Once upon a Time

[naomi24]

I've seen a couple of episodes of this, but I can't work out who Emma Swan (I think that's her name) is supposed to be in relation to the fairy tale characters. Does anyone know?

[naomi24]

So he isn't one of the fairy tale characters then?

[B00]

The problem that I can see coming Naomi, is that by the time the series finally finishes, we'll have twice as many questions than we did when we started watching it.

It's made by the same people who wrote Lost....'nuff said!

[emmie]

that is part of the problem, at 22 episodes its a bit long, and is there a second series?
I don't think the little boy is a story book character, but he is the one who obviously pulls all this together. I loved the bit with Rafael Sbarge, who is Jimny Cricket, and how he gets to be that character. I missed last weeks then, oh damn.

Naomi totally agree, next time looking out for DVD, get the one with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson, it's lovely, and that part you mentioned is so beautiful, i did shed tears.

[margie04]

naomi, going purely by the book, can you tell me what it is that Jane sees lovable in Rochester? (Apart from the money and the big house and the lovely dog, of course) Really she would have been better off with St. John Rivers, & wouldn't have to nurse him either....

[emmie]

St John was a prig and a fool, he would rather swan off to Africa and likely die young. Whereas Rochester is kind, after all he still cares for the wife, who in those days would have been left in an insane asylum.

[margie04]

Was it kindness? I had the impression that he kept her at home and hidden because he posed as a single man, and his story would have been blown had she been committed.

[emmie]

i always took it that he felt responsible for her. Ashamed that he had been duped into marriage by his father and her family. If it had come out she would have ended up in an mental institution, not something anyone would wish. These places did not look after people well, and you would likely be locked up for life. I have read and reread this book, and always find something new in it.

[naomi24]

B00, I didn’t see ‘Lost’, but some people told me it was confusing.

Margie, I don’t believe money, big houses, or lovely dogs would have influenced Jane Eyre. She was well aware of her status in life, but her self-respect was such that she would never have compromised it by taking a path that was alien to her forthright and rational nature. Jane Eyre knew herself very well indeed and suffered no illusion. Charlotte conveys quite brilliantly the intellectual compatibility that Jane and Rochester shared - despite their differences in social standing. Apart from that, I think there was a very definite sexual chemistry between the two of them but their initially unspoken attraction to each other went far beyond physical attributes. I suppose some would say they were ‘soul mates’.

Until she and Rochester stood at the altar, Jane was unaware of the existence of the hidden wife. Don’t forget that Rochester was tricked into marrying Bertha Mason, discovering her condition – and that of other members of her family - only after the wedding. However, his sense of responsibility, the same sense of responsibility that had induced him to adopt Adele, demanded he care for Bertha rather than abandon her to the horrors of a Victorian madhouse, and Jane understood that. Nevertheless, Jane’s innate sense of self-worth would not allow her to become his mistress, hence her departure and her meeting with St John Rivers, and his subsequent proposal. Despite his love for Rosamond Oliver, St John Rivers knew that she was incapable of fulfilling the demanding role he expected from the wife of a missionary, and therefore his sole purpose in proposing marriage to Jane was to acquire such a wife. Had Jane accepted his offer she would have been committing emotional suicide – and she knew it. Jane was not to be bought – and her principles were not for compromise.

Em, Like you, I never tire of reading it.

[margie04]

Thank you naomi. You have almost persuaded me! What you say is very true, and yet - and yet - there is a cruelty about R. that I can't get over - and I'm surprised Jane could.
I prefer Villette.....

[B00]

how did we jump from OUAT to Jayne Ayre? Not sure even the Lost writers could do that!

;-)

[margie04]

Sorry Boo - I saw a chance of finding out why so many people love that book, and leapt.

[naomi24]

B00, ha ha! Par for the course on AB isn't it. I don't mind at all when threads such as this go off course. It's all easy conversation and it all adds interest. :o)

Maggie, I do see what you mean, but bearing in mind the social issues involved, and the daring plan he was hatching, I think he appeared to treat Jane harshly before he proposed to be sure of her feelings for him. I like all Charlotte’s books – and those of her sisters - but Jane Eyre is my favourite.