Jane left her love, Rochester, after learning of his concealed wife. She flees far, far away, ending up on the doorstep of strangers, after being homeless for some time. She finds herself with Diana, Mary, and John. After living with the strangers for a while, John sets Jane up with a volunteer teaching job at an unwelcoming school. At Christmas break, John informs Jane that a Miss Jane Eyre needs to be found. At this point, Jane reveals her true identity, and is endowed with 20,000 pounds. Jane divides the inheritance among her four family members, and then eventually makes her way back to Rochester. What are the odds of any of this?!?!
For Jane to return to the man that caused her so much hardship, indirectly plunging her into homelessness, is absurd! I understand that he loved him, but why would she go back to him after living her dream of being rich and having a family of her own to love and care for her. It seems to me that Bronte was living in a bit of a parallel universe when writing this book, because none of these things are coincidental occurrences. Nevertheless, I am happy that Jane was able to find true bliss.
1 comment:
You're right, perhaps, to nail Bronte for too perfect (too happy) an ending, and yet...consider what led to that perfection. The initial wedding (disrupted by the revelation of Bertha) seemed itself to promise a "happy ending", but we knew that there were a hundred pages or more left, and that something was going to happen. My question, then, is what has Bronte done, at the end of the novel, to achieve the 'too perfect' ending that we actually get? What things have had to transpire (for both Rochester and Jane) in order for Bronte to justify the actual ending? Thinking about this might provide good fodder for your essay!
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