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You’ll either be swept away by the romance in Jane Eyre, or you’ll find Charlotte Brontë’s characterizations of love and fast-beating hearts a little … 19th Century. But don’t give up on Jane Eyre just yet! In 60 seconds, we’ll tell you why it’s actually relevant to your life.

Video Transcription:

Jane Eyre is a lot of things. It’s a ghost story. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s a romance, it’s a melodrama … and it’s relevant to your life. Really? Stick around …

There’s a lot of gushing in this book. Especially toward the end. And to our 21st-Century ears, all the odes to love, all Jane’s rhapsodizing about passion and duty and her fast-beating heart, might sound a little … irrelevant.

But if you can set all that aside, you’ll find that Jane Eyre is actually a good guide for being true to yourself.

For example: Don’t let other people tell you what you should wear. Jane spurned the pink silk Mr. Rochester tried to put her in. So should you.

Another example: Girls, don’t let guys tell you they know what’s best for you. They don’t. St. John definitely didn’t know what was best for Jane—and she was smart enough not to give in.

One last example: Cheesy as it sounds, follow your passions; don’t give up on your dreams. St. John wanted Jane to settle—to forget her passions and to stifle who she was.

But she didn’t. And what did Jane find? In the end, happiness and true love. And while I can’t promise you a Mr. Rochester, I can say that Charlotte Bronte was right: Happiness does come from being true to yourself.