There’s this part of me who wants to exult all the Gothic imagery in this book and turn this review into a copy of an essay I had written years ago for a high school literature class. So I’ll have to restrain myself.

It’s amazing how age can colour how you feel about a book. A simple tragic love story between a woman and a man that I enjoyed as a teenager turns into an uncomfortable morally complex story now through my adult lens. I think Jane Eyre was never quite as simple as I had thought. A young 18-year-old plain Jane takes up a position as a governess, a teacher to a child who is the product of an exotic European dalliance. Mr Rochester, her well-traveled boss, would fit right into any Jane Austen novel, a misunderstood rogue who is not thought of as handsome by all but still a diamond in the rough in Jane’s eyes. It doesn’t matter that the man is old enough to be her father and that he might be taking advantage of her youth and his position, the two fall in love almost immediately. On the day of their marriage, things fall apart as the truth comes out about Rochester’s sordid past and the morally uptight Jane has to make some difficult choices.

Gothic romances hinge on the conflict between the inner and outer dialogue of their characters. Especially with a character like Jane who as a child communicated every feeling she felt with a veracity that frequently got her into a lot of trouble. As events unfold in her life, Jane learns the hard way to hide her true feelings from the world. The written word does this so well because the reader is still given access into her inner life but on film this may prove quite challenging. Watching the trailer for the upcoming Fassbender movie, it looks like the filmmakers have elected to play up the supernatural and psychological elements in the book rather than focus on the complex relationship between inner and outer realities, the dual nature of everything—-beauty and ugliness coinciding in the same body and in the same mind. As a long-time fan of this book I feel it cheapens what the book is trying to accomplish. The casting of the incredibly good-looking Fassender as Rochester almost makes me want to boycott the movie. Almost. (C’mon it IS the muscled Centurion Fassbender after all.)

This book continues to be one of my favourite books of all time. Not only do I discover something new every time I read it, the world Charlotte Bronte weaves is rich in dual meanings and symbolism. Yes, the language of the book is archaic in this current age of internet acronyms but the theme of dark and light remains timeless.

Rating: Highly recommended, especially on dark and stormy wintry nights.