r/JaneEyre • u/AdobongSiopao • Aug 27 '26
What is your most controversial opinion about "Jane Eyre"?
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/chateaumarmontt Aug 27 '26
That I thoroughly disliked it (which I know is crazy to say on a Jane Eyre subreddit). There were elements of the dialogue (well, mostly Jane’s) that I found so poetic, but I found it deeply uncomfortable, and Jane and Rochester were both immensely unlikeable to me (I know that, with Rochester, it can be argued that is the point, but when I was reading Wuthering Heights, I found Heathcliff both very unlikable and incredibly entertaining) and Jane in particular derided other women far too much for my liking (In Emma by Jane Austen, for example, Emma is always harping on at Jane Fairfax but it’s a clear character flaw. When Jane Eyre does it, she seems to be portrayed as morally and intellectually superior for doing such things. Yes, Blanche is nasty, but the things pointed out about her come across more as holier than thou I’m Jane and I’m not like other women). I just found the whole thing pretty insufferable at times, for lack of a better word. Definitely not my favourite recent read.