I re-read Jane Eyre just recently after something like 20-year break. I liked her much better than I did as a teenager.
The thing about Jane is that she is not what she is supposed to be. An orphan raised by cruel step-family is supposed to be meek, pious, all-forgiving. But Jane is feisty, she demands her due, she hits back and screams curses. As a young woman, she retains that sense of self-worth while retaining a realistic, self-critical picture of herself. She is artistic, intelligent, practical and determined. And she is not pretty.
The one redeeming thing about Rochester is that he falls in love with Jane's spirit, while rejecting the more conventionally beautiful and socially advantageous match. The way he plays with Jane is despicable, but she is more than equal to him. The strength of her character allows Rochester to play both the romantic hero and the Gothic villain.
My favorite part in the book was the way Jane keeps Rochester in check after their engagement. Not because it would be sin, ruin and fate worse than death to sleep with him, but because she can see very shrewdly that if she allowed him to treat her as another of his kept women, he would very quickly lose respect for her.
St. John is a brilliant character as well, and he falls in love with Jane as she is supposed to be, the pious and self-sacrificing orphan. He fails to see the passionate woman that she is, more fool he.
In the end, the author punishes Rochester for his sins quite cruelly, and emphasizes once more that her characters love the inner beauty of each other. Interestingly, instead of conventional "virtuous and poor girl marries rich prince" ending, Jane only marries Rochester when she is not only equal to him in spirit but also quite wealthy herself.
vison wrote:But, you know? I think he got it exactly backwards. I thought so when I first read it and experience hasn't changed my mind.
I think so too. But then his marriage was an unhappy one.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!