In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Jane has gone through experiences and some which let her down in a few ways. Jane also has people who impact her which hinder her future. She has been through so much and sometimes things and good sometimes they’re bad. Jane’s life has really changed and she experiences many things When Bertha Rochester is first introduced in the novel she is much of a mystery. Her name isn’t stated and it isn’t really clear if she is the one causing trouble. Jane has assumptions of who might be committing all these problems. Bertha tries to kill Mr. Rochester by setting the curtain around his bed on fire. Jane is hearing things inside her room and wished she kept her candle on so she could see. Jane says, “This was a demoniac laugh-low, suppressed, and deep-uttered, as it seemed, at the very keyhole of my chamber door. The head of my bed was near the door and, I thought at first the goblin-laughter stood at my beside-or rather crouched by my pillow: but I rose, looked around and could see nothing; while, as I gazed, the unnatural sound was reiterated: and I knew it came from behind the panels. My first impulse was to rise and fasten the bolt; and my next again to cry out, who is there?” (155) Jane stated that “Something gurgled and moaned. Ere long, steps retreated up to the gallery toward the third-story staircase: a door had lately been made to shut in that staircase; I heard it open and close and all was still. Jane was going to ask Mrs. Fairfax about the sounds she was hearing but then she heard a door. She also began to smell smoke and she sees that Mr. Rochester’s door is open. The curtains around his bed are on fire and he’s fast asleep. Jane tries to wake him but the smoke has kept him in a d... ... middle of paper ... ...there. Jane doesn’t like the red-room and when she gets into trouble on day Mrs. Reed says,” Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there.”(6) Her aunts’ was supposed to take care of her and not treat her badly. Another disappointment for Jane was supposed to marry Mr. Rochester but he is married so that was not able to happen. Bertha had a big effect on Jane future. Since she is still legally married to Mr. Rochester and Jane couldn’t move forward and be happy. The significance of Bertha is that she has an effect on some people. The things she does either brings people goes or farther apart. Jane has been disappointed multiple times and she just has to move forward. Jane doesn’t let certain things get to her. She thinks about them but doesn’t go crazy that she starts to worry. Jane has experienced things that have really shaped the person she has become.
The situation when Jane in locked in the Red Room occurs because she has retaliated against John Reed hitting her and the fact that she is being punished for doing so. The mere fact that she is being locked in the Red Room can already accumulate sympathy within the reader because she is seemingly being very unfairly punished whereas her cousin John has attacked her already and managed to escape any punishment whatsoever. However in the events leading up to being locked in the room, the reader could not feel sympathy for Jane Eyre as she did in a way bring the punishment upon herself for attacking Mr. Reed in the first place. If she has not retaliated she would have not been locked in the room. Most readers however probably do feel sympathy for her as she was acting more in self-defence. She was also unfairly spoken too as they were dragging her to the room itself as they say things like she's like a mad cat' and do not seem to be letting her give an explanation at all for her actions, and only listening to what John had too say. They make sure that she knows her place by telling her that You are under obligation to Mrs. Reed' and that she is less than a servant'. These are not kind words and the reader will probably feel sympathetic as she is being treated as a worthless object. The room that she is sent too is a dark and unpleasant place with memories of the dead Mr. Reed. For a child of Jane's young age it would seemingly be very distressing for her, and with the added experience of her seemingly seeing a ghost' of some kind, it would be a terrible experience. Even if the reader has not felt sympathy for Jane before this incident they would surely feel so now, as she is in a distressing situation alone. When Jane first screams out for help from someone it does seem as though people are coming too help her as Bessie and Abbot come to open the door and ask her what is wrong and what has made her cry for help.
Reed had received a letter from a John Eyre of Madeira; saying that he wanted to meet Jane and wanted to adopt her because he didn't have any family himself, he was not married and had no children. As the merciless person she was, she did not want Jane to experience the feeling of hope or contentment. The author's use of Jane being locked in the red room, as a symbol of hell. Jane is being punished for her sins and her boorishness; meanwhile, in the room, Jane becomes hysterical when she thinks she sees her dead uncles ghost, which becomes a traumatic experience for her that leads to her being unconsciousness. The red room symbolizes the death of Mr.Reed and the promise Mrs. Reed vowed to keep to take care of Jane and that she be treated and
The three events that mark Jane as an evolving dynamic character are when she is locked in the red room, self reflecting on her time at Gateshead, her friendship with Helen Burns at LoWood, her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and her last moments with a sick Mrs. Reed. Brought up as an orphan by her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, Jane is accustomed to her aunts vindictive comments and selfish tendencies. Left out of family gatherings, shoved and hit by her cousin, John Reed, and teased by her other cousins, Georgina and Eliza Reed, the reader almost cringes at the unfairness of it all. But even at the young age of ten, Jane knows the consequences of her actions if she were to speak out against any of them. At one point she wonders why she endures in silence for the pleasure of others. Why she is oppressed. "Always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned" (Bronte, 12). Jane’s life at Gateshead is not far from miserable. Not only is she bullied by her cousins and nagged by her aunt, but help from even Bessie, her nurse and sort of friend, seems out of her reach. In the red room scene Jane is drug by Ms. Ab...
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre chronicles the growth of her titular character from girlhood to maturity, focusing on her journey from dependence on negative authority figures to both monetary and psychological independence, from confusion to a clear understanding of self, and from inequality to equality with those to whom she was formerly subject. Originally dependent on her Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Mr. Rochester, she gains independence through her inheritance and teaching positions. Over the course of the novel, she awakens towards self-understanding, resulting in contentment and eventual happiness. She also achieves equality with the important masculine figures in her life, such as St. John Rivers and Mr. Rochester, gaining self-fulfillment as an independent, fully developed equal.
The red room is the place that ignites Jane's passion. The red room is one of the novels great paradoxes as it parallels with ice in that it restricts Jane's freedom and imprisons her; yet the experience gives her the courage to stand up to her aunt. The fire that the red room ignites in Jane allows her to jump the 'containment lines'; to break the bonds of her Aunt that are restricting her, and achieve freedom. The red room becomes very symbolic of Jane's fight for freedom. Whenever she suffers from there on, Jane emotionally comes back to the red room, and adds new fuel to the fire, as she reminds herself why she wants to break free of oppression.
The Novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte took a surprising twist when Bertha "Mason" Rochester was introduced. Bertha leaves a traumatizing impression on Jane’s conscious. However, this particular misfortunate event was insidiously accumulating prior to Jane’s arrival at Thornfield. Through Bertha, the potential alternative dark turn of events of Jane’s past are realized, thus bringing Jane closer to finding herself.
Jane started out with no family, causing her to yearn for someone to accept her as their family, treating her with love and respect. At a young age, Jane lost her parents, leaving her with her aunt and cousins. They treated her poorly, acting as if she was incompetent and considering her more of a servant than a family member. Then, they sent her off to school, forgetting about her entirely. Eventually, Jane acquired the family she had always dreamt of. She never felt quite right with other people accepting her, that is, until Mr. Rochester came into her life. She did not feel as though she had found her true family until she had met him. "All these relics gave...Thornfield Hall the aspect of a home of the past: a shrine to memory.” (92). When they get married, her dreams are achieved, as she finally got the family she had always wanted.
She does, however, begin to feel caged later on, as she is not allowed to go anywhere when she becomes the governess. Jane could be described as a dove, which means that she enjoys being free while at the same time, experiencing a new form of captivity. Rochester seems to refer to Jane as a bird most of the time, showing how he wishes to put this “bird” in a cage so it can only belong to him. “Jane. be still; don’t struggle so, like a wild, frantic bird” (221) is an example of what Rochester said to Jane before she left that showed that even though he has Bertha, Rochester prefers to take control of Jane, caging her from the rest of the world. Jane responds to him by telling him, ““I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.” (221) which meant that Jane refused to let Rochester decide her life because she is smart enough to know that she has her own free will and can do as she
In Chapter 26, we discovered more about Bertha, a woman that looks like Jane's inner self, a wild and uncontrollable, and that she was locked away in the mansion for a long time. But before that during the wedding when Briggs told everyone that Mr. Rochester was already married, "It simply consists in the existence of a previous marriage; Mr. Rochester has a wife now living." And they were brought to see Bertha, that wasn't the first time Jane has seen her. Her first time seeing Bertha was when she was ripping up Jane's veil and got so close into Jane's face that Jane passed out from the experience. Before that Jane only knew h...
... the anger that she had expressed as a young girl, due to the fact that her society does not accept it. This anger that she once held inside is prevelant in Bertha's act. It is in the Red Room that Jane "became increasingly alive with bristling energy, feelings, and sensations, and with all sorts of terrifying amorphous matter and invisible phantoms" (Knapp 146). This igniting energy and flow of feelings, are very similar to those that Bertha realises at Thornfield.
In Gateshead Jane must learn to respect her aunt Mrs. Reed, and not to question her authority. Jane resents her harsh treatment by her aunt and cousins John so much but she knows that she has to control her temper. Jane knows she must control her temper in order to not get send to the Red Room again. She must also learn to control her imagination, which may take the form of superstition, as when she is locked in the Red Room. "All of John Reed's violent tyrannies, all his sisters' proud indifference, all his...
Another important journey Jane makes is from Gateshead back to Thornfield having visited her aunt Reed on her deathbed. By then Jane realizes that she loves Rochester. A key theme is raised here, Jane fierce desire to love and to be loved. She feels alone and isolated when she has no friends around her. This is a sharp contrast compared to other characters’ search for money and social position.
who has also died in the fire. Mr. Rochester is blind and has lost one
Charlotte Bronte utilizes the character of Bertha Rochester to interrupt Jane’s potential happy ending with Mr. Edward Rochester. Bertha is announced by Mr. Briggs as a way to stop the wedding and it also shows how hopeless Jane’s situation is. “That is my wife “said he. ‘Such is the sole conjugal embrace I am ever to know—such are the endearments which are to solace my leisure hours! And this is what I wished to have,’” (312) and “’I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout,’” (312) are quotes that express Mr. Rochester’s reasons for trying to remarry while he already has a wife, meanwhile showing his disposition towards said wife. Had Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason not been present for the ceremony, Jane may have lived happily in ignorance. Due to Bertha’s involvement however, Jane could never truly call herself Mr. Rochester’s wife. She says, “’Sir, your wife is living: that is a fact acknowledged this morning by yourself. If I lived with you as you desire—I should then be your mistress: to say otherwise is sophistical—is false.’” (323) This quote shows that as a result of Bertha’s exposure, Jane refuses to marry Mr. Rochester. The influence that Bertha’s brief debut had on Jane’s life was significant enough to hinder the growth of her relationship with Mr. Rochester.
Rochester led her to perform additional unbelieveable services. One page 212, it is revealed to Jane that Mr. Mason had been attacked, as “one side and one arm was almost soaked in blood,” (Bronte, 212). Mr. Rochester then asks Jane to take care of Mr. Mason for two hours, alone, at midnight, in a dark scary mansion. Jane conjures up possibilities of her fate, like “Grace Poole bursting out upon [her],” (Bronte, 213). She imagines what “lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion, and could not neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner,” (Bronte, 213) emphasizing her fears of Thornfield.