North Lees Hall near Hathersage in Derbyshire is thought to be the inspiration for Thornfield Hall, home of Mr Rochester, in Jane Eyre. © J147, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Part 1 of 2
JANE EYRE acquired her rebellious spirit at the hands of her vindictive aunt, Mrs Reed, and at Mr Brocklehurst’s spartan boarding school. It gave her the strength not only to survive, but to win an enviable position as governess to Adèle, daughter of Edward Rochester of Thornfield Hall.
Mr Rochester, a bachelor, was by no means handsome, and was moody in a way that neither the unbalanced behaviour of his servant, Grace Poole, nor the obviously unwelcome arrival of a Mr Mason from the West Indies, could justify; but when he asked her to marry him, Jane was as delighted as she was astonished.
Yet even as they exchanged their vows, Mr Mason declared an impediment: Mr Rochester was already married, to his sister. Edward explained that Bertha was violently insane, that Grace Poole was his wife’s nurse and keeper; he begged Jane to flee with him to France.
Jane fled – but alone, without purpose or possessions, until she collapsed from grief and hunger.
Précis
Little Jane Eyre’s childhood battles had made her strong and rebellious, but nothing prepared her for the shock of learning on her wedding day that her bridegroom, Edward Rochester, was already married. Yet despite all his pleading, she had strength enough left to refuse to live as his mistress. (49 / 60 words)
Part Two
The burnt out ruins of Plean House near Stirling, Scotland, built in the early 1800s and destroyed by fire in 1972. © Kevin Rae, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
JANE came round from a dead faint, to find herself in the care of two sisters and their brother, St John Rivers.*
St John’s burning ambition was to go to India as a missionary, and it was not long before he asked Jane to accompany him as his wife.
Though Jane knew it was a marriage of convenience only, it seemed a noble sacrifice. Yet even as she resolved to accept, she was startled by what sounded like Edward’s voice, distant, ghost-like, calling her name in pain.
Jane raced back over the miles to Thornfield Hall, only to find it a blackened, burned-out shell.
In a final act of insane malice, Bertha had torched the house, and in trying without success to rescue her, Edward had been blinded and disfigured.
But Jane did not care. Her Aunt Reed, as she lay dying, had confessed hiding a handsome legacy from her, and Edward was free to marry. And Jane married him.
When it is a Christian name, St John is pronounced sin-jun.
Précis
After finding at the altar that Mr Rochester was already married, Jane was ready to accept a loveless marriage in the cause of the Gospel. But a mysterious voice called to her in grief, and she fled back to her Edward. Now he was free to marry, but helpless – and Jane had found her Gospel calling. (57 / 60 words)
