Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
Themes
Christian love and forgiveness
Moral conflict
Spiritualism
Love and the need for autonomy
The system of social class
Gender relations
Symbols
The moon=change
Food=deprivation and want
Fire=passion
Chestnut tree=Jane and Rochester’s relationship
Bertha Mason=the “trapped” Victorian wife; the
prevailing attitude towards other cultures; Jane’s
subconscious rage
The red room=what Jane must overcome in order
to find love and independence.
Charlotte Brontë
Biography
B. 1816 in Thornton, Yorkshire in England
Father was a rector (Episcopal clergyman)
Mother died 1821
Attended the Clergy Daughters’ School –
later the model for the girls’ school in Jane
Eyre. Older sisters return home from the
boarding school and die of consumption –
tuberculosis.
Biography, cont.
returns home from school – writes miniature
books of a fantasy land called the Kingdom
of Angria.
attends Roe Head school, then returns
home to teach her sisters.
teaches full time at Roe Head – hates it.
rejects 2 marriage proposals from ministers.
1844 – tries to start a school – no pupils
come
Bio. Cont.
1845 – brother Branwell fired as a tutor for
unpleasantness with employer’s wife –
spends 3 years at home drinking, taking
drugs – eventually dies.
1846 – publishes a collection of poems with
sisters Emily and Anne. Use assumed
names. Begins Jane Eyre.
1847 – Jane Eyre published.
Yet more bio.
marries Arthur Bell Nichols
1855 – dies in pregnancy; buried at Haworth
parsonage.
The Gothic Novel
Definition: Gothic novels, originally from the
European Romantic Period, have a
prevailing sense of mystery and terror.
Called gothic b/c its imaginative impulse is
drawn from the rough and primitive grandeur
of medieval buildings and ruins.
Dark and tempestuous – full of ghosts,
madness, outrage, superstition, and
revenge.
Gothic, cont.
Settings often castles or monasteries with
underground passages, dark battlements,
hidden passages, and trapdoors.
Examples: Frankenstein, Dracula
Jane Eyre is not strictly gothic, but many
elements can be found.
Elements of gothic motifs in Jane
Eyre
Romantic and desperate escape/flee from
site of male hero.
Setting is castle-like structure
Haunting mystery and suffering
Secrets
Dark, disturbing characters
Emotional trauma
Alienation
Motifs, cont.
Fire and ice
Prevalence of mystery
Suspense
Ghosts
Imprisonment
The appearance of a fortune teller
Portentous dreams
The Byronic Hero
So called from poet Lord Byron’s heroes
A type of antihero who is a romanticized but
wicked character
Defies authority
Associated with destructive passions
Brooding, alienated
Persistent loneliness
Fiery rebellion
Hero, cont.
Arrogant
High level of intelligence
Suffering from unnamed crime
Troubled past
Powerfully seductive
Moody
Jaded, world-weary
A good heart in the end
SAT vocabulary from Jane Eyre
Approbation: (noun) official approval, praise
Assiduous: (adj) characterized by careful attention
Austere: (adj) strict, stern, unadorned
Complacency: (noun) the state of being self-
satisfied
Debauchery: (noun) moral corruption
Dowager: (noun) an elderly woman of society
Vocab. Cont.
Effervescent: (adj) showing high spirits,
bubbly
Enigmatic: (adj) mysterious, puzzling
Extricate: (verb) to free, to disentangle
Fervid: (adj) impassioned
Gregarious: (adj) friendly, outgoing
Inclement: (adj) stormy, severe
Cont.
Insuperable (adj) incapable of being conquered
Lethargic: (adj) sluggish, without energy
Malevolence: (noun) ill will, evil intentions
Opprobrium: (noun) disgrace as a result of bad
conduct
Pompous: (adj) exaggerated show of self-
importance
Quell: (verb) to put down a rumor or disturbance
A few more
Refuge (noun) a place of shelter or protection
Sagacious: (adj) wise
Sequester: (verb) to seclude, to put away from
others
Supercilious (adj) vain and arrogant
Torpid: (adj) inactive, dull
Vignette: (noun) a short, descriptive literary sketch
Zealot: (noun) one who embraces a cause with
extreme enthusiasm
Victorian fashions
cont
cont
Victorian architecture
more
more