Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë

Inte

rtex

tual

ity

and

the

cont

ext

of r

ecep

tion

: J

an

e E

yre

- ch

apte

rs 2

6 an

d 27

by

Cha

rlot

te B

ront

ë

© 2012 crossref-it.info

Page 1 of 5

Lesson plan

Resources Resource A – Extract from Jane

Eyre chapters 26 and 27 with

corresponding Bible passages

Resource B – Film Clip of Jane Eyre

chapter 26

Resource C – Film Clip of Jane Eyre

chapter 27

Highlighters

Learning objectives To consider how Brontë presents

Jane’s misery in chapter 26

To consider Jane’s decision to leave

Thornfield

To consider the messages of the

novel

Starter activity – recapping Jane’s misfortunes In pairs, students make a list of all

the unfortunate occurrences that

have happened to Jane in her life,

from being orphaned, to the

revelation on her wedding day that

Rochester is already married (e.g.

excluded from Reed family life,

bullied by cousins, fight with cousin

John, sent to red room, sent to

Lowood, publically humiliated and

accused of being a liar, various

deprivations at Lowood, Helen dies,

rejected by Aunt Reed even on

death bed, disappointment over

Rochester’s expected marriage to

Blanche, etc.).

Feed back to create complete list

Of each of these events, which

do we think would be hardest for

Jane to deal with?

Why?

What keeps Jane going through

all her trials? (You could create a

graph to represent Jane’s

emotions through the novel so

far.)

Main activity 1 – analysing

Jane’s misery in chapter 26 Read the extract from chapter 26

[Resource A] and watch the film clip

[Resource B].

For each chunk of narrative,

students draw the image created

(e.g. dead fist born children, water

etc.)

Which image is most powerful in

communicating Jane’s despair at

this moment?

Justify your decision

What is Brontë communicating

about the extent of Jane’s misery?

Why does Brontë/Jane use these

biblical references?

Explain that the psalms

normally contain an individual’s

song or prayer to God with an

outpouring of often personal

feeling – why should the

imagery come from the psalms

in particular?

Main activity 2 – analysing Jane’s decision in chapter 27 Jane’s misery could be alleviated by

abandoning her principles and

agreeing to live with Rochester as his

mistress. Create a table of reasons

why Jane should stay with Rochester,

or leave Thornfield and start a new

life:

Reasons why Jane

should stay

Reasons why Jane

should go

Why does she decide to leave?

Read the extract from chapter 27

[Resource A] and watch the film clip

[Resource C]. The extract reveals

Jane’s inner turmoil and inner ‘voices’

(personified as ‘Conscience’ and

‘Passion’) debating what to do.

Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë

Inte

rtex

tual

ity

and

the

cont

ext

of r

ecep

tion

: J

an

e E

yre

- ch

apte

rs 2

6 an

d 27

by

Cha

rlot

te B

ront

ë

© 2012 crossref-it.info

Page 2 of 5

Students highlight the text to

identify the two sides of the

debate and the arguments given

‘Conscience’ strikes the winning

blow with the gruesome imagery

‘you shall yourself pluck out your

right eye; yourself cut off your

right hand’

Consider: Why is this a

powerful reference?

Look at the Bible verse and what

is being saved by making the

sacrifice of cutting herself off

from Rochester (i.e. that ‘thy

whole body should be cast into

hell’)

In what sense would staying

with Rochester lead her to

hell?

On reflection, does Jane make

the right choice?

Rochester would choose for her

to stay. Look out for what

happens to his hand and eye

later in the novel…

Plenary – summing up Students complete the sentence in

as many different ways as possible

(could contribute ideas in

pairs/groups, or go around the

group playing ‘last man standing’):

‘In chapters 26 and 27, Brontë

presents Jane as…’

What are the

qualities/assumptions being

promoted of the nineteenth

century female?

Homework How does Brontë present how hard

it is for Jane to leave Thornfield?

(written close analysis of chapters

26 and 27)

Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë

Inte

rtex

tual

ity

and

the

cont

ext

of r

ecep

tion

: J

an

e E

yre

- ch

apte

rs 2

6 an

d 27

by

Cha

rlot

te B

ront

ë

© 2012 crossref-it.info

Page 3 of 5

Resources

Resource A

Jane Eyre ch 26

I was in my own room as usual--just myself, without obvious change: nothing had

smitten me, or scathed me, or maimed me. And yet where was the Jane Eyre of

yesterday?--where was her life?--where were her prospects?

Jane Eyre, who had been an ardent, expectant woman--almost a bride, was a cold,

solitary girl again: her life was pale; her prospects were desolate. … My hopes were

all dead--struck with a subtle doom, such as, in one night, fell on all the first-born in

the land of Egypt. I looked on my cherished wishes, yesterday so blooming and

glowing; they lay stark, chill, livid corpses that could never revive.

Exodus 11:4-7 4And Moses said, ‘Thus saith the LORD, ‘About midnight will I

go out into the midst of Egypt: 5And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall

die, from the first born of Pharaoh …, even unto the firstborn of the

maidservant …. 6And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of

Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.’

I looked at my love:

that feeling which was my master's--which he had created; it shivered in my heart,

like a suffering child in a cold cradle; sickness and anguish had seized it … Mr.

Rochester was not to me what he had been; for he was not what I had thought him.

My eyes were covered and closed: eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and

reflection came in as black and confused a flow. Self-abandoned, relaxed, and

effortless, I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river; I

heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, and felt the torrent come: to rise I had

no will, to flee I had no strength. I lay faint, longing to be dead.

Psalm 42:6-7 6O my God, my soul is cast down within me … 7Deep calleth

unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are

gone over me.

Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë

Inte

rtex

tual

ity

and

the

cont

ext

of r

ecep

tion

: J

an

e E

yre

- ch

apte

rs 2

6 an

d 27

by

Cha

rlot

te B

ront

ë

© 2012 crossref-it.info

Page 4 of 5

One idea only still throbbed life-

like within me--a remembrance of God: it begot an unuttered prayer: …

'Be not far from me, for trouble is near: there is none to help.'

Psalm 22:11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near: there is none to help.

It was near: and as I had lifted no petition to Heaven to avert it--as I had neither

joined my hands, nor bent my knees, nor moved my lips--it came: in full heavy swing

the torrent poured over me. The whole consciousness of my life lorn, my love lost, my

hope quenched, my faith death-struck, swayed full and mighty above me in one sullen

mass. That bitter hour cannot be described: in truth, 'the waters came into my soul; I

sank in deep mire: I felt no standing; I came into deep waters; the floods overflowed

me.'

Psalm 69:1-5 1Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2I

sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters,

where the floods overflow me. 3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried:

mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë

Inte

rtex

tual

ity

and

the

cont

ext

of r

ecep

tion

: J

an

e E

yre

- ch

apte

rs 2

6 an

d 27

by

Cha

rlot

te B

ront

ë

© 2012 crossref-it.info

Page 5 of 5

Jane Eyre chapter 27

Some time in the afternoon I raised my head, and looking round and seeing the

western sun gilding the sign of its decline on the wall, I asked, 'What am I to do?'

But the answer my mind gave--'Leave Thornfield at once'--was so prompt, so dread,

that I stopped my ears. I said I could not bear such words now. 'That I am not Edward

Rochester's bride is the least part of my woe, that I have wakened out of most

glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is a horror I could bear and

master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly, entirely, is intolerable. I cannot

do it.'

But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it and foretold that I should do it.

I wrestled with my own resolution: I wanted to be weak that I might avoid the awful

passage of further suffering I saw laid out for me; and Conscience, turned tyrant, held

Passion by the throat, told her tauntingly, she had yet but dipped her dainty foot in

the slough, and swore that with that arm of iron he would thrust her down to

unsounded depths of agony.

'Let me be torn away,’ 'Let another help me!'

'No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you: you shall yourself pluck out

your right eye; yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victim, and you

the priest to transfix it.'

Matthew 5:29-30

29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is

profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy

whole body should be cast into hell. 30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it

off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members

should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Resource B – http://www.crossref-it.info/articles/484/Jane-Eyre-~-ch-26

Resource C – http://www.crossref-it.info/articles/485/Jane-Eyre-~-ch-27