If you were a teen or tween browsing the Internet in the 2000s and 2010s, you may have stumbled upon Wattpad. Infamous for its bizarre fanfiction and original works, Wattpad is a website for writers to publish their work and has been running since 2006.
Though, whenever the website is brought up now, former users associate it with a certain plotline: a main (usually female) character with a tragic backstory, the insane scenarios that they encounter, and most importantly, the most unbelievable male leads (with strange behaviors). Most of us don’t even associate these kinds of tropes with older literature. However, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre reflects this and she could even be considered the Mother of Wattpad.
Jane Eyre follows Jane, a young woman who goes through many challenges in the early Victorian era, from being a bullied orphan to a governess in a mysterious estate. We’ll go into more detail as we explore the similarities with its predecessor (consider this a spoiler warning).
- The troubled past
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Jane Eyre begins in Gateshead Hall, where 10-year-old Jane lives with her cruel aunt and cousins, who constantly degrade and punish her for no good reason. At last, she gets a chance to go to boarding school and grow as an educated woman. However, she does experience humiliation from the headmaster and the death of her best friend. Like a Wattpad main character, she has conflicts in most areas of her life at the story’s beginning.
- The Bizarre Situations
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If you didn’t think Jane’s life was tough enough, she faces more punches as an adult. She leaves boarding school to work as a governess under Mr. Edward Rochester. She eventually falls in love with him and they arrange a small wedding, only to learn that he is already married to a woman who has gone insane and lives in his attic. Jane chooses to run away and stumbles upon her long-lost cousin, a traveling missionary. He proposes to Jane, stating that they will live a modest life in India, and she (rightfully) refuses. She returns to Mr. Rochester, finding him severely injured from a house fire, and they live out the rest of their lives together. Like Jane Eyre, many Wattpad stories contain sweet endings, but they also come with sharp twists and turns.
- The odd love interest
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Last, but certainly not least, is Jane’s main love interest: Mr. Rochester. Her employer and a man of pride and power, he takes an immediate interest in Jane and shows his feelings in a unique way. From disguising himself as a fortune teller to know Jane’s true feelings to asking her if she thinks he’s handsome (she says no), he makes it a point to try out the weirdest advances. Much like Wattpad stories, he’s not the ideal lover, but in Victorian England, he would have to do.
With all of the classic Wattpad fanfiction elements within Jane Eyre, I think it’s safe to say that it was truly the first Wattpad story.