Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Bronte
 I wrote this as an actual book report for school last year. That would be why it sounds less critical than it does an overview.

Imagine a castle in England plagued with secrets. Such was a theme that Charlotte Brontë  created in her 1847 book Jane Eyre. Smith, Elder, & Co. published it on 19 October of that year, printing above 400 pages. But is this novel really worth its enormous popularity? The characters and the plot, as well as the level of morality, decide the question of Jane Eyre’s quality.

The well-crafted characters are a huge asset to Jane Eyre’s worth. The heroine, Jane Eyre, has been influenced by her childhood training to become a calm, intelligent, principled person, though her plainness of appearance is viewed as a setback. Likewise, her employer at Thornfield Hall, Edward Rochester, is sardonic and simultaneously poetic, with a generous percentage of redeemable evil resident within him. These two are the spine of the story, but others (such as Mrs. Fairfax and St. John Rivers) also bear poignant personalities.

An intricate plot supports the body of the book. Jane grows to love Mr. Rochester, despite his pledge of marriage to Blanche Ingram, and the variety of strange occurrences about the house. Eventually Rochester proclaims his love for Jane—that the courtship with Miss Ingram is a pretense—and they become engaged. However, the terrible revelation that Rochester is already married, to a madwoman imprisoned in the attic, forces Jane to leave the house. In Jane’s absence, the madwoman sets fire to the house and commits suicide, while Rochester is blinded and maimed, and anguishes for months after. It is only when Jane returns to him that the two are reconciled and marry.

Finally, the principles upheld in this book clearly illustrate Brontë’s Protestant faith and provide imminent satisfaction for Christian readers. Jane is convinced that she cannot marry Rochester, for in so doing she would become his mistress and create in him a bigamist. When at last Jane and Rochester reunite, Rochester is deeply humbled and sinks to his knees that he may thank God. Also, in the subplots to the main subject, there is more than enough evidence of Christianity—for example, Helen Burns at Lowood School, and St. John Rivers at Moor House.

In viewing the three above subjects, it is apparent that Jane Eyre deserves its many praises. Brontë created the characters so that they are identifiable, maddening, and humorous—three descriptions of real-life individuals. The deep plot enhances the effect of the characters and builds in suspense until the scene in which Rochester confesses his present marriage. Besides that, the Christian morals are abundant throughout the whole book. The secretive manor-house has beckoned for one and a half centuries; it is still calling today.