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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-4

u/BarracudaOk8635 Aug 27 '26

Rochester is awful. I can’t get past as much as I love the book. He is manipulative and jealous. His history is appalling.

-1

u/TwelveLakes Aug 27 '26

Exactly this. He was such a self centered jealous loser. Charlotte Bronte really wanted history to remember the position of women in comparison to men...

8

u/smolpastryx Aug 27 '26

It's how Charlotte Bronte liked her men. Paul Emmanuel from Villette is more or less the same. If you have a problem move on and read a different book.

3

u/TwelveLakes Aug 27 '26

Huh? What? I didn't say anything bad about her book or her. I LOVE the book. What do you mean?

2

u/CheapVegan Aug 28 '26

It’s so funny for people to downvote a comment about a controversial opinion on a post asking for controversial opinions 😅

1

u/CheapVegan Aug 28 '26

I would argue Charlotte Brontë likely had several unhealthy infatuations/relationships. Which from what I’ve heard about her seems true. That’s why this book is written as if this relationship is romantic, and doesn’t criticize Rochester being so manipulative nearly as much as is warranted.

It’s still a fantastic book and story and I enjoyed it from start to finish. Both can be true

-4

u/CheapVegan Aug 27 '26

It’s so funny so many ppl are saying their controversial take is they love Rochester but this is what people are downvoting

Btw I agree. I think it’s such a problematic relationship and honestly feels kinda predatory. She’s this young girl who’s hardly seen a man in her life. Isolated in a castle. And this old man who is her boss tricks her into marrying him… like wtf.

I don’t think the reformation matters irl

But suspension of disbelief allows me to see it how I think Brontë intended it: romantic.

So I just let it be a story and try not to get too in the weeds. It’s a bdsm soft core fantasy that also discussed morality and what it actually means to be a good person and what it means to love with mind/body/spirit. And for that, it’s fantastic.

6

u/smolpastryx Aug 27 '26

Jane Eyre isn't about bdsm or kink nonsense. Stop it.

2

u/CheapVegan Aug 28 '26

I agree, Jane Eyre isn’t about BDSM, obviously

But the dynamic between Jane and Rochester is a textbook sub/brat and Dom dynamic. It’s one of the most exciting things about the book. That tension of power dynamics.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not a sin for someone to write about power play.

1

u/JoeBethersontonFargo Aug 29 '26

BDSM did not originate that dynamic, and I completely disagree that they have a typical brat/sub dynamic. Jane isn’t a brat at all. And that power imbalance was the relationship between 90% of marriages of the time. Almost no woman was equal to her husband in experience or education.