Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a novel that presents great literature today. There were many aspects of this book that came together in the plot and made it work, like Jane’s rough family history, which eventually tied into the ending of the novel, and her engagement with Mr. Rochester. In both of these instances, we are shown how hard it was to be a woman in her shoes. Jane was beaten constantly by her demeaning cousins and dire aunt, and was punished brutally for her mistakes. As you can see from this exert, Jane was ruefully mistreated in her living with her family. ‘Though I was in agony, though I cried out, while suffocating with distress, “Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!” And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy stuck me – knocked me down for nothing… You are deceitful!’ These sections of the book makes the reader see what hardships such a young woman had to endure by herself, which made the story work when put together.

Admittedly, the things that disappointed me in this book were not the awful tormentations that occurred to Mr. Rochester, as many people would have thought and expected, but what ended up happening to Aunt Reed. Early on in the book, Jane clearly said to Aunt Reed that she hated her and always would. I was rather disappointed to see that by the end of the book, Jane had forgiven Mrs. Reed and had treated her with nothing but kindness. I believe that Jane should have been less forgiving to Mrs. Reed, and at least shown some strength to stand by her answer of despising her Aunt. This however was the only complaint I had for this novel.

‘I was left there alone- winner of the field. It was the hardest battle I had fought, and the first victory I had gained. I stood awhile on the rug, where Mr. Brocklehurst had stood, and I enjoyed my conqueror’s solitude. First, I smiled to myself and felt elate; but this fierce pleasure subsided in me as fast as did the accelerated throb of my pulses. A child cannot quarrel with it’s elders, as I had done – cannot give its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine – without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction. A ridge of lighted heath, alive, glancing, devouring, would have been a great emblem of my mind when I accused and menaced Mrs. Reed; the same ridge, black and blasted after the flames are dead, would have represented as meetly my subsequent condition, when half an hour’s silence and reflection had shown me the madness of my conduct and the dreariness of my hated and hating position.’ This passage appealed to me because it showed how hard and strong children feel, and it also described Jane’s relationship with her family as a child. ‘I had forgotten to draw my curtain, which I usually did, and also to let down the window-blind. The consequence was, that when the moon, which was full and bright (for the night was fine), came into her course to that space in the sky opposite my casement, and looked in at me through the unsealed panes, her glorious gaze roused me. Awakening in the dead of night, I opened my eyes on her silver disc – silver-white and crystal clear. It was beautiful, but too solemn: I half rose, and stretched my arm to draw the curtain.’ I quite liked this excerpt because the descriptions were very poetic and seemed to paint a picture in your mind of how, despite all the horrible things she had gone through, Jane Eyre could still find beauty in even the simplest of things.