I’m happy to write that I have finished Jane Eyre just now. And boy, was it a fun literary ride! From a dramatically stopped wedding to the burning of Thornfield Hall, the last half of the novel was exhilarating (and heart-wrenching) as well as sweet when everything ended peacefully.
Upon my rereading the classic, I can’t help notice the very religious undertone of it.
Jane Eyre feels like a testimony of a devout Christian. Jane narrates her life story from the beginning to end with much references to her faith, and the novel even ends with the words of the very zealous St. John Rivers. I personally like it very much and find it inspiring. (And this religiousness of the popular classic reveals how Christian 19th century Western societies were.)
And as an ardent fan of the novel, I created an image of Jane Eyre.
It wants more artistic skills and accuracies from formal training, but I’m somewhat pleased with the result. My reference for Jane is Zelah Clarke from BBC’s 1983 Jane Eyre. 🙂 The pictures hanging in the back are a silhouette of Edward Rochester and a caged bird, which is referenced in the novel.
As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been watching the 1983 Jane Eyre (BBC TV series) while finishing the book.
It was FANTASTIC. The actors delivered incredible performances (though everyone did, the ones that stood out for me were those depicting Jane Eyre (Zelah Clarke), Mr. Rochester (Timothy Dalton) and St. John (Andrew Bicknell)) and the casting was PERFECT – the producers and the director NAILED IT! I really do not have any complaints on the entire series, as they have stayed so true to the actual novel. I would really like to purchase the DVD of the TV show. It is THAT good.
If you are a fan of Jane Eyre and haven’t watched the 1983 version yet, here is a short clip so you can have a preview of how good, how close to the original text it is:
But the TV series is incredible because its source, the novel, is an incredible piece of writing written by the gifted English writer.
Jane Eyre is truly an inspirational story about a young woman who, orphaned and unloved as a child, develops fortitude, faith, and independence through hard work as well as friends she meets along the way to rise from tribulations and, in the end, finds her home, happiness, and love.
P.S. I would love to do a post about Mr. St. John Rivers. I have much to say about the character! (Including how his name is not pronounced as “Saint” John – but rather “SIN-jun” in the UK! And about his unrealized love towards Miss Rosamund Oliver – it was pretty tragic.)
*Check out my previous post on Jane Eyre HERE.
