Jane Eyre | Overview of Jane Eyre

In the following essay, Arnold A. Markley provides a general overview of the many aspects of Jane Eyre, portraying the novel as unique, both for its time and even for contemporary literature.

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre was first published in England in October, 1847, and it made a huge splash among the Victorian reading public. The novel was subtitled, "An Autobiography," and readers through the years have been charmed by the strong voice of the heroine who tells the story of her life. The narrator's habit of addressing the reader directly throughout the book, making statements such as "Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt," and "reader, forgive me for telling the plain truth!" are quite...

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