Jane Eyre Rhetorical Analysis

I remember first reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in ninth grade. I thought it was a wonderful love story between a smart, ambitious girl and a wealthy, conceited, handsome man. Now, as I go back and read the story again, I find more of what Bronte was trying to convey. She uses many different literary devices to enhance her work and aid in understanding such as diction, imagery, tone, and characterization.

Charlotte Bronte uses diction from the eighteen hundreds to better immerse the reader in the setting, as well as to better accentuate the beautiful language. "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you - especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so

of land some broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly. As for you, - you'd forget me”(363). Bronte uses Mr. Rochester’s proposal to Jane as a way to emphasize the type of elegant language
Not only does Bronte intertwine the diction of the eighteen hundreds within her writing, but she also uses imagery: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will” (365). Jane, comparing herself to a bird, shows how strong-willed and free-spirited she is. Bronte exemplifies this in Jane: “I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate”(375). Bronte gives inspiration for people to be themselves and the way she incorporates imagery into her writing helps to really drive her point home.
Although Bronte’s imagery is absolutely captivating and grasps the reader’s attention it is not the only aspect that gives insight and affects the story. Bronte gives the story a gloomy, almost dark undertone, giving her characters a sad backstory and shrouding them in mystery. Throughout the story I was kept constantly wondering what Mr. Rochester was hiding.
Not only does she incorporate a slightly melancholic tone but she also gives them character.

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones”(492). This quote gives insight on Jane’s personal beliefs and opens her mind to the reader just a little more.

Despite the story being ultimately described as a love story, I feel as though there is underlying inspiration to it. Bronte seemed to incorporate ambition and strength into her work. “I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give”(289).

Jane Eyre shows that if a person works hard, and chooses to follow their heart, everything will work out in the end. I would definitely recommend others to read Jane Eyre, if not to inspire and intrigue, for a good love story if anything

else.