreadful cry. All the fine ladies wake up and are scared to death. Mr. Rochester sends them back in their rooms with the explanation, that one of the servants had a nightmare. He wants Jane to come with him to the third story. In a room Jane sees Mr. Mason badly hurt and full of blood. She has to wipe his blood without knowing anything. In the meantime Mr. Rochester goes to get a doctor.

A long time passes. One day Mrs. Reed’s coachman comes with the news of young Mr. John’s death and tells Jane that her aunt is about to die. Mrs. Reed wants to see Jane again. So Jane travels to her aunt. Although she had treated her so badly, Jane feels pity for her. Mrs. Reed gives her a letter from an other uncle in Madeira. He had wanted to adopt Jane, but Mrs. Reed had wrote him that Jane had died of typhus many years ago.

 

When Jane comes back to Thornfield Hall, Mr. Rochester is so happy to see her again. He confesses his love. Jane also loves him. They want to marry. In the night before the weeding, a wild creature comes to Jane’s room and tears her veil. Jane thinks it is a dream.

On the weeding day there are only a few guests in the church. Suddenly Mr. Mason appears again and says that the ceremony must be stopped as Mr. Rochester has a wife still living. She is his sister. The priest stops and Mr. Rochester turns very angry because he really loves Jane. He leads all guests to Thornfield Hall, to show them his wife. They all go up to the third story. He shows them a lunatic, his wife. Grace Pool, an older woman looks after her. Mr. Rochester’s father and his brother had played an unfair game with him. They only had power and money in mind when they urged him to marry that woman, a long time ago. Both knew that this woman was a lunatic. They never gave Rochester a chance to meet his wife to be alone, before the weeding.

That is the explanation for the permanent laughter, the fire and the figure in Jane’s room.

 

Jane is hurt and flees in the dead of the night. She walks a long time over the country, nearly starving, trembling and fevering. She is a poor ill beggar. One day she comes to a house in the moor. – the Moor House. This little house belongs to Mary, Diana, their brother St. John and Hannah. They pick Jane up and look after her. They treat her nicely. Jane feels better and recovers. She does no give away her real identity and they understand it. St. John, the clergyman, helps her to find a job as a teacher. One day St. John finds out about her real identity on the back of one of her pictures. He can’t believe his eyes because Jane is their cousin. They tell her that their uncle died in Madeira and Jane is the heiress of 20. 000 pounds. Jane divides the money among her cousins.

Jane has never stopped to love Mr. Rochester, One day she decides to go back to Thornfield hall, only to see what has happened with him. One her way she stops at a small inn. The host tells her the sad story of Thornfield Hall: Mr. Rochester had a governess who he loved with all his heart. This governess fled as she founds out that Mr. Rochester had a lunatic wife still living. He searched the whole country but she was never found. A fire broke out at Thornfield Hall. It was suspected that his lunatic wife did it. Mr. Rochester wanted to save the life of his wife. She committed suicide and he was badly hurt. Now he is a cripple. He is a blind, a broken man with an amputated arm.

Jane wants to see him immediately. She goes to his new little home. They come together again, marry and Jane gives birth to a son.