By Lechi Eke
Jane Eyre is a Victorian novel of 38 chapters published in series (three volumes). It was first published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, in October 1847. Charlotte Bronte’s pseudonym, Currer Bell was given in the book as the editor of the novel.
Written in the First Person narrative, and told from the perspective of the title character, Charlotte explores the internal conflicts of a young woman who struggles with societal norms and the adversity of her social condition, as well as her natural desires.
The novel opens when Jane Eyre is ten. She is an orphan and thus has no home, and has to live with the family of her rich maternal uncle (Mr Reed) who is now deceased. His widow, Mrs Reed and her three children, especially, John, the only male child, treat Jane very badly. Mrs Reed tells Jane she’s a burden, and John often reminds her that his family is doing her a favour since she is poor and orphaned. She should be grateful that responsible folks like them took her in to share their food, home and clothes.
Not only the Reeds, but their servants berate Jane. When Jane wants to know why she should call her cousin, John Reed, master, when she’s not a servant, one of them tells her that she’s in fact, lower than a servant. A servant earns his wages but Jane doesn’t do anything. They make her know she should be grateful to her benefactors because without their kind gesture, she will be in a poor house, like Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
However, Jane is not poor in spirit. She possesses an inextinguishable spirit, and she’s smart, thoughtful, and has a tongue! She also has a determined will to survive. So being banished from the company of her nephew and nieces, she finds solaces in books and her single toy. She reads books beyond her age and quite develops herself tremendously.
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte draws the portrait of a ten year old that is physically and emotionally abused by her relations. The young woman weathers all kinds of adversities in life, but is never broken!
Jane grows defensive at Gateshead Hall. One day as punishment for defending herself from her abusive cousin, John Reed, who is fourteen, Jane is banished to ‘the red room’. This was Jane’s uncle’s room where he died. Here Jane faints when she thinks she sees her uncle’s ghost. A kind apothecary (doctor – Mr Lloyd) is called in to attend to her. Jane confesses to him how unhappy she is in the Reeds’ home.
Mr Lloyd suggests that Mrs Reed sends Jane to school. The suggestion appeals to Mrs Reed. It is a good way to get rid of the girl. So, she contacts the director of Lowood School, a Mr Brocklehurst, to help her enlist Jane.
Jane vows as she is leaving her aunt’s house to Lowood, that she will never call Mrs Reed aunt again, and that she will tell everyone how the Reeds mistreat her. Mrs Reed is unhappy about it but cannot help the situation.
But, Lowood is like going from the frying pan into the fire. Here, she’s further oppressed, and suffers all manner of privations. The food is meagre, the rooms are cold and the girls contend with thin clothing and wicked teachers, and health-threatening conditions.
Mrs Reed has told Mr Brocklehurst, the director of Lowood, who helps her enlist Jane in the school that Jane can be deceitful. Mr Brocklehurst thinking that she meant that Jane was a liar, publicly disgraces Jane the day he visits the school. Nonetheless, the kind Miss Temple, Lowood’s superintendent, clears Jane’s name.
Jane has made friends in the school: Helen Burns, a fellow student, who imparts on Jane Christian virtues, and Miss Temple, Lowood’s superintendent.
Nonetheless, when Jane’s friend, Helen Burns catches the typhus and dies in Jane’s arms, and Miss Temple finds a husband and leaves Lowood, Jane decides she’s had enough and decides to leave too. She advertises for a job, governess, and is soon employed to take care of a little girl in Thortonfield Hall.
She falls in love with her employer (this incident actually happened in Charlotte Bronte’s life – when she went to Brussels with Emily in 1841 to learn a foreign language, she fell in love with her employer, a married man (Constantin Heger who with his wife Claire, ran a boarding school where two of the Bronte sisters not only schooled but also taught – Emily, French and piano, Charlotte, English). But nothing came of it despite her writing him many passionate letters, now labelled, the Heger Letters which Monsieur Heger tore, but his wife retrieved from the bin and later gave to Mrs Gaskel who wrote Charlotte’s biography. In the end, Charlotte married another man.).
Lowood is Jane’s lowest point in life. It is a school for the poor just like The Clergy Daughters School Cowan Bridge where four of the Bronte girls attended and lost two of their siblings: Mary and Elizabeth to tuberculosis. The condition at Lowood Charlotte depicts as generally bad. Jane loses a friend there, Helen, who represents one of Charlotte’s sisters that contracted tuberculosis at Cowan Bridge and died. So, the author blames the Cowan’s poor condition for her sisters’ deaths.
Although Jane Eyre (novel) is set in King George III’s (1760-1820) 18th century, it is a glaring exposition of living in Queen Victoria’s England: the class consciousness, societal norms – Jane is expected to marry whoever is available and not consider love at all, for according to the sentiments of the time, that’s what girls were to do. But, not Jane! She rejects a life of mediocrity, and pursues true love! – Quite unconventional in that era. Then, there is the treatment of children in that era. It is carefully limned in how Jane Eyre is treated both in the home of the wealthy Mrs Reed and in the charity school, Lowood.
Employed as governess at Thortonfield Hall, one night, Jane meets her mysterious employer by chance when his horse fell down and Jane has to help him.
Edward Rochester, master of Thortonfield Hall is a Byronic figure, wealthy, dashing and impetuous. Jane falls in love with him.
It is recorded that the Bronte literary siblings became acquainted with the work of Lord Byron, the Romantic poet, a year after he died, and they fell in love with the Byronic hero, who is an imperfect but appealing character. The Byronic hero is depicted in many of their work.
As Jane and Rochester spend many evenings together at Thortonfield Hall, getting acquainted, Rochester suddenly leaves the house unannounced and returns later with a party among who is a beautiful and talented woman who is snobbish and heartless. Jane soon discovers that Rochester and the lady have something going on, and she is jealous.
Shortly after, Jane is called away herself, back to Gateshead Hall; her Aunt Reed has a stroke and is dying. She confesses to Jane that she treated her badly and tells her of her paternal uncle who had sent for her requesting that she should come and live with him and be his heir, but Mrs Reed had spitefully told Mr John Eyre, Jane’s paternal uncle, that Jane has died of fever at Lowood.
Mrs Reed dies. Jane returns to Thornfield Hall after her funeral, to her job as governess to Rochester’s protégé, Adele, and of course, to Rochester. It is with great sadness that she learns of Rochester’s impending marriage to the talented Blanche Ingram.
One midsummer evening, Rochester engages Jane in a chat, and tells her how he will miss her after getting married to Blanche, and how Jane will soon forget him. Jane, perhaps in the face of losing the love of her life, becomes uncharacteristic as she reveals to Rochester her love for him. Rochester on finding out that Jane truly loves him, proposes marriage. Jane accepts.
She writes her uncle, John Eyre, of the happy news of getting married to Rochester. As they prepare for the wedding, one of the strange occurrences in Thornfield Hall happened again. One night, a strange woman sneaks into Jane’s room and tears her veil. Rochester blames it on one of the servants.
At this time, Jane has no notion that Rochester is married. But on the day of the wedding, Mason, a guest in Rochester’s house brings a lawyer to stop the wedding saying that Rochester is married to his sister.
Rochester admits the allegation saying how his father tricked him into the marriage because of Bertha Mason’s money. Only for him to discover afterwards that Bertha had a condition that deteriorated fast – Bertha Mason is a mad woman! Rochester has locked her up on the third floor of their home for years with a nurse to care for her. The nurse who has alcohol problem gets drunk sometimes and leaves Bertha to escape from her room to cause havoc in the house. Everything comes out into the open.
Jane learns that the mysterious havocs in the house such as strange fire in Rochester’s bedroom which Jane saves Rochester from, sudden strange laughter in the house, someone trying to kill Rochester’s guest, Mason, her veil being torn, etc., are the handiwork of the insane Bertha.
Jane leaves Thornfield Hall. She has to do this despite her feelings for Rochester, because of her Christian beliefs and faith. She has also turned down Rochester’s proposal that she elopes with him to France where they will live in sin.
The distraught girl leaves Thornfield Hall very early in the morning when no one can stop her. With her little savings, she travels as far away from Rochester as possible, ending up in front of the Rivers’ house, but their housekeeper turns her away. She collapses there, and is rescued by St John, brother to Diana and Mary Rivers, who is also a clergyman.
The Rivers take her in. John finds her a job as a governess. Later John’s sisters leave the house to be governesses and Jane and John get close.
The clergyman discovers Jane’s identity. He tells Jane that her uncle, John Eyre, is dead, and has left her the sum of 20, 000 pounds! John River also reveals that he and his sisters are related to John Eyre, and were hoping to get something from the man but got nothing.
Jane is overjoyed and decides to share with her new found relations. John also thinking that Jane is pious and conscientious and would make a good missionary proposes to Jane to marry him, and to go with him to India for missionary work. Jane declines the proposal preferring that they go as brother and sister instead.
Jane declines the offer of marriage because she’s not in love with John Rivers, and doesn’t want to marry him to fulfill societal duty. She is willing to go for missionary work.
Nonetheless, as John pressurizes Jane, and her resolve is weakening, she thinks she hears Rochester calling her. She decides to visit Thornfield Hall. There, Jane finds out that the house is burnt, Bertha is dead and Rochester has lost his sight, and an arm!
She learns that Bertha burned the house and committed suicide by jumping to her death.
Rochester is worried that Jane will be repulsed by his condition, but not Jane, not the woman that knows what she wants out of life. She affirms her love for him declaring that she will never leave him. He proposes again, and they marry.
Before the story ends, Rochester recovers his sight to see his newborn son.
Charlotte Bronte explores moral realism in Jane Eyre by making her character to choose ethical duty above her own sexual need when she rejects marrying Rochester because he is a married man, and when she refuses to elope with him to France to live in sin.
This is strong when you consider that Jane is truly in love with Rochester, and would later marry him blind and armless!
Charlotte Bronte also dabbled into the Gothic tradition by making Bertha die a fiery death, plus the mysterious happenings at Thortonfield Hall, like the mysterious eerie laughter, et al. Also, Jane’s escape from a bigamous marriage, all points to the Gothic novel tradition.
With the advances in empirical sciences such as biology and geology, some questions arose begging for answers, such as the nature of reality and previous ideas about religion and truth.
Victorian writers of fiction explored these questions about the nature of reality, and the truth in their work. For example, Charlotte, in Jane Eyre, searches for the nature of reality, the truth about the woman issue. Jane Eyre has an individualistic character through which the author explores the issues of religion, feminism, as well as class in the novel.
The woman issue: should the woman be content with where society dumped her, or with what’s her ‘lot in life’? Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre seeks self-realization, the need to achieve what’s truly her desire, her ambition and not what society offers her. In this quest, she represents the new insurgent woman, a true feminist. The author depicts her as one who seeks true emancipation.
The Victorian Era is very important in history not only for its many achievements, but also for the consolidation of the novel genre. The novel peaked during this era. The age birthed political movements like socialism, liberalism and organized feminism.
When we talk of English Classic Novels, Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights take top list.
The Victorian novel is characterized by the struggle of working people and the triumph of right over wrong. These play out in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Great Expectaions, etc., Charlotte Bronte’sJane Eyre, George Eliot’s Silas Marner, etc. The Critical Theory of the Victorian Literature is also forcefully addressed, that of the triumph of right over wrong in these works.
Queen Victoria’s character and moral standard influenced her subjects and restored the prestige of the British Monarchy. However, it also gave the era a prudish reputation that reflects in the fictions of the time.
Excerpt from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre:
Chapter I
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.
The said Eliza, John, and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in the drawing-room: she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside, and with her darlings about her (for the time neither quarrelling nor crying) looked perfectly happy. Me, she had dispensed from joining the group; saying, “She regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance; but that until she heard from Bessie, and could discover by her own observation, that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition, a more attractive and sprightly manner—something lighter, franker, more natural, as it were—she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children.”
“What does Bessie say I have done?” I asked.
“Jane, I don’t like cavillers or questioners; besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent.”
A breakfast-room adjoined the drawing-room, I slipped in there. It contained a bookcase: I soon possessed myself of a volume, taking care that it should be one stored with pictures. I mounted into the window-seat: gathering up my feet, I sat cross-legged, like a Turk; and, having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close, I was shrined in double retirement
