Jane Eyre is one of the most popular pieces of fiction ever written. At different periods since its publication it has been accused of immorality, of irreligion, of being unfeminine or too feminine, of alarming independence from convention, or too much reliance on it, of rejecting male supremacy or encouraging. It has been called an account for bad structure, bad characterization, lack of control, lack of ideas, lack of philosophy and for containing irreconcilable paradoxes. …showed first 75 words of 1966 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1966 total…the lady contributors to the fashionable journals. The other quality he especially noticed, the book's "upright" character, is of its essence. Rectitude was a basic Bronte quality: the importance of what people are and believe in, as opposed to their sense of self-interest. Applied to fiction, it contributed a new dimension to popular literature. All unconsciously Currer Bell, with her scrupulous regard for truth and critical self-analysis, and advanced the novel by half a century.