Les got me a Kindle for my birthday and I am enjoying it immensely! One of the greatest features is being able to download many Classics for free. I have Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and many others.
I finished rereading Jane Eyre this week. I was in Junior High when I read this, so I didn't remember many details. It was like a new book. It is so well written. The characters are fascinating, with dialogue you don't find in books today.
Of course one of the most powerful scenes is when Jane and Mr. Rochester are to be married. The wedding is interrupted and we finally meet Mr. Rochester's lunatic wife. Mr. Rochester then tries to convince Jane to run away with him. Here are Jane's thoughts:
This was true: and while he spoke my very conscience and reason turned traitors against me, and charged me with crime in resisting him. They spoke almost as loud as Feeling: and that clamoured wildly. “Oh, comply!” it said. “Think of his misery; think of his danger—look at his state when left alone; remember his headlong nature; consider the recklessness following on despair—soothe him; save him; love him; tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for you? or who will be injured by what you do?”Jane Eyre was published in 1847, but those words about temptation I find relevant today. How often we humans try to rationalize our breaking of the God's laws. "Think of his misery." As if choosing to comfort Mr. Rochester would have been justification for breaking God's laws. "Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this..."
Still indomitable was the reply—“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.”
If you've never read Jane Eyre, find it at your local library. It's not light and easy reading, but it will be worth your while.
2 comments:
I loved this story - I liked the ending.
I have not read this book, but I intend to add to my list of books to read and I can't wait. Oh how it does pertain to today and the consequences are so evident when one gives into temptation -- it is NEVER worth it. I'm going to make sure my girlies have read it and if they didn't I will make sure they add it to their list of books to read during the summer!
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