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Friday, May 29, 2020

4:03 PM

Passage Based Question; The Introduction
Question One: In what ways does Bronte make this excerpt such an intriguing beginning to the novel? (25 marks)
Charlotte Bronte has through her masterful writing abilities, in the very first chapter of her novel Jane Eyre set the tone
for the rest of the book and established many of the main themes, which helps create a sense of intrigue in the reader
towards the book, prompting them to read on further
...
Thus, by forming a connection
between the reader and the protagonist of the novel, this excerpt helps develop a sense of fascination in the reader
towards this novel
...

A phrase mentioned in the very introduction of the novel is, “the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so
somber, and a rain so penetrating…” as a pathetic fallacy is at work here as human attributes are given to an inanimate
object of nature reflecting a mood
...
It also helps
foreshadow the gradual incline in misery as the novel progresses, starting from being discriminated by her aunt, then to
the being bullied by her cousin before the traumatic incident in the red room takes place
...
This cascading effect of grief
which will take place is foreshadowed by the glum atmosphere depicted through the weather, and this helps keep the
readers interest alive
...

The abrupt start to the novel which begins with the words “there was no possibility of taking a walk that day,” helps
create a sense of familiarity as it seems like no introductions are necessary
...
From
the very beginning of the book, Bronte uses careful novelistic craftsmanship to position the reader on Jane's side
...
From the start, Jane is oppressed;
she is sent off while her cousins play
...
” This creates pity in the readers towards Jane as they find themselves attached to her and concerned
for her struggles
...
As a poor
orphan living with relatives, Jane feels alienated from the rest of the Reed family, and they certainly do nothing to make
her feel more comfortable
...
Reed talks about
how “she really must exclude Jane from privileges intended only for contented, happy, little children
...

Jane's situation as she sits reading Bewick's History of Birds provides significant imagery
...
This helps foreshadow and build up to the coming tragedy
...


The color red is symbolic as it represents fire and passion, red offers vitality, but also the potential to burn everything
that comes in its way to ash
...
" Throughout the book, passion and fire will contrast with
paleness and ice
...
The fact that she is reading “Bewick's History of
British Birds” in light of how the need for freedom and the instinct to migrate are two concepts associated with birds
and this symbolizes how Jane reads this book because birds are symbolic of her desire for freedom from her current,
stifling situation
...

The content of the book itself seem reflective of Jane’s situation
...
The extreme climate of the birds' homes in
the Arctic, "that reservoir of frost and snow," the "death-white realms," again creates a contrast with the fire that
explodes later in the chapter during John and Jane's violent encounter, which will later follow
...
” This also seems to portray Jane’s situation as it is possible that she felt lonely and even though she
is young, she felt as though she was sinking with no place to go
...
This further helps in creating sympathy towards Jane’s plight in the minds of
the readers
...
These limitations could also come in the form of her poor position in society and how for
her status as both a woman and a poor orphan, not many ways in life were available and she would never have the
freedom she desires
...

In conclusion, Bronte has through the portrayal of Jane as a character to be pitied because of her unfortunate life
circumstances due to the position she was born in and her exclusion from a family unit which she seems to so desire
helped develop a connection between the reader and Jane, who is the protagonist, thus creating a sense of intrigue in
the story
...
Thus the reader is drawn into the story, both out of compassion for
Jane and an eagerness to know what misfortunes later befall her
...
We had been wandering,
indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs
...

To:
I can not tell what sentiment haunted the quite solitary church-yard, with its
inscribed head-stone; its gate, its two trees, its low horizon, girdled by a broken
wall, and its newly-risen crescent, attesting the hour of eventide
...
’
• Cross legged like a Turk
• Red moreen curtain nearly close
• Protecting but not separating me from the drear November day
• Of ‘the solitary rocks and promontories’
• ‘Say, ‘what do you want, master reed?’’
• You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent
...

• Wicked and cruel boy
• Every morsel of flesh on my bones shrank when he came near
• Mrs
...
Reeds spirit harassed by the wrongs of his sisters child might quit its abode
...
Reed would have endured my presence more
complacently
• I thought a ghost would come
• Underhanded little thing
• when she had ascertained that I was really subsiding, she loosened her hold of me
• Miss eyre are you ill; do you feel like you should sleep; would you like to eat or drink something?
• Herald of a coming vision from another world

• ‘the dimly gleaming mirror’
• ‘dead men … revisiting the earth’
CHAPTER THREE
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CHAPTER THREE
• I felt so sheltered and befriended while he sat in the chair near my pillow
• Protection and security when I knew there was a stranger in the room
• Inexpressible sadness weighed it down

• But I ought to forgive you, for you knew not what you did:
• Gulliver a most desolate wanderer
• No, I was not heroic enough to purchase liberty at the price of caste
...
”
• I felt physically weak and broken down; but my worse ailment was an unutterable wretchedness
of mind:
• Like most other favors long deferred and often wished for, too late!
• This book I had again and again perused with delight
...

• I cry because I am miserable
...

• “Yes,” responded Abbot, “if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her
forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that
...

• He, for it was a man,
• “Well, Jane Eyre, and are you a good child!”
• What a face he had, now that it was almost on a level with mine! What a great nose! And what a
mouth! And what large prominent teeth!
• You are deceitful!”
• There's a dear—and lie down a little
...

• From every enjoyment I was, of course, excluded
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• From every enjoyment I was, of course, excluded
• To speak truth, I had not the least wish to go into company, for in company I was very rarely
noticed
• I was comparatively happy, believing it to be happy likewise
...
”
CHAPTER FIVE
• “Be sure and take good care of her,”
• Raw and chill was the winter morning: my teeth chattered as I hastened down the drive
...

• I dressed as well as I could for shivering entered the cold and dimly-lit school-room
• Tall lady with dark hair, dark eyes, and a pale and large forehead
• Great gray hills heaved up around the horizon; as twilight deepened, we descended a valley, dark
with wood, and long after night had overclouded the prospect I heard a wild wind rushing among
the trees
...

• None of whom precisely pleased me; for the stout one was a little coarse, the dark one not a little
fierce, the foreigner harsh and grotesque, and Miss Miller, poor thing! looked purple, weatherbeaten, and overworked
• When full of flowers they would doubtless look pretty: but now, at the latter end of January, all
was wintry blight and brown decay
...
I have given you answers enough for the present: now I want
to read
...


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• Deep snows; mirrors her sense of psychological exile
...

• Hitherto I had only been a spectator of the proceedings at Lowood, I was now to become an actor
therein
...

• Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs
...
Brocklehurst
• But we are not to conform to nature
• The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had gray beaver hats, then in
fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a
profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl,
trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls
...

• Aspect of an angel
• That this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs, is a little castaway:
• Such is the imperfect nature of man! such spots are there on the disk of the clearest planet; and
eyes like Miss Scatcherd's can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of
the orb
...

CHAPTER EIGHT
• I resolved in the depth of my heart, that I would be most moderate—
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• I resolved in the depth of my heart, that I would be most moderate—
• “I infused into the narrative far less of gall and wormwood than ordinary… it sounded more
credible
...

• I would not now have exchanged Lowood with all its privations, for gates head and its daily
luxuries
...

• That very morning I had reached the head of my class; Miss Miller had praised me warmly; Miss
Temple had smiled approbation; she had promised to teach me drawing, and to let me learn
French
• “Hush, Jane! you think too much of the love of human beings
• If others don't love me, I would rather die than live
• She breathed a little fast and coughed a short cough
• Her eyes, which had suddenly acquired a beauty more singular than that of Miss Temple's
• A beauty neither of fine color nor long eyelashes, nor penciled brow, but of meaning, of
movement, of radiance
...
That night, on going
to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white
bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the
spectacle of ideal drawings, which I saw in the dark: all the work of my own hands

CHAPTER NINE
• Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps
...

• True, reader; and I knew and felt this: and though I am a defective being, with many faults and
few redeeming points, yet I never tired of Helen burns;
• Yes; to my long home—my last home
...

• BUT THE PRIVATIONS, or rather the hardships, of Lowood lessened
...

• Helen lives only for death and the reunion it will bring with her savior
...
Jane finds "an alloy of inexpressible sadness" in Helen's stance
...

CHAPTER TEN
• During these eight years my life was uniform: but not unhappy, because it was not inactive
...

• I desired liberty; for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer;
• “Then,” I cried half desperate, “grant me at least a new servitude!”
• A phase of my life was closing to-night, a new one opening to-morrow:

• I mounted the vehicle which was to bear me to new duties and a new life in the unknown environs
of millcote
...

• In time I rose to be the first girl of the first class: then I was vested with the office of teacher
• She had stood me in the stead of a mother, governess, and, latterly, companion
...

• “I know there is, because it does not sound too sweet; it is not like such words as liberty,
excitement, enjoyment: delightful sounds truly
I thought I'd just set off and get a look at you before you were out of my reach
CHAPTER ELEVEN
• We now slowly ascended a drive, and came upon the long front of a house: candle-light gleamed
from one curtained bow-window; all the rest were dark
...
“I little expected such a reception; I anticipated only
coldness and stiffness
• I felt rather confused at being the object of more attention than I had ever before received, and
that, too, shown by my employer and superior
• Leah is a nice girl, to be sure, and John and his wife are very decent people; but then you see they
are only servants, and one can't converse with them on terms of equality
• The equality between her and me was real; not the mere result of condescension on her part: so
much the better—my position was all the freer
...
Quotation: cold
winter wind
• Seems like a start mid story
...

• Class distinction: she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented, happy,
little children
...
Brocklehurst:
which made him bilious, and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks
...
Reed, so the red room
symbolizes Jane’s futile fighting against Mrs
...

• But the red room can also be viewed as a symbol of what Jane must overcome in her struggles to
find freedom, happiness and a sense of belonging
...

Her intense expression of emotion makes her appear all the more vulnerable
• In the red room Jane' position of exile and imprisonment first become clear
...

• Sexual growth
RED AND FIRE
• Furthermore, the red-room signifies the color red which represents the color fire and
• Heat, the color of fire and heat, represents passion and fury, as fire embodies this
...

• Fire symbol use was so direct in this part of the novel
...
One may also say that coldness of emotion that seeks to temper this rash passion
...

• That would be the reply of the so strict society which also shows the huge unfair limitation that
obliged Mrs
...

CHAPTER THREE
• highlights the social hierarchy as Bessie shifts between the role of mother and servant, her low
positions in society is seen
• Gulliver travels: how limited she is, also relates to Gulliver’s isolation
• The obsession with the ‘animal’ appetites and manifestations of the body, and the extreme
revulsion from female sexuality are also articulated through one of the submerged literary
allusions in the text to Gulliver’s Travels
...
Gulliver seems no
longer a clever adventurer but “a most desolate wanderer in most dread and dangerous
regions
...
” (29) Although Jane constantly reveals her passion later in the novel, her ability to handle
these problems has grown slightly
...
Brocklehurst and confrontation with Mrs
...
Reed and sometimes aunt
• Wild animal: abandoned the facade of wanting her in the family
• Mrs
...

• Raw+ chill winter foreshadows the coldness of the school
...

• Bessie: sense of departure
• Gothic element, sense of entrapment in the "great grey hills"
• No flowers: Lockwood takes away their personalities
Seen as less than women
Difference between normal upper-class girls and these working girls
//working class and aristocracy
HELEN BURNS
• Helen burns death: transience of maternal figures in Jane’s life
• Helen burns helps her find balance between her passion and control
• Helen zoning out during her punishment: stoic beliefs, her beliefs are inward looking, selfsacrificial
• Jane is very self-aware, does not delude herself to be someone she is not
...
This helps her be so calm all the time "her
ultimate fear"
• Almost ethereal in comparison to Jane
• Jane looks to other people, Helen looks inward
• Ironic how traditional ideas are being subverted
...
Brocklehurst tells the other school girls that Jane is a liar
...

- Picks on one of the girls for having naturally curly hair
...

- Sexual symbolism is continued in this chapter, we can see that the older girls stand closer to the fire than the younger,
therefore symbolically are closer to sexual maturity
...
Brocklehurst – their conflict has been foreshadowed in Chapter 4
- “I recognized almost instinctively that gaunt outline”
- His hypocritical nature is explored – he is prepared to sacrifice the girl’s personal hygiene in order to execute his socalled Evangelical principles
...
Imp to highlight features which reveal hypocrisy
...
- break away from maturity,
w removing their aspect of what makes girls beautiful, by removing thing they feel beautified with, their maturity is being
diminished and their identity is being stunted
...
”
- His outburst is interrupted when his family enters the room, “splendidly attired in velvet, silk and furs
...

- Calling Jane an "interloper and an alien," Brocklehurst attempts to place Jane back into the inferior, outsider position
she occupied at Gates head
...
When he says liar, he sets her apart from the others
...
The light that shines in Helen's eyes when she walks past Jane's stool sends an "extraordinary sensation" through
Jane, as if a "hero" has walked past a "slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit
...
At the end of the chapter we see that Helen begins to have a spiritual effect on
Jane as she begins to imbibe Helen’s stoicism
...
Notice how she has developed into a Christ-like figure, as who she represents will be relevant to her
relationship with Jane later in the novel
...
Miss Temple finds the two and takes them to her private room
...

- Miss Temple clears Jane’s reputation by corroborating her story with Mr
...

Analysis
- Important quote: “Hush Jane! You think too much… to happiness – to glory
...
This is similar to phrenology, which believed that one’s inner
character could be revealed by the shape of their head
...

- When Helen declares that Jane thinks too much of the love of human beings and too little of the "kingdom of spirits,"
Jane recognizes an implicit sadness in Helen's statements
...
Helen coughs after speaking,
foreshadowing her early death, but also providing insight on her focus on heaven: Believing she will die young, Helen is
preparing herself by romanticizing the afterworld
...

- A significant change has taken place when she begins to recount her experience at Gates head – “I infused into the
narrative far less of gall and wormwood than ordinary… it sounded more credible
...
” This is quite a contrast to her
previous, robust story-telling inhibitions
...
Jane learns to moderate between her id and super ego; two
people who have a prominent effect is Helen and Mrs
...
Jane learns moderation – how to balance her id and
super ego
Important quote: “That night on going to bed I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper, of hot roast
potatoes…”
Jane’s comparison of their small morsel of cake to food for the gods shows both how hungry the children are, but it also
shows how appreciative Jane is of a simple act of kindness; Jane isn’t greedy or demanding
...

They woke, they kindled: first, they glowed in the bright tint of her cheek, which till this hour I had never seen but pale
and bloodless; then they shone in the liquid luster of her eyes, which had suddenly acquired a beauty more singular than
that of Miss Temple's:
That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white
bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: In Arabian Nights, a wealthy Barmecide invites
a beggar to an imaginary feast, and this phrase has come to mean anything that represents an illusion of abundance
...
When she wakes up in the morning she finds that Helen has died
Analysis
- The beginning of the chapter sets the mood as hopeful – spring is describes as lush and fertile
...
We
are quickly made aware that disease and pestilence has marked the school
...
”
- Jane vividly contrasts life and death, showing Lowood as the begetter both of May's brilliance and of typhus'
deadliness
...

- There is a stark contrast prevalent in the chapter between life and death; beauty and pain
...
”
- In this chapter we also find the first direct reference to the reader: “True reader”, which is a narrative technique that
Bronte makes use of throughout the novel
...
Such petitions to the reader always come at a moment of heightened intensity or action, often adding
detail to a relationship or Jane’s own thoughts
...

- “Helen, at all times and under all circumstances, evinced for me a quiet and faithful friendship”
- As soon as Jane finds out that Helen is dying her world is upended: “all the rest was formless cloud and vacant depth
...
Highlights pathos in Helen’s
death
...
(Aristotle’s mode of persuasion)
- Helen proclaims that by “dying young, I shall escape great sufferings”, though she seems to have accepted her fate by
deeming it painless, once cannot escape the inexplicable sadness of the moment
...
The chapter gives insight into Helen's spiritual nature: She rejects an earthly world that offers her little love
and few chances for a better future
...

- Jane provides her with the only comfort she is aware of, providing her with physical comfort
- The chapter emphasizes Jane's inability to put her faith completely in either God or his heaven
...
(Refer to the last page of the chapter)
- We can read Helen Burns as Jane’s alter ego – associate the word “Burns” with fire and passion and can be seen as
that side of Jane which she has to repress in order to survive in Victorian society
- Helen had so far survived in the hostile, frigid world of Lowood by going inside herself, by daydreaming however
towards the end “burns” up with fever and dies
...

- She receives a letter of employment from Mrs
...
Jane leaves for Thorn field
...
” The passage of time – “space of eight years”
- “I remained an inmate of its walls” – the word “inmate” is indicative of Jane’s feelings and experiences at Lowood
...

- “During these eight years my life was uniform, but not unhappy, because it was not inactive
...

- Jane recalls the role Miss Temple has played in her life, “mother, governess and lately companion”
- Jane’s restlessness and desire to embark on a new journey in her life is depicted: “I walked about the chamber most of
the time”
- The metaphor of the road (theme of departure) is explored in this chapter
...

- The use of repetition – “I desired liberty; for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer” – is demonstrative of Jane’s
strength of feeling
...
(Find
examples to substantiate this) A language that women like Mary Wollstonecraft in her book Vindication of the Rights of
Women (1792) had fought at the time to be extended to women and one which was still seen to be more applicable to
men
...
” – a sense of finality
“A phase of my life was closing tonight”
The window
- This also reminds me of the first chapter where she said the window was shielding her but not separating her from the
outside
...
Temple leaves Lowood, and since Jane was always inclined towards her and never had her own life, the window
can symbolize Jane opening her eyes and see what the world has to offer
Class points
- Jane regards the concept of absolute freedom to be fleeting and eternal and she accepts her servitude which acts as a
vehicle that helps her learn more about herself and her true desires
...
However, we will see this further in the
novel as well, with Mr
...
John Rivers
...
servitude" could it insinuate that Jane could not attain liberty in its true meaning in the Victorian
society rather she has to conform to some extent and settle for servitude
...
Jane regards the concept of such absolute freedom a fleeting,
ethereal, and "hollow" notion, and accepts her servitude; it is a vehicle that helps her learn more about herself and
her true desires
...
Reed and Mr
...

John at Moor House
- She rejects the idea of seeking spiritual liberty alone and accepting a life of solitude like St
...
However, she consoles herself with the fact that this is a different type
of servitude unlike her others, it is that of a lover caring for another, someone who needs and appreciates her, and
someone who treats her with respect
...

- The first of her masters is the Reed family, most notably John and Mrs
...

Chapter 10, continued
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Chapter 10, continued
Bessie effectively asks Jane to show off her “accomplishments”
...
A very well-educated girl like Jane would have also studied at least one foreign
language but should also be able to entertain in polite society
...
“A new chapter in a novel is something like a new scene in a play”
2
...

3
...
I anticipated only coldness and stiffness
5
...
I thought you would like it better
7
...
Fairer era of life was beginning
9
...
Respectably well
11
...
“Excuse me,” he continued: “necessity compels me to make you useful
...
She had no great talents, no marked traits of character, no peculiar development of feeling or
taste which raised her one inch above the ordinary level of childhood;
3
...

4
...

5
...
I had hardly ever seen a
handsome youth; never in my life spoken to one
...
“You are not a servant at the hall, of course
...
He seemed puzzled to decide what I was: I helped him
...
A tale my imagination created,
8
...
The moon was waxing bright
10
...
Dark face with stern features and a heavy brow
12
...
His desire to remake himself from “Indian rubber” into flesh contrasts with Helen’s faith in
transcending the flesh
...
In Chapter 14 Jane can be seen as embodying the "inspiration" or "notion" of the "angel of light"
that Rochester believes will transform his life, through her honesty and good character
...
His mention of new "unheard-of rules" reinforces this feeling
...
His strange talk also adds to the sense of him as a gothic hero, a
dark but attractive figure who has a mysterious past that the heroine must uncover
...

Brontë plays with the dichotomy between external beauty and internal beauty, as in this chapter
...

1
...
She also
initially addresses Mr Rochester’s mannerism as cold, implying the distance between the two
“cool glance”
...
Brontë draws heavily upon the Gothic tradition, particularly in the setting of Thornfield Hall, in this
chapter highlighted through the grandeur of the dining room, “The large fire was all red and clear;
the purple curtains hung rich and ample before the lofty window and loftier arch” as well as the
weather, “beating of winter rain against the panes
...

The sentences are long, often with colons, semicolons, and elaborate word choice
...
The meandering quality makes Jane appear
thoughtful, as she tries to include every detail in her descriptions
...
These biblical references add a layer of morality and ethics to the chapter and the novel
...

1
...
Like Lord Byron, a romantic, passionate, and cynical poet of the early nineteenth
century, Rochester let himself be ruled by his "grande passion" for Céline, despite its immorality
...
This is also apparent in his developing
relationship with Jane; rather than maintaining the proper class boundaries, Rochester makes Jane
feel "as if he were my relation rather than my master
...
Adèle displays a materialism Rochester dislikes primarily because it reminds him of her mother,
Céline Varens, who charmed the "English gold" out of his "British breeches
...
"
Jane provides a prototype of the proper English woman, who is frank, sincere, and lacking in personal
vanity
...

1
...
" This quote is an example of why Jane Eyre can
be perceived as an early feminist novel, as during the Victorian era, women were often displayed
as weak and submissive but here we see Jane refusing to bow down to a “superior” individual
...
The concepts of liberty and servitude will
continue to rage a war inside Jane, who suppresses her desires (id) for the sake of her
independence as well as morals (superego)
...
I suppose I have all my limbs and all my features like any other man?

CHAPTER 15
Brontë uses the depiction of Thornfield in a manner consistent with the gothic tone of the novel as a
whole
...
The Hall's gloomy character
also expresses and amplifies the sense of Mr
...
In contrast, the grounds surrounding Thornfield are sublime and healthful to the novel's many
troubled characters and serve as a backdrop to many happier scenes
...
For Jane to discover herself, she must break out of these restrictive conditions and find love and
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1
...
Yet Jane also has a natural instinct toward submission
...
" In her relationship with
men, she has the inclination toward making Rochester her "master
...
Jane is both guide and servant to
Rochester
...

2
...
In the midst of blaze and
vapour, Mr
...
”
The fire represents Jane’s id-ego, her anger and her passions, which is in stark contrast to how she
reacts to the catastrophe – calmly waking up Rochester and saving his life
...
Rochester
...
Why, you have saved my life!—snatched me from a horrible and excruciating death!—and you
walk past me as if we were mutual strangers!

CHAPTER 16
1
...

2
...
"
3
...
As
with Jane's descriptions of Mrs
...

4
...
‘Portrait of a Governess, disconnected, poor, and plain
...
However, the reader must extricate himself from Janes mind, and look at the situation as a whole
...
She doesn’t see herself as an equal
...
If the reader does not realize this, then very
interestingly we begin to parallel Jane’s current state
...

2
...
’
3
...
Blanche appears to dislike both children — she notices Adèle with a "mocking eye" — and
governesses
...

5
...
" Generally
gazing is a power men have over women, appropriating women by looking at them, cataloguing
their beauty
...

6
...

The mixture of pleasure and pain in her description — "poignant pleasure" and "steely point of
agony" — suggest the erotic appeal of Rochester to her; this isn't an innocent glance, but a gaze
tinged with sexual tension
...

- We become acquainted with several new characters: Mr
...
Fairfax, Adela
...
Thus, she draws the reader into her performance; not a passive reader, but one actively
involved in imagining the people and places the novel describes
...
Establishing relationship of trust with reader
...

- The beginning of the sheds light on Bronte’s narrative technique
...

“A new chapter in a novel is something like a new scene in a play”
- Attention is also drawn to the somber weather and the fact that Jane has travelled a great
distance to begin this new segment of her life
...

Isolation
- Using atmosphere and setting plus expressing her own thoughts and feelings
...
fear became predominant
- There is some tension and apprehension with her
...

- Reading the description of the coach, the wooden steps, the waiter, the private room, I pictured a
very bleak setting
...

- Bronte reveals pieces of information before she moves on with the chapter, not all the
information is given at once
...

Analysis
1) "A place of considerable magnitude": implies that Jane feels intimidated
...

3) "Stirring": Thrilling, riveting, indicates feeling of nervousness, curiosity, plus foreshadows later events
to come
...

5) "low broad tower" and "galaxy of lights": being introduced to a new world, mixed feelings of
curiosity and intimidation, thrill, new experiences
...

All of this is occurring at night time: heightens element of curiosity and mystery
...

- The town is populous: welcoming atmosphere plus it’s a new thing for her since she's been very
secluded before
...

Jane Eyre Sell Page 19

very positive outlook
...
Perhaps it
heightens a sense of mystery, builds curiosity, develops a sense of anticipation within the reader
...
Creates both anticipation and fear in the reader
...

- “illumination of fire” however, Jane finds her surroundings comfortable, welcoming and
reassuring
...
”
- Description develops idea that her surroundings are very pleasant and comfortable
...
Also like my notes
...
Fairfax goes against traditional treatment of governesses
...
Fairfax formed simply because they lie in the same class
...
She
says, 'She treats me like a visitor', which shows that she wasn't expecting much kindness
...

- Bluebeard’s castle: is a story in which a young wife is allowed to enter any room she wants in her
husband’s castle except one
...
In the room she finds the bodies of his previous wives
...

CHAPTER TWELVE:
First Thoughts:
- The bluntness with which Jane speaks (a recurrent theme in all her conversations with Rochester)
- The restlessness which Jane experiences
...
)
- How dreary the landscape is
...
"- coming of Rochester is signified as being inherently positive, an oak:
adds to the dull landscape
- Mention of Bessie; before any major change?
- Mythical creatures (how her wild imagination is still present
...

- It ends on a note of anticipation
...
There is no one at Thornfield like Miss Temple, with whom she can have lively, thoughtful
conversations about books and ideas
...
" Jane's views about women's roles and needs,
which are at odds with prevailing attitudes, show how she has grown
...
Her independent mind is one factor that makes
her such an appealing heroine
...

- The moon had appeared to Jane on the night of Helen's death at Lowood
...
Rochester's appearance on the scene
Jane Eyre Sell Page 20

again to signal an important change in Jane's life: Mr
...

- Mr
...
His characterization of Jane as an elfish, fairy-tale creature capable of
"bewitch[ing his] horse" picks up the supernatural thread that is woven throughout the novel
...

- Having fallen from his horse, Rochester requires Jane's assistance
...
It also foreshadows
Rochester's dependence upon Jane at the end of the novel
...

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
First Thoughts:
- She notices his absence (wants to be with him?) as Rochester's presence makes Jane less restless
...

- How he shows his portfolio to his friends
...

- Attitude with Adele; not typical hero
- Description; and the mood Rochester is in
...
(beauty depends on personality)
- Class differences; how Rochester is unique as he "seems to forget he is paying me
...

- The foreshadowing; There is a lot to talk about, I just don’t like it
...

- Lowood and its effects on Jane constricting her emotions
...
His
desire to remake himself from "Indian-rubber" into flesh contrasts with Helen's faith in
transcending the flesh
...
Jane
instinctively feels that Rochester's plans for his future are somehow outside the bounds of
conventional morality
...
His strange
talk also adds to the sense of him as a gothic hero, a dark but attractive figure who has a
mysterious past the heroine must uncover
...
See Characterisation: Rochester
...

- pilgrim – a disguised deity
Rochester is referring to Jane's arrival at Thornfield
...

- charnel … shrine
A strong hint of Rochester's belief that he needs moral improvement
...

- a perpetual bane
Once again these are references to Milton's Satan
...

- paving hell … good intention
‘Hell is paved with good intentions' is a proverbial saying, meaning that it is full of sinners who failed to
live up to the good things they hoped or promised to do
...

- talk like a Sphynx
In Greek mythology the Sphinx was a monster with a woman's head and breasts, a lion's body, a bird's
wing and a serpent's tail
...
Rochester is suggesting that Jane finds their conversation difficult because he
speaks in riddles
...

- Rochester and his moods
...

- Importance of Rochester to Jane- how joyless summer would seem
...

- The care Jane took of him
...

Analysis
- The incident of the fire deepens the sense of gothic mystery about Thornfield, as well as
foreshadowing the fire that eventually destroys the mansion and injures Rochester
...

- Early critics of the novel, such as Elizabeth Rigby, objected to Rochester's character, finding him
"coarse and brutal
...
" The conversation between Jane and Rochester in these chapters was
shocking to a Victorian audience; as Rochester himself admits, telling the story of his affair with an
opera-dancer to an inexperienced girl seems odd
...
Again, Rochester hopes that his relationship
with Jane will bring innocence and freshness back into his life
...
Not only does the Rochester's past reveal his growing faith in Jane, it also shows the
Byronic side of his nature
...
Rochester
is not afraid to flout social conventions
...
"
- Rochester's responses to Adèle provide insights on his past life, which help identity the reasons for
his attraction to Jane
...
Attracted to luxury, to satin robes and silk stockings, Adèle displays a materialism
Rochester dislikes primarily because it reminds him of her mother, Céline Varens, who charmed
the "English gold" out of his "British breeches
...
"
- Rochester continues to create a contrast between Céline's superficiality and Jane's sincerity
...
Céline presents an unsavory model of femininity, but also an image of
Jane Eyre Sell Page 22

doesn't find him handsome
...
Jane's comment implies that the English, unlike their French neighbors,
are deep, rather than superficial, spiritual rather than materialistic
...
Jane provides a prototype of the proper English woman, who is frank, sincere, and
lacking in personal vanity
...

- 'Honestly admitting that his life hasn't been admirable, Rochester is now looking for happiness, for
"sweet, fresh pleasure
...

The end of Chapter 15 takes a strange, almost supernatural turn
...
Rochester's
sexual indiscretions have become literalized in the vision of his burning bed, an excess that Jane
douses
...

- Jane's final dream also foreshadows the direction of her relationship with Rochester: She is
"tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy
...

Recognizing her growing love for Rochester, Jane's unconscious warns her that their relationship
will be a rocky one
...
In this novel, the bounds of reality continually expand, so that
dreams and visions have as much validity as reason
...

• Every prominent place in the novel has a dominating figure (typically a man) associated with it
...
Brocklehurst with Lockwood and Rochester
with Thornfield
...
At the same time,
given that Bertha is mad, Bronte seems to comment at how sexual desire in women is seen as
something wrong and is repressed
...

• Blanch Ingram is a classic British Rose (even the name insinuates wealth + power) whereas Celine
and Adele by extension are portrayed as a French Belle
...

Private Discussion: Expectation of Jane to bring innocence in Rochester's wife is parallel to role of a wife
in "fixing" a man- expectations of a Pakistani society and commentary on the institution of marriage
...

- The dream Jane has used pathetic fallacy and foreshadows how her relationship + marriage with
Rochester is not going to be a bed of roses
...
Rochester
...

- Foreshadowing the relationship between Ingram and Rochester
...

Jane Eyre Sell Page 23

belong to Victorian society and fit conventional roles despite questioning them
...

The fact that he stayed for eight weeks
...

Concept of class differences brought up
...
)
- Effects of Lockwood
...
In her jealousy, Jane imagines a past
love relationship between Grace and Rochester; perhaps Grace's "originality and strength of
character" compensate for her lack of beauty
...

But a major difference exists between Jane and Grace; as Bessie Leaven said, Jane is a lady
...
She is
especially pleased with her ability to vex and sooth him by turns, but always maintaining "every
propriety of my station
...

Her hopes are dashed when she learns of Blanche Ingram
...

- As with Jane's descriptions of Mrs
...

- Therefore, Jane's description of Blanche, which emphasizes her dark, Spanish features, implies a
negative side of her personality; like Céline, Blanche will be an unacceptable model of femininity
...

- Most important, as the daughter of landed gentry, her class position more closely matches
Rochester's, making Jane's earlier claims to be a "lady" seem insignificant
...

- In creating contrasting portraits of herself and Blanche, Jane emphasizes her own plainness
...
Once again, Jane's passions have become hyperbolic, as she cannot
fully discipline her jealousy of Blanche
...
Jane still has a long way to go on her path to self-knowledge
...

-

Jane Eyre Sell Page 24

Jane Eyre Sell Page 25

Saturday, January 9, 2021

12:03 PM

Lowood School: Answer
(Question One) Explore the ways in which Bronte vividly depicts the harshness of Lowood
School
...
It can be said that perhaps no place is more
significant to the development of Jane than Lowood School, as the harsh atmosphere present in
Lowood tempers her fire and transforming her into an ideal model of a Victorian woman
...

Bronte’s negative perception of Lowood began with her use of pathetic fallacy when describing
Jane’s journey to Lowood School: Raw and chill was the winter morning: my teeth chattered as I
hastened down the drive
...
The icy imagery continues throughout the chapter; frost and “deep snows”
are depicted as preventing the girls from venturing out of Lowood, essentially imprisoning them,
which mirrors Jane’s sense of psychological exile
...
The harsh depiction of the atmosphere demonstrates the effective oppressive force of
Lowood on Jane and the bleak conditions they had to live in
...
Firstly, the luxurious lifestyle of his family, who were
“splendidly attired in velvet” stands in stark contrast to the shabby lifestyle of the girls, who did not
even have a license to plait their hair
...
Moreover, the cruelty
Brocklehurst shows towards Jane in their second encounter in attempting to make others view her
as an outcast only adds to the brutality she has experienced otherwise
...
’ This creates pity in the reader at the cruelness she has to
face in Lowood
...

Bronte’s presentation of Helen Burns as an ideal model for Jane to follow to accept the hardships
she will face in Lowood and in life only builds upon the existing negative perception of Lowood if one
were to analyses the policy of stoicism Helen has adopted
...
Her reliance on "an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits" may
signify a venerable religious faith, but it also serves as a defense mechanism against the sufferings
she has found life to hold for an orphan child in a school like Lowood
...
It is very telling that only as Helen dies does Jane see her
happy
...

To conclude; Bronte has through her masterful writing abilities and use of personifications,
symbolism and pathetic fallacy established the brutal nature of Lowood which is only exemplified by
the characterization of Helen Burns and Mr
...


Jane Eyre Sell Page 26

Saturday, January 9, 2021

11:49 AM

Character Development: Answer
(Question) Considering any two places Jane Eyre has lived in the novel, discuss the
IMPACT of these places on her character development
...
This growth is impacted by her experiences in both Gateshead
to Lockwood
...
Brocklehurst, along with the people she meets in Lockwood like Helen
Burns
...
” The red represents hostility and passion reflects on the
sexual growth of Jane Eyre as this moment is a transition from childhood to being a young adult
...
This symbol reappears as a memory whenever Jane makes a connection
between her current situation and that first feeling of being ridiculed
...
Gateshead through this traumatic memory which represents Jane’s
imprisonment and narrow boundaries in society because of her low class connection, leaves a
lasting impact on Jane
...
He violently
torments Jane and constantly reminds her that she is a dependent of the Reed family
...
” This quote expresses John’s power and authority over
Jane as he abruptly informs her that she is beneath him in social class
...
Brocklehurst publicly
humiliates Jane in front of the whole school, Bronte is expressing the unfair dominance of the
upper classes
...
Brocklehurst uses positive connotations to portray Mrs
...
” Because of these experiences in both the places she
has lived, Jane goes ahead in life being consistently aware of her social status in life, but goes
on to challenge this as she engages in a relationship with Mr
...

Much of this metamorphism into a woman stems from her interactions with both fellow student
Helen Burns as she teaches her how to moderate between her Id and her superego and
becomes someone to idolize for Jane, and her actions, her words and advice leave a lasting
impact on Jane
...
Helen tells
her to “endure patiently” the pain and embarrassment she may suffer; it is her “duty to bear
it”
...
Helens impact on Jane can be seen in how
upon being humiliated by Brocklehurst, Jane chooses to adopt Helens stoic beliefs as she says
“I mastered the rising hysteria, lifted up my head, and took a firm stand on the stool
...

In conclusion, Bronte has through Jane’s experiences in the red room, her interaction with
Jane Eyre Sell Page 27

In conclusion, Bronte has through Jane’s experiences in the red room, her interaction with
Helen Burns and the torment she faces in both Gateshead and Lockwood at the hands of
people socially superior to her, helped highlight the effect the key settings in Jane’s life and the
people associated with them have on her personality
...
Whereas
Miss Abbot is quick to condemn Jane for being “an underhanded little thing” and remind her to repent
lest “something bad might be permitted to come down the chimney” , Bessie is more even-handed
...
During this
exchange, Bessie looks at Jane and tries to realistically assess the situation
...
Although this assessment
seems trivial, it is the very first time in the novel that someone tries to see Jane for who she is
...
Unlike the other characters, Bessie acts on the basis of knowledge and compassion rather than
prejudgment
...
As
noted supra, Abbot is quick to criticize Jane
...
In comparison, Bessie
warns Jane that the poorhouse will be the logical outcome of her actions
...
It is important to note that Bessie is not being critical – she refrains from
criticism
...
Thus, without opposing the Reeds or Abbot, Bessie establishes herself as Jane’s
protector in the household
...
Bessie
responds as she did before – by assessing the situation and asking questions
...
Lloyd attends to Jane
...
Lloyd
...
She notes
that when she awoke in the nursery, she was aware that someone was “lifting me up and supporting me
in a sitting posture, and that more tenderly than I had ever been raised or upheld before” (15)
...
Unlike Mrs
...
Although
relatively powerless, Bessie acts as a good mother would, taking all steps possible to make sure that
Jane is removed from Gateswood
...
These appearances bear examination because they
coincide with major transitional periods in Jane’s life and speak to the long-term relationship between
Jane and Bessie
...
This also coincides with the
permanent loss of Miss Temple, Jane’s other mother figure
...
This was a frightening and dangerous step for Jane to make as she entered into a world
that offered virtually no protection
...
The seemingly coincidental
appearance of Bessie at this auspicious time suggests that Bessie continues to look after Jane
...
However,
unlike Miss Temple, marriage is not an obstacle to her relationship to Jane
...
Indeed, insofar as Bessie
named her first daughter after Jane, the marriage has the effect of deepening her bond to Jane
...
Once again, we see Jane on the
threshold of a major life change – only this one even less certain
...
Rochester is soon to marry
...
Bessie’s husband acts as a messenger to summon Jane back to
Gateshead
...
He appears at Thornfield to tell Jane that John Reed
has suicided and that Mrs
...
Immediately after her return,
Brontë curiously refers to Bessie in this passage as “Mrs
...
This reference occurs only once and
is immediately followed by a sentence in which Jane kisses her old protector and calls her “Bessie”
...


In this transitional period back at Gateshead, the reader sees Jane with a startling new maturity
...
Reed and her daughters
...

Jane deals with Eliza, Georgina and Mrs
...
However,
Jane’s behavior with Bessie remains unchanged
...
Bessie continues to dote on Jane, serving her tea and toast, and
learning about Jane’s new world
...
Although Bessie is a very minor figure in the novel, she plays a significant role as
Jane’s primary protector at Gateshead
...
Even despite Jane’s growing maturity, Bessie remains
the one person who provides nurturing and sustenance
...
When Helen and Jane leave her apartment after a
meal of seed cake and tea, she exclaims “God bless you, my children!” Jane later says that “she has
stood me in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly, companion
...
Their relationship is certainly loving, and does show that loving female relationships impressed
itself on Jane’s character at a young age, and this seems to form Jane into the strong, determined
person she becomes
...
The first sentence uses the setting to hint at a change: the ‘daylight still lingered’ as if
night is on the way, possibly highlighting the change that is about to come in Jane’s life through meeting
Rochester
...
This contrasts with the references to Rochester’s ‘darkness’ later in the
passage and possibly suggests that there is a mixture of dark and light in the effect of the relationship on Jane, as
well as a ‘darkness’ to Rochester’s mind and soul
...
Brontë is possibly suggesting that the relationship between Jane and
Rochester is an elemental force and linked to the powerful forces of the natural world
...

When Jane says that ‘I could see him plainly’, this has a metaphorical as well as literal meaning
...
This central idea, of Jane being able to look
beyond the superficial and grasp the essence of who Rochester is, is further developed as the novel progresses
...

This first description of Rochester gives an unconventional view of a romantic hero
...
The fact that he doesn’t smile at Jane shows someone who has little use for
common courtesies or ‘gallantry’, which is again highlighted by his manner to Jane when he meets her later and
questions her about her life
...
This isn’t a conventional romance in many ways; Rochester
is only seen as attractive as a potential husband for Blanche Ingram due to her perception of his wealth and she
quickly decides not to marry him when he implies that this might be less than she thought
...
On the other hand, Rochester and Jane are completely suited to each other in much more
important ways than social status or physical appearance
...

To sum up, in this first description, Brontë highlights many of the aspects of Rochester, and of Jane’s relationship
with Rochester, that underpin their relationship and the themes of equality and true love that are explored in ‘Jane
Eyre’

Jane Eyre Sell Page 31

Passage: Chapter 12, Jane Eyre
Starting from:
On the hill-top above me sat the rising moon; pale yet as a cloud, but
brightening momently, she looked over Hay, which, half lost in trees, sent up
a blue smoke from its few chimneys; it was yet a mile distant, but in the
absolute hush I could hear plainly its thin murmurs of life
...

To:
If even this stranger had smiled and been good-humored to me when I
addressed him; if he had put off my offer of assistance gayly and with thanks,
I should have gone on my way and not felt any vocation to renew inquiries;
but the frown, the roughness of the traveler set me at my ease: I retained my
station when he waived to me to go, and announced, “I cannot think of
leaving you, sir, at so late an hour in this solitary lane till I see you are fit to
mount your horse
...
The images of fire and ice provide positive and negative implications and connotations alternatively
...
Through the development of Jane’s characte r,
Bronte maintains the right balance between those images while preserving the character’s thoughts
...

The imagery of fire creates multiple nuances in this novel
...
Bronte uses outstanding fire imagery through the development of Jane
...
Reed, in Gateshead
...
Reed, who is her aunt, and her family
...
However, Jane is isolated from
the rest of the family and the warmth of the fireside, “
...
Also, the Reed family considers Jane too spiteful to enjoy the privilege: “she really must exclude me from privileges
intended only for contented, happy, little children”
...
This
winter landscape and the Reed family portray the cold, emotionless views from society
...
Other relevant images of fire and ice are invoked in the scene where Jane is locked in the red -room
...
Jane describes the red room as
being very cold by saying, “I grew by degrees cold as stone”
...
Reed locks Jane in the red room, she is also locking
Jane’s passionate nature in with the cold emotion that tempers Jane’s rage: “My heartbeat thick, my head grew hot: a sound
filled my ears…”
...
” Th e
room portrays Jane’s passion and symbolizes how Jane’s fiery personality sets apart from society
...
Thus, this scene exemplifies the way
society thinks about how people should behave
...
The first evidence is Mr
...
After her first meeting with Mr
...
should have shunned them as one would fire, lightning, or anything else that is bright bu t
antipathetic”
...
Although Jane realizes the
fire that burns within her, she refuses Rochester to achieve maturity
...
Inconceivably, this is the first
time anyone other than Jane herself accepts and appreciates the fire
...
John is represented as ice
...
Jane describes his physical features as pale and icy “
...
St
...
Bronte uses the imagery of ice, which keeps Jane away from
St
...
Jane does not want her passion taken away by him; thus, she refuses him by sayin g,
“Whereas I am hot, and fire dissolves ice”
...

Bronte demonstrates the danger of uncontrolled passion by introducing the character of Bertha, who is Rochester’s first wife
...
Rochester
...
The destruction of Thornfield allows
Jane to manage and control the fire and passion within Rochester
...
The lack o f
fire and light causes loneliness and desolation
...
Though uncontrolled fire can be destructive, it enables Jane to sta rt a
new life with Rochester
...


Jane Eyre Sell Page 32

Friday, October 23, 2020

9:49 PM

Chapter 18 and 19
- The phrase "merry days" implies that Jane is happy yet this is the chapter where she is the most
isolated in
...
There seems to
be an underlying threat of impending doom
...

- It is an elitist activity which is why Rochester didn’t insist upon Jane joining
...

- Rochester goes to many extents to prove to himself that Jane loves him- for as much as he is
shown like a serious character first, that is contrasted with the way he acts later, like playing
charades and acting as a gypsy
...

- "Too stupid:" Jane is always on the outside of major familial activity and is never made to feel
included
...
Also shows
how Blanche thinks she is superior to Jane because of her class while feeling threatened by Jane
because she knows she is intellectually superior
...

- She is also aware that someone is wearing "Rochester's cloak-" noticing his possessions?
- In every charade, Rochester and Ingram are together
...
Her heart is "barren," her mind is "poor," and she lacks "freshness," the
one trait Rochester claims to be searching for
...
“pantomime” works as a sort of double entendre
...
They only have given the appearance of being a good couple because of their social
standing when it is really Jane who would be a better match for Rochester
...

Linking marriage with imprisonment, the charade foreshadows the circumstances of Rochester's
marriage that has trapped him for life with a mad woman; Rochester is stuck in a "Bridewell" of
his own creation
...
At the same time, Rochester
is deliberately provoking Jane into blurting out her feelings for him, by showing her what would
happen if she doesn't
...
The entire
thing where she serves him plays into the patriarchal society
...

- In the Bible, Eliezer went to a well to find a wife for Isaac
...
She was chosen to be Isaac’s wife and given many
jewels
...
The irony in them missing the moral of the story
emphasizes their shallowness
...

This scene may suggest that Rochester feels imprisoned by some dark secrets he may be
harboring
...

- This could also reflect how the idea of marriage in the Victorian era is basically a woman's
servitude to her husband
...
"
he laid the treasure at her feet
To his wrist were attached fetters
From ...
org/text/jane-eyre/read/Chapter-xviii#root-72852-9>

At the same time, Jane's evident towards Blanche Ingram is clearly shown in the narrative voice she
adopts as something about this encounter lasts Jane her entire life, and it's also shown by the microattention shown towards Blanche's and Rochester's actions
...
She tries to
make herself feel better by assuring herself that Ingram cannot charm him
...

Miss Ingram was a mark beneath jealousy: she was too inferior to excite the feeling
...
Yet, this description raises the question of whether Jane is really the
most reliable narrator because of how much she only focuses on these two; is she missing
something or overthinking?
- Multiple references to Colonialism are made both in the charade which refers to the subcontinent and Mason who was from the west-indies
...


1
...
In his disguise, he is almost denied
admittance to his own home, and is referred to here by Jane as "mother" rather than
"master
...
As gypsy woman, Rochester breaks gender boundaries
and further aligns himself with mystical knowledge
...
Given the class differences between them, Rochester can't reveal
his feeling for Jane in plain English, but must keep his words, like his face, veiled
...
As his
language becomes plainer, more directly revealing the secrets of her heart, it
paradoxically leads her not into reality, but into a dream state: Jane says the gypsy's
strange talk leads Jane into "a web of mystification
...
Rochester's almost supernatural powers are highlighted in this scene: His ability to
weave a magical web around Jane with words and, more importantly, his ability to
look almost directly into her heart so she feels an "unseen spirit had been sitting
for weeks by my heart watching its workings and taking record of every pulse
...
His witch's skill is being able to peer deeply into women's hearts,
extracting their secrets: Notice that he does not tell the fortunes of any of the men
in the party
...
cliffsnotes
...

- Rochester's role as a Gypsy allows him to both explore his feelings and whether he wants to marry
for social class or for love? This also allows him to make up his mind
...

- It looked all brown and black: elf-locks bristled out from beneath a white band which passed
under her chin, and came half over her cheeks or rather jaws; her eye confronted me at once,
with a bold and direct gaze: The way Rochester is described is very reminiscent of Lockwood,
where Mr
...

- Rochester seems to blame all of Jane's problems on her not accepting his love
...
This foreshadows a critical
moment later in the novel where Jane experiences inner turmoil as her values and desires conflict
...
As Jane's face is lit up momentarily by the fire,
very intimate: lust for Rochester is increasing
...
Theme of appearance vs disguise
...
This also foreshadows how the truth will hurt her and she will
be happier living in the shadows
...
" It is somewhat unusual that a woman who tells fortunes would also be riffing on
Shakespeare—perhaps this woman is not all that she claims to be
...
This also seems like he is still acting: a
continuation of the charades?
- I shall try to forgive you; but it was not right: By disguising himself, Rochester hoped to eliminate
the class and gender distinctions between him and Jane
...
Jane did not need to be tricked into seeing Rochester and
her as equals because she already believes they are despite their differences
...

- When Rochester finds out about Mason, he feels panicked and unsettled, this is really close to the
truth breaking out
...
A role-reversal will take place and has taken place: his power
is subdued and now it is Jane who is presented as powerful
...
She also earns money at the end,
Gypsy: During the Victorian era, a gypsy was a fortune teller who belonged to a marginalized group in
society as the image of a fortune teller in the novel plays into an important stereotype of the 19th
century
...
This is because
since Lowood and its monotony, her life now has more activity
...
It acts
as a source of comfort and strangeness in atmosphere- and highlights all the different senses
of the night- and draws attention to the stillness of the night which leads way to the shrill cry
...

Literary Devices:
- Personification- moon and its light
- Alliteration- savage sharp and shrilly which creates the impression that something malicious is
afoot and reflects the sound of a serpent, also creates an impression of quietness
...

- Savage- reflection of Victorian colonial attitude as they would refer to natives in colonies as
savages
...
This mirrors Jane's own intelligence as well- Gulliver's travel, Blue Beard
and all the other intertextual references made
...

- “Help! help! help!” three times rapidly: Use of repetition, power of three, shows that
whoever shouting for help is in an extremely helpless position
...

- Bertha Mason's room is situated right above Jane's own room- purposefully done ( Another
step stamped on the flooring above) This adds to the sinister atmosphere
...
Bronte
presents Bertha Mason as her alter ego in this chapter
...
Bertha is independent and her own entity but
society tries to control her inhibitions and caused her to turn out like this
...

- “Be composed, all of you: I'm coming
...

- "I dressed, then, to be ready for emergencies
...
Has helped him before, as he had to lean on her multiple times which also
foreshadowed this moment and the other moments too towards the end
...
Jane is only one who has heard struggle take
place- Jane's position in Rochester's life is assured as she is privy to his innermost secrets
...
Note Rochester's urgent tone and the tense atmosphere that calls for
the use of salts
...

- Jane doesn’t question anything Rochester says? No sense of curiosity- all she wants to do is
fulfill his needs and requests
...

- Concealed- sinister and suspense
- Snarling, snatching- alliteration
- Betha referred to as it, her and savage- presented as animal and objectified
...
Quite derogatory and being
dehumanized- every aspect that would create her as a human is being removed
...
For a woman to have sexual desires is wrong- so portrayed as animalistic
and against Victorian norms
...

- Thinks Grace doing this, isn't questioning that? Takes everything at face value, presented as
complete opposite to her normal inquisitee self
...
If they had a conversation she would find out about Bertha
Mason and confront him or play games like him
...

- Jane is only separated by a locked door by Bertha which adds to sinister atmosphere
...
Rochester's visit it seemed spellbound; Senses are heightened
...
Parallel between animal imagery and human suffering creating ambiguity
who is behind the door since elements of suspense and curiosity
...
Spell bound- how Mr Rochester seems to be casting an enchantment to the
characters very similar to master of blue beards castle who is presented as evil magician
...
Neither of them questioned
him
...

- Rochester trying to overpower Bertha Mason and trying to do same thing to Jane- bite marks
on Mr mason which instils a sense of fear within the readers and with jane as well
...

- A Fury is a Greek deity of the underworld that punishes wrongdoers
...

Note how Jane’s metaphor distances her from this “Fury” in physicality but not in spirit
...

The End
- Towards the end, something odd happens
...

- Half-blown rose- implication that he can't give the whole of himself since married to Bertha
...
Very paradoxical
representation of love
...

"He might in a moment, by one careless word, deprive me, if not of life, yet forever of happiness
...
”
- This exchange between Jane and Rochester is very ironic and also foreshadows what is about
to happen
...
Jane’s allusion indicates her solitary state, her feelings of
loneliness, that pervades the novel
...

- I believe I have found the instrument for my cure: Instrument is Jane which objectifies
woman and her role in his life
- Paused- birds went on caroling- the shift in atmosphere Is bizarre
...

- You’ve seen her and know her- Bertha Mason and Jane at the same time
...

Completely stark contrast to plain Jane
...

- Passage way between jane and bertha
...

- In many way, Ingram like Bertha Mason, proud, robust and Rochester's interest in both of
them is to gain financial security
...
A bad
omen as dreams of children signify bad
...
Bronte has told you that
this is the effect she is trying to achieve
...
Immediate as
chapter begins sense of impending doom
...
These were typical characteristics of
Romantic literature, which glorified nature to a nearly religious extent
...

- Revisitation of janes part- Mr Leaven- association to past, dramatic entrances and exitsanother one of those
...
Remind the reader of everything the
reader forgotten in hustle and bustle in Thornfield hall so connection of past
...

Hysteria because of oversexualized character- Bertha Mason
- Juxtaposition of moods between chapters
...
Typical gothic motive (dream
interpretation) which is known by especially servants and nursemaids who teach their charges
about folklore and the supernatural
...
She also remembers Helen's philosophy of life on stoicism and then Jane
becomes self-respective and urges herself to take action on the philosophy and urges herself
to be stoic right now- lasting impression of Helen Burns in life
...

- The anti-Catholic overturns reflect Bronte's own narrative voice
...
Reminds one of Lowood chapters
Jane Eyre Sell Page 39

-

-

-

century gothic novels to evoke anti-Catholic sentiments
...
Eliza represents Catholicism which would
be abhorrent to her
...
Uncanny imagery, irony and suspense serve to create an organic
whole
...

Note of finality presented in Chapter 21
...
Has to come to terms with her past as she has put it behind her
...

Very distinct shift in way Bronte has presented this; strict divide between past, present and
future
...
Mrs
...
This statement combines two major
motifs that are apparent throughout the novel: equality and religion
...

- You perform your own part in life, and burden no one: theme of self-reliance and
independence
...
Moving from
Gateshead to back to Thornfield is symbolic of moving from her past to the present and this
tedious journey she is undertaking represents the mental journey which is taking place
...

- Eliza presents elements of super-ego and Georgina presents the Id
...
The sisters are two opposite depictions of
women in the Victorian era
...

Journey Back
The sky, though far from cloudless, was such as promised well for the future: its blue—where blue
was visible—was mild and settled, and its cloud strata high and thin
...
Red symbolizes red etc
...
Blue associated with calm and peace- the calm she feels after disassociating
from past? A romantic atmosphere being established, mood is calm and serene
...
Fire and water
...
Cloudy sky and clear water
...
Haze in their relationship from what Rochester is hiding
from her
...
A lot of nervousness
(every nerve I have is unstrung: for a moment I am beyond my own mastery
...
Reminiscent of Jane and her younger self where she lets her
passions get the better of herself
...

Rochester sitting there, a book and a pencil in his hand: he is writing
...
When reuniting with Rochester, atmosphere
is completely romantic, very lush and fertile imagery
...
"he has seen me" This creates a
distinct separation between her past, present future and using the present tense in her
reunion with Mr
...
As a narrator of the story, you
need to draw in the reader
...
Bronte moves
from roses and imagery onto Mr Rochester
...

- The chapter ends with their mutual feelings for each other clearly shown: even though the
two of them have yet to communicate that they love one another, fact inevitably remains
whether they say so
...

- Jane is heavily impacted by those she loves, even Lowood became more bearable and
tolerable due to Helen Burns and Miss Temple's presence, and the same thing happens here
...

- When inside Thornfield, you are overcome with presence of gothic because of presence of
Betha Mason
...
So all
revelations of love between them happen outside
...
An isolated mansion of unspecified size, the house has a number of
apparently unused rooms that become important to the narrative during the Bertha Mason
passages
...

Rochester's depression and malaise before he falls in love with Jane
...

Chapter 23
- First three paragraphs establishes how vividly Jane expresses the atmosphere around her and
how different it is from the first chapter where she said she hated long walks and it was
raining, but now she is enjoying being outside
...
Calling Jane a fairy and in play you're tricked by
fairies, but Rochester tricking Jane
...

- The atmosphere is positive but it’s a false- as in the reader knows that it's going to get bad
...
He provokes her
into saying that she loved him
...
She is vocal about expressing her independence
and self-expression towards the end of the chapter
...
”
- Reader senses he is making fun of her, she's mad because this is not the time to make fun of
her
...
Romantic feelings conveyed
...

- A lack of directness between them which creates suspense
...

- The garden scene allows them to communicate their inner feelings
...

It shows male dominance, class differences are portrayed as Rochester continually tries to
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It shows male dominance, class differences are portrayed as Rochester continually tries to
master her and show his dominance
...
The chestnut tree is
symbolic because nothing good will last, and its reflective of their temporary happiness
...

- A lot of shock when Miss Fairfax when she finds out because she knows how Rochester is
married
...
Here, the
Romantic feelings followed by distinct change in weather in this chapter as the tree stuck by
lightning is an ominous sign
...
Rochester pairs a symbol of restraint and death with marriage
...

- I retorted, roused to something like passion: Notice how Jane prefaces “passion” with
“something like,” revealing her fear of making a concrete statement about any feelings she
has concerning Rochester
...
This is one of the few times in the novel when Jane is more open about her feelings
with other characters, not just the reader
...
For man's opinion, I defy it: The
Romantic theme of individualism appears again but this time in Rochester
...

- And half of it split away: This ominous occurrence adds to the Gothic tone of the novel, and
its natural subject matter is very much in the Romantic style
...


Jane Eyre Sell Page 43

Thursday, December 17, 2020

9:14 AM

Chapter 26 and 27
How does Bronte create a sense of impending doom in the beginning of the chapter?
- Because of the sense of urgency creates; she's hurrying, seems like everything is not entirely in
order + Rochester seems really eager for them to get married
...
Rochester is exhibiting signs of panic and
anxiety
...

- How there doesn't seem to be any happiness; she doesn't recognize herself and the lack of joyous
emotions in a chapter which deals which such a joyous event just seems to highlight/foreshadow
the ending
...

- Adding on to that; how grim he looks, and the lack of a crowd as if he doesn't want people to be
around
...

- The ambiguity in the weather also seems to highlight the ambiguity in this chapter
...

- Jane is normally very reflective as she focuses more on her emotions than the outside events; here
the emotions aren't focused about but the events are
...

- Also: "i know not whether the day was fair or foul" seemed to me like a reference to Macbeth
(The fair and foul contradiction)
...
So, relating this to that heightens the sense of
this wedding being a tragedy
...

- "My hand was held, i was hurried along" shows how action is being done TO jane
...
her being out of the loop in the action shows how she's unaware of things in
her wedding and not fully consenting
...

- The fire and ice imagery in how lifeless Jane seems; pale
...

- A robed and veiled figure, image of stranger: Jane is always made to feel like an outsider
...
Jane is dressed as someone society would want her to be
...
The fact that it's only a cursory glance but she is a bride; further
highlights the sense of impending doom
...

- A great sense of negation on the very first page: I rose, no groomsmen, no… as the repetitive use
of no further highlights the sense of negation
...

Discuss the impression of Bertha Mason?
- A burden on Rochester
- Very typical off what we have discussed; she is mad, a creole, descends from madness
...
They take away her femininity for her not fitting
Jane Eyre Sell Page 44

- Referred to as an it and is animalistic and wild
...


Do you feel sympathy for Rochester, and if so why?
- Maybe, based on this chapter: stuck with this wild animals
...
Elizabethan reaction different from
reactions of modern reader
...

- The way he bound her; representative of bounding her with the constraints of marriage
...
This is what I got and this is what I could have gotten
...
And if you
transgress from that; Bertha Mason
...

Highlight the fire and ice imagery in the chapter?
- Fire and ice appear throughout Jane Eyre
...
" Jane describes her agitated bridegroom as grimly resolute with "such flaming and
flashing eyes
...
This, of course, makes her
susceptible to the cold forces in her life
...
Certainly,
the images of lifelessness and cold are foreboding
...
Corpse-Like
...

- After the interrupted wedding to Rochester, Jane describes her state of mind: “A Christmas frost
had come at mid-summer: a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe
apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hay-field and corn-field lay a frozen shroud
...
My hopes were all dead
...
A shroud is a covering for a dead body; as this description is full of deathly imagery
and the reinforcement of the color white, as Jane has become numb to her surroundings
...
First couldn’t figure out fear and foul but now foul
...

She talks about the absence of the fertile images that were described previously
...

- When you talk about departure in the next chapter journey ambiguous and aimless which is
different to all the other departures
...

RED ROOM:
1
...
Rochester
...
As in the experience in the Red Room, Jane's emotional turmoil affects her physically; she is so
weak that she can barely stand, so he carries her, barely conscious, downstairs
...

Jane Eyre Sell Page 45

Room experience, the first thing she is aware of as she returns to consciousness is the fire
...

3
...

306) is the tone which Jane used as a child to describe Mrs
...
Jane comments on his hatred
for and cruelty to a madwoman, i
...
, someone who can't help her condition
...
Role Reversal; Jane as she matures also matures emotionally
...

5
...

6
...
Way Rochester treats Bertha vs Rochester with Jane: Locks up Bertha but is not vigilant over her;
vigilant in captivating Jane as he is outside her room; over powering presence
...
This is supernatural-like as the moon poses as a warning
...
In this
dream, she has returned to the red room of Gateshead
...
A human form reminiscent of the cosmic woman in Jane's imaginative watercolor painting
appears
...
It gazed and gazed on me
...
43)
Again, Jane's emotions are reflected in her dream
...
Again, the dream provides
foreshadowing
...

1
...

Jane's mother is a spirit, or a supernatural being, but Jane's dream could also just be an expression
of her subconscious
...
It helps Jane to
renounce temptation and give up who she loves most in order to preserve her virtue
...

2
...
Moon is motherly figure
...
Pattern in the dreams Jane has
...
These are not lessons Jane wants to learn
...
When the chapter begins, a voice instructs her to leave Thornfield at once
...

Discuss Rochester's account of going through so many hardships and what it makes the reader feel
...
He chose this; believed himself to be in love and only when he found out about the rest of her
family, she became mad?
2
...

3
...
When he tries to accuse Jane of flinging him back to "lust for a passion — vice for an
occupation," she reminds him that these are his choices
...
She senses that his passion is out of control — he's in a "fury" and glowing like a furnace, with
Jane Eyre Sell Page 46

4
...

5
...

6
...
Like Adèle, Bertha inherits bad traits from her foreign mother—an
example of typical Victorian prejudice against foreigners
...
306) is
the tone which Jane used as a child to describe Mrs
...
Jane comments on his hatred for and cruelty
to a madwoman, i
...
, someone who can't help her condition
...
This action requires "a
degree of courage" because of his growing agitation (p
...
Driven by passion and determined to
have his way, Rochester implicitly threatens to rape her if she does not agree to his proposal:
"Jane! will you hear reason?" (he stooped and approached his lips to my ear) "because, if you won't,
I'll try violence
...
307)
...
His using the word "reason" is certainly ironic; by "reason," what he really means is "my will, what
I want
...
One danger of uncontrolled violent
emotions like rage and hatred is that they may lead to violent actions, as we see in Rochester's
threat and in Bertha Mason's actions
...

Jane's response to the threat of rape deserves close attention,
I saw that in another moment, and with one impetus of frenzy more, I should be able to do nothing
with him
...
But I was not afraid: not in
the least
...
The crisis was perilous; but
not without its charm: such as the Indian, perhaps, feels when he slips over the rapid in his canoe (p
...

1
...

2
...

3
...

4
...
She enjoys skirting the abyss; as we discussed in class, being at the edge of danger can be
thrilling
...
The comparison to the Indian is an image of the individual in control of the danger (paddling the
canoe skillfully over the rapids)
...
Has one of
Rochester's charms for her been the violence of his emotions and the danger of being with him?
(Think of the volcano-eruption images used to describe his emotions
...
Jane adopts a strategy of tears to calm Rochester; reason and emotion are working together in her
strategy
...
She deliberately uses her own emotions as a weapon; at the same time, her feelings are real, and
yielding to tears gives necessary expression to her emotions
...

308)?
8
...
308)
...
"
How is suffering depicted
...
Practical considerations aside, Jane struggles greatly with her decision to leave Mr
...

Though he has undoubtedly wronged her, Jane is still very much in love with him, and she can
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2
...

4
...


Though he has undoubtedly wronged her, Jane is still very much in love with him, and she can
hardly bear to contemplate leaving the only true home she has ever known
...

Fire and ice imagery
...

the readers are seeing two people who are clearly in love not work out and that adds to the
misery factor – outside forces intervening in their relationship
...

In the end, Jane prizes her independence and self-worth above her love for Rochester
...
Just as Jane dreads being trapped by her circumstances, she will not allow herself to be trapped by
her passion
...
Rochester, and so she listens to
her principles instead
...

2
...
Rochester may be the only person to
ever love her, she concludes that her relationship with herself is more important than any she
could have with a man
...

Rochester’s abdication of personal responsibility
...
Rochester’s selfish accusations—“Then you condemn me to live wretched, and to die
accursed?”—and cavalier claims that his previous marriage is not legitimate reveal a man who still
cannot accept responsibility for his decisions
...
In the end, Mr
...
Even before the wedding, Jane worried that Mr
...
In this moment, Jane realizes that to abandon her
morals and satisfy Mr
...
Jane could never be the
fallen woman
...
Jane as a Victorian woman has always been taught to suppress her sexuality and her desires, the
dream would’ve reinforced this subconscious belief and been the driving force behind her decision
to leave
...
Morality; fallen woman and staying away from that contributes to Jane Eyre being a socially
acceptable novel
...
Bildungsroman

Jane Eyre Sell Page 48

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

10:48 PM

Chapter 28
First two paragraphs of this chapter; the last connection with Thornfield
...

Why does Jane shift to present tense?
1
...
Creates a sense of urgency and immediacy and
needs the reader for companionship
...
If she talked about it in the past; danger would be averted so urgency
...

3
...

Imagery and Symbolism
1
...
She finds
comfort in nature, which represents God's presence
...
Jane's quest for independence reaches a low point
...
Her plight reflects the hardships of England's poor
...
The carriage drops her off at a crossroads, and she realizes moments later that she left her
belongings in the departed coach
...
The crossroads represent the fact that she is at a crossroad in her life
(desires vs moral compass) or (Rochester vs self-respect), might symbolize a spiritual test
4
...

5
...
The
candlelight is a beacon of hope that brings her to Moor House and to God
...
) A moor is a blank canvas; blank canvas; walking
throughout Moor
...

1
...

2
...

3
...
For her,
nature is "benign and good," a safe mother who loves Jane, even though she's an outcast
...
"
4
...

5
...
Most women couldn't just
decide to leave their situation as easily and often as Jane decides to move on in her life (in this
way her position in society becomes an advantage)
Miss:
Road imagery;
At cross-roads but as she moves towards Marsh End; trace of white towards the moor; straight up to the
light
...
Contrasting imagery; gloominess and darkness which
represents obstacles and hurdles she goes through and the light
...
White road; road to guidance
...
Jane's welcome by the Rivers siblings contrasts with the treatment she experienced from her own
family at Gateshead
...
That this trio is later revealed to be her cousins does not diminish the charity
they show when she is a stranger to them
...
Jane's taking of the false name Jane Elliott parallels Brontë's own adoption of a pseudonym in
writing the book
...
The name Marsh
End signifies that the end of her emotional journey is near in this place
...
She echoes Helen Burns when she says, "Sure was I of His efficiency to save what He had made:
convinced I grew that neither earth should perish, nor one of the souls it treasured
...
A lot of negatives since no passengers, etc
...
Not a lot of people here
...

Stoicism: how different Jane is from her old stuff
...
She was always looking for family unit but
finds it in God
...

The burden must be carried/ I must struggle on; life in Victorian Woman
...

Looks at church ; hopeful which can be contrasted with the imagery of the church in the

Introduction of new characters, how does it make the chapter intriguing?
1
...
This class prejudice angers Jane, who reminds Hannah that poverty is no sin;
in fact, many of the best people, such as Christ, lived destitute, and a good Christian shouldn't
reject the poor
...
In this section, Jane recognizes the spiritual value of her experience of absolute poverty, which has
stripped her of all markings of class
...

3
...

4
...
While Jane warns Hannah not to judge the poor, Jane is careful to
erase all marks of poverty from her own appearance
...

The introduction of new characters can be compared to previous characters plus bring up old themes
...
From Hannah, Jane discovers that the Rivers are ancient gentry, class-related information that will
be important to Jane later in the novel
...
Both women are charming, pretty, and intelligent, although Mary is
more reserved than the more willful Diana
...
Like Miss Temple, these women provide Jane with a model of compassionate, refined,
intellectually stimulating, and morally superior femininity that contrasts with the capriciousness of
the Reeds and the self-centeredness of Blanche Ingram
...
Biblical significance of Mary and Diana
4
...
John River's appearance also indicates a moral and intellectual superiority
...
"
5
...
John's classic, handsome features contrast with Rochester's rugged appearance
...

6
...
John's blue eyes and ivory skin align him with ice, Rochester's dark hair and passionate
nature connect him with fire
...
John's
Jane Eyre Sell Page 50

nature connect him with fire
...
John's
seemingly placid face, however
...

What Queen Victoria herself had to say about family? Significant role-model for Victorian Society
...
And just as Christ was in a sense reborn, Jane is metaphorically born into a new
family
...

• Novel is on the stage of being a denouement as the chapters have a conclusive tone to them;
events are going to be wrapped up eventually
...

Characters:
• We can compare and contrast old characters to new characters; Rochester is dark, sinister,
Byronic hero, and Saint John has a Greek profile
...
Rochester is emotional and passionate; his language is romantic
and passionate when expressing love for Jane
...
Jane notices all the physical qualities of Saint John because she is unable to
see his soul; describes him as unreadable
...
If she chooses Jane; charitable life but not fulfilling
...

• Saint John allows and accepts Jane's will to be independent; does not accept charity and is
insulted by being called a beggar as class matters to her; feels strongly for her own
independence
...

The Rivers vs The Reeds
• The wealthy and cold Reed cousins abuse Jane as a young girl, neglecting and torturing her
...
In Christianity, the reed is an image of humiliation, linked to Christ’s
Passion because the Roman soldiers use a reed to offer Christ vinegar wine while he hangs on
the Cross
...
The Reed Family humiliates
Jane and causes further humiliation when they deem her a “liar,” a term that follows her to
Lowood
...
John the Baptist who baptized
Christ in a river surrounded by reeds
...
John the Baptist links the Christian reed to the image
of rivers, the surname of Jane’s paternal cousins
...
They are also natural ways of transportation
...
At their home, she undergoes a
transformation that helps her recover from trauma from her shocking engagement as well as
her childhood
...
With the Rivers, she's living the life she perhaps
Jane Eyre Sell Page 52

•
•
•

•

•

similar structure: two sisters and a brother
...

She criticizes John for being so immovable but she realizes he has a deep love for this girl;
Elizabeth as they both crave love and affection which is unattainable to both of them
...

Bronte always presents a dichotomy in Jane's life; extremely passionate nature with Helen
Burns who shows zero passion
...
Quote: Saint Johns
eyes though clear enough in a literal sense
How it's the same familial structure; shows Jane's advancement- she is on an equal level with
her since they are all governesses
...

The name, Diana evokes the images of the Greek goddess of wisdom and nurturing children
while the name, Mary is a reminder of the Virgin Mary, characterized by her generosity and
compassion
...
The girls’ personalities are foreshadowed by their first names’ associations similarly to
their last names
...
The motifs of fire and ice permeate the novel from start to finish
...

2
...
Reed and St
...
Rochester, are linked with fire
...
Interestingly, fire serves as a positive force even when it is destructive, as when Jane burns Helen's
humiliating "Slattern" crown, and when Bertha sets fire to Mr
...

4
...
Rochester into a more intimate relationship, while
the second destroys Thornfield and leads to Bertha's death, thus liberating Rochester from his
shackled past
...
Although the fire also blinds Rochester, this incident helps Jane see that he is now dependent on
her and erases any misgivings she may have about inequality in their marriage
...
Although Brontë does not suggest that the characters associated with ice are wholly malignant or
unsympathetic, she emphasizes the importance of fiery love as the key to personal happiness
...
Brontë uses many elements of the Gothic literary tradition to create a sense of suspense and
drama in the novel
...

2
...

3
...
Reed in
the red-room and creating a sort of telepathic connection between Jane and Mr
...

4
...

5
...
Rochester is the
focal point of the passionate romance in the novel and ultimately directs Jane’s behavior
beginning at her time at Thornfield
...
At the same time, his dark past and unhappy marriage to Bertha Mason set the stage for the
dramatic conclusion of the novel
...
Throughout the novel, Brontë plays with the dichotomy between external beauty and internal
beauty
...
Both Bertha Mason and Blanche Ingram are described as stunningly beautiful, but, in each case,
the external beauty obscures an internal ugliness
...
Bertha’s beauty and sensuality blinded Mr
...
Blanche’s beauty hides her
haughtiness and pride, as well as her desire to marry Mr
...

4
...
Rochester seems to have learned not to judge by appearances, and he
eventually rejects her, despite her beauty
...
Only Jane, who lacks the external beauty of typical Victorian heroines, has the inner beauty that
appeals to Mr
...
Her intelligence, wit, and calm morality express a far greater personal
beauty than that of any other character in the novel, and Brontë clearly intends to highlight the
importance of personal development and growth rather than superficial appearances
...
Once Mr
...

Beauty: Theme
- Mistreatment as a child, taught she is physically inferior to her cousins, in the end however: roles
flipped
...

- Point drove home how she might not be pretty but she has talents
...
”
- An important idea in the novel is that internal is more important than external beauty
...
Neither one of
Jane Eyre Sell Page 54

Rochester are both passionate characters who have an enormous capacity to love
...
For Jane, love is closely linked with equality, respect
and affinity: ‘I feel akin to him – I understand the language of his countenance and movements:
though rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and
nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him … I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever
sundered – and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him
...
17, pp
...
When she has romantic
aspirations towards Rochester, it is not just her station that discourages her from pursuing him
...
She believes that no one could be attracted to her, not even
someone like Rochester whom she admits is, “an ugly man”(155)
...
Imagery is used to
represent this room as secret, prison like, but particularly to give the room an overall feeling of
horror
...

Jane could be using these descriptions as a metaphor for blood, linking the red room to death
...
This supernatural event that Jane imagines adds to the gothic genre,
which increases the feeling of horror that the room is already associated with
...
The idea of Jane being
imprisoned in the red room is gothic and adds to part of the horror of the book
...
Gilbert and Gulbar (1979) believe
that the imprisonment of Jane is to give the reader insight into the end of the novel, again this
foreseeing the future relates to the gothic genre
...
The idea
of it being an ancestral home gives it a gothic feel
...

Later in her description of the house, Jane comments on the passages and the house having trap
doors “like a corridor in some of Bluebeard’s castle”
...
Like Bluebeard who
has one of wives dead body behind a secret door, the reader later becomes aware that behind
one of the doors in Thornfield Hall, is Rochester’s mad wife Bertha
...
The description of laugh by Jane makes the
laugh appear unnatural as if it was coming from something that wasn’t human for example she
says “the laugh was tragic, as preternatural a laugh as any I ever heard”, therefore even before
Bertha is found, Jane is aware of the possibility of a supernatural being in the house, This
foreshadows a more complex and disturbing explanation to come in the future, when Jane finally
meets Bertha
...
The self-image presented by
Jane in the mirror is in fact her division of perception and identity
...
This makes it clear that Bronte’s use of these supernatural beings are
not simply to show Jane's age, but relate it to the gothic element of the book
...

- Supernatural happenings are frequently mentioned such as in the red room scene when she
senses the ghost of her uncle, her ears fill with sound which she said she ”deemed the rushing of
wings; something seemed near me…”
...
Ghost like images are used later on in the novel,
when the character Bertha appears, as when in Jane's room trying on the veil, she is described as
pale and ghostly
...
Between pages
284-319; when Rochester proposed below it, the Chestnut tree is portrayed to have supernatural
powers; Jane speaks of it as if it is a person asking “what ailed the chestnut tree? It writhed and
groaned”
...
The day following the proposal Adele makes Jane aware that it was struck by lightning,
and that half of it had split away
...

- Pathetic fallacy is used throughout the novel
...
All these elements are gothic traits and give the
reader an insight into the future gothic themes in the plot
...
The death if Helen contrasts with Jane's fears
shown previously in the novel regarding ghosts, death and supernatural
...
It adds an emotional thought provoking scene to the
novel
...

2
...

4
...

6
...

8
...

10
...

12
...
: moonlight, pathetic fallacy, chestnut trees, third floor
Characters- gothic villain, grace Poole, bertha mason
Word choiceSupernatural themes- gytrash, pilot, Jane’s wild imagination- contrast with aspect of realism
Opening of chapter 1?
Shit which invokes suspense
Bluebeard’s tale
Fire in Rochester’s room
Presented through use of foreshadowing and symbolism (Rochester looking up to window at walks w
Jane)
Remote places, dark family backgrounds, and also Jane's own character, her own fears and, her
intellectual connection with Rochester, and how Jane was raised to be a suffering child
Death plus Jane lying w dead best friend all night
Appearance outside + inside- quote fall of the house of usher and its detail
...
Jane has an uphill
battle to become independent and recognized for her personal qualities
...
Mr
...
John all attempt to
command or master women
...
Even though Bertha Mason is insane, she is a provocative symbol of how married
women can be repressed and controlled
...
For its depiction of Jane's struggle for gender
equality, Jane Eyre was considered a radical book in its day
...
Bertha Mason is the complete opposite of Jane Eyre
...
Bertha is locked away from society
due to her breaking of the gender expectations set for a woman
...
26)
...
Taking away feminity for defying gender roles?
- John Reed/ Mr Brocklehurst
- Brocklehurst, Rochester, and St
...
Jane extends her feeling of entrapment to her
fellow women, and these sentences constitute Brontë’s feminist manifesto
...
The passage
explicitly states that the Victorian wife suffers from being metaphorically “locked up
...
“I am not an angel,” I asserted
...
Rochester’s many demands regarding their wedding and married life
...
Rochester that she plans to be true to herself and hold onto her autonomy
despite his attempts to plan world travels and buy expensive gifts for her
...


Family: Theme
- Throughout the novel, Jane defines her idea of home as a place where she both belongs and can
be useful
...
Lloyd, questions whether Jane is happy to live at
Gateshead, Jane emphasizes that it is not her house because she has no right to be there
...
Further, Jane’s sense of
alienation is compounded because no one loves Jane at Gateshead, and she has no one to love in
return
...
Without the person she loves most, Jane’s
usefulness is no longer enough to constitute Lowood as home
...
) Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for
a sense of being valued, of belonging
...
Yet, over the course of the book, Jane must learn how to gain
love without sacrificing and harming herself in the process
...
At Lowood, Jane meets Miss Temple, who has no power
in the world at large, but possesses great spiritual strength and charm
...
Of Miss Temple, Jane writes:
“she had stood by me in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly, companion” (Chapter 10)
...

- Later, at Thornfield, Jane shares such a deep emotional connection with Rochester that she
declares him to be her “only home,” but she leaves Rochester because living with him would
contribute to his sin and damage his soul
...

- Also how she is always on the outside of family festivities: she is too stupid to play charades
...
Jane’s desire to belong is connected to her
desire to be valuable to another person, and these desires drive her decisions throughout the
entire novel
...
Jane sees the moon as “a white human form”
shining in the sky, “inclining a glorious brow earthward
...
” Jane answers, “Mother, I will” (Chapter 27)
...
Talk about John and how this is her
first stand
...
I will never call you aunt again as long as I live
...
Jane has been the
subject of prolonged neglect and unjust treatment, while living in her aunt's care
...
This is
the first time in the novel we see Jane assert her rebellious spirit, which leads to her feeling empowered
...
She felt triumph and freedom, because she severed all ties with the person
hindering her from gaining independence, her aunt
...

- How she instead attempts to find freedom in a new servitude since the social stratification and
conditions of that time make freedom impossible
...
The way they talk together: Your
claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time
...
Although Jane is eventually freed from
the room, she continues to be socially ostracized and financially trapped
...

Social Class
13
...
The
novel highlights the significance of class consciousness and the subjectivizes one particular class may
face at the hands of the dogmatic elites
...
He violently torments Jane and constantly reminds
her that she is an orphan and a dependent of the Reed family, forcing into her mind that to be without a
class is to be without worth
...
“You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent, mamma says; you have no money; your
father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us, and eat
the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamma’s expense
...
”
15
...
Jane rejects her
birthright as an orphan and uses this as her ammunition to be treated as an equal
...
In Chapter 7, Mr
...
Jane identifies the contrast of what Mr
...
Mr
...
He can live extravagantly, but poor orphaned children must live strict, simple,
and plain lives
...

17
...
She uses opposing language to describe Mrs Reed in relation to
Jane to highlight the social ideology that is created by a class system
...
” Jane then has
to fight against any negativity about herself because of her class and force people to accept her for her
personal attributes
...

This highlights the importance of the social boundaries that are c
18
...
Fairfax is talking about Leah and the other servants, she is happy to have someone at
Thornfield of the same rank as her to talk with
...
Rochester because he is above them, yet Mrs
...
However, Jane does not follow these rules, she is constantly testing the
social norms of her time by speaking her mind to Mr
...
Jane has an ambiguous social standing as she both lives and converses with all classes of people,
from the working class servants to the upper class aristocrats
...

Governesses of this time were expected to uphold a high standard of aristocrat ‘culture’; however they
were often still very poorly treated by their employers
...


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Friday, May 29, 2020

3:51 PM

Additional Notes:
1
...
” Unlike her sisters’ works, Charlotte Bronte deliberately creates an anti-heroine like
figure, Jane Eyre and has told her sisters that they were morally wrong in making their
heroines beautiful
...
Her answer is ‘a heroin as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as
interesting as any of yours
...
In Jane Eyre, Bronte rejects the ideal Victorian beauty and forms questions in readers mind
asking, “Why was Jane’s plainness so extraordinary?” Things that are considered most
attractive are Jane’s “Quakerish” black frocks and her hair, which is “combed behind ears” in
its simplicity
...

With a typical Victorian obsession for physical appearance, Jane gives many descriptions of
herself
...
with a
white face and arms specking the gloom€¦” The importance of female beauty is nicely
summed up by Miss Abbot, a servant at Gates head, “If she were a nice, pretty child, one
might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as
that ” As an adult, Jane is somewhat resigned to her plainness but she is still inspired by the
ideal Victorian beauty by saying, “I ever wished to look as well as I could, and to please as
much as my want of beauty would permit
...
” The constant importance of Jane’s plainness
is evidenced in Rochester’s unromantic marriage proposal
...
”
FIRE IMAGERY
The constant use of fire imagery and many of the metaphors use in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
express two things which could not be expressed openly in the Victorian Period – passion and
sexuality
...
However,
Bronte knows that if she is going to write about these two things directly, her book will probably be
rejected
...
The psychology of passion has become one of the novel’s
most dominant themes
...
The use of fire imagery brings reader to the
contradictions that Victorian women want to fulfil their passionate needs but at the same time have
to keep a sense of self-control
...
Bronte then creates fire and uses these fire
imageries to illustrate the way in which Jane deals this struggle
...

MORE IMAGERY
- After Jane is locked up in the red room, her view on the environment totally changes
...

- Women at that time hold back many of their feelings because society’s views and morals are
pushing them to do so
...
Jane seems to fall
into this pattern
...
An example of concealing passions inside her is
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her interaction with Rochester and Aunt Reed
...
” Jane falls
into the category of the entanglement of self-control and the prisoner of her own passion, similar to
other women in the Victorian society
...
When she obtains her position as governess at Thorn field, she initially
enjoys relative liberty
...
Fairfax as
a companion
...
(Waller) However, Jane’s comfortable life at Thorn field begins to
change
...
However, Rochester’s efforts to dominate Jane have become less effective as the amount of
force he employs increases
...
Eventually, Jane senses that if she stays at Thorn field,
Rochester will continue to press her to enter a sexual relationship with him, something she cannot
accept
...
Opposing and refusing his request, Jane leaves Thorn field
in a panic following her own principle
...
She is
convinced that maintaining a strict adherence to the rules will, in the end, help her to achieve what
she want, even if that turns out to be simply social acceptance and love desires
...

(Waller) She knows her position in the society, and although she may not always be comfortable
with it, she internally controls her own behavior and conforms to society’s rules throughout the rest
of her life
...
As a
result, Jane has now successfully established social acceptance and maintained her own selfrespect
...
(Waller)

Imagery[H2] /symbolism[H3]
The symbolic use of chair in Mrs
...
The chair, stool and curtain
play important roles in representing a progression in Jane's life from being an oppressed
subordinate to being a comforter and becoming more in control
...

- The two instances in which this situation is most irrefutable evidence are when Jane is summoned as
a subordinate by John Reed and later by Mr
...
In her confrontation with John, Jane says
that “habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair” and after being struck she tries to move
away (Bronte, 8)
...
Brocklehurst, in which he informs her that she
would be sent to hell if she were to die at this moment, Jane thinks to herself that she was "wishing
herself far enough away" (Bronte, 22)
...
Instead of wanting to hide herself in a chair so as to avoid communicating
with others, she begins to talk to others
...
Fairfax when
she moved her "chair a little nearer to her"
- Later at Thorn field the movement of the chair symbolizes how Rochester wants to get closer to
Jane
...
After instructing Jane not to move her chair any further from him, Rochester tells Jane to
"draw your chair still a little farther forward" (Bronte, 114)
...
During this stage of the story, Jane makes note of how
the sight of the "empty chair" is unbearable (Bronte, 247)
...

- The progression is best symbolized by Rochester providing a chair for Jane when Jane is ill and needs
care, which has changed to Jane now taking care of crippled Rochester while he waits in a chair
(Bronte, 386)
...

The symbolic use of stool in Lowood School (showing punishment) and in Thorn field (showing
relaxation)
The stool serves practically the same purpose as the chair by showing a symbolic progression in
Jane's life
...
Reed’s home by comparing the height of two stools:
- It is mentioned that "Georgiana sat on a high stool
...
Reed
...
Reed’s heart
...
Bessie and Abbot station Jane on a stool by herself in the Red
Room for her punishment
...

- Jane is once again humiliated upon a stool when Mr
...
“Let her stand half an hour longer on that
stool and let no one speak to her during the remainder of that day”(Bronte, 57)
...
After rescuing Rochester from
the fire in his room, Jane is comforted by Rochester when he allows her to somewhat relax and rest
her feet upon the stool he has provided for her
...
So the stool shows us Jane’s life procession to us clearly
...
Reed’s home (showing isolation and insecurity) and in Thorn
field (showing security)

The curtain also shows a symbolic procession in Jane’s life
...
Bronte uses the curtain to show Jane’s
isolation and lacking of insecurity in the early stage of her life and Jane’s mature as well as gaining
strength in her later stage of life
...
But the curtain is
not safe
...
Jane is immediately caught by John
Reed, which is the cause of her being driven to the red room
...

• After year’s learning in Lowood School, Jane grows mature physically and mentally
...
“lady Lynn was a
large and stout personage of about forty, very erect …
...
Colonel Rebl was less showy, but, I
thought, more lady like, may had a milder and more open countenance than Blanche, softer
features too”(Bronte, 161)
...
She even predicts and evaluates Miss
...
Rochester’s engagement according to her careful observation under the curtain
...
At this moment, the readers will find out that Jane Eyre is no longer the timid weak
girl who always need help and protection, but a strong and confident woman who knows how to
employ tools to protect herself and also communicate with the rest world
...

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and situations
...

Furthermore, Jane's movement from one place of setting to another also represents a change in her
way of life
...

Thus she recalls the room when she is humiliated at Lowood
...
Only when Jane gets completely financially and physically independent, could
she forget the red room
...

The high walls of Lowood enclose her and serve to confine her from the outside world as the others
at Lowood restrict her
...
As Jane furthers her education, she is given
more privileges and is allowed to go outside the walls in the same way that she breaks the walls of
her former oppression
...

Jane eventually leaves Lowood for the wide-open spaces of Thorn field
...
Later in the novel, Jane finally leaves Thorn
field
...
In Rochester’ heart, Jane is like an
angel while himself is a devil, so he must bear the suffering like the burning phoenix could he
reunion with Jane
...
Weather
commonly coincides with the situation
...
“But since the dinner the cold winter wind had brought with its
clouds so somber and a rain so penetrative that further outdoor exercise that day was out of
question”(Bronte, 1)
...
Reed and imprisoned in the red
room
...

- The change of harsh weather is much like the change to the cold reception she began her first day at
Lowood, and predicts her further life here will just be like living in the cold hell
...
Wells notes that at the
acceptance of Rochester's proposal, the "foul weather" contradicts the current mood of the
characters (2001)
...
Since Rochester is already married, the splitting of the
chestnut tree is a foreshadowing of how they will be separated later at their wedding
...

- During her stay at Thorn field, the moon is not around, for she still feels lonely at this time; however,
when Rochester arrives and meets Jane, the moon appears and shines brightly
...
The moon brings light to the sky in the same way that
Rochester eventually brings happiness to Jane's life
...
The moon's shadow on Rochester's face is symbolic
of how he prevents Jane from seeing the secret of his marriage to Bertha
...
This type of weather helps describe how she
fells during her life journey without Rochester until, this moment, when she finds him
...

1
...


3
...


5
...
Head may represent Master Reed as
being the head of the house, the warden of the prison as he torments Jane
...

Thorn field – Representative of roses because there are positives in this location like Jane’s job as a
governess, meeting her loveable student Adele, being surrounded by nice people like the servants,
Mrs
...
Rochester and finding love here
...
As a governess the
negatives are others’ feelings towards her like how Blanch Ingram kept insulting Jane at the house
party at the Hall
...
Rochester and
Rochester doesn’t view Adele to be like a daughter and Jane is saddened by this and treats Adele
like her own daughter
...

Moor House – Moors are marsh areas that have low vegetation but a lot of soil
...
Her climbs are finding
family and gaining a fortune but her pitfalls are St
...
John almost forcing Jane to marry him
...
Rochester and Jane by the end of the novel
...
We do two texts just so
we have a choice between a range of questions
...
You need to attempt the question on Shakespeare
...

- How has the writer created a sense of atmosphere in the poem?
- Based on the writing or a certain thematic concept in the poem
...
Don’t focus
too much on structure, like do that but also analyze it properly
...

- For poetry, don’t just look at figurative devices but also look at certain words which have a striking
effect which helps us add original points
...

Common Questions:
- In what ways, has the passage been made engaging?
- How has the writer made us of language in passage?
- For novel- you can get a theme and be asked to talk about it in the passage; How has the writer
presented X theme?
- Question on characters- Comment on character development or the development/relationship
between characters
...
Connect the language with the themes,
especially for the novel
...

- Minor sentences: draw emphasis or make structure fragmented
...

- Engage with key words of the question and make sure that is consistent
...
Don’t forget to write the link because it is very
necessary to create the consistency between the passage and the question; come up with
synonyms of the keywords in the question
...

- Move holistically; not necessary chronological, just choose references which are most suited
...

DramaCommon Questions:
- How has the writer used language effectively?
- What are the dramatic implications of this scene/How has this scene been made dramatic?
Jane Eyre Sell Page 65

- What are the dramatic implications of this scene/How has this scene been made dramatic?
Staging, punctuation especially in dialogue; ellipses, exclamation, question marks
...

- Audience interpretation has to be there; key convention of drama; modern audience (us where
we include our stance) and Elizabethan/Jacobian so we have to consider them
...
Cross-dressing was a very common theme; think about
disguise and deception and women weren't allowed to act so men had to pretend to be women
who were pretending to be men
...
Malvolio wearing garters is funny as Malvolio has the notion that
he can aspire above his social status
...
Miller was fully involved in the play so his
situation is little different
...

- Improvement: Originality, deeper implication and links
...


Jane Eyre Sell Page 66



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Title: Jane Eyre: Complete Study Guide
Description: Are you looking for a complete study guide for Jane Eyre, the only thing you'll really need to ace your exam? Well, look no further!! By uploading this study guide I hope to save you all the hundreds of hours of research that went into it; reading thesis and various essays to get a better grip of the novel. What is covered by the study guide? - Common GCSE questions with well-thought out answers for every stage in the novel (including passage-based questions so you get a better idea on how to attempt those!) The answers vary from describing the harshness of Lowood, to detailing the Red Room incidence, talking about maternal figures in the novel along with one on common motifs, etc. - QUOTATIONS! I've went through the novel and weeded out some of the most important and meaningful quotations from every chapter to give your answer that extra edge. - There are chapter by chapter analysis and summaries so you could gain fresh perspective on the novel! - Extra research done on the themes (common motifs, the theme of gothic, beauty, family) along with the setting and the historical background. - Character insight into Bertha Mason and a comparison between her and Jane.

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