20 Questions: Jane Eyre – Discussion Questions

Outline responses to these questions to prepare yourself for the ‘Discussion’ component of the Internal Assessment.

1. Discuss the “fire” and “ice” imagery in the novel. Images of ice and cold, often appearing in association with barren landscapes or seascapes, symbolize emotional desolation, loneliness, or even death. The “death-white realms” of the arctic that Bewick describes in his History of British Birds parallel Jane’s physical and spiritual isolation at Gateshead (Chapter 1). Lowood’s freezing temperatures—for example, the frozen pitchers of water that greet the girls each morning—mirror Jane’s sense of psychological exile. 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 . . . and the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy and fragrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests in wintry Norway. My hopes were all dead. . . .” (Chapter 26). Finally, at Moor House, St. John’s frigidity and stiffness are established through comparisons with ice and cold rock. Jane writes: “By degrees, he acquired a certain influence over me that took away my liberty of mind. . . . I fell under a freezing spell” (Chapter 34). When St. John proposes marriage to Jane, she concludes that “[a]s his curate, his comrade, all would be right. . . . But as his wife—at his side always, and always restrained, and always checked—forced to keep the fire of my nature continually low, to compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry, though the imprisoned flame consumed vital after vital—this would be unendurable” (Chapter 34).

Significance of the Theme of Ice and Fire

Fire symbolizes the compelling emotion of the characters. Fire is portrayed throughout the novel to encapsulate the growing passion of the specific characters. On the contrary, ice is used to represent stoicism, the indifference to pleasure or pain. The characters that are symbolized by ice are calm and soothing characters who take whatever life grants them.

Important Characters Who Reflect This Theme

Jane Eyre (Fire)

-Hits John Reed -Yells at Mrs. Reed -Controlling -Against traditions -Stubborn -FeminismFirst, there is Jane Eyre, clearly the most passionate and zealous individual in the novel. The first lucid example of Eyre's fiery lust is the striking of John Reed, her cousin, at a time when women were not to challenge men. Yet another example of Jane's internal inferno is when she yelled at Mrs. Reed, her aunt, exposing her staunch individualism. Thirdly, when the decent clergyman, St. John Rivers, proposed to Jane, she steadfastly refused, citing lack of love as her rationalization. ("But as his wife -- at his side always, always restrained, and always checked -- forced to keep the fire of my nature continually low, to compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry, though the imprisoned flame consumed vital after vital -- this would be unendurable". Contrarily, when Rochester, is around Jane she feels quite different. Jane lets her passion consume her. "'I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you: their expression and smile did not (again he stopped) did not (he proceeded hastily) strike delight to my very inmost heart for nothing... My cherished preserver, good night' Strange energy was in his voice, strange fire in his look."

Helen Burns (Ice)

-Accepting -Instructor to Jane

Rochester (Fire)

-"Vulcan" (p.445) = Roman god of fire-Willing to sacrifice relationship with his wife in order to have real passionate love. -Bedroom fire symbolism -Contrarian The summation of Rochester's character as it pertains to the fire/ice symbolism is truly simple yet quite complex all the same. When Edward is in his bedroom with Jane, the fire in the fireplace grows stronger, once again revealing the paralleled passion of Rochester and Jane. He is also considered to be a "Vulcan". This is significant because Vulcan is the Roman god of fire, just as Rochester is the main male with deep internal and external passions/fire in the novel. What is also interesting is that he is willing to have an affair to quench his thirsty passions for Jane. In conclusion, Rochester states "no contact strikes the fire from you that is in you" (p.198), which reveals his stalwart feelings about the obdurate nature of passion.

St. John Rivers (Ice)

-Humble missionary-Hides feelings for Rosamond -"White as a glacier" (p.379) -Doesn't think for self -Conforming Ice, the opposite of fire, lacks substance and passion. Due to his devotion to the Church, St. John denies his love for Rosamond, the dazzling daughter of the factory owner. St. John represents ice through his humbling actions. For example, for his vocation, he dedicates his life to being a moralistic missionary. He doesn't think for himself, rather, the Church thinks for him. As such, he is conforming and metaphorically is "like a [frosty white freezing] glacier" (p.379). St. John, pure-lived, conscientious, and zealous, pronounced his sermons, with a quiet, deep voice, a clear sign of his stoicism. Literary Devices Related to Ice and Fire-simile (e.g. "as white as a glacier," p.379) -metaphor (e.g. "I am hot, and fire dissolves ice," p.386) -personification (e.g. "conscience turned tyrant, held passion by the throat," p.299) -imagery (e.g. "pinnacle of an iceberg," p.128) -allusion (e.g. "Vulcan," p.445) -alliteration (e.g. "he controlled his passion perfectly," p.416)

2. Discuss the significance of bird imagery, especially how it relates to Jane’s character.There is a great deal of bird imagery used in Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre.When Jane arrives as a governess at Thornfield, she is much like a bird: nervous and shy, caged in that she can not come and go as she pleases. Rochester refers to Jane several times by comparing her to a bird. He says that she reminds him of a bird who, if free, could soar to great heights.I see you laugh rarely; but you can laugh merrily . . . I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage; a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there, were it but free, it would soar cloud-high. (Chapter 14)Jane also experiences the sense of being a caged bird: when she walks through the orchard, the high walls and hedges are like the bars of a cage that hold her captive, providing no escape and no free movement from within the confines of the confines of Thornfield.

Physically, Jane is a captured bird when Rochester pulls her into his arms to kiss her. He is much stronger in terms of the physical and his iron will, but Jane is beginning to grow, asserting her need for freedom. In Chapter 23, Rochester tells Jane:...be still; don't struggle so, like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation...But also in Chapter 23, Jane asserts her independence—her need to be free—having, ironically, to have learned to be stronger under Rochester's care:I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with independent will, which I now exert to leave you..."When Jane flees Thornfield, learning that Rochester has a mad wife (Bertha) who he keeps locked in a tower, in Jane we see the timid bird of the novel's beginning take flight. She is not sure where she will go, but she must leave the man she loves.This time away from Rochester might symbolize an "emotional" winter—where Jane moves to a safer place with a coldness that has become her heart. However, when the frigid temperatures have passed (when Bertha, Rochester's wife, has killed herself), like a bird, Jane returns to the place where she has felt safe and loved, like a bird returning to its nest to rebuild in a new season, starting a new life.In Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, bird imagery describes to the reader how Jane is trapped like a caged bird at the beginning, how she develops the strength and bravery to take flight on her own, and how she eventually returns, as birds often do, to her "summer home" to make a home and a family.

3. Discuss instances of Jane ‘gazing’, especially out of windows. How do these images of gazing develop Jane’s character?

- She looks out the window to know what’s outside in the world - She does it every where she goes - She has a passion for knowing whats on the outside - Windows to the soul - Eyes reveal character and intense emotion - She’s often depicted as day dreaming - Horizons shows how she wanted freedom

4. How do outward forms, especially homes, reflect the characters that live in them?

Gateshead: Gates can keep us in or let us out. Jane is kept sadly locked behind the “gates” of Gateshead until she is sent to Lowood, at which time she in locked out.

Lowood: the institution is set into a low, wooded area where little air and sunshine is accessible. As a result, the students become ill and many pass away.

Thornfield: Thorns imply pain could be inflicted, as in a “thorny field.” Marsh End: Jane was no longer dependent—she was financially independent and it was the “end” of her

miseriesFerndean: implies a natural setting—Jane and Rochester no longer were at the mercy of superficial

societal rules—they had a “natural” relationshipIn Jane Eyre we see setting driving plot. Each setting for Jane is a reflection of the plot events and the characters found there. Each setting is sculpted, so to speak, for the events that occur. Think about how Jane is treated, how she develops, and how the characters behave in each setting. (Gateshead and Lowood are your first two settings.)

Note the settings and the main plot events and characters in each. Gateshead:

Wealthy but cold; rich for all but austere for Jane; that Jane lives in wealth but is deprived of love is situational irony; Jane is rejected by those who have everything.

Lowood:Poor in all ways—the poverty drives the bigger girls to steal food from the little girls; poverty helps Jane discern

priorities from wants—establishes her preference for plain, unpretentious clothes, etc.; situtational irony is present again in that it is in a place of severe want that Jane’s needs are met

Thornfield:

As the name implies, Thornfield is not pleasant; it’s Gothic features allow mysterious occurrences such as strange laughter, unexplained noises, and odd visitors. Situational irony occurs when Jane finds her happiest moments in her

life in a place that seems to bring unhappiness.

5. While Jane prizes independence, she also relies on others for love and support. Discuss Jane’s surrogate families.

Poet and critic Adrienne Rich has noted that Jane encounters a series of nurturing and strong women on whom she can model herself, or to whom she can look for comfort and guidance: these women serve as mother-figures to the orphaned Jane.

The first such figure that Jane encounters is the servant Bessie, who soothes Jane after her trauma in the red-room and teaches her to find comfort in stories and songs. At Lowood, Jane meets Miss Temple, who has no power in the world at large, but possesses great spiritual strength and charm. Not only does she shelter Jane from pain, she also encourages her intellectual development. Of Miss Temple, Jane writes: “she had stood by me in the stead of mother, governess, and latterly, companion” (Chapter 10). Jane also finds a comforting model in Helen Burns, whose lessons in stamina teach Jane about self-worth and the power of faith.

After Jane and Rochester’s wedding is cancelled, Jane finds comfort in the moon, which appears to her in a dream as a symbol of the matriarchal spirit. Jane sees the moon as “a white human form” shining in the sky, “inclining a glorious brow earthward.” She tells us: “It spoke to my spirit: immeasurably distant was the tone, yet so near, it whispered in my heart—“My daughter, flee temptation.” Jane answers, “Mother, I will” (Chapter 27). Waking from the dream, Jane leaves Thornfield.

Jane finds two additional mother-figures in the characters of Diana and Mary Rivers. Rich points out that the sisters bear the names of the pagan and Christian versions of “the Great Goddess”: Diana, the Virgin huntress, and Mary, the Virgin Mother. Unmarried and independent, the Rivers sisters love learning and reciting poetry and live as intellectual equals with their brother St. John.

6. Discuss the motif of education and how it relates to Jane’s growth.In Jane Eyre, education provides the only route for someone who isn’t independently wealthy to improve their character and prospects – it allows social mobility. The "education" we’re talking about in this novel, however, is mostly aesthetic; characters learn basic music performance, basic artistic skills, and a little bit of foreign language. It’s enough to make them seem cultured, but not to make them actually useful for anything except teaching music, art, and foreign language. Education is also a safe haven, something that provides emotional satisfaction in a protected space separate from the hardships of the world.In Jane’s childhood, education takes the place of every single one of her emotional and physical needs – food, shelter, family, and friendship.Because Jane initially learns to understand the world in terms of a teacher-student relationship, all her friendships have some master-pupil tinge to them.The novel charts the growth of Jane Eyre, the first-person narrator, from her unhappy childhood with her nasty relatives, the Reeds, to her blissful marriage to Rochester at Ferndean. Reading, education, and creativity are all essential components of Jane's growth, factors that help her achieve her final success. From the novel's opening chapters to its close, Jane reads a variety of texts: Pamela, Gulliver's Travels, and Marmion. Stories provide Jane with an escape from her unhappy domestic situation, feeding her imagination and offering her a vast world beyond the troubles of her real life: By opening her inner ear, she hears "a tale my imagination created . . . quickened with all incident, life, fire, feeling, that I desired and had not in my actual existence." Similarly, she believes education will allow her the freedom to improve her position in society by teaching her to act like a "lady," but her success at school, in particular her drawing ability, also increases her self-confidence. Jane confesses that artistic creation offers her one of the "keenest pleasures" of her life, and Rochester is impressed with Jane's drawings because of their depth and meaning, not typical of a schoolgirl.

Although artistic and educational pursuits are essential elements of Jane's personality, she also feels a need to assert her identity through rebellion. In the opening chapters of the novel, Jane refers to herself as a "rebel slave," and throughout the story she opposes the forces that prevent her from finding happiness: Mrs. Reed's unfair accusations,

Rochester's attempt to make her his mistress, and St. John's desire to transform her into a missionary wife. By falling in love with Rochester, she implicitly mutinies against the dictates of class boundaries that relegate her, as a governess, to a lower status than her "master." Besides rejecting traditional views of class, she also denigrates society's attempts to restrict women's activities. Women, she argues, need active pursuits and intellectual stimulation, just as men do. Most of Jane's rebellions target the inequities of society, but much of her personality is fairly conventional. In fact, she often seems to provide a model of proper English womanhood: frank, sincere, and lacking in personal vanity.

7. Comment on the significance of dreams and visions in the novel.

When Rochester returns the next day, the day before the wedding, Jane tells him of the strange things that happened while he was away. First, she dreamed about being alone on a long, empty road with a pitiful crying child. In a second dream, she was waiting for Rochester at a ruined Thornfield with the same child, but tripped and dropped the child.

Jane's dreams suggest the distance she still feels from Rochester. The suffering child symbolizes an unhealthy future for their marriage. The decaying Thornfield foreshadows its actual destruction and represents the mess of Rochester's life.

This second dream startled Jane awake, and in the darkness of her room she saw a strange woman with wild hair and a discolored "savage" face going through her closet. The woman put on the wedding veil Rochester had bought for Jane, then tore it in half and stomped on it. Rochester dismisses the story as just another dream,

8. In what way is Jane’s growth a ‘widening of horizons’?

- She wants to free - She’s trying to escape - Always trying to fly high. - Fly high like a bird

9. Who are Jane’s “guides”?

The Moon: In Jane Eyre the moon is a metaphor for change.  The moon is either described or looked at many times throughout the novel when Jane's life will take on a new direction.  Just a few examples are when Jane leaves Gateshead, when she first meets Rochester and right before Rochester proposes to her.

Helen Burns

Jane's friend at Lowood School. Though she dies early on in Jane's time at Lowood, Helen is perhaps the fourth­most important character in the novel for her symbolic value. Upholding the extreme Christian doctrine of tolerance and forgiveness at all costs, Helen serves as a foil to both Mr. Brocklehurst, with his cruel lack of Christian compassion, and Jane, with her anger at those who mistreat her. Helen espouses a Christianity in which faithfulness and compassion are rewarded in Heaven. As an orphan like Jane, Helen believes that her true family is waiting for her in the kingdom of Heaven. With that in mind, she faithfully turns the other cheek when accepting all the cruel punishments handed down at Lowood. She faces especial torments from Mrs. Scratcherd, and, though Helen is distressed by the treatment, she remains unwavering in her beliefs. When Helen dies, Jane absorbs the lesson that the meek shall not inherit the earth. While Jane initially rejects Helen's brand of religion, she does incorporate it in her life later on, especially when she relies on the spiritual kindness of strangers after leaving Thornfield.

Miss TempleThe beautiful and kindly superintendent of Lowood. Miss Temple is presented as the foil to the cruel and stingy Mr. Brocklehurst and strives to treat the students at Lowood with as much compassion as possible, even providing them with extra bread and cheese to supplement their meager meals. Miss Temple is particularly kind to Jane and Helen, providing them with seedcake during their tea together and giving Helen a warm bed to die in. As one of the novel's surrogate maternal figures for Jane, Miss Temple demonstrates the lady­like demeanor and inner strength that Jane wishes to possess as an adult.

10. Explain how weather foreshadows the events that take place at each setting.Jane Eyre is a novel, written in the Victorian era by the author Charlotte Bronte. Bronte uses different setting in order to show what the characters are feeling. The setting is often a reflection of human emotion. The setting also foreshadows certain events that are going to occur.

A use of setting to portray a character's emotion is essential to a novel. It gives the reader more of a feel for what is going on. An example of this is when Rochester proposes to Jane. Jane is dazzled and excited about the idea. The setting echoes her excitement. "A waft of wind came sweeping down the laurel-walk and trembled through the boughs of the chestnut..." Another instance is when Jane is walking through the Eden-like garden on "a splendid Midsummer, skies so pure, suns so radiant...". The perfection of the day reflects Jane's return to Thornfield where she feels acceptance, contentment, and love.

The setting can also show the gloom and despair of the character's emotion. Jane is looking for a place to stay, is refused and made to stay outside in the weather. She weeps with anguish, feels despair, and rejection. The setting echoes her in that it is "such a wild night". There is a driving rain and it is cold. The setting can be a reflection of just about any human emotion.

The setting plays a big part in the novel when the author uses foreshadowing. After Rochester proposes to Jane, the weather turns and the horse-chestnut tree, is split in half. "...the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away." This displays the coming of tragedy and the separation of Jane and Rochester.

Another instance is on the eve of their wedding day. The setting is a cloudy windy night with a red moon, "her disk was blood-red, and half-overcast..." This night prefigures what's going to happen the following day: Jane's going to find out the truth about Rochester. Rochester's description of how he sees Thornfield, "that house is a mere dungeon... filled with slime... cobwebs... sordid slate... and refuse chips", is another. This setting prepares the reader for its destruction. It tells the reader what is going to happen before it does.

The setting plays a vital role in the novel. It is a reflection of the emotions the character express. The setting can show happiness or despair depending on how the character feels at the moment. The setting is also used as foreshadowing. Little things that happen prefigure what's going to happen soon. The setting helps the reader to understand what is happening and what is going to happen.

11. In your opinion, what location/event changed Jane the most?

12. How do seasons reflect that state of Jane’s circumstances?

The book begins in November, which is symbolic of the coming of the end. By the time Jane is in Thornfield and returns to Gateshead, it is spring, which is the time of love.

The majority of the students became ill and died in the winter from the deprivations of Lowood. Winter is the symbolic season for death.

Jane and Rochester begin to develop feelings for each other in the spring, the symbolic time for love and marriageHelen dies in the spring because that is the time of the Resurrection, and Helen is a Christ-type character who must therefore mimic

Christ. Rochester proposes to Jane on Midsummer’s Eve (first day of official summer—June is the time for weddings)

Christmas time when Jane learns of her inheritance—Jane can make her own Christmas

1. How effective is the opening of the novel at introducing the central concerns of the novel?

It is really effective as it shows all the troubles that jane goes through and how it’s going to continue thought out the novel How reliable of a source is she, because she’s looking back so things are different when she’s older so its different perspective. ane Eyre's character, named after the main character herself, goes through a very dramatic ordeal in the book by Charlotte Brontë. Her emotions and feelings are very well depicted in the book, and to understand them completely one has to read between the lines and concentrate on the finer details of the novel. The first chapter shows the reader Jane's childhood, and the strains and struggles she has to put up with throughout it.

Orphaned as a child, Jane is forced to live with her aunt and cousins, who live a very different lifestyle to the one she is used to. She is constantly picked on by her cousins and disowned by her aunt. Jane's emotions and thoughts are revealed in full depth in the first chapter, the book beginning with a thought of hers, which readers see as a pathetic fallacy:

"...the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question." The detail of this sentence makes the reader imagine the setting in

2. To what extent does Bronte offer social commentary on gender roles in Victorian society?

The characters in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre portray clearly the gender roles expected of males and females in Victorian society; the characters of Jane and Mr. Rochester demonstrate the expected characteristics and personalities expected of males and females, respectively, while Bertha, the antithesis of Jane, represents a disruption of the gender balance and must be detached from normal society.Charlotte Brontë's character Jane was living in the nineteenth century, a time when "fear of the intellectual woman became so intense that the phenomenon . . . was recorded in medical annals. A thinking woman was considered such a breach of nature that a Harvard doctor reported during his autopsy on a Radcliffe graduate he discovered that her uterus had shriveled to the size of a pea" (Gilbert 2032). So, it is no surprise that the character of Jane, the heroine of the novel, would possess the characteristics an ideal female of Victorian society would need in order to be praised: submissiveness, passivity, undisruptive, simplicity in dress and ambition, and desperate emotional longing for her male love interest. And when Jane challenges the social institutions put in front of her, she is reprimanded and forced into experiencing the most weary, reproachful situations imaginable until she is ready to continue behaving properly.

The very first page of the novel features Jane's personality and human spirit being stifled as she is reprimanded for questioning why she is being punished. She asks Mrs. Reed what she has done to deserve punishment, to which Mrs. Reed replies, "Jane, I don't like cavilers or questioners: besides, there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner. Be seated somewhere; and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent" (Brontë 63). And John Reed, Mrs. Reed's son, berates Jane

with a furious anger stemming from his mother's treatment of Jane, saying, "you are a dependant, mama 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 mama's expense" (Brontë 67). And after this speech, Jane is attacked physically by John Reed, and as she retaliates, she is reprimanded in the same way Bertha is later in the novel-she is locked away from the rest of the home in order to subdue her craving for equality and significance. Jane describes how she feels about being locked away in the red room, saying, "'Unjust! - unjust!' said my reason, forced by the agonizing stimulus into precocious though transitory power; and Resolve, equally wrought up, instigated some strange expedient to achieve escape from insupportable oppression-as running away, or, if that could not be effected, never eating or drinking more, and letting myself die" (Brontë 72). And even though Jane is being treated badly because she is a child, not because she is a female, she receives this same treatment throughout the novel: the treatment she would receive as is she was a child. Jane is described throughout the novel as small in stature, and looks like a child even as she becomes a teacher at Lowood and a governess at Thornfield. This passage is important in setting the foundation to demonstrate that women, in their inferior treatment in Victorian society, are treated by society like they were no more responsible or worthy of respect than children.

John Reed's fiery speech and Mrs. Reed's treatment of Jane as someone outside their middle class standing sheds light on the economic opportunities available to women in the Victorian era and the expectations of women earning a wage in society. As a lower-class female who is small in stature and does not possess beauty, Jane's chances of joining the higher echelon of society are almost non-existent. Yet her education at Lowood allows her to take a governess position at Thornfield, and "Jane's advancement from her position as teacher at Lowood to private governess signifies an important development in the text's subversion of gender, since governesses served as a hole in the invisible wall between working-class and middle-class gender identities. As governess, Jane bridges the gap between the dangerous androgyny of working-class homogeneity and the fragile stability of middle-class separate spheres" (Godfrey 12). Jane acts as a middle-class woman in that she is in charge of the education of Adele at Thornfield, but continues to earn a wage and is under the control of the master of the house. An interesting idea from Godfrey's work speaks about the uniqueness of the role of the governess, explaining that "Because the governess was like the middle-class mother in the work she performed, but like both a working-class woman and man in the wages she received, the very figure who theoretically should have defended the naturalness of separate spheres threatened to collapse the difference between them" (Godfrey). The roles of gender are blurred in Jane's case, as she is a female who earns a wage and takes the place of the person responsible for keeping those same gender roles clear and intact. Jane, as a governess, finds a way to ascend into a middle class style of life in being hired to educate at Thornfield-an ascension that was extremely difficult for any person from meager beginnings, especially a female, to achieve.

As Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield, she meets the master, Mr. Rochester, she quickly begins to fall in love with him and desires to be his wife even though she recognizes that such a union-one between a simple governess and a wealthy gentleman such as Mr. Rochester-would be forbidden by proper society. And in her low self-esteem she reminds herself of the male's excellence and her lowliness when she thinks to herself, "don't make [Mr. Rochester] the object of your fine feelings, your raptures, agonies, and so forth. He is not of your order: keep to your caste; and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised" (Brontë 239). Jane is demonstrating the mindset exclusive to low-class females in Victorian society: stifling any hope of true happiness by keeping in mind her low social ranking and selling herself extremely short in order to keep her self-esteem from creating hopes of finding true happiness in the arms of a man. Yet, on the other hand, Mr. Rochester, if he so chooses, can fall in love with Jane and decide to marry her no matter what society might feel. And before he declares his love for Jane, he plays a bit of an evil, mean-spirited trick on Jane's love for him when he speaks constantly about his impending marriage to another, more beautiful woman, Blanche: "For instance, the night before I am married? I am sure I shall not be able to sleep. Will you promise to sit up with me to bear me company? To you I can talk of my lovely one; for now you have seen her and know her?" (Brontë 302). Rochester's intentional wrenching of Jane's heart is not only rude and in bad taste but done with a twist of wickedness and malevolence, and though he later claims it was done only to assure him of Jane's feelings for him, he is acting in a typically male manner: using his control of emotions to methodically bring Jane's sensibilities to an ultra-heightened sense of longing for him, playing games with her heart and soul in order to conduct a sort of experiment for his own benefit and amusement.

But as Mr. Rochester's history is found out, and as Jane discovers that the crazy woman who lives in the upper-rooms of Thornfield is actually Mr. Rochester's wife, Jane's world turns upside down. She defies Mr. Rochester in refusing to become his mistress, and decides she must leave immediately, never to return. As she begins her flight from Thornfield, she bids farewell to Mr. Rochester emotionally with "'Farewell!' was the cry of my heart, as I left him. Despair added,--'Farewell for ever!'" (Brontë 410). And it is at this point that Jane begins acting in a manner which is unthinkable and improper for women of Victorian society on two very different levels: she, an object of Mr. Rochester's love, leaves him to misery; and, as a governess, she leaves her post without prior notice and without permission, opting to wander aimlessly in the world without accompaniment or means with which to survive. Before she leaves she reflects on her life as it were a moment in a literary work, saying, "No reflection was to be allowed now: not one glance was to be cast back; not even one forward. Not one thought was to be given either to the past or the future. The first was a page so heavenly sweet -- so deadly sad -- that to read one line of it would dissolve my courage and break down my energy. The last was an awful blank: something like the world when the deluge was gone by" (Brontë 412). And in creating this blank sheet in her life, she leaves her fate to be dictated by herself and her own actions instead of the wishes and direction of Mr. Rochester. The following passage gives further insight into the solitary woman and how women were expected

to find satisfaction and purpose in their lives: "As a recurrent literary image, a community of women is a rebuke to the conventional ideal of a solitary woman living for and through men, attaining citizenship in the community of adulthood through masculine approval alone" (Wilson 131). Jane proves that she does not need to live in accordance with the ideals and direction of men, and takes her destiny into her own hands-an act which goes against every expectation of the feminine gender in Victorian society.

Yet, despite Jane's token instances of independence and acts of defiance to those around her, in the end she seeks out Mr. Rochester and returns to him. Mr. Rochester, knowing Jane still loves him and has returned to him, refuses to let her leave again, saying, "No - no - Jane; you must not go. No - I have touched you, heard you, felt the comfort of your presence - the sweetness of your consolation: I cannot give up these joys...I must have you...My very soul demands you" (Brontë 537). Jane's defiance of Rochester was never one of sincerity but one of proving to herself and to God that she was doing what was proper. But she returns to Rochester with it already in her mind that he would ask her to marry him-"I had indeed made my proposal from the idea that he wished and would ask me to be his wife...that he would claim me at once as his own" (Brontë 536)-proving that she sees herself as belonging to Rochester and has returned to live a life validated by a male presence. And as Jane is told the story of what happened to Thornfield and the death of Bertha Mason, she agrees to marry Mr. Rochester; to be his servant, in a way, since he has become blind and needs constant assistance, and Jane refers to herself as his eyes, his hands, his everything. In the end, Jane settles happily for a life as a subservient wife to Mr. Rochester, but at least she finds happiness in her position.

Unlike Jane, Bertha Mason's fate does not end in her being subservient to male dominance. Bertha is a woman who, even though she is obviously mad, is free-spirited and challenges all social institutions placed upon her, putting her in a very unbecoming light in Victorian society. Females are supposed to be quiet, submissive, passive, and loyal to their husbands-like Jane-but Bertha is the opposite of a good Victorian woman and is the direct antithesis of Jane. Bertha is large in stature, outspoken, violent, and aggressive in pursuit of what she desires, as seen in the passage when Mr. Rochester first displays her as his wife after his failed wedding to Jane: "the lunatic sprang and grappled his throat viciously, and laid her teeth to his cheek: they struggled. She was a big woman, in stature almost equaling her husband, and corpulent besides: she showed virile force in the contest - more than once she almost throttled him, athletic as he was" (Brontë 381). And because Bertha is outspoken and wild and unbecoming of the ideal Victorian woman, she is locked away high in Thornfield, away from society and kept a secret from the inhabitants living there-much like Jane, in the beginning of the novel, was locked in the red room when her actions were deemed too outspoken and aggressive.

3. How does outward vanity reflect on inner character in the characters of the novel? Consider Jane’s cousin Georgina, Adele, and Blanche Ingram.

Appearances are almost always inversely related to the actual nature of the characters in Jane Eyre. Beautiful women turn out to be scheming harpies or selfish idiots; plain women turn out to have hidden depths of passion; ugly men aren’t actually ugly, but excitingly masculine in a harsh, craggy way. Virtuous characters resist having their appearances radically changed or improved because doing so seems like pretending to be something they aren’t. In contrast, characters who let themselves get obsessed with keeping external appearances plain and modest are distracted from deeper spiritual truths and often turn out to be hypocritical anyway.

Adèle is Jane’s pupil at Thornfield, a little French girl just under ten years old, the daughter of Céline Varens, an opera dancer who was Rochester’s mistress. Mostly, Adèle is an opportunity for Jane to show her teaching skills and her compassion. When Jane first meets her, she’s only been in England for a few months, and she’s never really been asked to study or apply herself; all she really cares about are clothes and getting attention by showing off her singing and dancing skills (all learned from her mom, so mostly inappropriately mature for a little girl). This gives her a little bit of a creepy Lolita feel, but it never fully manifests.

- Georgina is prettt cousin by she’s an air head so no were close to jane’s knowledge - Adele is the little French girl that .. - Blanche is the biggest foil for jane cause she’s pretty and talented but she is selfish- Jane looks at these people and thinks little of herself due to their outward vanity

4. Despite her strict moral code, Jane is not excessively pious. What do her characterizations of Mr. Brocklehurst, St. John Rivers, and Eliza Reed communicate about her feelings toward established religion?

• Brocklehurt uses religion as suppression

• Eliza, she uses religion as a balance, like forgiveness, don’t want to leave earth feeling resentful, Jane uses Eliza as that middle balance between broklehurst.

• St.John uses religion to control his life • Find middle ground between st john and broky • Shes combines everyones idea about religion and takes the facts she believes in to follow

throughout her life Throughout the novel, Jane struggles to find the right balance between moral duty and earthly pleasure, between obligation to her spirit and attention to her body. She encounters three main religious figures: Mr. Brocklehurst, Helen Burns, and St. John Rivers. Each represents a model of religion that Jane ultimately rejects as she forms her own ideas about faith and principle, and their practical consequences.

Mr. Brocklehurst illustrates the dangers and hypocrisies that Charlotte Brontë perceived in the nineteenth-century Evangelical movement. Mr. Brocklehurst adopts the rhetoric of Evangelicalism when he claims to be purging his students of pride, but his method of subjecting them to various privations and humiliations, like when he orders that the naturally curly hair of one of Jane’s classmates be cut so as to lie straight, is entirely un-Christian. Of course, Brocklehurst’s proscriptions are difficult to follow, and his hypocritical support of his own luxuriously wealthy family at the expense of the Lowood students shows Brontë’s wariness of the Evangelical movement. Helen Burns’s meek and forbearing mode of Christianity, on the other hand, is too passive for Jane to adopt as her own, although she loves and admires Helen for it.

Many chapters later, St. John Rivers provides another model of Christian behavior. His is a Christianity of ambition, glory, and extreme self-importance. St. John urges Jane to sacrifice her emotional deeds for the fulfillment of her moral duty, offering her a way of life that would require her to be disloyal to her own self.

Although Jane ends up rejecting all three models of religion, she does not abandon morality, spiritualism, or a belief in a Christian God. When her wedding is interrupted, she prays to God for solace (Chapter 26). As she wanders the heath, poor and starving, she puts her survival in the hands of God (Chapter 28). She strongly objects to Rochester’s lustful immorality, and she refuses to consider living with him while church and state still deem him married to another woman. Even so, Jane can barely bring herself to leave the only love she has ever known. She credits God with helping her to escape what she knows would have been an immoral life (Chapter 27).

Jane ultimately finds a comfortable middle ground. Her spiritual understanding is not hateful and oppressive like Brocklehurst’s, nor does it require retreat from the everyday world as Helen’s and St. John’s religions do. For Jane, religion helps curb immoderate passions, and it spurs one on to worldly efforts and achievements. These achievements include full self-knowledge and complete faith in God.

5. Central to Jane Eyre's struggle for fulfillment is her ambition to transcend the limits placed upon women in Victorian society. How does Jane navigate the gap between society's expectations and her innermost desires?

Society is limited when it comes to woman. Her fullfillment is she wants to be educated, in vict. Society woman cant be educated to she goes against that barrier to be the individual she wanted She is a feminist and she want’s to earn her own living Money doenst matter to her as she gave it away at the end She want’s a satisfaction when it comes her life acheivments

6. Is the novel a bildungsroman for Rochester as well? No because it only shows the part of the life where Rochester has already changed.

7. . Why does Bronte juxtapose Jane's musings about women's social restraints with the mysterious laugh that Jane attributes to Grace Poole?

Perhaps it is to show that both extremes are wrong. For instance, Victorian society was very rigid with respect to women (interesting considering the powerful monarch was a woman) - women had no true freedom, they belonged first to their fathers or guardians and then to their husbands, they couldn't make their own way in society (Jane was very independent in this respect) and more. That wild laugh indicated a woman without restraint of any kind - a mad woman. Complete restraint was wrong, since a woman is more than a possession of some man; complete lack of restraint is not to be desired either, because only the insane recognize no restrictions, no moderation. Bertha, the actual laugher, is a woman with zero social restraints, because she's insane. The laugh is there to show that, while too much restraint is a bad thing, so is being a creature of impulses. These two points also come up when Jane runs away from Rochester (restraining impulses that would make her lose her self-respect and even Rochester's respect for her), but will not marry St. John either (recognizing the importance of feelings and passion)During Jane's lifetime, women were expected to follow orders, be polite, and keep most of their thoughts to themselves. Jane struggled during her time at the boarding school because it was restrictive and was meant to make unruly girls into obedient women. Women were intended to keep mostly to themselves and to not cause a nuisance. Women that acted out and spoke their minds were generally disliked and believed to have overstepped their boundaries. The laughing that Jane believes to come from Grace Poole is very unexpected because it's not typical female behavior. A woman that caused a bit of an uproar was very strange to Jane after her time at Lowood when all of the girls generally kept quiet. The act of "Grace's" loud laughing was a freedom that was unfamiliar to Jane.

8. Evaluate the impact of the first person narration in Jane Eyre.Jane Eyre is narrated by its title character and so presents us with a story from a sole

point of view. When the novel was first published it included the subtitle, ‘An Autobiography,’ thereby drawing further attention to its narration by one person very

much involved with the story to be told. The nature of the narrator and their relationship with the reader has a great effect on how we judge their character, and Jane Eyre is no exception. Jane Eyre provides us with a narration of events and dialogue, as well as an

account of her thoughts and feelings.The novel can be classified as a bildungsroman, as it charts the growth of Jane from a

child into a young woman. This particular genre of the novel capitalises on the first person narrator and as a result creates a story that is extremely sympathetic to the

plight of the protagonist. As a child at the very beginning of the novel, Jane utters to herself the words ‘Unjust! – unjust!’ (p17) and it is impossible for the reader not to

constantly recall these words as Jane suffers at the hands of her cousins and later at Lowood School. By reading an account from a first person narrator we are privy to not just a narration of events, but also of internalised emotions. In this respect, it is often

easy for this type of narration to become biased and extremely subjective. We are able to understand how Jane feels, but must rely on her perception when it comes to the

feelings of others.It is true that Jane’s narration is a very personal account and as a result is often

selective, with Jane recounting experiences that stick in her memory, ‘I remember well the distracting irritation I endured from the cause every evening’ (p62). However,

because of the way Bronte characterises Jane – of good moral nature and of constant character – we accept her as a credible narrator. Our sympathy and bias towards her

cause is aided by the fact that we are given an insight into Jane’s life right from her childhood. This means that we can relate to her and sympathise with her situation,

knowing where she has come from and what drives her.