Charlotte Brontë

Karen Swallow Prior

Frankenstein. Jane Eyre. You're familiar with these pillars of classic literature. You have seen plenty of Frankenstein costumes, watched the film adaptations, and may even be able to rattle off a few quotes, but do you really know how to read these books? Do you know anything about the authors who wrote them, and what the authors were trying to teach readers through their stories? Do you know how to read them as a Christian? Continuing this beautifully designed series, bestselling author, literature professor, and avid reader Karen Swallow Prior will guide you through a selection of classics. She will not only navigate you through the pitfalls that trap readers today, but show you how to read them in light of the gospel, and to the glory of God.

A Guide to Reading and Reflecting

Jane Eyre

Michael Mason

Retells the classic story of an orphaned young woman who accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer.

Karen

“I shook, I feared - but I resolved.”

A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hayfield and cornfield lay a frozen shroud: lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow; and the woods which twelve hours since waved leafy and fragrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests in wintry Norway.

The illustrated Jane Eyre

but really, i still don’t think i gaf about mr rochester sorry

Madelaine Jarcew

‘…you talk of my being a fairy; but I am sure, you are my like a brownie.’

‘Very, sir: you always were, you know.’

‘Humph! The wickedness has not been taken out of you, wherever you have sojourned.’

[…] the words Legacy, Bequest, go side by side with the words Death, Funeral.

…eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and reflection came in as black and confused a flow. … I heard a flood loosened in a remote mountain, and felt the torrent come: to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength. I lay faint; longing to be dead.  

men try not be weird about a woman’s “submissiveness” challenge: failed!

i cannot for the life of me get a proper read on Mr Rochester, can’t decide if I like him (read: am neutral about him) or hate him but he’s weird. he goes back and forth between “you’re like no one i’ve ever know and you’re perfect in every way to me” and then “i like how tender you are” and im like ew!

‘I never met your likeness. Jane: you please me, and you master me — you seem to submit, and I like the sense of plainly you impart; and while I am twining the soft, silken skein round my finger, it sends a thrill up my arm to my heart. I am influenced — conquered; and the influence is sweeter than I can express…’

Little Adèle was half wild with delight when she saw me. Mrs Fairfax received me with her usual plain friendliness. Leah smiled; and even Sophie bid me ‘bon soir’ with glee. This was very pleasant: there is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.

love seeing jane grow! 10 year old jane would be so surprised at 19 year old jane

I still felt as a wanderer on the face of the earth; but I experienced firmer trust in myself and my own powers, and less withering dread of oppression.

I don’t really like Mr Rochester a whole lot but he kind of ate with the idea of your soul sleeping until you experience love… and jealousy i guess but i like the philosophy of it

‘You never felt jealousy, did you, Miss Eyre? Of course not: I need not ask you; because you never felt love. You have both sentiments yet to experience: your sleeps; the shock is yet to be given which shall waken.’

The incident had occurred and was gone for me: it was an incident of no moment.. yet it marked with change one single hour of a monotonous life. My help had been needed and claimed; I had given it: I was pleased to have done something; trivial, transitory though the deed was, it was yet an active thing, and I was weary of an existence all passive.

Such is the imperfect nature of man! such spots are there on the disc of the clearest planet; and eyes like Miss Scatcherd’s can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb.

‘She has been unkind to you, no doubt; because, you see, she dislikes your cast of character, as Miss Scatcherd does mine: but home minutely you remember all she has done and said to you! … Would you be be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.’

Jane’s secretly smart af for a 10 year old.

I’m interested to see what kind of things she’s going to learn from the other students at the institution, from girls that are more like her than the Reeds will ever be.

I have heard of day-dreams - is she in a day-dream now? Her eyes are fixed in the floor, but I am sure they do not see it - her sight seems turned in, gone down into her heart: she is looking at what she can remember, I believe; not at what is really present. I wonder what sort of a girl she is - whether good or naughty.

 aishu✧

Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is one of the most loved English Classics of all time. Mystery, hardship - and love. Jane comes from nothing but she desires everything life can offer her. And when she finds work as a governess in a mysterious mansion, it seems she has finally met her match with the darkly fascinating Mr Rochester. But Thornfield Hall contains a shameful secret - one that could keep Jane and Rochester apart forever. Can she choose between what is right, and her one chance of happiness? ***One of the most widely-read and enjoyed of all Victorian novels, and one of the greatest tales of a woman's struggle for dignity and love in a hard time*** Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) is the sister of Anne Brontë and Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights. Jane Eyre appeared in 1847 and was followed by Shirley (1848) and Vilette (1853). In 1854 Charlotte Brontë married her father's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died during her pregnancy on March 31, 1855 in Haworth, Yorkshire.

🏹

And then my mind made its first earnest effort to comprehend what had been infused into it concerning heaven and hell: and for the first time it recoiled baffled; and for the first time glancing behind, on each side, and before it, it saw all round an unfathomed gulf: it felt the one point where it stood – the present; all the rest was formless cloud and vacant depth; and it shuddered at the thought of tottering, and plunging amid that chaos.

i think about this line everyday, it literally breathes life into me.

hira

'Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.'

human beings must love something, and, in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, 

Children can feel, but they cannot analyse their feelings; and if they analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words.

What a consternation of soul was mine that dreary afternoon! How all my brain was in a tumult, and all my heart in insurrection!

clara

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.

Kay so Queso

“Where is the use of doing me good in any way, beneficent spirit, when, at some fatal moment, you will again desert me—passing like a shadow, whither and how to me unknown; and for me, remaining afterwards undiscoverable?"

For me, I felt at home in this sort of discourse. I could never rest in communication with strong, discreet, and refined minds, whether male or female, till I had passed passed the outworks of conventional reserve, and crossed the threshold of confidence, and won a place by their heart's very hearthstone.

Reserved people often really need the frank discussion of their sentiments and griefs more than the expansive. The sternest-seeming stoic is human after all; and to "burst" with boldness and good will into "the silent sea" of their souls, is often to confer on them the first of obligations.

I first learned about the Brontë sisters when I was maybe 10 years old, I vowed to myself then, that one day I’d read their works and form my own opinion on them. I’ve spent the past few months slowly getting through Jane Eyre, and today I finally finished this beautiful book with a heavy heart.

While Jane Eyre is marketed as your typical Victorian romance novel, it is so much more than that. It reads like a biography, you spend 38 chapters growing with Jane, being told her life’s story as if you were a friend. You go through all her trials and tribulations by her side, and to call it a romance novel alone would be reducing its weight and worth.

Considering the period it’s from, Jane’s story stands out. A strong female protagonist’s survival story; a fight for freedom and independence in an era where it was deemed impossible. She suffers pain and agony, the world’s impossibly cruel to her, but she finds her way through the world, forms real friendships, finds true love, she survives and truly lives according to her principles.

Jane Eyre is not just a character in a book to me anymore, she has become my friend and a part of me. I lived and breathed with Jane, felt her pain and sorrow, her overwhelming love and happiness as one. I cried when she cried and I laughed when Jane laughed. Jane Eyre has taught me so much that I cannot put into words, there is truly no way I could ever encapsulate how this book has made me feel. Charlotte Brontë, thank you for writing Jane Eyre.

I first learned about the Brontë sisters when I was maybe 10 years old, I vowed to myself then, that one day I’d read their works and form my own opinion on them. I’ve spent the past few months slowly getting through Jane Eyre, and today I finally finished this beautiful book with a heavy heart.

While Jane Eyre is marketed as your typical Victorian romance novel, it is so much more than that. It reads like a biography, you spend 38 chapters growing with Jane, being told her life’s story as if you were a friend. You go through all her trials and tribulations by her side, and to call it a romance novel alone would be reducing its weight and worth.

Considering the period it’s from, Jane’s story stands out. A strong female protagonist’s survival story; a fight for freedom and independence in an era where it was deemed impossible. She suffers pain and agony, the world’s impossibly cruel to her, but she finds her way through the world, forms real friendships, finds true love, she survives and truly lives according to her principles.

Jane Eyre is not just a character in a book to me anymore, she has become my friend and a part of me. I lived and breathed with Jane, felt her pain and sorrow, her overwhelming love and happiness as one. I cried when she cried and I laughed when Jane laughed. Jane Eyre has taught me so much that I cannot put into words, there is truly no way I could ever encapsulate how this book has made me feel. Charlotte Brontë, thank you for writing Jane Eyre.

"The Brontës' gifted biographer provides us with another superlative Norton Critical Edition of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel. For the classroom and for the general reader, there's no better way to experience the context in which Jane Eyre was written, illuminating modern commentary, and the novel itself in an authoritative text."—Fred Kaplan, Queens College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York This Norton Critical Edition includes: -The third-edition text (1848), the last corrected by Charlotte Brontë, accompanied by revised and expanded explanatory footnotes. -"Contexts," highlighting Jane Eyre as a bildungsroman through diary entries and letters by the author about her experiences as a student, teacher, and governess as well as her feelings about friendship, love, and writing. -Five major critical interpretations by Virginia Woolf, Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, Susan Meyer, Carla Kaplan, and Kelly A. Marsh. -A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography

Jane Eyre (Fourth Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)

I think I'm going to need a lot more space than what's provided here to unpack this. A classic for a reason!! 

Paige Leitner

 became a random pick for me (something I read without much expectation) makes its lingering presence all the more surprising. At first, the constant melancholy felt distancing but difficult to ease into. Yet something compelled me to keep going, and I found that while it may not be impactful as a character-driven novel, it slowly grows on you. It becomes lovelier (though never fully light), and its charm lies in the uncertainty; whether happiness is truly within reach. More than anything, the book revealed how isolating it is to be a woman without ties to the world. You're either shaped—often painfully—by the men you meet, or you’re left to drift in a society that sees you only through your connections, your class, your usefulness. That truth makes it hard for me to read with detached appreciation. Still, my fondness grew. Jane lives in my heart now, and for that, it’s a five-star read.

The way Jane Eyre became a random pick for me (something I read without much expectation) makes its lingering presence all the more surprising. At first, the constant melancholy felt distancing but difficult to ease into. Yet something compelled me to keep going, and I found that while it may not be impactful as a character-driven novel, it slowly grows on you. It becomes lovelier (though never fully light), and its charm lies in the uncertainty; whether happiness is truly within reach. More than anything, the book revealed how isolating it is to be a woman without ties to the world. You're either shaped—often painfully—by the men you meet, or you’re left to drift in a society that sees you only through your connections, your class, your usefulness. That truth makes it hard for me to read with detached appreciation. Still, my fondness grew. Jane lives in my heart now, and for that, it’s a five-star read.

This is the first time I read a classic novel. If Jane Eyre were to speak nowadays would say "we listen and we don't judge: I fell madly in love with a man whose older 20 years than I, and only when I was 18 years old, who I've called many times ugly, whose feature are melancholy, and can be rude and tough many times, who was deceitful, and teased me thinking he was going to marry someone else, and he turned out to be married to a lunatic, etc". We would all say that she needs a therapist, and she was looking for a dad in him, and she never talked to anybody and fell for the first one who showed her affections. However, I actually don't judge her, and think she chose her own happiness, no matter how it seems to the world, and as toxic it can be, I loved Mr Rochester's proposal. The novel was poetically written and I understand why it has a great impact, and as a Christian, I loved how the novel talked about God, and how it showed the extrems of the so called religious people. 

"I looked and had an acute pleasure in looking- He made me love him without looking at me." 

Jane said that it wasn't all for the looks, that what matters is the soul, and she made Rochester a better man, and happier, and even made him closer to God. 

"A loving eye is all the charm you needed"

Monica Faez

This is the first time I read a classic novel. If Jane Eyre were to speak nowadays would say "we listen and we don't judge: I fell madly in love with a man whose older 20 years than I, and only when I was 18 years old, who I've called many times ugly, whose feature are melancholy, and can be rude and tough many times, who was deceitful, and teased me thinking he was going to marry someone else, and he turned out to be married to a lunatic, etc". We would all say that she needs a therapist, and she was looking for a dad in him, and she never talked to anybody and fell for the first one who showed her affections. However, I actually don't judge her, and think she chose her own happiness, no matter how it seems to the world, and as toxic it can be, I loved Mr Rochester's proposal. The novel was poetically written and I understand why it has a great impact, and as a Christian, I loved how the novel talked about God, and how it showed the extrems of the so called religious people. 

"I looked and had an acute pleasure in looking- He made me love him without looking at me." 

Jane said that it wasn't all for the looks, that what matters is the soul, and she made Rochester a better man, and happier, and even made him closer to God. 

"A loving eye is all the charm you needed"

I liked it but I’m kind of dissatisfied with the ending

amelia <3

Well first of all, through God all things are possible, so jot that down

Michelle Guo

has to be one of the best romances i’ve read 

anatolian 

Adam Scharf

'Such a strange book! Imagine a novel with a little swarthy governess for heroine, and a middle-aged ruffian for hero.' Sharpe's London Magazine (June 1855) Jane Eyre is an orphan grown up under the harsh regime first of her aunt and then as a pupil at Lowood Institution. She leaves to become a governess to the daughter of the mysterious Mr Rochester; gradually their relationship deepens, but Jane's passionate nature has yet to endure its deepest blows. In this new edition Sally Shuttleworth explores the power of a narrative that questions the rights of women, the nature of servitude and madness, martyrdom and rebellion in a story whose emotional charge is a strong today as it was more than 150 years ago. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Maureen

"I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered:—and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him."

***

My second "classic" read after Pride and Prejudice! I'm very happy because it's a book by another woman 🌸 Thank God this was relatively easy on the eyes unlike Austen's. It chronicles Jane Eyre's life from childhood to youth to adulthood. While there were plenty of great quotes, what I loved most about the book was how much volition the heroine possessed. Truly, Miss Eyre is the quintessential strong and independent woman.

Side note, I would say that Mr Rochester has more personality than Mr Darcy.

anjali

My love for this book is endless.

There are in a lifetime only so many books you can read, and out of those fewer are still that make your head their home, that affect you in more ways than one, and that stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

This is one of those books.

This was my first Charlotte Bronte book (who is now one of my favourite authors, and whose work I have since eagerly perused like a kid at a candy store years ago.)

Jane as a character is unbelievable: she just barely manages to contain herself between the covers of the book, at times she threatens to leap out of the paper. That is how splendidly written this book is.

Patrick Book

It's pretty hard to judge a true literary classic on its merits more than a hundred years after it came out without the context of the times. This is a pretty wide-scope story with a tough as nails lady that has an inexplicable (although again, probably culturally-ingrained) soft spot for some real dicks. Why aren't there any good men? What, does she live in Winnipeg or something?

Manojkumar Seenivasan

Stef Hite

Haven't read this one since high school ... interesting how perspective changes with age. While I would have said it was "amazing" when younger - now I think Rochester was a bit of a selfish prig and Jane too trusting. What saves the book is Jane's becoming her own independent woman and making her own choices in the end. For that I can say this is still one of my favorite classics.

Linta

Amelia C 

Jane Eyre (Bantam Classics)

jane had me cracking up at the ripe age of 10 with her witty and opinionated nature, crying during her time experiencing friendship at lowood, laughing at her shouting “Depart!” at mr. rochester at thornfield hall while also fearing for her heart during the many times she tried to make sense of a crush. her time at moor house, morton, and ferndean had me smiling through tears and then her story was over! and i already miss her company!

༺ kat ༻

charlotte brontë your brilliance! 

jane had me cracking up at the ripe age of 10 with her witty and opinionated nature, crying during her time experiencing friendship at lowood, laughing at her shouting “Depart!” at mr. rochester at thornfield hall while also fearing for her heart during the many times she tried to make sense of a crush. her time at moor house, morton, and ferndean had me smiling through tears and then her story was over! and i already miss her company!

arwen

finishing my jane eyre rr on the first day of fall 🧡🍂

I surprisingly enjoyed this book, although the men frequently pissed me off 

Lili

“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and It is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.


Jane Eyre is a realistic depiction of a woman's internal conflicts between her innate desires and societal status. 

It follows Jane, who finds herself faced with oppression, inequality, and hardship. It is a novel where the main character is deemed unconventional at the time it was released because it criticizes everything in the strict social class in Victorian society, especially how they perceive women. In a time where women were expected to be powerless and submissive, Jane Eyre challenges the society’s norms. 

In line with this, Jane speaks and stands up for herself, something that women back then did rarely or did not have the privilege to do so. I believe that the book was truly ahead of its time because of Jane's autonomous nature and the way it tackles issues of feminism, class, sexuality, and religion. It has aspects of societal criticism with a strong sense of Christian morality at its center. 

Jane Eyre is more than a story of finding love — it is also a tale that searches for a sense of belonging and independence amid the patriarchal dominance and gender inequality society.

Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre (1847) dazzled and shocked readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.

envee

"Am I hideous, Jane?"
"Very, sir; you always were, you know"

💀💀💀💀

Sarah Sammis

After blundering through the Thursday Next series which begins with The Eyre Affair, I thought it best to go back and reread the book that inspired the series. I also read it for the Classics Challenge. My initial thoughts on Jane Eyre are: I loved the book, Jasper Fforde's depiction of Jane doesn't do her justice, it ends just like Harry Potter 7.

Jane Eyre for the most part reads like a modern novel. I suppose if Charlotte Brontë were publishing now her book would end up with a line drawing of some shoes and a pink cover and put with the chick lit. The story is told in first person by Jane with full commentary on her thoughts and reactions during scenes but done in an actual humorous and ironic fashion.

She breaks her autobiography into three parts with a short coda to tie up loose ends. Part one covers her childhood and education. Part two covers her employment at Thornfield Hall and her romance with Edward Rochester. The final part covers her disgraceful flight from Thornfield and her finding her family and fortunes. The coda then wraps everything up in a nice happy package with the sacrifices being made by Edward rather than Jane (as would be the case if it were a modern chick lit).

Who should read this book? Anyone and everyone. It's a classic and it's well deserving of its status. It's a damn good story!

This Is Not My Hat

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen won the 2013 Caldecott. It's the sequel to the equally delightful and minimalist, I Want My Hat Back. He also earned an honor for his illustrations in Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett.

While the first book was told from the perspective of the hat-misser (a bear), this one follows the hat (and the stealer of said hat). As the fish explains, the hat doesn't even fit on the owner's head.

Here, then, the excitement is in the chase. If the previous book was a mystery (where is the hat? who stole it?), this one is a thriller. We know who has it and we wonder how and when he'll be caught.

I don't know if there will be any more hat books from Klassen, but I'm in love with his illustrations and somewhat dark sense of humor.

Jane Eyre (Simple English S)

oh to be fifteen and reading jane eyre for the first time again 

Jane Eyre A Guide to Reading and Reflecting

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