Jane Eyre is the greatly acclaimed novel by the English writer Charlotte Bronte. First published in 1847 and the author named as ‘Currer Bell', it was an instant critical and popular success. It is a powerful narrative, emotionally evocative and rich with sexual undercurrents. However, it was criticised as failing to be a great novel because it was too focused on personal outpouring and lacked the balance and detachment of her sister Emily's work Wuthering Heights. More recently, Jane Eyre has returned to favour as a major feminist text, notable for its deliberate artistry and imaginative exploration of contemporary social issues.
Jane Eyre is an orphan left in the care of her aunt Mrs Reed whose harsh and cold treatment of the child provokes her to respond with spirited defiance. For this she is sent to the severe boarding school Lowood Institution, where many pupils die under the harsh conditions. She survives to become a teacher and gains a post as a governess at Thornfield Hall to the illegitimate child of Mr Rochester, a brooding and sardonic individual (a typical Byronic hero). They fall in love but on their wedding day, it is revealed that Rochester is already married to a Creole woman - Bertha, who is violently insane and inhabits the attic of the Hall, in the care of a servant. Jane flees, nearly dying on the moors but is taken in and cared for by the pious Revd St John Rivers and his sisters who, it emerges, are her cousins and through this connection Jane has inherited a modest fortune. She decides not to marry St John and join him on his mission to India. Instead, she is drawn to return to Rochester. She returns to Thornfield Hall, now a burnt ruin. Bertha had set the Hall aflame and perished, while Rochester has been blinded in an attempt to save her; Jane and Rochester reunite and are married.
Jane is depicted as a strong and independent woman of strong passions who remains true to her principles. St John Rivers offers the choice of a spiritual marriage, a form of Christian martyrdom and the novel closes with his final words, as he lies dying in India, praying to be united with Lord Jesus. Instead and controversially, Jane chooses to follow her heart's desire and finds happiness with a more morally troubled and turbulent man. When first escaping Thornfield Hall, Jane chooses to rely on what she believes is the benevolence of Mother Nature but she almost starves to death. This emphasises the ultimate importance of the sensual and tangible world. Religion is depicted in the book as patriarchal and the cause of suffering in the name of God's Will. Bertha has been read as an aspect of Jane, akin in her ultimate corporeality and in the violence of her emotions. The untold story of the first Mrs Rochester is the subject of Jean Rhys's novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), which is set in 1830s Dominica and gives a postcolonial twist to the tale.