to think MrRochester is actually a bit of a shit.

[SheelaNeGoldGig]

He is miserable, grumpy. He leads Jane on, puts her in danger, makes Blanche think he's going to propose to he. Cross dresses. Is a bigamist, imprisons his wife in the attic and an all round cad and bounder.

AIBU?

Brontes: Jane Eyre, tho Tenant of Wildfell Hall close second by dear Anne.

Ever...lots of em.

You?

I love the book. Think Rochester is flawed but then everyone is, Jane saves him from himself

Bertha's mother's madness was also concealed from Rochester, I think. Bertha needed to be confined, for her own safety and the safety of others. Though Rochester was driven by the strong desire for secrecy when doing so.

I always felt that St John was a refined Heathcliff, particularly as there is the relative connection. It's not suprising that both Heathcliff and Cathy were a pain, given their upbringing.
Personally though, I prefer Becky Sharpe to Jane Eyre.

The great Gatsby probably really its the princess bride

Jane Is the only Bronte book I finished

Literature fail lol

I love Becky Sharp. One of the best female heroines/anti heroines ever.

I love Jane Eyre, partly because it is so bonkers and contrived and so obviously all about wishful thinking on Charlotte Bronte's part (brooding hero who plays cat and mouse with her, pays the price and she gets him in the end because he can't resist her wit, intellect and passion even though she's "plain" and socially beneath him).

He is a man in a position of power who she wants and the book twists it all around so that she kills off her rival, disempowers him, dispatches his rival to the other side of the planet, gets rich and has it all ? while managing to attack patriarchy and the church ? yet also managing to read like a total page-turner. It's total genius.

And yes he is a bit of a shit but it's all double-edged. He's obviously been a shagger in the past, but he takes on Adele though she may not be his. He locks up his wife, but then he's having her cared for when he could just have abandoned her ? she'd be locked up somewhere, whatever. He's in love with Jane but she's his servant and he's married, so he's in a dilemma - trying to marry her is better than just shagging her and having her as a mistress.

I love how it's all so finely balanced and he's a selfish git who is also actually totally trapped.

To be fair to Mr Rochester, locking Bertha in the attic was probably a much better deal for her than locking Bertha in a mental institution. Victorian asylums were not good places to be. By the standards of the time, he was providing relatively decent care for here there.

He's not perfect, but he's not as bad as Heathcliff. Or Edward Cullen. Or Christian Grey.

her there, sorry

Ooh, Hully, I've never before met anyone else who had read Tenant of Wildfell Hall, let alone enjoyed it. Hugely under-rated, imho.

I totally blame Wuthering Heights being on the A Level syllabus for my crappy subsequent relationship history. My first love as an impressionable 17 year old was Heathcliff and I've been searching for him all my life, hence the succession of complete bastards I've unfortunately shacked up with. If a man doesn't treat me with utter contempt and hang my puppy from the rafters of the barn then I automatically think he's a wet and a weed like Edgar Linton and lose interest. Emily Bronte has a lot to answer for. I've only recognised this recently .

If I was to have a liaison with a fictional bad boy I think I'd plump for Flashman or Tom Jones. A good night would be had by all.

Heathcliff? Nah.

I loved Jane Eyre as a 12 year old, but rereading it as an adult was a dreadful revelation - melodramatic tosh.

John Sutherland's essay "Can Jane Eyre be happy?" is wonderful - basically it analyses Rochester's behaviour, and comes to the conclusion that when his sight is restored he'll dump Jane and go off with someone else. I must dig that book out - he did a number on Heathcliff as well if I remember correctly...

i loved the Tenant of Wildfell Hall, altho not read it in years.

Also love Jane Eyre. I like that she is clever and wily, and not really a looker.
Mr Rochester is a bit of a git, but no where near as creepy as Mr "I used to change your nappies" Darcy.

Can't abide Wuthering heights and wanted to chin both of them.

Ooh, I feel a re-read of the Brontes coming on...

I found Colonel Brandon from Sense & Sensibility a bit creepy too. He gets all rigid in the pants department because Marianne resembles his dead and disgraced first love.

"Mr "I used to change your nappies" Darcy."

Mr Knightley?

at hellsbells

Yeah, sorry diddl. Thats the one. I think..? The old one in Emma, who she ends up with, even though he assisted her birth or whathaveyou.

I think he´s the one in Emma-but well creepy to me!

Hared the character of Emma anyway, though.

Lol at Mr Knightley assisting at the birth. Thinking about it, some of Jane Austen's heroes are a bit duff, aren't they? Colonel Brandon, Mr Knightley, Edmund - you wouldn't want to marry any of them. But then you've got Darcy and Captain Wentworth to make up for it.

I think the whole point with Rochester is that he gets blinded (symbolic castration, innit?) so that alters the balance of power in the relationship. Despite him being ALL MAN, she's the one who ends up wearing the trousers.

Oh God, yes Daisy from the GGatsby.

But iirc, (& I probably don´t)-Wuthering Heights is mostly about Heathcliff, his son, Cathy´s daughter & her nephew?

It´s not romantic at all, is it?

The people are cruel & obsessive,

Don't forget Hareton,in Wuthering Heights! Such a cutie! In sixth form,we all wanted to stick primroses in his porridge....