Name: Jane Eyre
ISBN: 9781566190244

Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre

Colleen

3.5 Stars
 
*A laudable classic with some good points - unfortunately overshadowed by the glorifying of a toxic relationship*

**This review contains spoilers**


It is quite shocking that I had never read Jane Eyre before. Since middle school, I’ve made a considerable effort to read classics. But somehow I never got around to this one. I never had it as assigned reading. And since certain things about the story were spoiled for me, I never felt the urge to pick it up. But this year, I have been working through my TBR backlog. Plus I was on a Gothic kick, so I decided it was finally time to see what the fuss was about.

The epistolary / faux memoir mode of narrative was not my favorite, but it was ok most of the time. I did not particularly like Jane at the start of the book even though I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She was impulsive, petulant, and dramatic. Yet she did show significant character development and gumption later on. So her character grew on me.


  “I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into it’s expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst it’s perils.”

There is a lot of social commentary in the story: examination of morals, classism, and puritanical zealotism versus genuine religious faith. The story has some feminist moment and was ahead of its time. Brontë really stuck to her guns about writing a heroine who was plain looking. So many heroines claim to be unattractive only to turn out to be completely oblivious to their supermodel good looks which naturally have every guy on the planet lusting after her. That sort of over-the-top obliviousness and self-esteem issues don’t do anyone any good.

At times, the story is so dire that it's suffocating. The Gothic atmosphere is bleak and ever-present. And the lack of women’s rights is ever apparent.


  “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.”

The writing is engaging. The characters are vivid. The emotion is tangible. The Gothic elements are excellent.

And yet...

While there are many excellent elements to Jane Eyre, I have one massive point of contention. I'm giving this book 3.5 Stars rounded up to 4, but as a Romance, it deserves ZERO STARS! I am truly alarmed at how many people exalt this horribly toxic, abusive relationship as "romantic." I am not exaggerating when I say that while reading this I felt nauseous at the thought of how idealized this relationship has become. This book may be feminist in some aspects, but it is also the foundation for one of the most toxic and enduring romantic myths: that loving a cruel person enough will fix them. (view spoiler)[Rochester is a disgusting skumbag!!! I cannot stress enough how despicable he is! (hide spoiler)]

Reader, I hate him.

It's been a long time since I have so actively rooted for a character to die. 

(view spoiler)[Here you have this creepy older guy grooming a teenage girl to carry the burdens of his unhappiness and self-loathing. He constantly abuses her emotionally with some physical abuse as well. He is demeaning and controlling. Rochester also makes many comments referring to how he expects Jane to fix his unhappiness, to balance out his depravity with her innocence. And that is alarming as hell! He repeatedly debases Jane to her face, pointing out all the ways he sees her as inferior. He alternates between berating her and punishing her for pulling away when he lashes out at her. He runs hot and cold but never for a single moment does he stop manipulating Jane.

“His fury was wrought to the highest: he must yield to it for a moment, whatever followed; he crossed the floor and seized arm and grasped waist. He seemed to devour with his flaming glance: physically, felt, at the moment, powerless as stubble exposed to the draught and glow of a furnace… His gripe was painful, and over-taxed strength almost exhausted. ”
There is also a scene where Rochester threatens Jane that he will “try violence” if she doesn’t “see reason.” Given the context and time period, some analysts believe he is referring to sexual violence, aka rape. So yeah, he is threatening physical violence up to and including rape if she doesn’t immediately agree with him.

And this is the paragon of depravity that so many readers have declared their all-time favorite romance?? This skumbag has lived on through countless reimaginings. I can think of so many toxic characters with way too much in common with Rochester. Come on, Edward Cullen is basically Rochester with body glitter on - right down to the creepy stalking.

I don't blame Jane. Not only because victim blaming is bad, but also because it is completely understandable how someone so starved for any affection would fall under the spell of someone as manipulative as Rochester. But that doesn't make it any less disturbing!

There are many parallels to the story of Hades and Persephone. You have the bad guy who spots a pretty young thing and decides to take her for his own to have and consume and use her as his own personal ointment for his putrefying boil of a soul in that age old myth that pretty virgins are cures for most ills. And while Hades/Rochester allow their prey some wiggle room, I have little doubt they knew their Stockholm Syndrome would bring their damsels back to their dastardly clutches in the end. 

The Puritanical view that suffering is punishment for wrongdoings therefore enough suffering leads to redemption is strongly represented in the closing of this novel. But Rochester had spent most of his life wallowing in his misery and whining about how nothing was his fault. I cannot buy into the idea that his suffering and "true love" suddenly caused such a complete redemption. Nope. Life just doesn't work like that. People can change for the better, but they rarely do. That supposed happily ever after cannot be anything other than the lull in the abusive cycle. A man willing to lock his wife in the attic and trick another woman into committing bigamy all for his own selfish, depraved reasons is NEVER going to redeem himself. 

And given what a lying asshat Rochester is, I could easily believe that he drove his first wife insane through his abuse and control rather than his claim of mental illness running in her family. He saw what he wanted, took it, and then lost his mind when the reality didn’t live up to his fantasy. The same fate for Jane was inevitable. And her willingness to sacrifice herself to cleanse such a rotting fiend negates all the previous lessons of independence and moral fortitude. (hide spoiler)]

I recognize that there is unavoidable presentism by trying to evaluate a classic novel by modern definitions of feminism. It is not fair to Brontë. But that does not change how much I hate the ending of this novel.

So to me, this is a cautionary tale not a love story. This is the story of how an intelligent, strong willed, independent woman can still fall into the trap of romanticizing a toxic relationship. Anyone can. So yes, Jane Eyre is excellently written. This book deserves its place in the halls of famous literature even though it glorifies a poisonous relationship. I know this opinion will be extremely unpopular. But I stand by it. Love is not abusive. Nor can love "fix" abuse. So read Jane Eyre for its literary significance. Read it for its lessons of self-reliance and fortitude. But please don’t read it as an example of what a healthy relationship should look like. Because you’ll probably end up locked in someone’s attic.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Jane Eyre

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