129
See also: Wuthering Heights 132–37 ■ Middlemarch 182–83 ■ The Magic Mountain 224–27 ■ Wide Sargasso Sea 290identity was often explored through
male characters because at that
time women were not generally
thought to possess the same depth.
What makes Jane Eyre radical for
its time is that it assumes that
women have a complex interior the
equal of men’s, rather than merely
being superficial exteriors defined
by their beauty alone.Character development
Brontë’s plain, passionate, and
intelligent heroine enlists her
readers to follow her emotional
development and her relationships,
and through these to sympathize
and empathize with the plight
of women of her class and the
inequalities in the lives of young
girls and women. Unlike many
contemporary male authors who
presented female characters
as general figures of aestheticbeauty or morality, there is no
distanced contemplation of Jane
as a “type” in the novel.
The book tells the story of Jane
Eyre, from her childhood as an
orphan in the care of her aunt and
her education at a charity boarding
school, Lowood Institution, to her
employment as a governess at a
country house, Thornfield Hall.
Brontë presents Jane as a complex,
three-dimensional human being,
and her readers are emotionally
invested in her, from her childhood
abuse to the later injustices of herlack of freedom and independence.
These are expressed in numerous
memorable passages that link
Jane’s desire for liberty and her
restlessness with the language
of revolt and rebellion.
At Thornfield Hall, Jane meets
(and falls in love with) the owner,
the mysterious Mr. Rochester. She
becomes embroiled in his complex
affairs—in particular, with his
insane first wife, Bertha Mason,
who is imprisoned in the attic
of the house. Unable to marry
Rochester, Jane leaves Thornfield. ❯❯ROMANTICISM AND THE RISE OF THE NOVEL
Haddon Hall, a picturesque medieval
manor house in Derbyshire, England,
has been used as the fictional
setting of Thornfield Hall for two
movie adaptations of Jane Eyre.Charlotte Brontë Born on April 21, 1816 in Yorkshire,
England, Charlotte Brontë was the
third daughter of the Reverend
Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria
Branwell. In 1824, she and her
elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth,
were sent to a boarding school,
where poor conditions resulted
in a typhoid outbreak. Charlotte
blamed this for the early death
of Maria and Elizabeth and used
her experiences at the school as
the basis for Lowood in Jane Eyre.
Charlotte worked as a
governess and teacher. Her first
novel, The Professor, was rejected
and only published posthumously.The immediate success of Jane
Eyre in 1847 was soon followed
by tragedy, when first her
brother Patrick and then her
two remaining sisters, Emily
and Anne, died. Of the six
Brontë children, Charlotte was
the lone survivor. She married
Reverend A. B. Nicholls in 1854,
and died during childbirth in
March the following year.Other key works1849 Shirley
1853 Villette
1857 The ProfessorUS_128-131_JaneEyre.indd 129 08/10/2015 13:05