Jayne Eyre

by Charlotte Brontë

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1962

About the author

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist, the eldest out of the three famous Brontë sisters whose novels have become standards of English literature. See also Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë.

Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, the third of six children, to Patrick Brontë (formerly "Patrick Brunty"), an Irish Anglican clergyman, and his wife, Maria Branwell. In April 1820 the family moved a few miles to Haworth, a remote town on the Yorkshire moors, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. This is where the Brontë children would spend most of their lives. Maria Branwell Brontë died from what was thought to be cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to the care of her spinster sister Elizabeth Branwell, who moved to Yorkshire to help the family.

In August 1824 Charlotte, along with her sisters Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, was sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, a new school for the daughters of poor clergyman (which she would describe as Lowood School in Jane Eyre). The school was a horrific experience for the girls and conditions were appalling. They were regularly deprived of food, beaten by teachers and humiliated for the slightest error. The school was unheated and the pupils slept two to a bed for warmth. Seven pupils died in a typhus epidemic that swept the school and all four of the Brontë girls became very ill - Maria and Elizabeth dying of tuberculosis in 1825. Her experiences at the school deeply affected Brontë - her health never recovered and she immortalised the cruel and brutal treatment in her novel, Jane Eyre. Following the tragedy, their father withdrew his daughters from the school.

At home in Haworth Parsonage, Charlotte and the other surviving children — Branwell, Emily, and Anne — continued their ad-hoc education. In 1826 her father returned home with a box of toy soldiers for Branwell. They would prove the catalyst for the sisters' extraordinary creative development as they immediately set to creating lives and characters for the soldiers, inventing a world for them which the siblings called 'Angria'. The siblings became addicted to writing, creating stories, poetry and plays. Brontë later said that the reason for this burst of creativity was that:

'We were wholly dependent on ourselves and each other, on books and study, for the enjoyments and occupations of life. The highest stimulus, as well as the liveliest pleasure we had known from childhood upwards, lay in attempts at literary composition.'

After her father began to suffer from a lung disorder, Charlotte was again sent to school to complete her education at Roe Head school in Mirfield from 1831 to 1832, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period (1833), she wrote her novella The Green Dwarf under the name of Wellesley. The school was extremely small with only ten pupils meaning the top floor was completely unused and believed to be supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young lady dressed in silk. This story fascinated Brontë and inspired the figure of Mrs Rochester in Jane Eyre.

Brontë left the school after a few years, however she swiftly returned in 1835 to take up a position as a teacher, and used her wages to pay for Emily and Anne to be taught at the school. Teaching did not appeal to Brontë and in 1838 she left Roe Head to become a governess to the Sidgewick family -- partly from a sense of adventure and a desire to see the world, and partly from financial necessity.

Charlotte became pregnant soon after her wedding, but her health declined rapidly and, according to biographer Elizabeth Gaskell, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." She died, with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The og gothic romance. Unsettling and tragic.

[Ellen Spes · Rating 4 out of 5]

still a great book

[Ela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so intense that I don’t even know where to start. 1. Jane is a complex protagonist with classist and somewhat xenophobic tendencies; I think she’s the perfect illustration of the limited opportunities women had in their professional lives, but at the same time she’s honest, direct, and courageous—she always knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. 2. Then there’s Mr. Rochester. I think the author’s harshest criticism comes toward the end of the book, where she makes it clear that, at that time, a woman was considered the equal of a wealthy man only if she, too, was wealthy—and the man in question also had serious physical problems; only then was the marriage considered an equal one. 3. As for the cousin—ugh, that character really annoyed me—but the portrayal of religious fanaticism couldn’t have been better. I find the entire work exquisitely and delicately written, yet it conveys powerful messages that linger with the reader. Scenes like the death of her childhood friend broke my heart—it was simply beautiful.

[Jessica Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the beginning getting to know little fiery Jane, then I went a bit off the novel when she arrived at Thornfield. All the spooky moments (I’m not a gothic novel fan) and Mr Rochester himself put me off. He came across as what we call in modern day, a love bomber. However, I couldn’t bring myself to put the book down and not know Jane’s fate. If you are halfway in and feeling the same, continue reading as I really loved where her journey went, the people she met away from Thornfield and I even learned to appreciate Rochester more when we found out his fate.

Other notes - it was very entertaining observing how two people act when they like each other and the complications of romance and the impact of external people inside a courtship.

[Becky Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember if I read this in high school or not, but after reading all of the Emma M Lion books multiple times, I knew I needed to work my way through Jane Eyre. It was delightful to listen to and I was surprised by multiple situations as the story progressed. The ending was what I had hoped, but not in the way I guessed.

[Wade Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weirdly one of my favorite books of all time for some reason.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit tedious at times for this modern reader but a good read nonetheless. Wondering: did people really TALK like that??

[Victoria Grant · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible

[Ninya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t really remember cos I read it a while ago. I think i thought that the guy was a bit sus and toxic. Also there was some lady in the attic. It was good over all tho I just don’t think i liked the man, or maby I did.