Jane Eyre

[osprey_archer]

Rochester is such an asshole. This was my main takeaway from my recent rewatch of the 2006 Jane Eyre miniseries: Rochester is such an asshole, and this is true even if you leave aside the whole mad wife in the attic thing. He’s an asshole to Adele (always running the child down to her face: “All she cares about is presents” and so forth) and to Jane. The way that he grinds his fake courtship of Blanche Ingram in her face is just cruel (and cruel to Blanche, as well!) and seems designed to grind down Jane’s sense of self-worth, not just to corner her into saying yes to marrying him, but also as a failsafe that will soften her up for the whole “let’s live together unmarried in the south of France!” fall-back plan should someone expose Bertha’s existence.

It’s not that I thought Rochester was such a wonderful person before; I had a lively sense of his limitations as a human being when I first watched and loved this miniseries a decade ago. But upon rewatching it, I found that my feelings about him have tipped over from “flawed but compelling romantic hero” to “oh God Jane run.”

Comments

[asakiyume]

Yeah, same. The older I've become, the more I've disliked Rochester and wished for a better future for Jane.

[osprey_archer]

"WHAT IF YOU AND YOUR BAGS OF MONEY JUST STAYED WITH THE RIVERS' SISTERS FOREVER?" I called hopefully to Jane. Once St. John is gone, the girls will probably have jolly times together!

[kore]

The first time I read it as a kid, I was like "Can't Jane just send her dumb cousin off to India and live with the girls at Moor House?" sigh

[aurumcalendula]

now I want to read that AU

[kore]

Seriously! Just Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Tabby, in a cozy house of their own paid for by all of their novels -- NO Papa, NO Branwell, and NO ARTHUR BELL NICHOLLS. That's how history should have gone.

[oracne]

100% would read.

[kore]

Rosamond can drop in for tea, at first to try to get news of St John out of them, and then she can learn to appreciate better things, like Greek and maybe fancy baking.

[osprey_archer]

Rosamond dodged the hell out of a bullet when she married someone else. GOOD LIFE CHOICES, ROSAMOND.

[kore]

I also like how Rosamond seems to be a kind of reflection of Blanche -- she clearly likes Jane and is basically a good person.

[osprey_archer]

The dream, tbh!

[kore]

You got your sisters cousins, you got your snug little house, you got your lack of toxic masculinity....

[lilysea]

The first time I read it, I wanted a F/F romance for Jane...

[aurumcalendula]

Have you seen the blurb for The Sea May Burn?

[kore]

I think there have been some incredible Jane/Bertha fics for Yuletide, but they're not really romance-y.

(Bertha appears to Jane at night, appeals for her help, they burn down Thornfield with Rochester in it and leave for Europe with Adele??)

[lilysea]

I think when I first read Jane Eyre, I wanted her to have a romance with either Diana Rivers or
Mary Rivers.

[osprey_archer]

I read an amazing poem on this theme: Jane Eyre, Unbanned.

[oracne]

I can't seem to find where I posted my last Jane Eyre re-read on DW, but here are the posts from my pro blog: http://victoriajanssen.com/category/bronte/

[kore]

I’ve always thought Mary and Diana to be an extremely important part of the book, Charlotte’s thoughts on her own sisters and on family.

YESSSSS

If they're not in the story the symmetry with the Reeds is gone! Jane is an independent woman, with money and family, before she goes back to Rochester. (I still can barely read about how St John messes with her. I just couldn't take it as a kid.) (St John is also the marble white pillar, in contrast to the "sable pillar" of Brocklehurst who early demands Jane's obedience. Ucch.)

[legionseagle]

The thing that infuriates me is that St John Rivers gets the last line of the book. That should have been Jane's!

[kore]

That line puzzled me SO MUCH as a kid. Lord Jesus what? I can understand why a lot of people think it ends with "Reader, I married him."

[legionseagle]

When I was mega-stressed at a previous job, I did a lunchtime session of Christian mediation at Bow Church, Cheapside, and "Maranatha" was the word one was supposed to fix on, rather than "Om" or "Hare Krishna" or whatever.

[thawrecka]

Rochester is just such an asshole! I haven't watched the miniseries, but when I finally read the book I was blown away by what an asshole Rochester is (and what an asshole St John Rivers is, the existence of whom I had completely failed to osmose before I read the book). It's genuinely kind of impressive how awful Rochester is.

[osprey_archer]

I hadn't osmosed the existence of St John OR the Lowood school sections when I first read Jane Eyre, so it was definitely weird to read the book and realize that only about a third of it was Rochester + the mad wife in the attic, which were the bits I'd heard about.

I can't say that Rochester is THE WORST when St John is there being, somehow, even more awful, but Rochester is nonetheless pretty awful himself. Stop negging Jane, man! She's suffered enough in her life!!

[littlerhymes]

I love how everyone here is like DUMP the men in this book! And they are right.

There is this suggestion at the end of the book that Rochester is dependent on Anne, physically and emotionally, and I think that could be interesting if you're into, like femme dom dynamic. But really I would prefer Jane to run away and live an interesting life. And Adele too! FREE ADELE

[osprey_archer]

I am pretty sure that every single man in this book is trash, which is really quite an achievement, although perhaps a depressing one from the standpoint of "I ship Jane/a happy life!" Jane, take your money and go have a good time. Buy some dresses with colors maybe!

[silverusagi]

Yeah, I just cannot get into this book or any of the adaptations. It presents Jane happy at the end with her life, and I'm just like... really? Rochester, really? He was terrible all around and hardly a catch.

Also, if you haven't already seen it, google the comic "Dude watching with the Brontes".

[osprey_archer]

YES I love Kate Beaton comics and "Dude watching with the Brontes" is a true classic. Someone wrote a Yuletide fic based on it a few years ago and it was a DELIGHT.

[holyschist]

He is freaking awful. So is St. John Rivers, though - honestly, I was impressed in the last movie version how Jamie Bell, a man I find extremely appealing most of the time, managed to be so repellant in the role.

[osprey_archer]

TBH ALL the men in Jane Eyre are horrible. Team Jane and the Rivers sisters live in companionable quiet in a country cottage that they purchase with their inheritance!

[holyschist]

The only acceptable option without going wildly AU, really.

I feel like a lot of classic 'romances' in lit are about...picking the least fucking awful dude of the options, which I find incredibly depressing although probably not inaccurate in many cases.