A woman known for her vanity and stubborness (Emma Woodhouse of ‘Emma’), a seductress of upper-class men (Becky of ‘Vanity Fair’), or one who constantly fights for her integrity — who would you pick to have tea with?
We polled book-lovers on twitter, and the results are in. From this small circle of Victorian-era protagonists, our readers picked Jane Eyre.
And what a top choice she is.
In the eponymous novel ‘Jane Eyre’, English writer Charlotte Brontë’s character starts off as an orphaned child, alienated and looking for a place to belong. In her search for a kindred spirit, Eyre struggles with questions about freedom, and at what personal cost? With opinions on religion, social class, and gender that were thought to be quite radical at the time (1847), Eyre would make an interesting guest during tea time, even in the 21st Century.
The novel, which delves into the stirrings of the soul, led Brontë to be called by some as the ‘first historian of the private consciousness’. Eyre is key to that, with a morality that is sound and principles that are firm, even as the character is torn between duty and desire, faith and doubt.
Her words shine through: “I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”
