The Monster Within highlights parallels between Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Both novels highlight alienation and its impact on the characters that suffer through it, though this is not an overarching theme in Jane Eyre. There are more similarities besides alienation, too. When Mr. Rochester and Jane are confessing their love for each other there is an intense storm taking place in the background, setting the scene to be tumultuous and unpredictable much like the confession from the pair. When their conversation reaches its climax in Mr. Rochester asking for Jane’s hand in marriage, lightning strikes the tree which is eerily similar to how Victor first encountered lightning and how lightning was incorporated in The Creature’s creation. 

I really liked this article from Young as it not only highlights the similarities between the two novels that I was beginning to catch onto myself, it also makes sure to include some counter arguments and critiques of the chapters where Jane is quite literally doing nothing. In my opinion, I agree that this is one of the weaker points in the novel as we have built Jane up to be this main character who is very sure of her choices and is prone to fits of passion. As the article says, it is a bit melodramatic. However, unlike the criticism this portion of the book receives, I do realize that losing the love of your life and the place you called home in a mere matter of minutes is extremely traumatic and can dim the light in anyone no matter how passionate they are. The most interesting thing to me, though, is that Jane takes on an almost Helen Burns attitude to her current situation of freezing and starving. She submits to the weather and the cruelty of the people around her, and she accepts that when she closes her eyes tonight she might not open them tomorrow. Overall, I think the parallels between Frankenstein and Jane Eyre are worth exploring as they both highlight how alienation and isolation can take a toll on the psyche. Furthermore, I think that Jane’s change in character is interesting and though the chapters aren’t the most riveting, the character work that Brontë does with Jane and the parallels to Helen are still worth reading.