Horeeee, sudah selesai baca Jane
Eyre!! Overall, sebetulnya ceritanya biasa aja, tapi kenapa kok novel ini
tampak penting sih?! Oh, mungkin karena karakter tokoh Jane Eyre-nya ngga biasa
buat ukuran perempuan di masa novel ini ditulis. Novel ini diceritakan dengan
sudut pandang orang pertama. Jane menceritakan kisah hidupnya sejak berusia
sekitar delapan tahun hingga tigapuluh tahun. Lama banget ya?!
Kalo diliat-liat, ceritanya rada mirip cerita sinetron atau telenovela. Anak
yatim piatu yang diurus setengah hati dan ‘terbuang’, menghadapi kerasnya hidup
(dalam arti sebenarnya – mulai dari terancam kelaparan, menjalani pendidikan
dengan metode pengajaran yang ‘kasar’, dan intaian maut melalui wabah
penyakit), mandiri dengan mendapatkan pekerjaan sebagai pengajar di sekolahnya,
trus pindah jadi pengajar rumahan – governess
(kalo sekarang mungkin istilahnya pengajar home-schooling ;p).
Nah, sejak jadi governess inilah drama percintaannya
dimulai. Berhubung latar belakangnya abad 18-an, jadinya dinamika percintaannya
tampak alot dan berbelit-belit (buat saya ;p). Jane (delapanbelas tahun) dan
majikannya, Mr. Rochester (tigapuluh delapan tahun) saling jatuh cinta. Ini
nih, gambaran betapa jatuh cintanya Jane sama Mr. Rochester:
Most
true is it that ‘beauty is in the eye of the gazer.’ My master’s colourless,
olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong
features, firm, grim mouth,—all energy, decision, will,—were not beautiful,
according to rule; but they were more than beautiful to me; they were full of
an interest, an influence that quite mastered me,—that took my feelings from my
own power and fettered
them in his. I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought
hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at
the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously arrived, green and strong! He
made me love him without looking at me.
Kalo yang ini ungkapan perasaan
Mr. Rochester terhadap Jane:
Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my
own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your mind is my treasure, and
if it were broken, it would be my treasure still: if you raved, my arms should
confine you, and not a strait waistcoat—your grasp, even in fury, would have a
charm for me: if you flew at me as wildly as that woman did this morning, I
should receive you in an embrace, at least as fond as it would be restrictive.
I should not shrink from you with disgust as I did from her: in your quiet
moments you should have no watcher and no nurse but me; and I could hang over
you with untiring tenderness, though you gave me no smile in return; and never
weary of gazing into your eyes, though they had no longer a ray of recognition
for me.—But why do I follow that train of ideas? I was talking of removing you
from Thornfield. All, you know, is prepared for prompt departure: to-morrow you
shall go. I only ask you to endure one more night under this roof, Jane; and
then, farewell to its miseries and terrors for ever! I have a place to repair
to, which will be a secure sanctuary from hateful reminiscences, from unwelcome
intrusion—even from falsehood and slander.
Saat mereka akan menikah, pas
hari-H, jam-J, di gereja, Jane dihadapkan dengan fakta yang baru dia ketahui,
ternyata Mr. Rochester sudah beristri – meskipun istrinya tidak waras, tapi
masih hidup, jadi ya tetap saja beristri. Sinetron banget ya???!! Dari sini,
sang majikan menceritakan kenapa dia bisa berakhir dengan seorang istri yang
sakit jiwa. Waktu dia muda dan masih hijau dalam pengalaman, dia terjebak dalam
skenario ayah dan kakaknya untuk menikahkan dia dengan seorang perempuan dari
keluarga kaya – yang ternyata punya riwayat kegilaan di keluarganya. Tuh kan
sinetron?!
Bagusnya novel ini, tidak seperti
sinetron, tokoh-tokohnya ngga ada yang jahat. Padahal kan kalo mau, Mr.
Rochester bisa aja melenyapkan si istri, toh ngga ada yang tau juga kalo dia
sudah punya istri. Jane juga sama, bisa aja dia ngga peduli dan tetap menikah
atau ngga peduli dan mau dijadikan gundik (yang sepertinya lumayan lazim di
masa itu), tapi dia memilih untuk meninggalkan Mr. Rochester, begini katanya
saat dia berdialog dengan dirinya sendiri soal pilihannya untuk pergi:
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.
Dan ini juga:
Meantime,
let me ask myself one question—Which is better?—To have surrendered to
temptation; listened to passion; made no painful effort—no struggle;—but to
have sunk down in the silken snare; fallen asleep on the flowers covering it;
wakened in a southern clime, amongst the luxuries of a pleasure villa: to have
been now living in France, Mr. Rochester’s mistress; delirious with his love
half my time—for he would—oh, yes, he would have loved me well for a while. He
DID love me—no one will ever love me so again. I shall never more know the
sweet homage given to beauty, youth, and grace—for never to any one else shall
I seem to possess these charms. He was fond and proud of me—it is what no man
besides will ever be.—But where am I wandering, and what am I saying, and above
all, feeling? Whether is it better, I ask, to be a slave in a fool’s paradise
at Marseilles—fevered with delusive bliss one hour suffocating with the
bitterest tears of remorse and shame the next or to be a
village-schoolmistress, free and honest, in a breezy mountain nook in the
healthy heart of England?
Yes;
I feel now that I was right when I adhered to principle and law, and scorned
and crushed the insane promptings of a frenzied moment. God directed me to a
correct choice: I thank His providence for the guidance!
Setelah meninggalkan kekasihnya,
Jane terlunta hingga kelaparan sampai akhirnya dia bertemu dengan tiga
bersaudara – St. John, Diana, dan Mary Rivers, yang ternyata saudara sepupunya
dari pihak ibu. Sinetron lagi ya?! Udah gitu, ternyata dia punya paman kaya
yang baru meninggal, dan mewariskan seluruh hartanya buat dia, Jane mendadak
kaya (meskipun hartanya sudah dibagi empat dengan ketiga sepupunya, Jane masih
tetap kaya). Setelah menolak diajak menikah oleh St. John, Jane akhirnya
kembali mencari Mr. Rochester. Ternyata, setelah kepergiannya, sang istri
membakar rumah Mr. Rochester dan kemudian menjatuhkan diri dari atap rumah. Sementara,
pada kebakaran itu Mr. Rochester kehilangan tangan kirinya (yang diamputasi)
dan penglihatannya, trus dia juga jatuh miskin dan tinggal di rumahnya yang
terpencil.
Apa yang dilakukan Jane? Yah,
berhubung tokoh-tokoh di novel ini karakternya baik, Jane akhirnya menikah
dengan Mr. Rochester, mengabaikan kenyataan kalo mereka beda usia duapuluh
tahun, sang suami hampir buta sekaligus kehilangan tangan kiri. Begitukah jika
sudah cinta?!
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