In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the titular character goes on both a mental and physical journey throughout the novel. Jane calls several different places home throughout her life, and encounters different milestones and challenges that shape her into a person at each one. The names given to these places and the people Jane comes across in them are used to represent what will happen to her while she is living there. Bronte’s use of the meanings of names as symbols is called etymology. For the duration of Jane’s time moving between several different homes in England, her life changes drastically, causing her to adapt to new situations and develop as a person. It was no accident that the names of the people and places Jane encounters on her journey mirror these situations. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre uses the names of both characters and locations as symbols to represent Jane’s experiences at each of the places where she lives through her life. …show more content…
The Reeds take care of Jane because both of her parents died at a young age, making her an orphan. While living here, Jane’s extended family subjects her to neglect, abuse, and hate. This caused Jane to feel as if she were alone at Gateshead. Bronte’s naming of the residence shows how Jane feels like she cannot move beyond the “gate” separating her from the others living at Gateshead, stating “I was clearly a discord at Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage.” (Bronte 17). Jane saw that even Mrs. Reed’s servants were accepted in the house, while she was not. The use of “gate” also could represent how Jane’s time at Gateshead Hall was only the beginning of her struggles and development into an independent
The first chapter of Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Bronte, creates the feeling of constraint and imprisonment that the main character is experiencing. The author conveys this feeling to the readers by utilizing diction and imagery. With these literary elements the reader is able to comprehend the emotions the main character feels. Charlotte Bronte applies imagery to demonstrate how the character is affected by what she sees. In the chapter it states, "...
Violence is the most recurrent gothic convention used in Jane Eyre, which is prominent in Charlotte Brontë's effective development of the novel and the character of Jane Eyre, who, throughout this novel, is searching for a home in which she would have a sense of belonging and love which would ultimately resolve this exact unfulfilled need she had as a child. The neglect she experienced in her childhood is manifested in the way she is treated by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, as in the first page of the novel Jane Eyre admits: ‘Me, she had dispensed from joining the group, saying, 'She regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance’’. This opening shows how there is a clear line of separation drawn between Jane and her relatives due to her complicated family background which consequently results in their reluctance to accept her into their environment. These complications lead to her maltreatment, which also adds on to the violence she experiences acting as a catalyst for the development of the character and her subconscious quest.
In the novel, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, setting is used throughout the novel to illustrate the development in the character. The novel is revolved around five separate locations, ; the Reed family's home at Gateshead, the wretched Lowood School, Rochester's manor, Thornfield, the Rivers family's home at Moor House, and Rochester's rural retreat at Ferndean, these settings all play a very important part in Jane’s life as they all represent the development of Jane’s character and the different period’s of her eventful life.
Throughout Jane Eyre, as Jane herself moves from one physical location to another, the settings in which she finds herself vary considerably. Bronte makes the most of this necessity by carefully arranging those settings to match the differing circumstances Jane finds herself in at each. As Jane grows older and her hopes and dreams change, the settings she finds herself in are perfectly attuned to her state of mind, but her circumstances are always defined by the walls, real and figurative, around her.
In the early stages of Jane's life she was a very autonomous girl. She grew up in a hostile environment in the home of Mrs. Reed and her three children, John, Eliza, and Georgiana that is known as Gateshead. The Reed family showed no love or any sort of affection towards Jane in any way, shape, or form; for they all despised her. She spent most of her time out of contact of others. The most contact she had with someone was a
As a child at Gateshead, one discovers the first form of evil in the novel with the negative interactions between Jane and her relatives, which sparks from both, “physical inferiority,” (Bronte 11) to her cousins, and as Bronte eventually states, her lack of money. Doing rather short work, the reader discovers Jane does not belong in Gateshead with her rich Aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her cousins, John, Georgina, and Eliza. Jane’s three cousins cluster, “around their mamma,” (Bronte 11) in the opening of the novel, but Jane sits in solitary. She leaves to ask her aunt, “What does Bessie say I have done?”(Bronte 11); her aunt responds she likes children, who do not take up their elders, and Bronte implies, she likes good children, which becomes surprising with Jane’s cousins later actions. As Mrs. Reed departs from the
Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” has captivated readers for generations. As with all coming of age novels, young adults can relate to the struggles and triumphs of Jane. Jane’s setting influences and parallel her emotions. A reader can see the novel through her eyes and perspective. In Bronte’s “Jane Eyre,” the location often parallels Jane’s emotional growth through the tone presented by the environment, resulting in the different places she lives revealing her journey through depression. Jane’s behavioral patterns and thoughts suggest clinical depression that affected her choices throughout the novel and her life at Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Marsh End, and Ferdean.
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is presented in the Victorian Period of England. It is a novel which tells the story of a child's maturation into adulthood. Jane's developing personality has been shaped by her rough childhood. She has been influenced by many people and experiences. As a woman of her time, Jane has had to deal with the strain of physical appearance. This has a great effect on her mental thinking and decision making. Jane Eyre's cognitive and physical attributes have been affected by her environment throughout her life.
The only time that a member of the Reed family speaks to Jane is when they are belittling her, hoping to further assert their elite dominance over the lower class. In one particular quarrel, John Reed, the oppressive “Roman emperor” and “slave driver,” throws a book at Jane’s head to physically proclaim his dominance over her, to which Jane responds by verbally firing back at his elitist oppression. (Brontë 13) The battle between the social classes concludes with Jane being banished to the horrifying red-room as punishment for attempting to overthrow the elite power, John Reed, even though John was the clear instigator of the scuffle. Jane is later condemned by the house servants for her attempt to overthrow her “young master.” Jane and John are both children, but due to the wealth and status of his parents, John is allowed to rule over Jane, making Jane, as the Gateshead servants would describe, “‘less than a servant’” because she does nothing for her keep. (Brontë 15) Jane continuously faces this maltreatment at Gateshead until an outburst directed towards Mrs. Reed causes her to be sent away to Lowood school, a place where Mrs. Reed hopes Jane will perhaps be taught to conform to the societal norm of how a young girl like Jane should act in
While at Gateshead, Jane is trapped by her relationship to the Reeds, which is reflected in the environment around her. At the beginning of Jane Eyre, Jane states that “there was no possibility of taking a walk that day” (Brontë 6). This beginning immediately puts Jane in her own bubble and exemplifies that she has no other form of positive interaction in her life. Initially, Jane is “[connected to] the natural environment, but also separate[d from it] with an unnatural boundary” (Fuller 152). Thus, this begins the recurring symbolism of how Victorian women were held back by gender roles in society. During her time at Gateshead, Jane is restrained by her
Charlotte Brontë’s classic literature novel Jane Eyre is a Bildungsroman novel, which concentrates on the moral growth of the protagonist Jane. Brontë explores and extrapolates why Jane has difficulty complying to Victorian conventions whilst she is at Gateshead. Furthermore, Thornfield can be seen as a major learning curve, where Jane experiences both duty and desire. Through the use of this delicate balance of the binary opposites, readers are given insight into
I should say I loved you, but I declare I do not love you: I dislike
Right from the beginning of the novel, Jane as a girl of ten years experiences cruelty. At Gateshead, John’s bad treatment of Jane and Jane being locked up in the Red Room, explains well the bad treatment of the Reeds towards a helpless child. It thus made her develop an assertive nature. Gateshead was better when Mr Reeds was alive but after his death everything became worse. Jane dreamed of a happy life with the family when she was brought to Gateshead by her kind Uncle Reed. But she lost her hope soon after her uncle’s death. Mrs Reeds use to treat her very badly.
Bronte's Jane Eyre effectively transcends the genres of literature to depict the emotional and character development of its protagonist. Whilst no overall genre dominates the novel exclusively, the blending contributes towards the portrayal of Bronte’s bildungsroman (Realisms, 92) as Jane Eyre grapples with her inner-self, and the social expectations of her gender. The novel incorporates Jane’s frequent conflicts, oppression, isolation and self-examination as she defends her identity and independence. Set amongst five separate locations, Bronte’s skilful use of literal and metaphorical landscapes, nature, and imagery, skilfully intertwines with the plot and denotes each phrase of her maturity. To deliberate these points further, chapters 1 and 23, will be analysed in detail. In addition it will argue how Bronte used the setting of Jane Eyre, to demonstrate that women can go beyond the oppressive limitations of their gender, economic and social class and environment and find fulfilment. It will also consider how the setting
In the novel, Jane Eyre, the author Charlotte Brontë’s real life experiences influence the novel heavily throughout. Some of Brontë’s life events are paralleled through the novel and are morphed to fit the main character, Jane Eyre, with a similar but better life compared to Brontë’s. There are three major experiences that Jane encounters through her life in the novel that have a few correlations with Charlotte Brontë’s which are their childhood life and her experience in an impoverished school, and her work as a governess.