JANE EYRE BY CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Jane Eyre is a fictional autobiography.
It begins at Gateshead Hall where Jane spends ten years of her life. She lives
here with her cousins, John, Eliza and Georgiana Reed, and their mother.
One day after dinner the children gather round their mother with the
exception of Jane, who is exempted because she has not acquired a sociable
and childlike disposition. As she slipped into the drawing room to read a
book, she was found by her cousin John who threw the book at her.
This led to her aunt’s locking her up in the red room, to quell her
insubordination. As the nurses carried her there, Jane resists all the way
leading Bessie, one of the maids, to want to tie her down. The red room was
rarely slept in and it was in the red room that Mr Reed, Jane’s uncle, died.
This made Jane scared of being left alone in the room. She got into a fit and
lost consciousness.
After the red room experience, Jane fell ill and was sent to a boarding school
called Lowood after her recovery.
At Lowood, Jane makes a friend in the person of Helen Burns who dies
eventually; she also becomes friends with Miss Temple who eventually got
married.
Then comes the biggest adventure of her life, she applies to become a
governess and is accepted. After Miss temple got married and left Lowood,
Jane felt that it was time for her to move on to new adventures. She begins
working at Thornfield Hall for Mr Rochester, teaching his ward, Adele.
Eventually, Mr Rochester falls in love with Jane and proposes to her. On
their wedding day, she finds out that he is already married to a mad woman
named Bertha. Mr Rochester begs her to stay and become his mistress but
she refuses and leaves Thornfield Hall that night.
Jane is alone and homeless until she meets a family of three, two sisters and
one brother, Mary, Diana and St John Rivers. They take her in, provide for
her and gave her a job as a teacher. She eventually finds out that they are
her cousins through her father, their mother was her father’s sister. St John
asks for her hand in marriage but she refuses and returns to Thornfield Hall,
only to discover that no one lives there because it has been burnt down. The
house was burnt down by Bertha, Mr Rochester’s wife, and Mr Rochester
became blind and one handed due to the accident.
Jane Eyre was later directed to Ferndean, a manor-house on a farm, where he
lives with his servant, John and his wife.
Jane met Mr Edward Rochester at Ferndean, he asked her to marry him and
she accepted. Mr Rochester recovered the sight of one eye and was able to
see his first born, a boy, when he was born. Diana and Mary Rivers both got
married, Diana got married to a captain in the navy, Captain Fitzjames while
Mary got married to a clergy man, a friend of her brother’s, Mr Wharton.
The book ends with the death of St John in India.
My View: Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most popular
love story. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain
appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, sharp wit and great courage.
I love Jane Eyre and it is one of my favourite classics.
