Jane Eyre – My First Real Classic Novel

For me, growing up, classic novels were those things you had to read at school, they were long and laborious and made very little sense. I resisted reading them at any other time because I refused to believe that I would find one that made me feel different. Then I found myself on a loose end and picked up Jane Eyre. What happened next can only be described as a revelation.

I found myself hooked on this world, pretending but easily believable. This character of Jane, the independent governess who survived life’s trials alone but was desperately seeking a family and security, appealed to me. Her start in life in Gateshead scared me, and I cheered for her when she was finally able to leave, only for her to land in Lowood, another place that would bring her unhappiness before things turned. Her decision to act on her own as a governess, to travel to a place and people she had never seen showed how far her character had come, and Thornfield’s gothic setting was as exciting to me as any horror movie I had ever seen. .

I yelled at Jane when she decided to go back to Gateshead to help care for her dying aunt, but saw that she could do it on her own terms and show them how she had grown stronger, that she had not been defeated. Despite her belief that she was somehow worth less than them, she finds them all broken in various ways.

The happy ending is hung before her by the author when she returns to Thornfield, only to be brutally taken away. I struggled with Jane’s decision to leave one more time, but found that the growing theme of independence was something that really appealed to me and her timely inheritance from her uncle ensures once again that she is making her own decisions.

I like the idea that even in Jane’s day, a woman could survive tough conditions and come out stronger for it. I was even a bit sad when I finished the novel, although this is one of the most comprehensive stories I’ve ever read, it’s definitely one that should have qualified for a sequel (original author only!) To keep fans like me happy.

The world of television adaptation caught my attention, but I was not at all happy with some of the films produced. The depth of detail in the novel simply cannot be brought to the screen in a 90-minute or even two-hour piece. What should the scriptwriter lose? A very difficult question to answer!

Television adaptations give more scope. A miniseries offers more time, so there is less loss of the original in translation. However, it was 15 years before I could see an adaptation that I could be happy with. The 2006 BBC version with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson offered a slightly shortened version of the story and the locations that really captured the atmosphere created by Charlotte Brontë and I am not the only one thinking this. Fans from all over the world flock to take part in the Jane Eyre tour that includes many of these great places, as well as important places in the author’s life. A must for any Brontë fan.