Jane Eyre (/ɛər/ AIR; originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name “Currer Bell” on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published in January 1848 by Harper & Brothers of New York.[2] Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.[3]
The novel revolutionised prose fiction, being the first to focus on the moral and spiritual development of its protagonist through an intimate first-person narrative, where actions and events are coloured by a psychological intensity. Literary critic Daniel S. Burt has called Charlotte Brontë “the first historian of the private consciousness” [4] and the literary ancestor of writers such as Marcel Proust and James Joyce.[5]
The book contains elements of social criticism with a strong sense of Christian morality at its core, and it is considered by many[who?] to be ahead of its time because of Jane’s individualistic character and how the novel approaches the topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism.[6][7] Jane Eyre, along with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most famous romance novels.[8] It is considered one of the greatest novels in the English language,[9] and in 2003 was ranked as the tenth best-loved book in Britain by the BBC in The Big Read poll.
Plot
Jane Eyre is divided into 38 chapters. It was originally published in three volumes in the 19th century, consisting of chapters 1 to 15, 16 to 27, and 28 to 38.
The second edition was dedicated to William Makepeace Thackeray.
The novel is a first-person narrative from the perspective of the title character. Its setting is somewhere in the north of England, late in the reign of George III (1760–1820).[a] It has five distinct stages: Jane’s childhood at Gateshead Hall, where she is emotionally and physically abused by her aunt and cousins; her education at Lowood School, where she gains friends and role models but suffers privations and oppression; her time as governess at Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with her mysterious employer, Edward Fairfax Rochester; her time in the Moor House, during which her earnest but cold clergyman cousin, St John Rivers, proposes to her; and ultimately her reunion with, and marriage to, her beloved Rochester. Throughout these sections it provides perspectives on a number of important social issues and ideas, many of which are critical of the status quo.
The five stages of Jane’s life are as follows:
