Narration and Conversation in Jane Eyre
Throughout her life, Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel by Charlotte Bronte, relies heavily on language and story-telling to communicate her thoughts and emotions. Not only are good story-telling skills important to Jane Eyre as a the narrator, but they are also important to Jane Eyre as a character in her own novel. From the beginning of the novel, we learn of Jane's love of books -- "each picture told a story" (40) -- and of her talent for telling her own stories. As the narrator, she makes sure the reader is fully aware of her thoughts, emotions, and the constraints put upon her as her life unfolds before us.
In the opening scene of Jane Eyre, we immediately see how Jane is suppressed by the Reed family. She is often forbidden to show expression in any form. Upon questioning her guardian as to the reasoning behind her being excluded from the rest of the family, she is told, "Be seated somewhere, and until you can speak pleasantly, remain silent" (39). She retires to solitude in another room of the house with a book to keep her occupied and is never allowed to explain herself. When John Reed finds her and hurls a book at her head, she is forced to go to the "red-room." Jane is immediately blamed without having a chance to give her account of the incident.
Jane's straightforwardness and honesty when relating with others is fundamental to her character; but it is not until Mrs. Reed accuses Jane of having "a tendency to deceit" (65), in the presence of Mr. Brocklehurst, that we see this attribute of her character surface. Before this time, Jane has been able to suppress her anger and emotions regarding the Reed family quite successfully. In this scene, how...
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...er character as a form of expression, but she consistently uses communication skills and narrative ability as a measure of character. Jane assesses the ability of every character to communicate effectively and then proceeds to make judgments about that character based on these assessments. Her favor, as is repeatedly shown, rests with those who are proficient in their narrative abilities. Jane is the dominant narrator, but she delights in letting other characters share in the task. Our focus is continually shifted from one character's narrative to another's. By allowing her story to be told through various characters, Jane not only emphasizes the high regard she has for these particular characters, but she emphasizes the veneration she has for eloquence in narration as well.
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. NY: Penguin, 1966.
In the beginning of Jane Eyre, Mrs. Reed tells the owner of Lowood Institution, Mr. Brocklehurst, that Jane has, "'a bad character, a deceitful disposition; and to let everybody at Lowood know what [she] is, and what [she] has done'" (34). Jane already despises Mrs. Reed for treating her so poorly, but now she is infuriated. If Mr. Brocklehurst describes Jane as Mrs. Reed instructs him to do, Jane will never make friends at Lowood because all of the children will fear her. Jane battles back by saying to her aunt, "'I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to see you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick, and that you treated me with miserable cruelty'" (33). Jane...
“Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Bronte, is a story of an orphaned girl who was forced to live at Gateshead Hall with her Aunt Reed. Throughout her early appalling childhood, Mrs. Reed accused Jane of being deceitful. "I am not deceitful; If I were I would say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you (30)." The author, Charlotte Bronte, used this barbarous quote to reveal to the reader that, Jane Eyre, denies she was deceitful. Deceitful is the major theme of, “ Jane Eyre,” which results in loneliness and wretchedness to the people being lied to but also to the people persisting the untruths.
Analyse the methods Charlotte Brontë uses to make the reader empathise with Jane Eyre in the opening chapters. Reflect on how the novel portrays Victorian ideology and relate your analysis to the novel’s literary content.
The audience is left in no doubt about Lady Macbeth’s determination when she asks the spirits to make her masculine ‘unsex me here’ and make her completely evil:
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...
At the beginning of the novel while Jane is living under her aunt, Mrs. Reed, she is treated disrespectfully and cruelly. She accuses Jane of being deceitful and a troublesome girl in front of Mr. Brocklehurst, the master of Lowood School. Jane is so hurt by this accusation that she cannot stop herself from defending her well being, and she stands up to her aunt. She knows she is being treated disrespectful and has much more self-worth than ...
In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, it was love, and not age or education, that led Jane to mature and grow as a person. With the help of Helen Burns and Miss. Temple, Jane Eyre learned what it meant to love someone. Both these people influenced Jane to mature into a young lady by showing Jane their love and affection. When Jane left Lowood to become a governess, she met the love of her life, Mr. Rochester. With his love, Jane Eyre eventually matured fully and grew into a self-sufficient woman and left the hatred and anger behind.
By Jane expressing rage and blatantly retaliating against authority it was defiance against the traditional role of women. After expressing her feelings, Mrs Reed sends her away to Lowood School. However, before doing so she severs her ties with her Aunt by saying ‘I will never call you aunt again as long as I live’. Here Jane gains familial liberation and expresses her emotional state of mind as she takes a stand and shows some empowerment. Likewise, in Rebecca, the late Mrs De Winter was also portrayed as a strong female who could stand up for herself. In addition, the psychological effect Jane experienced throughout chapter 1,in the ‘red-room’, is also demolished once she said expressed her thoughts to her Aunt as she felt her ‘soul begin to expand.’. This indicates that she is finally free from the burden and torture that her ‘soul’ had to carry which also reflects the physical freedom that she has gained when moving away from her Aunt. However, as her ‘soul’ began to expand, Brontë could be implying that God is on her side since an expanded soul indicates that one has been forgiven or has seen the light. In addition, Jane also asserts her authority against Aunt Reed as she declared
The Beliefs of Christians About Their Responsibility for the Beginning and End of Their Life
Whether it is because of the obligation, out of love, pity or kindness, Jane believes she visit Mrs. Reed and fulfill her last wishes. “Forgive me for my passionate language; I was a child then; eight, nine years have passed since that day.” (253) Putting the hardships behind her Jane gives her full apologies to Mrs.
At the start of Jane Eyre, Jane is living with her widowed aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her family after being orphaned. Jane is bitterly unhappy there because she is constantly tormented by her cousins, John, Eliza, and Georgiana. After reading the entire book you realize that Jane was perfectly capable of dealing with that issue on her own, but what made it unbearable was that Mrs. Reed always sided with her children, and never admitted to herself that her offspring could ever do such things as they did to Jane. Therefore, Jane was always punished for what the other three children did, and was branded a liar by Mrs. Reed. This point in the book marks the beginning of Jane's primary conflict in the novel. She feels unloved and unaccepted by the world, as her own family betrays her.
as a tear ran down his face. "Yet I will never forget the family I so
Austen, Jane, and Donald J. Gray. Pride and Prejudice. An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Reviews, and Essays in Criticism. New York: Norton, 1966. Print.
At the beginning of the book, Jane was living with her aunt Mrs. Reed and her children. Although Jane is treated cruelly and is abused constantly, she still displays passion and spirit by fighting back at John and finally standing up to Mrs Reed. Even Bessie ‘knew it was always in her’. Mrs. Reed accuses Jane of lying and being a troublesome person when Mr. Brocklehurst of Lowood School visited Gateshead. Jane is hurt, as she knows she was not deceitful so she defends herself as she defended herself to John Reed when he abused her, as she said “Wicked and cruel boy! You are like a murderer – you are like a slave driver – you are like the Roman emperors!” to John Reed instead of staying silent and taking in the abuse, which would damage her self-confidence and self-worth. With the anger she had gotten from being treated cruelly, she was able to gain ...
At the start of act 1 we learn that Macbeth and lady Macbeth are in a