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Jane Eyre Tone and Diction

Decent Essays

Jane Eyre The novel Jane Eyre is a story about a stoic woman who fights her entire life through many trials and tribulations until she finds true love and achieves an almost nirvana-like state of being. The manner, in which Charlotte Bronte writes, her tone and diction especially, lends its self to the many purposes of the novel. The diction of Bronte usually had characteristics of gothic culture and showed the usually negative and angry inner thoughts of Jane. The tone of the novel was there sympathetic towards Jane and displayed her as an intelligent and kind person who has been given a terrible lot in life. This allows the audience to feel connected with Jane because most people have gone through times in their life where they have …show more content…

Each teacher was described in a very unpleasant and sordid manner. The foreign teacher and Miss Miller were described in the worst way. Harsh and grotesque are words that have definite downbeat connotations. The word grotesque especially has a very nasty image associated with it. Miss Miller is given a sympathetic but still negative description. The words used, purple, weather-beaten and overworked all remind the audience of a mother or matriarchal figure who was once beautiful but is now rough and unsightly. The word choice of each teacher shows how Jane feels toward the school in general. The external problems that plague Jane give the audience even more connections. Everyone has had teachers who are visually and mentally unattractive which allows for the readers to have sympathy. The tone of this passage is very ugly and melancholy. The unattractiveness of the teachers just compounds the problems of Jane’s already terrible life. Since the reader is already aware of the emotional problems of her life, the mediocre school which she now attends only makes Jane more, “Plain Jane”. There is also a bit of a Sisyphean tone in this passage in context of the whole novel. It seemed that every time Jane was close to success, she was faced with another ordeal and sent her back to block one. Most people have probably gone through periods in their life where no matter what they do; they always fall down the proverbial

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