Pros
gave explanations on the book by many professors and leaders in their fields.
there was a lot of information on her early childhood.
gave in depth ideas on how people think how Jane's life influenced her books.
Courtship was given a big part in this podcast and helped immensely.
Cons
they talk very quick and it’s hard to follow at times.
brought up a lot of things that didn't matter really at all.
I found it very interesting that one of the scholars considered the whole book a constant power shift with Jane. Jane was a young girl who hated her foster mother of sorts and wants to get away from her, the power lies with the mother she holds the letter that says she has relatives that are willing to take her and is the grown-up. Jane eventually comes back years later when she is dying and receives the letter and now holds the power as the scholar said. Another example is Rochester and Jane's relationship, she met him hurt as he fell of his horse and has to help him to the horse (she has power) she eventually learns she is working for him and he gains the power back. Finally holds the power for the last part of the book choosing not to be his mistress and coming back to him when he is half blind and praying she will marry him.
Something else that ties into this power shift ideas is everyone gets what they deserve in the end in this book. Jane's foster mother dies in the end and gives Jane the letter. she deserved to receive that letter to have that knowledge and her mother deserved to die because she was one of the many antagonist. Jane finds true love with Rochester and doesn't get that until the very end of the book since Rochester lied to her. I agreed that Jane deserved to get him but thought Rochester lied to her and didn't deserve her but what he did deserve was going partly blind from his house fire and I think that was Bronte's way of punishing him to allow him to have Jane. There are a insane amount of other instances that show this to be true, this is something I didn't notice till it was brought to my attention.
One of the reasons Jane Eyre is such a compelling novel to read is because of all the characters growing in themselves. Jane grows to become more responsible and forgiving, Mr. Rochester realizes he made mistakes, and Mrs. Reed decides to give Jane the letter because she recognizes how horrible she was to her. Many of Bronte's readers are able to relate to one of these characters and notice that they may have done something wrong too. Jane Eyre has several more sides than what is on the surface.
ReplyDeleteI never realized the idea of a power shift in the novel, but I can see now that this happens throughout the book. Whether Jane's situation is good or bad, events always switch it around quickly. When Jane is planning on marrying Mr. Rochester, everything seems to be perfect, but she soon finds herself starving and wandering a moor. The power she had quickly fades. However the things she goes through makes her who she is and Jane learns a lot about herself through the trials.
ReplyDeleteI think the element of people get what they deserve came from Bronte's own life. There was not many happy events in Bronte's life. Her mother died when she was young. Two of her sisters died early in their life. She was in love with a man she could never be with. She went to a crummy school. And lastly she entered into a terrible marriage. I think Bronte wanted a character to succeed if they did all of the right things and good things to do in life since that clearly wasn't the case in her own life. That is why I think she wrote the novel.
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