In literature a reader often discovers "strange" encounters between the main characters and others in the story. These encounters usually serve to illustrate what characters learn about themselves as a result of these encounters. In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber," each heroine must deal with specific consequences of these "strange" encounters. The characters emerge as their true selves as a direct result of these experiences.
Jane Eyre and the heroine in "The Bloody Chamber" each experience a rather strange courtship which serves as each girl's first encounter with the man in her life. Jane Eyre meets her future husband Rochester when he is injured in a fall. He turns out to be the father of the girl for whom Jane is caring. Rochester is a much older man, and at age 18 Jane is wise in the ways of the world due to her orphaned upbringing with a hateful aunt and her time spent at Lowood, a boarding school. At first Rochester is harsh and abrupt with Jane. They eventually become friends and have time to build a real relationship; they have much in common in spite of their different status in life. After their engagement, Jane dislikes the wealth that Rochester pushes on her, feeling like a dress-up doll in the clothing he provides. She remains true to her "plain looks" and smart demeanor. Yet all the while Rochester keeps a dark secret from Jane: his first wife Bertha Mason is locked in a room on the third floor of the house. Rochester's explanation centers on the fact that he was tricked into marrying her and that Bertha is mad.
The heroine in "The Bloody Chamber" experiences quite a different courtship. She too is a young girl, age seventeen, and her suitor is an older man. She, in contrast to Jane, is extremely naïve and does not know herself, having lived with her mother in a close, loving relationship, which proves most beneficial in the end. She experiences a quick Parisian courtship with his third wife "dead just three short months before I met him" (p. 10). She questions what such a wealthy, influential man would want with her, for they have little in common. When her future husband showers her with fancy clothing, she gladly wears it, for what she already owns is unsuitable for her new status.
"'The marriage can not go on: I declare the existence of an impediment'" (306). Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is the story of an orphaned girl who is sent to live at Gateshead Hall with Mrs. Reed and her three cousins, whom Jane doesn't get along with. At the age of ten, Mrs. Reed sends Jane away to Lowood Institution, an all girls' school, where she spends the next eight years of her life. At the age of eighteen, Jane leaves Lowood and accepts the position as governess at Thornfield Hall. Mr. Rochester, the owner of Thornfield Hall, and Jane fall madly in love and plan to get married, but little does Jane know, Mr. Rochester has a terrible secret that could ruin Jane's life. Throughout the novel, the theme of deceit and dishonesty results in unhappiness and suffering not only to those being lied to, but also to those people perpetuating the untruths.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, both show two people that are fated to meet within forbidden circumstances that should have prevented them from being together but causes them to push against the destiny laid out. Night Circus by Morgenstern shows the main characters, Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair, slowly develop feelings for each other, as they learn the true ending of their story. In Jane Eyre by Brontë, the protagonists, Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester, learn to trust one another as they face difficulties and a major secret that tests her loyalty to him. Jane finds herself falling further into the depths of love. It shows how the love that is evident between the two characters only grows stronger and deeper through the destruction of the boundaries and rules that are set from of them. Through the abusive pasts of both the female characters, boundaries and rules set, the first time they meet, and the decisions and sacrifices made to be together, are all signs of their bond growing into a strong combination.
In the movie Jane Eyre, we have the character Edward Rochester, the owner of the house in which Jane Eyre stays there as a governess. When the two meet they fall in love and Rochester insists she marry him.
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...
continue to fluctuate as she matures. Jane Eyre begins her life in the wrong place at the wrong
Chapter 23 of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre Jane Eyre begins by telling us about Jane's strict and unhappy upbringing with her upper class Aunt, Mrs. Reed. She is then sent to Lowood School where her only friend Helen falls ill and dies. When Jane is older she becomes a Governess working for Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Hall. Jane and Rochester fall in love but neither of them express their feelings to each other.
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.
For the first half of Jane Eyre, Bertha is only known to the reader through her nearly phantasmal presence&emdash;the peculiar laugh, and the mysterious incident in which Rochester's bed was lit on fire. Only after the foiled wedding of Rochester and Jane, in which Mr. Briggs and Mr. Mason appear unexpectedly declaring that the wedding should not proceed, does Rochester explain to Jane that he has a living wife detained on the third floor of Thornfield Hall. "He lifted the hangings from the wall, uncovering the second door: this, too, he opened" (327). "In a room without a window" Bertha is found living as a wild animal sequestered from everyone but her caretaker Grace Poole. Like a ferocious beast, she is even tied down and bound.
Bertha and Mr. Rochester were set up and pressured into marrying each other. Mr. Rochester claims that isolating Bertha in a secret room is a justifiable act because of her mental instability. However, The Bertha that the reader gets to see exhibits an accumulated maniacal rage as a result of her imprisonment. Jane describes her as a savage woman. The very sight of her when she attacked her brother or when she ripped the wedding veil traumatized Jane. However, Bertha impacted more than her safety. When Bertha is revealed to be Mr. Rochester’s wife, Jane finds out that despite the love she and Mr. Rochester have for each other; Jane can be nothing more than a mistress because it is illegal to divorce an insane women who is not in control of her actions.
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
Moseley goes on to say, “Liberty and love are in some way at war in the lives of all of us.” It is not until Jane reaches personal liberation, that she is capable of loving someone else to a full extent. Throughout Jane Eyre Jane must learn how to gain love without sacrificing herself in the process. Orphaned at an early age, Jane becomes used to a lackluster lifestyle without any true value. It is not until she finds love and comfort in her friends at Lowood that her life begins to turn around. Upon meeting Rochester, Jane’s life was only as plain as she made it. She untwines in a world wind romance, ultimately finding the love she craved without losing her self-value.
At the beginning of the novel, Bronte presents Jane as a lonely, yet independent and intelligent child who faces difficult hardships at a very young age. At Gateshead, Jane is greatly mistreated by her family members which result in her attending a school for orphaned children called Lowood. Although Jane's life at Lowood is an improvement compared to life at Gateshead, she still feels as though she belongs elsewhere. Jane sends out an advertisement for a wanted governess after six years of living at Lowood and soon begins working at Thornfield Hall where she begins teaching a young French girl Adele Varens. Upon arriving, Jane is informed by the housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax that the owner of Thornfield Mr. Rochester travels often and has lived through a troubled life. After many months have passed at Thornfield Jane finally meets Mr. Rochester and he takes a great secretive interest in her. The relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester is the first non-abusive relationship Jane has with another man in the no...
He misleads her by supposedly courting a beautiful woman and then proposes to her even though they are in different classes and she is amazed but accepts. On the day of their marriage it is discovered that Mr. Rochester already has a crazy wife, Bertha Mason locked upstairs, which explains some strange goings on at Thornfield. Jane leaves Thornfield knowing she can't be with Mr. Rochester. She wanders about with nowhere to go and no money until she meets three relatives of hers whom she wasn't aware of and they take her in.
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.
Women, in all classes, were still living in a world which was misogynistic and male-dominated. Their purpose in life was to produce male heirs and maintain the home by hiring and overseeing servants. It was also taboo for one to marry significantly below one’s social class. This is one reason that Jane is not a conventional heroine for the society of her time. Although, as a governess, she is not considered to be as low as a housemaid, she is still part of the hired help in the house. This is why it is unconventional for her and Mr Rochester to be in a relationship. Yet this is not as peculiar as how Jane Eyre ends their relationship due to her sense of betrayal. It would have been considered extremely foolish for a working-woman’s sense of betrayal to end and turn down a man of great wealth.