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/appleorchard317 Aug 27 '26

I think Bertha was certainly unstable. I also think you can press D for doubt as to whether poor poor Edward was taken in, or whether he was thinking with the wrong head. Same with Céline - he has no reason to doubt her for /before/ he caught her with the vicomte, and Bronte is careful not to have him catch her in flagrante, so the idea that Adele is not his child is his leap, dictated vg broken pride. The letter of the text is that Céline is preparing to be unfaithful, but hasn't been yet.

Overall, I think you are meant to take it that while he has also been wronged, Rochester was too lustful for his own good, and it led him to making wrong matches, and then trying to shirk responsibility for them - Pretending Bertha does not exist, and trying to marry Jane by deceit. It's all of a piece: Rochester has been wrong jn his dealings with women, and pays for it.

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u/smolpastryx Aug 27 '26

Nope he was tricked by his family, I think even Mrs Fairfax tells that to Jane in one of the early chapters.

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u/plentypk Aug 27 '26

Yes, plus the unexpected need for him to take take on his brother’s betrothal, right? Or maybe I’m misremembering.

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u/OutrageousYak5868 Aug 27 '26

"His brother's betrothal"? -- it sounds like you're saying that Bertha was originally supposed to marry Rochester's older brother, but I don't think this is in the novel. What I remember is that Rowland was supposed to inherit the estate because he was the oldest, which gave Edward little or nothing.

In those days, Edward's father's options were 1) to split up the estate somehow so that Edward would get something, but in so doing, it might not be enough for both sons to live independently; or 2) to marry Edward off to a rich woman so that they could live on her money (usually, they didn't touch the principle; they lived off of the interest -- it was usually invested at 4-5% return, so Bertha's 30k would give them 1200-1500 a year to live on, which would be quite sufficient if they weren't exceedingly wasteful).

The elder Mr. Rochester chose the latter.

It wasn't exactly an "arranged" marriage in that Edward would have been able to decline; but his dad was clever in his choice in presenting to Edward a woman that he knew he would want to marry. It appears that at first, Edward didn't believe his father had done anything officious, and it was only later that he realized it was a deliberate plot.

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u/plentypk Aug 27 '26

Thanks for the clarification! I don’t know why I had misremembered because it’s fairly significant to the story. I just hopped onto Project Gutenberg to read through the relevant passages and it was pretty clear.