Jane is ten years old, and live with her uncle and his family. Jane's parents have both died from typhus. Jane is not welcome in her uncles house, and suffers from abuse and neglect.
Eventually being sent away to school, Jane makes a few friends, but continues to struggle against unjust treatment, and the school is profoundly effected by the neglect of those in charge, causing malnourishment and disease amongst the pupils. There is another typhus outbreak, and one of Jane's friends Helen, dies of consumption (tuberculosis, or T.B.).
After the neglect is discovered, others take charge of the school and conditions improve. Jane remains at the school for many years, first as a student and later as a teacher.
After leaving the school, Jane takes up a position as governess to the young Adele Varens. Jane meets the young girl's guardian, Edward Rochester in very dramatic circumstances, as she is taking a walk one evening, and Rochester is thrown from his horse as it slips on the icy path.
Edward and Jane spend a great deal of time together, forming a firm friendship around their mutual affection for young Adele, despite the fact that Edward is bethrothed to Blanche Ingram.
Many strange things happen at Thornfield Hall, disturbing the peace that Jane, Edward and Adele have created.
Jane briefly returns to her uncles house to care for her dying aunt, despite the way the woman had treated her as a child. After her aunt's death Jane returns to Thornfield Hall. During her absence Edward has discovered the depth of his feelings for Jane, as she in return confronts her growing affection for Edward. Edward ends his engagement, and proposed marriage to Jane, who accepts. One night Jane is attacked by a mad eyed woman, but Edward claims that it was merely one of his servants, in a moment of drunkeness.
One the day of the wedding it is revealed that the woman is in fact Edwards wife, whom Edward's father had manipulated into marrying as a means of getting his hands on the woman's fortune, before Edward discovered the she was incurably insane. Having the woman contained at Thornfield Hall was his only option. Jane denies Edwards request to remain with him and leaves Thornfield.
With little money, Jane makes her way across the country, eventually finding herself on the doorstep of the Rivers family. Initially turned away by the housekeeper, Jane collapses with exhaustion and is brought into the house by St. John Rivers.
She is nursed back to health by the Rivers family, and takes up a teaching position nearby. It is revealed that Jane's paternal uncle, John Eyre, is also the Rivers' uncle, who has died leaving Jane his entire fortune, that Jane delights in sharing with her new found family.
St. John, planning to leave for India as a missionary, asks Jane to marry him. Although she refuses the proposal, she agrees to go with him, but before they can depart, Jane hears Edwards voice calling out to her.
She returns to Thornfield to discover a smoking ruin. Edwards wife has set fire to the building, before throwing herself of the roof. Edward has been blinded, and has lost a hand.
Despite this Jane convinces him that she still loves him, and they are married. Edward does regain some vision, enough to behold the sight of their first child.
Publishing Details
- Hardcover: 624 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics Hardcover; Exclusive to Waterstones ed edition (October 27, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0141040386
- ISBN-13: 978-0141040387
- Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 2 inches
100 1_ |a Brontë, Charlotte, |d 1816-1855.
245 10 |a Jane Eyre / |c by Charlotte Brontë ; with wood engravings by Fritz Eichenberg.
260 __ |a New York : |b Random House, |c 1943.
300 __ |a 3 p. l., 343 p. : |b illus., plates ; |c 26 x 20 cm.
520 __ |a In early nineteenth-century England, an orphaned young woman accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer who has a terrible secret.
650 _0 |a Governesses |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Fathers and daughters |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Mentally ill women |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Charity-schools |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Married people |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Country homes |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Young women |v Fiction.
650 _0 |a Orphans |v Fiction.
651 _0 |a England |v Fiction.
655 _7 |a Bildungsromans. |2 gsafd
655 _7 |a Love stories. |2 gsafd
Links
Wikipedia - Jane Eyre
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