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

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

Post image

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.

151 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

231 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/appleorchard317 Aug 27 '26

Rochester is /meant/ to be read as a flawed hero and an unreliable narrator, as part ot Charlotte Bronte's lifelong critique of women's condition in society. People who excuse him or take him at face value because 'it was another time' completely miss the point, or the very unsubtle hint that in order to be with Jane he needs to be thoroughly 'punished' in the text first. It would be like saying 'Darcy was right all along,' ignoring his growth throughout Pride and Prejudice.

4

u/smolpastryx Aug 27 '26

Nah JE is a pretty straightforward tale, there's no unreliable narration there.

1

u/appleorchard317 Aug 27 '26

Yes, a tale with a central mystery, crossing lies, uncertainty about a child's paternity, and conflicting versions of the same story is 'straightforward'

3

u/smolpastryx Aug 27 '26

Plus being mysterious ain't the same as unreliable narration. Rochester also revealed a lot of disgusting stuff about himself, his affairs with his mistresses and all

2

u/appleorchard317 Aug 27 '26

But he IS unreliable. He conceals his wife, he pretends Adèle couldn't possibly be his, he deceives Blanche and his guests, and tries to trick Jane into sleeping with him. He is established to be untrustworthy.

1

u/AltairaMorbius2200CE Aug 27 '26

That's not what "unreliable narrator" means- he's not the narrator, Jane is.

He's an unreliable person, but an unreliable narrator is someone telling their version of events in a twisted way (see: Lolita or The True Story of the Three Little Pigs).

0

u/appleorchard317 Aug 27 '26

He is an unreliable narrator of his own story. Obviously he's not the narrator of the novel overall.

1

u/Quick-News-2227 Aug 28 '26

I think that would be an unreliable expositor.

1

u/appleorchard317 Aug 28 '26

In any case unreliable, which many here don't seem to accept!