But Now, I Thought

I'm not sure how to say this without sounding pretentious, but I'm pretty well read. I've been around the proverbial literary block and because of this, I thought I knew what to expect from Jane Eyre. Not only were my expectations completely wrong, I had absolutely no concept of what I was getting myself into. It was an exhilarating experience. Every now and again, there is a novel that is really, truly new. It's a departure from everything that has been done before. It strikes out into new terrain. Jane Eyre is a novel like that.

The most remarkable thing about the novel to me, and to most of the people I've talked to about this book, is how strong the character of Jane is. She's a force of nature. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She thinks, and she decides things.  At a crucial point in the narrative, Jane makes this statement that sums up her attitude toward life brilliantly.

"till now I had only heard, seen, moved-followed up and down where I was lead or dragged- watched event rush upon event, disclosure open upon disclosure: but now, I thought." (pg. 267)

Rather than being pushed about from plot point to plot point, Jane's character makes things happen, and takes charge of her own life. 

Portrait by J.H. Thompson at the Bronte Parsonage Museum

Reading about the history of this novel more, I found that Jane comes by her fortitude and depth of character honestly. Charlotte Bronte, the author of Jane Eyre, lived a very individualistic life. She lost her mother and several siblings when she was young. She, like Eyre, lived and eventually worked at schools far away from home. She wrote, despite social pressures, and published under a pseudonym in order to protect her privacy and to conceal her gender.

She didn't do what people thought was proper. She did was she decided to do, including, at one point, falling deeply in love with a married man. Bronte endowed her heroine with the same strong character that she had in abundance, and people felt the effects of it.

The book was a hit immediately. People saw it as fresh, raw and challenging the status quo- which it was. A book detailing the life of a woman who chose who she was going to be, who defied the circumstances of her birth and made something, not only respectable, but remarkable of herself, was in direct contrast to the almost fatalistic view of socioeconomic standing and rank-by-birth that prevailed at the time.

 It was revolutionary to purport that a man could become something of his own choosing- even more so to assert that a woman could do the same. It struck the hearts and deepest desires of everyone who read it, and it's still doing that today.

We are a lot more free to decide our own futures than those who read this book on it's first printing, but the message of unwavering identity, of choosing your own path, still resonates soundly. All of us, especially women, are still trying to find our voices. We're still trying to find the ground we're most comfortable standing on, and Jane Eyre speaks to that search eloquently.

The obstacles may change, the end goals may shift, but the yearning of the human soul to be expressed and individual will always be the same. And for as long as people are looking to the future with a hope of a better tomorrow, Jane Eyre will be there to urge them on.
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Jane Eyre

I've loved literature all my life, and as a result of that, I've heard a thing or two about the Bronte sisters. Somehow, however, I've managed to get to this point without reading a single one of their books. I'm excited to amend that. I've heard a great deal about Jane Eyre, and none of the reports really matched each other. I had no idea what to make of it coming into it, and I was surprised to find such effusive love for the novel within five minutes of looking into its significance.

Promotional image for Theatre Royal Plymouth's Jane Eyre

Based on my limited understanding of the plot, it seemed to me that Jane Eyre was another Pride and Prejudice type book with a healthy dose of Gothic style and characteristics. What I did not expect to find was a quote from Virginia Woolf describing the character of Eyre as ".. an overpowering personality... There is in [her] an untamed ferocity perpetually at war with the accepted order of things which makes [her] desire to create instantly rather than to observe patiently." Apparently, one of the most significant writers in history thought that there was more to this novel than it being just another windswept Regency- Era romance.

In fact, the general consensus, even in just a cursory glance of critical opinion on the text, seems to be that Jane Eyre, the book and the character, exude a sense of  'self' that was thrillingly new for the women of the time. While cogito ergo sum and a pursuit of a new rational order had come to the men, this narrative seems to be regarded as one of the first evidences of the concept and drive for individuality coming to women.

I'm excited to be wrong about this book. If a cursory search can yield such thrilling results, what will deeper perusal uncover?  I have a sneaking suspicion that Eyre asks herself a similar question- I look forward to joining her on that journey.

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