Let it be first informed that Jane Eyre, is not the only novel by Emily Bronte, there is Emma for one, Villete and a few others and also a collection of poems published prior to Jane Eyre and horridly panned by the critics.
Now, for the plot. Jane, who is also the narrator, is introduced to us on a cold winter afternoon being chided by her foster mother and aunt, Mrs. Reed, and the scene is followed by a violent altercation with her cousin, after which she is locked away in a room as a form of punishment.
Events take toll, and Jane is finally packed of under the care of a Mr. Braithewaite, a singularly unpeasant man of parsimonious nature and grim outlook, whose institution, The Lowood Institution, is a place where girls are brought up to be meek, god fearing, pale and insipid creatures. The only effect that the institution has on Jane, is to teach her to envelope her inner storms and turmoil under a calm veneer.
Time passes, quite slowly, at the Lowood Institute, where she is able to find some sort of solace in the kind tutelage of Mrs. Temple, her mentor. Eight years pass thus, and Jane, 18 years of age now, stands on the threshold of a new life. As Mrs. Temple gets marries off, Jane applies for the position of a governess by advertising in a newspaper and duly gets placement in Thornfield mansion.
Once in Thornfield mansion, she meets Mrs. Fairfax, the caretaker and eventually gets acquainted to the master of the house, Mr. Thornfield. In addtion, there is Adele, her French ward, Sophie, Adele’s caretaker, Leah, a maid and Grace Poole, whose work isnt quite well defined, and who, Jane is eventually informed, has a quite a preternatural way of laughter.
As the plot develops, we see love blossoming between Mr. Thornfield and Ms. Eyre, and then tragedy, or rather misfortune strikes on the very day of the wedding.
The rest cannot be revealed owing teo its vitality in maintaining the suspense of the plot. The style of writting is superlative. It must have been difficult to get published being a lady author in the Victorian age, but the fact that she overcame all these odds to actually gat published and that too, quite successfully, speaks volumes about the refinement of her literary skills.
The narrative, I admit, might appear a tad too minute going into the nitty gritties, but Emily Bronte is successfully able to potray the anguish that the heart of a woman in love has to go through.
Two words: Read It.