‘The next day commenced as before, getting up and dressing by rushlight; but this morning we were obliged to dispense with the ceremony of washing: the water in the pitchers was frozen. A change had taken place in the weather the preceding evening, and a keen north-east wind, whistling through the crevices of our bedroom windows all night long, had made us shiver in our beds, and turned the contents of the ewers to ice.’
Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. How she takes up the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, meets and loves Mr Rochester and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage are elements in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than that traditionally accorded to her sex in Victorian society.
There were three times in Jane Eyre where I was literally nodding off.
- Somewhere near the beginning, I can’t rightly remember what happened as it was so boring I went into autopilot and nothing made it to my brain.
- When Mr Rochester confesses his love for Jane Eyre and asks her to marry him.
- Finally, when her cousin, St John asked her to marry him.
Everyone wants to marry Jane Eyre!
The conversations lasted many pages, far too many pages in fact, that I forgot what they were talking about. Especially towards the end, I was within forty pages of finishing and I was literally so close to giving up and closing the book, but I pursued on.
One part that really stood out for me was the scene between Jane and Bertha a couple of nights before Jane’s wedding. The scene was haunting and is scarred into my brain. If you’ve read this or will read this, you will understand what I’m going on about.
Overall, I’m glad I’ve read Jane Eyre, that’s another classic crossed off my list, but as I’ve said previously I was falling asleep and wished it to be over.
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