Learning From The Classics Podcast: Jane Eyre

This track is a recording of my weekly LIVE PODCAST - Learning from the Classics, dated November 22nd, 2024.

In my LIVE session, I will relate prompts from Classic Literature to the challenges we face every day. There is a certain sense of security in understanding some struggles are universal and not personal to ourselves. In such novels, there is also a reconciliation to be had with souls we cannot and will not ever meet, but who teach us so much. Today I will be looking at Jane Eyre.

Transcript

Hello.

It's lovely to see you.

I'm going to be talking about Jane Eyre today.

If you've been listening to my tracks,

You'll know we're in the last quarter of the book and we've been on quite a journey with Han.

And we're coming to the point now where she's suffered her worst and she's coming back from it,

We hope.

And obviously it will end happily because that's what Victorian novels tend to do.

We're going to talk about the Gothic theme to start with.

And every week,

As you know,

We delve a little bit deeper through the tracks into the psyche of Jane.

And Stoicism is the school of thought whereby we say that virtue is sufficient for happiness.

So maintaining that level of virtue in your life where you're not necessarily looking for external validation and not looking to surround yourself with false idols.

So we see the theme of Stoicism in Jane Eyre running through the book.

And this belief that the world is ordered by an external force features strongly,

But also a force that comes from within.

So something bigger than Jane herself that she can't ignore.

And we see this within her.

The focus on the world as it is and what she can control,

She does control.

And what she can't,

She leaves behind.

She's a character who's very resilient and clear about who she is.

I can't change this,

She says,

But I'm clear on what I'm willing to accept and therefore I'm going to have to leave if this is not what I want it to be.

Which was,

Of course,

Many times very difficult for her to do.

And we see many changes throughout the story.

And none of these changes are her choice apart from when she decides,

Right,

Well,

I'm looking at my options and what I'm going to do is I'm going to become a governess.

And that's a kind of turning point and a positive moment for her.

But many of the,

You know,

Decisions that she makes are actually born from out of necessity.

Okay,

So we see her go through massive changes,

All amidst this glorious Gothic backdrop.

The backdrop of misery,

Darkness,

Contempt,

Lies,

Deceit.

And isolation that she had right from the beginning when she was at Gateshead with John Reed who bullied her.

Then she was sent to the Red Room.

She had supernatural experiences,

Which is another popular Victorian theme.

And there was a mistrust of the supernatural but a fascination with it.

And we see this also with Robert Louis Stevenson and Jekyll and Hyde.

We see many popular novels of the time flirting with this supernatural theme,

If you like.

So there was this Christianity versus the supernatural.

And we see this very clearly with Jane Eyre.

And being in the Red Room,

She basically faced her darkest fears.

And we can see she was very isolated at this point,

Frightened,

Fearful as a child.

And this rang very true for me.

I remember being very frightened as a child.

I remember being,

I remember waking up in the dark and being very frightened and isolated and fearful.

And I think one who has deep emotional is highly sensitive,

Which is how Jane is portrayed is going to experience those feelings.

And they are depicted beautifully in Jane Eyre.

So the gothic theme represents that difficulty within life.

The book can be very dark at times,

But it's enough for us to have that core foundation deep within us that's saying,

You know what,

You've still got me.

Yeah,

You are my saving grace.

This is another thing that spoke to me.

You know,

You are your best friend,

And you can hold your hand through anything and go and conquer anything.

And Jane did this over and over and over again.

And it was fantastic to read and to understand that,

Yes,

We can all do this,

Right?

And other people have done it before.

It's not just me.

And that's the beauty of literature.

Finding friends,

Be they live or dead.

Finding friendly voices,

Similar ideas,

And being able to relate to the experiences of others and realizing there is a connection there,

A universal connection that transcends time.

And because Jane Eyre was written in Victorian times,

It went against every assumption people had about women in their place in society.

And we see again this expectation made of the Bronte sisters.

So she essentially believed that women are people,

They have a core set of values,

And that should be enough.

And perhaps their path isn't to be a wife and a mother,

And perhaps we should talk about that,

Which was why the book was groundbreaking.

So going back to Stoicism,

Keeping your head above when everything around you is going crazy.

And of course,

This was hard for Jane to do,

But she did it so well.

And it was because she was able to internalize,

Look inwardly,

And also seek a great guidance,

I think,

For the decisions and the choices she made,

And the strength that she needed in order to get through the many challenges she faced.

And when we see her at Thornfield Hall,

Of course,

When everything around her is insane,

We meet the character Grace Paul,

We see the love of Jane's life,

Mr.

Rochester.

And again,

With the supernatural and the sort of fear of the fragility of the mind coming out in that gothic way,

The darkness living so close to the light,

The light being the relationship between her and Mr.

Rochester,

Finally finding an intellectual equal,

Somebody she can spar with and be interested in.

So yes,

Mr.

Rochester,

The great deceiver.

Harboring this mysterious,

Crazy woman living somewhere in the house.

And obviously,

Then we see the juxtaposition between the pious and virtuous Jane.

And this kind of deception that Rochester makes an attempt to justify in his mind.

And of course,

You know,

That's a beautiful contrast between the dark and the light again.

And if you're placing that dark figure against somebody who is portrayed and set up to be virtuous,

Pious,

Religious,

It's just going to make her light shine even brighter.

The book can be depressing at times when you read of isolation and desperation,

Hardship,

Especially for a woman on her own in Victorian society.

In a period of time,

If you wanted to escape,

You had no financial means,

You just,

You had no other way but to walk,

Right?

There was no public transport or anything.

It was very,

Very difficult.

And the patriarchal system,

Obviously,

The men owning all the properties.

So as a woman,

It was really put up and shut up.

But we see with Jane,

The ownership of something,

She has a safe place,

Her safe place is outside.

So it's not within the confines of bricks and mortar.

Her safe place is outside.

We see this from the beginning.

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

And it's set up immediately that Jane regrets the fact she can't get outside.

That's where she feels at peace.

And when she sees eventually that she has no option but to run away from Thornfield and Mr.

Rochester.

She is submerged in nature again,

She can make peace with that.

And when this illness at Lowood Institution,

They get outside and that's her safe place.

Nature is portrayed as a very feminine thing in these Victorian novels.

And that theme is embraced by Victorian authors.

And she would prefer at that situation where she's run away from Thornfield,

She would prefer to sleep in a ditch,

Be surrounded by trees and fields than stay in a place where she feels she would have to compromise who she was,

Even though she was in love with this person who essentially would offer her safety,

Security.

But that was not something she was willing to accept.

And we see the stoicism coming through there.

So let's compare that stoicism with the reward system we have in the 21st century,

Which is rather frightening,

Damaging.

This financial reward system we have now,

The big play that everybody's talking about,

The money,

Money,

Money.

You don't get the internal reward from that,

Right?

So you don't get this sense of inner peace from that,

Which I suppose is our takeaway from today.

You know,

Searching for that sense of right and wrong and understanding of who we are and what we are willing to accept and what drives us.

And that can create isolation in the 21st century.

But what we get from reading classic literature is we understand,

Even though we may think differently to the norm and feel isolated from that,

There were people that thought the way we think before,

Kindred spirits,

Souls we can connect with through the pages.

And I'm very comforted about that.

Because if you feel detached from the norm,

Particularly if you have heightened sensitivity,

You can't tap into this aggressive kind of financial push,

Push,

Push.

Maybe opening a book and having a look at somebody else's thoughts on this gives us hope,

Right?

And we need hope.

Yeah.

So that's what I get from it.

And of course,

The book's a romance.

But it's really about Jane loving herself.

I can't really let myself down here,

She's saying with her actions,

Even though everything's against me,

I can't let myself down.

And there are little moments of hope within that.

When she's at Lowood up against Mr.

Brocklehurst.

She's saying,

You have the authority by your actions.

I understand,

You know,

You're the boss,

But I'm not going to let this go.

I'm a good person.

And surely,

Somehow,

The truth has to come out.

And of course it does.

He's a very unforgiving,

Hard male character.

And we could assume that Bronte's setting up the book as anti-male somehow,

But I don't really see that at all.

It's more of a social comment and observation than a judgment.

Okay.

So yes,

She's fearful of men to start with,

Or what they're capable of.

And the nurturing and any kindness she experiences comes essentially from women.

But she thinks like men and she yearns for that intellectual connection that eventually she finds with Rochester.

So there's that sort of inner battle going on with her.

And Bronte,

She sets Jane up as someone who's not necessarily good looking.

He doesn't carry the burden,

If you like,

Of having to concern herself with the way she looks,

But she can be free to concern herself with her thoughts.

She's looking for that intellectual collection.

And,

You know,

Rochester,

He's got the baggage,

He's tormented,

But he's a deep thinker.

And he is also saying,

Look,

I know Blanche Ingram,

Visibly speaking,

Is a good match,

But I'm not interested in that.

So actually,

This is why he's kind of this anti-hero,

Right?

Because yes,

He's a man and all other men pale into insignificance.

Why?

Because he sees Jane and desires Jane for who she really is.

And then of course,

We have the character of St.

John,

Who I found a little bit awkward and a little bit stifling and a little bit rigid.

But he comes along afterwards and we happen,

You know,

We come to see it later chapters.

He's in love with somebody else,

But he doesn't think they'd make a good missionary his wife.

So he's sacrificing what he wants for something that he believes to be the right thing to do.

So we can see pro-male elements within this.

And therefore I veer away from the idea that Jane Eyre is just for women.

I don't think it is.

I think it's a tale of hardship,

A dark tale.

It sets the Gothic backdrop beautifully.

It embraces nature and the character of Jane is a lesson for us all because it's seeking something beyond the frivolous.

It's seeking something beyond societal expectation,

Something deeper,

A deeper connection.

And it's setting ourselves up to yearn for that connection within the opposite sex and believe that there is life beyond the stern,

Rigid,

Mean male characters that,

Of course,

Not the only representations of the male sex in the Victorian times.

So throughout,

We see Jane saying,

You know what,

Hold your tongue.

It's going to get better.

Be strong.

Be sure about who you are.

And that's a wonderful sentiment for us to hold on to.

I really take strength from her resilience.

And it's lovely to read literature that embraces characters that are a little bit odd,

Isn't it?

That are a little bit different,

That feature not the classic hero or heroine,

But that are a little bit unusual.

That gives us hope,

I think.

Sometimes it feels like,

Why don't I have those qualities that person has?

Or why can't I be,

Visually speaking,

Like this person on the screen?

But Jane Eyre is hardwired to be different.

She's hardwired to be difficult,

Not a stereotype,

But still to be worthy of our love.

Yeah,

Our adoration.

And so the message I'm getting from Jane Eyre is celebrate the unusual.

Celebrate the different.

I'm going to close with a little poem I wrote that embraces this message and this poem is called Square Peg.

You know that hole that you made for me?

Well,

I don't quite fit.

It's my thoughts you see.

They're big,

They're small,

And iced with a cherry,

Like a juicy steak that's topped with berries.

Unexpected,

Unwanted,

And the ones left unsaid.

They're the light that glows blue when it should be red.

I could pinch them in,

But they'd just bounce back.

I could squeeze them thin,

But they'd burst out fat.

Because truth has a way of doing that.

So why dig a hole at all?

Thank you for listening.

See you next time.

Reviews

Yay, I remember your lovely poem. And had missed the first half of this podcast, all the better to hear it again as P&P. These are worth listening to a few times. Thank you! I can relate to parts of Jane Eyre, and appreciate your insights for new reflection. 🤗🧡🌺