Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre. An autobiography (original title: Jane Eyre. An Autobiography ), first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell, is the first published novel by the British author Charlotte Brontë and a classic of Victorian fiction of the 19th century.
In the form of a first- person narrative, the novel tells the life story of Jane Eyre (pronounced / ˌdʒeɪn ˈɛə /), who after a difficult childhood accepts a job as governess and falls in love with her employer, but has to fight again and again for her freedom and self-determination. Described as small, thin, pale, always simply dressed in dark and with a strict center parting, the heroine of the novel Jane Eyre is considered the best-known English governess in literary history, not least because of the cinema and television versions of the novel.
Summary of the plot
The narrator and main character Jane Eyre is a poor orphan . The first chapters deal with the course of her joyless childhood. Her rich uncle, Mr. Reed at Gateshead, had promised to look after her after her parents died. But when he dies, Jane's widowed aunt by marriage, Mrs. Reed and her three spoiled children, treat Jane badly and make them feel clearly that she is socially below them. Jane is a simple, calm and intelligent girl with a passionate soul and a tendency towards directness and the outbursts of anger that come over her when she feels wronged. Since she sometimes has very vivid dreams, almost visions, she becomes even more estranged from her foster family.
Tensions escalate on Gateshead and Jane is sent to Lowood boarding school, run by the hypocritical clergyman Mr. Brocklehurst. For a trivial occasion, he describes Jane as a liar, from which she suffers even more than from poor nutrition and cold. But she soon finds a confidante in Miss Temple, the revered headmistress, and wins an older student, Helen Burns, as a friend. Helen Burns is educated, intelligent, and very religious. She endures the difficult circumstances in the boarding school almost stoically, while Jane is sometimes difficult to contain her anger. This fits in with the calm resignation with which Helen, who suffers from tuberculosis, surrenders to her fate, she dies in Jane's arms while many other girls at the boarding school fall victim to a typhoid epidemic.
After this epidemic and after Mr. Brocklehurst was released from the head of the institute for notable misconduct, conditions there improved. Through her diligence, Jane works to build a position of trust and after finishing her own school days she remains as a teacher in Lowood, which she has not left since childhood. Only when Miss Temple marries and leaves Lowood does she stop there either: She places an ad and takes up a position as governess for a French girl at Thornfield Hall.
Your life on Thornfield begins very quietly. Besides her work as a teacher and tutor for little Adèle, Jane spends most of her time with the old housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax. From this she soon learns that Jane's student is not the daughter, but the ward of the landlord, Mr. Rochester.
The quiet life on Thornfield, which for Jane is gradually becoming monotonous, changes abruptly when this landlord arrives at his property. Jane is invited by him more and more often in the evenings to keep him company. The two chat lively and get to know each other better. Rochester soon realizes that Jane is an extraordinary person like no one has ever met before. Jane, who until then had had little contact with men, notices for her part that although Mr. Rochester is way ahead of her due to his experience and carries a lot of bitterness and remorse, he is basically a good and fascinating man. It turns out that little Adèle is descended from Rochester's French lover, Céline Varens, who cheated on him with an officer, after which he separated from her. A few years later she left her child, who she had claimed to be Rochester's daughter before the betrayal, alone in Paris. Rochester didn't have the heart to leave Adèle to her fate, even though he is sure that he is not the real father. So as Jane and Rochester learn more and more about each other's life story, they quickly gain respect for one another.
Meanwhile, strange events take place on some nights during which several people, including Mr. Rochester himself, are injured. The reader remains in the dark about the background, as does Jane Eyre. While visiting aristocrats from the neighborhood, including the unmarried beauty from a wealthy family, Miss Blanche Ingram, Mr. Rochester throws Jane into an extensive confusion in which he pretends to court Miss Ingram's hand. Among other things, he poses as a fortune teller who questions Jane about her feelings for Mr. Rochester. Jane, slowly realizing her love for Rochester, endures everything in silence at first. She wants to put up with leaving Thornfield when the couple move in there, but at some point can't stand the wait anymore, as there are obviously no wedding preparations.
Meanwhile, she receives a visit from a clerk at her aunt Reed's house, who reports that she is dying and has asked about Jane. Jane wants to make peace with her aunt on her deathbed, but Mrs. Reed remains bitter and unforgiving. However, she is honest with Jane when she reveals a letter written three years earlier from her uncle John Eyre (residing on the island of Madeira), in which he expresses his wish to adopt Jane and leave all of his property to her after his death . When Aunt Reed confesses to having told the said uncle about Jane's alleged death, Jane shows herself forgiving and immediately forgives her.
Back in Thornfield, Rochester makes insulted remarks about Jane's long absence, and Jane is happy to be home again, which she gives him in a spontaneous and brief speech. But the unpleasant thought of Mr. Rochester's impending marriage soon catches up with her, and one day she makes hints that she will soon have to look for a new job as governess.
One stormy night, Mr. Rochester announces that it will soon be time for her to leave and that he has found her a new job in Ireland. Jane then admits that she couldn't bear to walk away from Thornfield and him. Mr. Rochester, who had been waiting for this admission of love, now denies that he was ever interested in Miss Ingram, and he also confesses his love to Jane. She is initially skeptical, but soon believes him after several inquiries and assurances on his part. He asks for her hand, she agrees, and while a thunderstorm is breaking and the tree under which this scene has taken place is struck by lightning, they run back into the house.
In the days that followed, Rochester confesses to Jane that his alleged engagement attempts with Ms. Ingram only wanted to arouse her jealousy and that it was only her he loved. Another strange incident occurs when Jane is woken up one night in her own bedroom by a figure who is tearing her bridal veil. Mr. Rochester dismisses this unconvincingly as an illusion.
The wedding of Jane and Rochester is interrupted in a dramatic scene by a lawyer who announces that Mr. Rochester is already married. His insane wife is Bertha Mason, a Creole from Jamaica who lives in hiding at Thornfield Hall. This makes the mysterious events of the meantime understandable in retrospect. The marriage between Jane and Rochester would thus be illegal, and after Rochester had brought his insane wife (guarded by the servant Grace Poole) in front of those present in the north tower, Jane Eyre retired to her room alone.
Rochester, who has been waiting for her for hours at her door, asks her to move with him to his villa on the Mediterranean Sea and live with him like husband and wife. But Jane is unwilling to sacrifice her moral standards and self-respect and live as Rochester's lover. Although Rochester pleads with her and declares that she cannot live without her, Jane sticks to her position. She flees Thornfield in the middle of the night and almost penniless, not knowing where to turn.
After wandering around in the heather moor for a few days, she reaches a small village where she begs for food with little success and asks about work. Finally, completely exhausted and close to death, she finds protection with a vicar , St. John Rivers, and his two sisters, to whom she poses as Jane Elliott. Jane gets on well with them and soon gets a job as a teacher at the newly founded first girls' school in town. She is finally leading an independent life in her own little house. However, she often dreams of Mr. Rochester and mourns a lot.
When St. John learns Jane's true identity, it is surprisingly revealed that he and his sisters are Jane's cousin and cousins. So Jane's wish for a family is unexpectedly fulfilled. Fittingly, after the death of her uncle in Madeira, she also inherits a sizable fortune that makes her independent and even rich. Since their found relatives have not inherited anything due to an old family dispute, Jane shares the money equally with them. This enables St. John to follow his real calling and go to India as a missionary. He asks Jane to marry him and accompany him there. Religiously pressured by St. John, Jane is on the verge of joining in, but at the last minute she hears Mr. Rochester calling out to her on the wind and feels that she must answer that call.
Immediately she makes her way to Thornfield, but only finds a ruin, abandoned after a devastating fire. She learns that Mr. Rochester was badly wounded in the fire and lost his eyesight while trying to save his wife Bertha. However, this fell from the roof and died. Jane finds Mr. Rochester, withdrawn and bitter in his remote little Ferndean house . He initially rejects Jane's decision to stay with him forever, as he cannot tie her, who is now a rich and independent woman, to a blind cripple. But eventually they reconcile and marry. Ten years after this wedding, Jane writes about her firstborn son. In the end, her husband regains some of his eyesight and can finally see his child. Jane's long search for belonging to someone who meets her on an equal footing has found her goal.
History of origin
At the beginning of 1847, Charlotte Brontë had sent a manuscript to the well-known London publishers Smith, Elder & Co. under the pseudonym Currer Bell. The narrative, which was later published under the title The Professor , was deemed unpublishable by them. However, they asked whether he or she (the chosen pseudonym did not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the gender of the author) would not publish a longer work for lending libraries. Charlotte Brontë then wrote Jane Eyre in a few weeks . The novel was published towards the end of the year and was one of the literary sensations of that year , along with Vanity Fair by William Thackeray , Dombey and son of Charles Dickens, and her sister Emily's novel Wuthering Heights , published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell .
The second edition was published unchanged under the pseudonym Currer Bell in February 1848. Charlotte Brontë preceded this edition with an enthusiastic eulogy for William Thackeray, whom she had not yet met. Thackeray found this dedication uncomfortable. His wife Isabelle had been mentally deranged for three years and was in an institution for care after several suicide attempts. His situation was thus similar to that of the fictional characters of Rochester and his wife Bertha Mason. Thackeray, who had two young daughters, hired the first governess to bring them up in 1846, but found her and her successors unsuitable for the job, both professionally and personally. Regardless of this, after Brontë's enthusiastic introduction, it was rumored that Currer Bell was one of the former governesses.
William Thackeray and Charlotte Brontë first met on December 4, 1849. A few days later they met a second time. Thackeray, who had published a novel under his own name for the first time with the Vanity Fair , advised Charlotte Brontë at this second meeting to part with her pseudonym.
Subjects of the novel
Several themes recur in the novel.
The relationships between social classes and the sexes are very important. Jane ends up overcoming limitations in both areas because her marriage to Rochester is a bond of equals. When they first made a promise to each other, this had not yet been possible, since although they were equal in spirit and emotional strength, they were not in social position and experience. Jane's increased experience in emotional matters and her changed financial circumstances change the situation together with Rochester's misfortune completely. Now it is Jane who has alternatives and is independent.
Religion is another important issue. Jane meets three religious authorities: Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John Rivers. They represent different religious ideals, but Jane breaks away from each of these one by one in order to find her own point of view.
Jane Eyre is also about love, responsibility for one's own life and for other people, as well as the conflict between personal integrity and the desire to fulfill the wishes of others.
The first sections of the novel, in which the orphan Jane is sent to Lowood, where she witnessed the death of her close friend Helen Burns, are based on experiences of the author during her own school days: two of her sisters died in childhood due to the circumstances at their school, of Cowan Bridge School , a so-called Clergy Daughters School in the village of Cowan Bridge in the district of Lancashire . For the historian Kathryn Hughes, based on other evidence, there is little doubt that Brontë described real conditions in her description of the teaching method in Lowood. The prose in these sections is among the most depressing in English-language literature.
Jane Eyre is now regarded as a classic, one of the most outstanding novels in English Victorian literature . Together with the novel Agnes Gray , written by Charlotte Brontë's sister Anne , it is one of the few representatives of the Victorian governess novel that is still read by a wider audience today. The Victorian governess novel is a specific literary genre that includes works that were almost exclusively written by British authors during the 19th century or the early years of the 20th century. The number of governess novels decreased at the beginning of the 20th century to the extent that other occupational fields opened up as accepted fields of employment for women. The main themes of the stories, which are assigned to the genre of the Victorian governess novel, are the loss of the social status of the protagonist, the thematization of her unclear position in the household of her employer and the insistence on her own set of values in relationships with the people around her. The distinction between women, whose sphere of activity is exclusively their own household, and women who are forced to work. Most of them, however, also describe a maturing process of their central acting person and thus show elements of the educational novel.
reception
The narrator's voice is strong, passionate, and persuasive, and Jane is an unconventional protagonist in her thoughts, demeanor, and actions. The terrifying scenes around Mr. Rochester's first wife inspired, among other things, Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca (1938), which was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940 . There are also some obvious parallels to the musical The Sound of Music (1959).
In the fantasy novel The Case of Jane Eyre by Jasper Fforde , Jane Eyre plays a leading role. The investigator Thursday Next tries to prevent the criminal Acheron Hades from breaking into the novel Jane Eyre and, if he is not paid, to murder the protagonist, which would lead to the destruction of the book. In the final clash, Next is able to kill Hades, but causes the fire in Rochester's house, the death of his crazy wife and his crippling. In order to get out of the book into reality and out of pity for the unhappy Rochester, Thursday lures Jane Eyre back to Thornfield Hall by imitating Rochester's voice at her window and thus ensures a happy ending in the book, the until then it had been a tragedy.
expenditure
English original editions (selection)
- Currer Bell (= Charlotte Brontë): Jane Eyre . Smith, Elder & Co. , London 1847.
- Currer Bell (= Charlotte Brontë): Jane Eyre . Harper & Brothers, New York 1848 (first edition in the United States).
- Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre . Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex; New York, NY 1966 (first paperback edition).
- Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre . Digireads / Neeland Media, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4209-5124-0 (paperback edition; with an introduction by May Sinclair).
- Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre . Macmillan Collector's Library, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5098-2779-4 (Hardcover).
- Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre . CreateSpace, 2018, ISBN 978-1-5032-7819-6 (paperback edition).
English audio books
- 2012: Jane Eyre , audio book (Trout Lake Media / Audible), unabridged version, read by Emma Messenger
- 2016: Jane Eyre , audio book ( Audible ), unabridged version, read by Thandie Newton
German translations
- 2015: Jane Eyre . Translated by Melanie Walz . Insel, Berlin. ISBN 978-3-458-17653-4
- 2013: Jane Eyre, the orphan of Lowood . An autobiography. Translated by Marie von Borch , reworked by Martin Engelmann . Carlsen, Hamburg. ISBN 978-3-551-31235-8
- 2001: Jane Eyre . Translated by Andrea Ott . Manesse. Zurich ISBN 978-3-7175-1964-5
- 1999: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography . Translated by Helmut Kossodo . Insel, Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 978-3-458-32513-0
- 1998: Jane Eyre . Translated by Gottfried Röckelein. dtv, Munich ISBN 978-3-423-14354-7
- 1990: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography . Translated by Ingrid Rein. Reclams Universal Library, Stuttgart. ISBN 978-3-15-018920-7
- 1984: Janes Eyre . Novel. Translated by Elisabeth von Arx. Ullstein Verl, Berlin. In this supposedly unabridged edition, in Chapter XIII, Jane's description of the watercolors is missing.
- 1961: Jane Eyre, the orphan of Lowood . Translated by Hertha Lorenz. Eduard Kaiser Verlag, Klagenfurt. Very shortened.
- 1958: Jane Eyre . Translated by Bernhard Schindler. Kiepenheuer, Leipzig and Weimar.
- 1945: Jane Eyre. Novel . Translated by Paola Meister-Calvino. Manesse Verlag, Zurich.
- 1915: Currer Bell. Jane Eyre. Lowood's orphan . Schreiter, Berlin.
- 1850: Currer Bell. Jane Eyre . Translated by Christoph Friedrich Grieb. Frankch, Stuttgart.
- 1848: Currer Bell. Johanna Eyre . Translated by Ernst Susemihl . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin.
Film adaptations (selection)
- 1910: Jane Eyre, American silent film by Theodore Marston with Irma Taylor, Marie Eline and Frank Hall Crane
- 1914: Jane Eyre, American silent film by Martin Faust with Alberta Roy and Alan Hale senior
- 1921: Jane Eyre, American silent film by Hugo Ballin with Mabel Ballin and Norman Trevor
- 1926: The Orphan of Lowood , German silent film by Kurt Bernhardt with Evelyn Holt and Olaf Fønss
- 1934: Jane Eyre, American drama directed by Christy Cabanne, starring Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive
- 1943: The Orphan of Lowood ( Jane Eyre ), American drama directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles
- 1946: Jane Eyre, British television film with Mary Mackenzie, Anthony Hawtrey and Marie Ault
- 1948: Jane Eyre, British television film with Barbara Mullen and Reginald Tate
- 1949: Jane Eyre, American film adaptation by Franklin J. Schaffner with Mary Sinclair and Charlton Heston
- 1956: Jane Eyre, British television series (6 episodes) with Daphne Slater and Stanley Baker
- 1957: Jane Eyre, Italian film adaptation with Ilaria Occhini and Raf Vallone
- 1957: Jane Eyre, US film version of Lamont Johnson with Joan Elan and Patrick Macnee
- 1958: Jane Eyre, Dutch television film by Peter Hoen with Mia Goossen and Rob de Vries
- 1961: Jane Eyre, American television film with Sally Ann Howes , Zachary Scott and Fritz Weaver
- 1963: Jane Eyre, British television series (6 episodes) with Ann Bell and Richard Leech
- 1968: Jane Eyre, Greek film adaptation by Yiorgos Lois with Hristina Sylva and Manos Katrakis
- 1970: Jane Eyre - a woman struggles for her happiness, alternatively The Secret of Thornfield Castle ( Jane Eyre ),
American television film by Delbert Mann with Susannah York and George C. Scott - 1972: Jana Eyrová, Czech mini-series by Vadim Petrov with Marta Vancurová and Jan Kacer
- 1973: Jane Eyre, British television miniseries from Joan Craft starring Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston
- 1983: Jane Eyre, British television miniseries directed by Julian Amys with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton
- 1996: Jane Eyre , French-Italian-English coproduction by Franco Zeffirelli with Charlotte Gainsbourg , Anna Paquin and William Hurt
- 1997: Jane Eyre, British television film directed by Robert Young with Samantha Morton , Laura Harling and Ciarán Hinds
- 2006: Jane Eyre , British-American television miniseries with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens
- 2011: Jane Eyre , British-American film adaptation of Cary Fukunaga , with Mia Wasikowska , Amelia Clarkson and Michael Fassbender
Adaptations
literature
- Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea German Sargasso Sea, 1966
- Jasper Fforde The Jane Eyre Case , 2004
radio play
- Jane Eyre. Direction / editing: Christiane Ohaus , translator: Gottfried Röckelein , contributors: Sascha Icks , Christian Redl , Sylvester Groth , Witta Pohl , Dietrich Mattausch , Dorothea Gädeke , Angelika Thomas , Léa Sanft , Katharina Burowa , Uta Hallant , u. a. 235 minutes, SR / DLR / NDR / RB 2005.
musical
- Jane Eyre. Music and text: Paul Gordon, book: John Caird, premiere: Broadway 2000.
Trivia
In the eighth episode of the first season of the sitcom King of Queens (episode title "Late School for Doug") Jane Eyre is the novel that the protagonists Doug, Carrie and Spence read and analyze, much to Doug's chagrin, in an evening school literature class.
In the romantic comedy film Maybe, Maybe Not , the book is a recurring theme, as a main character (played by Isla Fisher ) spends his life looking for a copy that was lost in her childhood.
literature
- Jörg Rublack: Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre . Fink-Verlag, Munich 1985. ISBN 3-7705-2296-6
Web links
- Jane Eyre at www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved November 6, 2018 (with illustrations by FH Townsend).
- German translation at Zeno.org
- About the book Jane Eyre (by Bettina Licht )
- Audiobook (English) at LibriVox
Individual evidence
- ↑ Irene Hardach-Pinke, Die Gouvernante: Geschichte einer Frauenberufs , Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main [u. a.] 1993, p. 16.
- ^ A b John Sutherland & Stephen Fender: Love, Sex, Death & Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature . icon Books Ltd, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-84831-269-2 , pp. 459 .
- ↑ Irene Hardach-Pinke, Die Gouvernante: Geschichte einer Frauenberufs , Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main [u. a.] 1993, p. 17.
- ^ A b John Sutherland & Stephen Fender: Love, Sex, Death & Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature . icon Books Ltd, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-84831-269-2 , pp. 460 .
- ↑ Kathryn Hughes: The Victorian Governess . The Hambledon Press, London 1993, ISBN 1-85285-002-7 , p. 39.
- ↑ Cecilia Wadsö Lecaros: The Victorian Governess Novel . Lund University Press, Lund 2001, ISBN 91-7966-577-2 , p. 34.
- ↑ Cecilia Wadsö Lecaros: The Victorian Governess Novel . Lund University Press, Lund 2001, ISBN 91-7966-577-2 , p. 32.
- ↑ Jane Eyre (WorldCat). Retrieved November 7, 2018 .
- ↑ Kristian Wilson: New 'Jane Eyre' Audiobook Narrated By Thandie Newton. April 15, 2016, accessed November 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Maybe, maybe not. Retrieved July 25, 2020 .