JANE EYRE by CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Social problems have always been good themes to English writers. We know great novels, and all fo them tell about the daily life.
From 1837 to 1901, the English people lived a period of “prosperity” and “peace”, it was the Victorian age. But the social problems didn’t finish. The rich people lived very weel, while the poor people lived in bad conditions.
Poor children lived in bad schools while rich children learnt their lessons in their homes. Behind this “prosperity” and “peace” there was much misery. So many books were written about this theme.
In this time women’s stories weren’t published, but there were many female writers. So about 1850, there came a novel by Currer Bell, this novel is called “Jane Eyre”.
But, who was Currer Bell?
Her true name was Charlotte Brontë, she wrote about a Young woman called Jene Eyre, a governess that dreamt about being happy.
Charlotte Brontë wrote about her own life. She was clever but she wasn’t beautiful and she was very unhappy. She lived in a school, then she was a governess.
Now, we are going to know Jane Eyre’s story
When the story starts, Jane Eyre was tne years old. Her father and mother had died. She lived with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Reed. Their house was in Yorkshire, in the north of England. It was called Gateshead Hall.
Jane decided to leave Gateshead Hall, then she went to a school called Lowood. This school was very poor and the children didn’t have enough food, so many children were ill. But Jane lived there for many years.
When Jane was eighteen years old, she wanted lo leave Lowood, she decided to be a governess. She put na adversement in a newspaper. Soon she had a reply, it was from Mrs. Fairfax of Thornfield Hell. So, Jane wrote to Mrs. Fairfax and went to Thornfield.
Jane went to be a governess and to take care of Adéle. She was Adéle’s teacher. Jane was in Thornfield for three months and she had not met the owner of Thornfield Hall. His name was Mr. Rochester, he was Adéle’s father and he didn’t like of thornfield.
One day Jane went out to send a letter and when she was near the village, suddenly, a big dog ran to her. So a man on a black horse follwed the dog. Then she heard a shout and she saw the man had fallen off the horse, so she tried to help him. Jane helped the man to stand up, then he pulled onto the horse and went home.
When Jane returned to Thornfield, she had a big surprise, she saw the man that she helped. She knew he was Mr. Rochester.
The days were passind and Jane and Mr. Rochester talked so much.
In Thornfield Hall there were many secrets na mysterious things happened there, but it was cleared up in the final.
There was a woman called Grace Poole, Mrs. Fairfax said Grace Poole was mad.
Somebody set fire in the Mr. Rochestr’s bedroom, so Jane heard a sound and saw a thick smoke in the corridor. She saw the smoke caming from Mr. Rochester’s bedroom them ram and woke him up.
Jane was worried, so she understood, she loved Mr. Rochester, but she thought he couldn’t love her, bacause she was poor and she wasn’t beautiful.
One day Mr. Rochester went to meet some friends at Ingram Park. Jane was unhappy because she knew Mr. Rochester had a friend called Miss Blanche Ingram and she was beautiful and rich. Jane thought he would marry Miss Ingram
Two weeks later Mr. rochester returned, but he invited some friends to stay at Thornfield. Miss Ingram came to Thornfield, too. So, Jane looked at her and she saw Miss Ingram was very beautiful.
Mr. Rochester ordered Jane to meet his guests in the evening, so Jane and Adéle met Mr. Rochester’s guests, but they didn’t talk to her. She was very unhappy in that evening.
Two weeks later another guest arrived at Thornfield, one was called Mr. Mason, but when he arrived Mr. Rochester wasn’t at home.
When Mr. Rochester arrived, Jane told him about Mr. Mason and he was very nervous. Mr. Rochester met Mr. Mason in the library and they talked and laughed.
Some hours later, all guests were sleeping, suddenly a terrible cry had woken them up. So, all guests and Jane were in the corridor. They were worried.
Then Mr. Rochester tranquilized them. He said nothing was wrong. But Jane knew that some thing was wrong.
Mr. Rochester told Jane that Mr. Mason was hurt. The mad woman hurt him.
Then Mr. Mason went away, but he talked to Mr. Rochester to help the madwoman, because she needed help.
Jane was afraid of the madwoman, she was worried about Mr. Rochester, because she loved him.
Some days later, a letter came to Jane Eyre, it was from Gateshead Hall, her aunt Reed’s house. Mrs. Reed was ill and she wanted to talk to Jane. Mrs. Reed hated Jane, but now she was dying. So, she wanted to say to Jane that she received a letter from Jane’s uncle, John Eyre. He was very old and ill. He was rich, but he didn’t have children, so he wanted to give his money to Jane. But, Mrs Reed replied his letter and wrote that Jane had died.
That night Mrs. Reed died, then Jane left Gateshead Hall, but she took her uncle’s letter with her.
Then, Jane came back to Thornfield and she met Mr. Rochester every day. They walked and talked together. Jane loved him more.
One evening they were walking into the garden, so Mr. Rochester said to Jane that he wanted to marry her, so she said ‘yes’ and he kissed her.
Jane remembered her uncle John Eyre and she decided to write a letter to him. She wanted to tell about her marriage to Mr. rochester. Jane was so happy.
But Jane didn’t want presents, she thought that she wasn’t worthy of presents, because she wasn’t beautiful and rich.
It was the month of July. Two days before their wedding-day, Mr. rochester went away.
At night Jane had a bad dream about Thornfield Hall. In her dream Thornifield had no roof and its walls were burnt. She tried to find Mr. Rochester but he wasn’t in the house.
When Jane woke up, she saw a woman in her bedroom. The woman was tall and heavy, her hair was long and black.
The woman put Jane’s wedding veil over her hea and she looked in the mirror. Suddenly, she tore the veil into two pieces. Then the woman looked at Jane and she laughed. Her face was terrible.
The woman went away and Jane was frightened.
Next day, Jane told what happened to Mr. Rochester and he told her not to worry.
It was their wedding day. They went to church at eight o’clock.
There were two men inside the church and they were sitting in a dark córner, so Jane couldn’t see them very well.
So one of the men stood up and said that Mr. Rochester was married.
The man called Mr. Briggs, he was John Eyre’s lawer. The other man was Richard Mason. He was Bertha Mason’s brother. His sister was married to Mr. Rochester for fifteen years.
So Mr. rochester told his wife was a madwoman and he was very unhappy. He took them to the top corridor and they met Bertha Mason.
Jane knew that face, because that woman was in her bedroom.
Mr. Rochester and Jane were very unhappy, because they couldn’t marry.
So Jane decided to leave Thornfield. She left Thornfield Hall and she walked to the road. Soon a coach came and she gave her money to the driver of the coach.
Many hours later, the coach stopped, the driver wanted more money, but Jane didn’t have more money. So the driver went away.
Jane walked so much. While Jane was walking, she saw a house near the road, it was Moor House. Jane walked up to the house, so she knocked on the door but nobody opened the door.
She was wet and very tired, Jane thought that she was going to die, but she saw somebody open the door and call her.
There lived three people, they were St. John Rivers, Diana and Mary Rivers.
Diana and Mary were governesses. So, Jane stayed there for three days, then St. John Rivers took her to a house where she could teach some girls.
One day, St. John came to Jane’s house, he was holding a letter. It was a letter from Mr. Briggs.
Jane didn’t tell about her life and she said her name was Jane Elliot. So St. John was very worried, because the letter was to Jane Eyre.
When he spoke about the letter, Jane told the truth. She spoke about her childhood, then she spoke about Thornfield Hell and Mr. Rochester.
The letter was about Jane. Her uncle was dead. He gave her twenty thousand pounds.
St. John and Jane discovered they were cousins. So Jane gave five thousands pounds to each of her cousins.
Jane remembered Mr. Rocheste, she wrote a letter to him, but she didn’t receive any answer. So, she decided to go to Thornfield, she saw the house. It had no roof and its walls were burnt and black.
Jane went to the village of Hay. She asked about Mr. Rochester, so a man told her that Mr. Rochester’s wife burnt the house, then she jumped from the roof and died. Mr. Rochester was badly hurt. He was living at Ferdean. So, Jane went to Ferdean immediately.
When she arrived, she discovered Mr. Rochester was blind and he had only one hand.
Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre got married. After a time, his eyes were better and he could see their first child...
Here finishes the Jane Eyre’s story
Charlotte Brontë shows us interesting things as the names of houses. Its meaning is very important. For example: Gateshead, shows na idéia of freedom; Thornfield is a place without peace. And we can see themes that are common in our days.
It is more a great work and a contribution to the English Literature.
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