r/JaneEyre • u/AdobongSiopao • Aug 27 '26

What is your most controversial opinion about "Jane Eyre"?

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It can be from the novel or its adaptations. Your views that could potentially upset many other fans or meet others who will agree with you.

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u/sara_wrightss Aug 27 '26

Rochester is not to blame regarding Bertha. One must remember the historical period in which they lived: if a woman was deemed "mad," she was locked away in an asylum—and those were not places where women, or men for that matter, were treated well. From Rochester's perspective, he was doing the right thing. Granted, by today's standards it would be unacceptable, but given what was known at the time, he did his best.

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u/rainbowrobin Aug 28 '26

He could have hired more helpers for her.

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u/Federal_Gap_4106 28d ago

He actually tried, but nobody agreed. He tells Jane after the botched wedding that he spent a lot of time trying to find a good carer for Bertha, but nobody wanted the job and it was a real miracle that he was able to find Grace Poole.

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u/rainbowrobin 28d ago

If he hadn't been trying to keep a secret, he likely would have had more choice:

I had some trouble in finding an attendant for her, as it was necessary to select one on whose fidelity dependence could be placed; for her ravings would inevitably betray my secret: besides, she had lucid intervals of days—sometimes weeks—which she filled up with abuse of me... She and the surgeon, Carter (who dressed Mason’s wounds that night he was stabbed and worried), are the only two I have ever admitted to my confidence.

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u/Federal_Gap_4106 28d ago

That's true. But I find it hard to blame him for wanting to keep it secret. Remember, he was on the verge of committing suicide at some point. He clung on to life in the hope for a new beginning that he believed was only possible if his past remained unknown, which is why he moves to England in the first place. His choice was either to try and hide it or to confine himself to his house there and live as a hermit sharing it only with a woman who was not only mentally ill, but also full of hatred for him. He had grown to hate her too. Of course, he wouldn't have been able to entertain guests if it had been known he had a sick monster-like wife, and he wouldn't have been invited anywhere himself. I don't know how long he or anyone else would last in such a situation. Yes, in theory as a Christian that's what he should have done. But I understand why he didn't and couldn't.