"Jane Eyre" in Review

I just finished reading Jane Eyre Tuesday (3/13/12) at about 2a.m. for school.  I really did actually enjoy this book and it falls under one of the few books in high school that I have read cover-to-cover. From what I knew of the story (from the movie versions, preferring the BBC mini-series), I would have never wanted to read the novel, but I actually enjoyed it!  Jane and Rochester are both very complex characters that could be developed even more.  They are like real people.


My favorite thing about Jane Eyre is that it is the ultimate love story.  Rochester is a total creep, spider, and vampire by trying to trap the pure Jane in order to gain the purity and redemption he so longs for, but he does truly fall in love with her.  Although many would argue that the point of the novel is to make some sort of feminist statement, I really disagree.  Jane's personality propels her to act as she does, and Jane as a real person would have acted the same way even with the societal constraints.  She longs for independence because she does not want to be obligated to those who don't truly want her, not because she does not want to be obligated specifically to a man.  Jane seeks love for happiness and does feel that marriage and God are the best ways to find this happiness.  That is a very normal thing for a woman to wish for at the time.  Because of Jane's human personality, it is not unnatural or spectacularly feminist to want true love.


Now for my astrological point of view:  Jane is a Capricorn, Rochester is a Scorpio, St. John is an Aquarius, Bessie is an Aries, Georgiana Reed is a Libra, and Eliza Reed is a Gemini.  Those are really the only characters with enough description and depth for me to accurately characterize by an astrological sign.  Jane, although not apparent to me at first when reading about her childhood years, is the most stereotypical Capricorn woman there possibly is (intriguingly enough, in my favored BBC version, Jane is played by a Capricorn, Ruth Wilson, who's birthday is 1/13/82).  Jane is a dutiful and happy audience to those who wish to talk to her.  She is nonjudgmental, but curious about others.  She doesn't present many apparent emotions to others.  Rochester is a typical Scorpio in that he is possessive, jealous, and mysterious, as shown through countless examples throughout the text.  St. John is one of the most determined and domineering people, and for me was very difficult to figure out.  I placed him as an Aquarius because he is too aggressive for a Virgo and too docile and ambitious for an Aries (although he is "disturbed" as many Aries men seem to be).  Bessie is an Aries because she responds well to forwardness and isn't afraid of speaking her mind and being abrupt.  Georgiana is a Libra because of her constant need for an untroubled surrounding as well as lots and lots of flattery.  Eliza is a Gemini because she feels a great amount of agitated obligation to her family, is extremely selfish, and has her own mindset on the exact steps to do everything.


And now for my book to movie comparison:  I don't remember the 2011 movie version very well, though I remember in some ways it was more accurate than the BBC version.  However, since I own the BBC version, I know it more thoroughly and will compare the novel to it.  I believe that the movie is not an accurate portrayal of Jane as a character, though it portrays Rochester very well.  Jane has way too many complex thoughts to easily portray her on camera, but I think they could have developed her more by at least accurately portraying her childhood and how she got from many point A's to point B's.  I also think that Bertha is drawn out too much in the movie, focusing less on the love between Rochester and Jane.  The movie focuses on the Gothic feel, but not the love story.  The novel is not very Gothic and focuses much more on love and Jane's quest for happiness.


Favorite quotes:

• "This room was chill" pg. 8
• "nestling in a wreath of convolvuli" pg. 16
• "Broughton Brocklehurst" pg. 32
• "'onding on snaw'" pg. 36 - not even kidding
• "each bearing a tray, with portions of something" pg. 42 - yum
• "Brocklebridge Church" pg. 60
• "could I ever rise more?" pg. 69 - probably actually important for the essay I must write for school...
• "'if others don't love me, I would rather die than live'" pg. 70
• "she breathed a little fast, and coughed a short cough" pg. 71 - foreshadowing
• "'Continue to act as a good girl, and you will satisfy us.'" pg. 71 - more foreshadowing
• "'add nothing and exaggerate nothing'" pg. 72 - important life lesson
• "Then her soul sat on her lips, and language flowed, from what source I cannot tell; has a girl of fourteen a heart large enough, vigorous enough to hold the swelling spring of pure, full, fervid eloquence?" pg. 74 - perhaps a little feminist?
• "Mr. Brocklehurst and his family never came near Lowood now" pg. 79 - hope surfaces that Brocklehurst will no longer be mentioned in the novel
• "'No - I have no family.'" pg. 100 - Jane should have felt more comfortable with Mrs. Fairfax
• "took the cat on her knee" pg. 100 - Mrs. Fairfax is a cat person
• "Twilight and snowflakes together thickened the air, and hid the very shrubs on the lawn." pg. 125 - good to know that British people have always been fascinated by the shrubbery
• "'She began by feeling my horse.' 'Sir?' said Mrs. Fairfax." pg. 129 - Mrs. Fairfax is just as creeped by that statement from Rochester as the reader
• "There was a reviving pleasure in this intercourse, of a kind now tasted by me for the first time" pg. 378
• "substituting peace for war, freedom for bondage, religion for superstition" pg. 405 - 1984 reference?
• "'They are coming!  They are coming!'" pg. 427 - sounds like a quote in HP7P1
• "'St. John is a strange being'" pg. 451
• "I heard the front door open and St. John pass out." pg. 458 - such weird word choice...

Things I learned:

• &c. = etc.
• foreshadowing is much more obvious than I could have ever otherwise realized
• "Rasselas" was a typical read of the time
• imadversions is not a real word
• adding "Brockle" to a name before identifying the thing was a very popular practice of the time
• British people automatically know what -shire you're talking about without actually naming it
• knowing French is important
• knowing German is important
• commas are necessary for life
• "'ing' and holm" is a folk phrase of the time
• I do not know what "'Resurgam'" means
• spelling things the "British" way is best, like "colour", pronounced "cul-lore"
• it takes about an hour and a half to go six miles in a carriage...I think it takes less time to walk that distance...
• hot negus was an important staple of the time
• people did not merely have a globe during that time, instead they had a "pair of globes"
• alliteration provides comic relief for a reader after reading for 3-5 hours straight
• translating all the French in margins of Jane Eyre is totes tedious
• irascible = rascal-like
• choler = irascible temper, but not drippy snot
• sometimes Charlotte Bronte got bored and pulled out a thesaurus so that she could make paragraphs full of vocabulary words that make no sense
• "cadeau" is certainly not pronounced "Caillou"
• Bronte really needs to modify her word choice in many instances
• ribaldry is a funny word
• "sententious sage" means very wise
• Céline is pronounced "say-lean"
• Rochester saying "refresh me" means that he wants you to let him suck your blood
• when referring to "a chicken in the pip", you mean that there is a respiratory illness or something of the sort
• I am way too entertained by this wonderful novel
• "'she looks such a tinkler'" does not mean that she looks like she needs to go potty
• "'nichered'" means "laughing snickeringly"
• Janet.
• "surmises" is a good word

Finally, I shall point out some of the Twilight references:

• Edward = Edward
• Jane's appearance is similar to Bella's appearance; both are totes plain and quite small
• Edward's description is Edward's description, just less beautiful; "how like quarried marble was his pale, firm, massive front at this moment!  How his eyes shone, still watchful, yet wild beneath" pg. 312
• "He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun." pg. 295 - Eclipse is the book where Edward and Bella are engaged...Jane and Edward have just become engaged at this point
• "ice glazed the ripe apples" pg. 319
• I'm pretty sure that Jane is 19 when she gets married to Rochester (Edward)
• Jane and Rochester's children would most likely be called, Ednet and Janward

Did I mention that I can't believe I managed to read the whole thing?