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Jane Eyre
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Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë
London, 1847

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Literary Classic

  • Novel
  • Victorian literature

What It’s About

An Uncompromising Woman

The story of Jane Eyre may read like a Cinderella fairytale, but it’s far from one: A destitute orphan and governess falls in love with her rich employer and, having overcome many adverse circumstances through virtue, marries him in the end. But the tale of this unusual woman in 19th century England – a period of outlandish prudishness and a rigorous social order – is no penny dreadful. Despite her dismal prospects, Jane Eyre is neither a pliant housewife nor a racy mistress, but a strong, independent woman. She fights for her respect, freedom and integrity, even at the cost of immense personal sacrifice. Some twists of events appear unlikely, others absurd, and as a result there are times when Charlotte Brontë’s novel threatens to drift into triviality. But thanks to her spirited and deep characterizations, the author manages to keep her readers hooked to the end. At the time of its publication, Jane Eyre was a blockbuster success. It continues to be one of the most widely read classics of English literature. 

Summary

Surrounded by Jealous Relatives

Orphaned at an early age, Jane Eyre grows up with her mother’s brother and his family on the Gateshead Hall estate. When her uncle dies, he makes his wife promise to raise and love Jane like one of her own children, but the heartless Mrs. Reed can’t bring herself to treat the inquisitive, bright Jane as her own flesh and blood. In her eyes Jane is a treacherous, devious and dishonest child, and she treats her accordingly. Her cousins Eliza, Georgina and John are condescending toward her, particularly the rough brute John who tortures her mentally and physically. After yet another one of his violent abuses, she puts up a fight and strikes back. As a punishment for her “brazen, violent temper” Mrs. Reed locks her in the red-room, which is rumored to be haunted. Alone in the dreadful room, Jane panics and begs her aunt for mercy – but Mrs. Reed only keeps her locked up longer in response. When Jane faints, the local apothecary diagnoses a nervous breakdown and prescribes a change of air and scene – advice that her aunt readily complies with when she arranges ...

About the Author

Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816, in Thornton/Yorkshire and grew up in the inhospitable North England moorlands as the daughter of a clergyman of Irish decent. Her mother, Maria, died early, as did two of her older sisters, who contracted tuberculosis while at boarding school. Charlotte’s father, Patrick, took her out of boarding school to home school her and her three other siblings. Together with her younger sisters Emily and Anne and the brother Branwell, Charlotte invented a rich fantasy world, which was immortalized in their diaries. Patrick unfailingly supported his children in their intellectual curiosity. In 1831, Charlotte once again attended a boarding school, where she studied to become a teacher. Starting in 1839, began work as a governess. In 1842, she travelled to Brussels with her sister Emily. With the prospect of opening their own school, Charlotte dedicated herself to learning German and fell into an unrequited love with her married teacher Constantin Heger. Feeling terribly homesick, she returned to England in 1844. After the plan to open their own school went nowhere, Charlotte and her sisters published a collection of poems at their own expense, and under the pseudonyms Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily) and Acton (Anne), gender neutral names that they deliberately chose to evade prejudices against female writers. The volume sold no more than two copies, yet the sisters refused to give up, all of them publishing their first novels in 1847: Wuthering Heights by Emily, Agnes Grey by Anne and Jane Eyre by Charlotte, the last to great public acclaim. Unfortunately, the sisters could not enjoy their newfound success for long: In September 1848, Branwell died, three months later Emily and in May 1849 Anne. That same year Charlotte’s second book Shirley was published, and four years later came her novel Villette. After the success of her novels, Charlotte met many famous writers, including William Makepeace Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell. In 1854, she married Arthur Bell Nicholls, a curate. Nine months later after the wedding, on March 31, 1855, she died. Her death came just three weeks before her 39th birthday; she was pregnant.

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