Orphaned Jane Eyre grows
up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness
and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This
troubled childhood strengthens Jane’s natural independence and
spirit – which prove necessary when she finds a position as
governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her
sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret
forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with
the consequences, or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving
the man she loves?
Jane Eyre was the first
“grown-up” book I read. I must have been about eleven, when I
discovered I could read adult books. I loved the book and reread it
regularly through my teens and still read it occasionally. I
think Jane Eyre is an ideal book for teenage girls.
I identified with the heroine, as did Charlotte Bronte. Like Jane I
felt unattractive and awkward in society. I admired her resilience
and spirit and I was delighted when Rochester expressed his love for
her. My love of the book was reenforced by an excellent BBC TV series
starring Sorcha Cusack in the title role and Michael Jayston as
Rochester. It was shown in the early evening on Sundays, and I was
always worried that I would not get back from rehearsals at the Arts
Centre, but I didn’t miss any of it. It was only later that I
discovered that Elizabeth Webster, the director, was also a fan and
so stopped rehearsals with time to spare. Michael Jayston was the
ideal Rochester, not particularly handsome but with the sexiest
voice! He was my first crush.
Now that I am mature
woman I find new depths in the book. The psychology of the book is
spot-on. What is it that attracts a rich man of the world like
Rochester to the plain inexperienced Jane? He has been surrounded by
women who flatter him because he is rich, Jane is totally unlike
them, she speaks the truth. He does not know what to make of her and
wants to know more. But there is more than unfamiliarity – on the
surface Jane is reserved, but underneath she is capable of passion.
In the second scene between them Rochester examines Jane’s weird
paintings in which her imagination takes her to the northern seas.
How like the book’s writer: her imagination escaping the
restrictions of her life?
The Jane Eyre plot is a
classic Cinderella/ugly duckling story. There are only so many
plots and this is one of the most common. It is a plot that I have
used in my trilogy The Healer’s Shadowtrilogy. Some
people say that Jane Eyre is a Cinderella meets Bluebeard plot, but
they are wrong. Bluebeard is a psychopath that destroys the
female, Rochester may have a first wife in a tower, but she is alive,
as Jane discovers to her cost.
