Jane Eyre Plot Questions

the woman he loved came first

and jane gets back with rochester because she loves him and god told her to do so because she heard rochester calling her

fyi, rochester didnt start the fire :) listen to poor sister

the book is also a really good read ^^

Updated On: 11/1/05 at 06:13 PM

As someone who has read the book and knows the score very well (but hasn't seen the show) maybe I can help here.

Yes, Rochester doesn't start the fire. Rochester's wife, named Bertha, starts it. When Jane enters Thornfield for the first time, Bertha has already been in the attic for a while, and is insane. The song "Poor Sister," as phantompenguinx suggested, will help illustrate this.

If you haven't read the book, its quite an interesting read. So is the book that is based upon Bronte novel, called "Wide Sargasso Sea." It details one author's view of Rochester's wife, Bertha, and how she came to be in Rochester's life, and why she went insane. According to this author (can't remember her name at the moment) the name "Bertha" is bestowed upon her by Edward, it isn't her original name. Hope that helps.

Edit: BroadwayDoc, that's neat that she's now on Desperate Housewives! Talk about a switch

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Updated On: 11/1/05 at 06:32 PM

Rochester doesn't fall in love with Jane until a while after the whole thing with Bertha falls apart. As for the "Jane falling in love with someone who locked his wife in the attic," from what I remember, the novel, is sympathetic to Rochester. By the time Jane finds Edward at the end, Bertha has already died. The reason Jane walks out on him before they get married the first time is that she finds out about Bertha, and that Edward is still married to Bertha. Upset, she leaves. After the fire, and Bertha's death, Jane realizes that Edward is who she is meant to be with, and that her path in life led her to being Rochester's wife. Also, the whole treatment of the insane was different in the time period this show and book are set in, remember. For someone like Rochester, who wanted his past with Bertha hidden, it was a viable solution to his problem, in that time period. Or at least, it probably wasn't frowned upon as much as it would be today.

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In the novel it is clearly shown that there was no way that she could have lived with him normally, she was criminally insane really, violently attacking him when he came in starting fires etc...I don't suppose mental institutions of that time period were a particularly pleasent place anyway...

Moreover, in the novel they explain that Bertha's family actually tricked him into marrying her, her family had a long history of mental illness which they purposely hid from him, notably her mother was apparently stark raving mad, and Bertha was apparently quite beautiful and he did have feelings for her at one point, until they began living together and her onset of mental illness became impossible to ignore...

Finally, Jane Eyre is a novel based on some rather large coincidences and rather unrealistic romanticistic notions, its gained a bit of criticsim for that, but ultimatly its engaging plot,keen social commentaries, and the gorgeously brilliant writing has earned it a place amongst classics...

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yes, then she told him she was marrying someone else then rochester married bertha, returning to thornfield. then adele's mother left him with adele. i think "perfectly nice" explains a little bit of it

Updated On: 11/1/05 at 07:45 PM