The Jane Eyre of the Twenty-first Century In the novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, the main character, Jane Eyre, is an orphan who goes through life stages and finds out who she really is. The novel takes place around the 1840s. This means that the story and some of its events and characters such as Bertha Mason, Edward Rochester, and Jane Eyre may seem outdated. As a result of this, some readers may have a challenging time relating to the characters and therefore may not enjoy the book as much as they would if it coincided with more events that actually happen in the twenty-first century. Changing some of the events pertaining to Jane Eyre, Edward Rochester, and Bertha Mason to events that are more commonly heard of in the twenty-first century will help readers,especially young ones, understand and enjoy the book more fully. …show more content…
With this being said, instead of being described as mad, she should be described as being gone crazy. Later, Rochester reveals that he keeps Bertha Mason in a secret room in the attic because of her mental illness.(Bronte 274) Back in those days, it was common for people with mental illness to be hidden away from the public in a separate room, but in this modern day and age, people with mental illnesses commonly live in group homes, mental hospitals, or take medicine and live independently. When updating Jane Eyre for the twenty-first century, instead of Bertha Mason being isolated, she should either be in a group home or live in a mental