Why Jane Eyre is Not a Fairy Tale

Jane Eyre Passage

The passage I have chosen is from Chapter 4, when Jane pushes back against Mrs. Reed: “‘How dare I, Mrs. Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth. You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so: and you have no pity. I shall remember how you thrust me back—roughly and violently thrust me back—into the red-room, and locked me up there, to my dying day; though I was in agony; though I cried out, while suffocating with distress, ‘Have mercy! Have mercy, Aunt Reed!’ And that punishment you made me suffer because your wicked boy struck me—knocked me down for nothing. I will tell anybody who asks me questions, this exact tale. People think you a good woman, but you are bad, hard-hearted. You are deceitful!’

“Ere I had finished this reply, my soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt. It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and that I had struggled out into unhoped-for liberty. Not without cause was this sentiment: Mrs. Reed looked frightened; her work had slipped from her knee; she was lifting up her hands, rocking herself to and fro, and even twisting her face as if she would cry.”

In this passage I see specific contrast against conventional stock figures particularly through Jane’s character, personality, and inner psychology because she is directly challenging Mrs. Reed—who has been frightful to her up to that point. In fact, the boldness of Jane’s decision has even surprised herself and she trembles as a result. Her boldness at the same time makes her feel free and powerful. Jane later describes it as vengeance but Mrs. Reed also hits the nail on the head when she describes Jane as passionate. Jane is passionate—it is that passion that binds her to Rochester later on. It is in her passion that Jane also resists alacrity. She stews in her feelings and reflects on them. The whole of her book is an exercise in resisting alacrity, since it is her autobiography and she spares no details in telling her own story.

Likewise, descriptions appear and function in Jane Eyre in ways that contrast the kinds of descriptions found in fairy tales in that they are deeper, vivid, and told from the first person perspective. Most fairy tales are told in the third person perspective, but in this book everything is given from Jane’s own viewpoint, which makes it much more personal. As Jane says, “My soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt” (Bronte Chapter 4). It is a brief victory for her—a battle won, not a war. Mrs. Reed has the last laugh when she sends Jane away to boarding school. Of course, that only hardens Jane the more and gives her all the more resolve to depend on herself. But she also makes a friend there who teaches her to heal and forgive—and that is what Jane will need to do at the end of the novel when she forgives Rochester and returns to him. This passage thus explores in an initial way the deep complexity of Jane Eyre, which is not something that an ordinary fairy tale would be able to do. That is the main advantage of this form.