Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre and the episode of the punishment

Charlotte Bronte’s life

Charlotte’s life is similar to Emily Bronte. The role of her father was important for her artistic inclinations. She spent most of her life in isolation in a remote part of Yorkshire, so she was mainly self educated. She read on her own thanks to her father's library and she had a very bad experience in college. The result of this experience is “Jane Eyre” (1847). Like a lot of female writers she used a male pseudonym and then she died of pregnancy because of an illness.
 

Educational novel: “Jane Eyre”

“Jane Eyre” is known as an educational novel (it follows the character little by little, during all the episodes/events). This novel describes the educational condition of that time. The main character is Jane, an orphan girl, who had a different life from her cousins, because she was kept in ignorance. So this character, Jane, started to read on her own and she decided to react against her relatives. For this reason she was sent away to a college for orphans because she behaved badly, she was a rebel girl. In this college there’s a very strict kind of discipline and lifestyle, however Jane manages to overcome difficulties with tenacity and hard work.
 

Episode of punishment

Jane is taken to the Lowood Institution, a boarding school for orphaned-girls, where girls usually receive a very strict kind of education. Jane is brought there because her adoptive mother, who had raised her as her daughter, was afraid that her behavior could "contaminate" her real children, and defines her as an ungrateful girl. In the boarding school Jane is also accused of breaking a slate. And immediately she is put into detention, on a chair in the center of the room. Jane is therefore humiliated. At first she feels paralyzed. But there is a character, Helen, who encourages her with his gaze. In fact, Jane feels stronger thanks to her. The head of this institution, Mr. Broklehurst, based on what she was told by her adoptive mother, calls her an outcast and a liar in front of all the pupils and teachers. Furthermore, she tells them to avoid her, not to speak to her, to keep an eye on her behavior and even physically punish her if necessary. Jane is concerned that her new friends, Helen and Ms. Temple, will reject her because of Mrs. Reed's lies. She does not yet understand the deeper bonds of friendship and love. Jane is devastated, but takes heart from Helen Burns.