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An analysis of Jane Eyre
by Begoña Ricote (2008-09, 5ºC)
Sincerely, I liked the novel very much and I think that it had a lot of possibilities for analysis. In my opinion, its interest comes not only from the plot but the characters, because they are very complex and interesting and not the typical model of heroine or hero in a romantic novel.
Jane Eyre is a curious character because for me she is not always admirable as, for example, Marian Halcombe in “The Woman in White”. Jane is a young girl with a difficult and sad life until she arrives at Thornfield and this can explain some of her attitudes as her ignorance in love and her coldness for showing her emotions. But it is strange that while she can be very strong and defiant with her unfair aunt and with Mr.Rochester (when she speaks with him so self-confidently and then she leaves him although she loves him so much), she is very devoted to Mr.Rochester at the beginning of their relationship and she is irritatingly docile with St.John, of whom I will speak after. I think it squeaks that submission and that it is not admirable in a main character.
On the other hand, she is a good person that has had a life of suffering and loneliness and she wins and deserves the prize of Mr.Rochester's love and I am very happy for this, because she gets became Mr.Rochester in a human person and clean all his pain and frustration in which he was since he got married with Bertha.
About Mr.Rochester I should recognize that he is attractive from the beginning of the novel even though he is ugly and after reading a bit we discover that he has no self-confidence, but there is something in him that attracts me. As Jane, Mr.Rochester's character is sometimes not admirable at all and, until he married Jane, he is selfish and even cruel. But I think that Jane's escape makes him realize how much he loved her and needs her and he becomes much more humble and devoted to his love. In any case, the chapter in which they declare their mutual love is very pretty and I like him.
Briefly, I would like to mention the character I like the less, it is St.John. I think he is odious because he is selfish, ambitious and manipulative. He would like to have a transcendental life and “make something big” (that is why he decides to become a missionary) and he sees in Jane the instrument that he needs to get his objective. He doesn't think with the heart but with the head.
About the plot, I think that it is well carried out during the entire novel with the attacks of Bertha in the middle of the night which give emotion to the story but I think that the time she spends in Moor House is too long, and sometimes these chapters are a bit boring.
In conclusion, I believe that the novel has been very well chosen and that it was very good for this course because it had a lot of topics to speak about. I like too that the love story the novel deals with has a happy end. To get this, Charlotte Bronte resolves the conflict of the difference in Jane and Mr.Rochester's social position when Jane inherits her uncle's fortune.