Jane Eyre - novel

CHARTISM

- First mass movement driven by the working class that grew following the failure

of 1832 Reform Act to extend the vote beyond those owning property. In 1838 a

People’s Charter was drawn up for the London Working Men’s Association and had 6

demands. Even though the petition was presented twice to the House of Parliament

(the first with 1.25 million signatures and the second with 3 million) it was rejected

anyway. A third petition was presented but it got rejected like the previous 2 and in

the end, the movement died in a few years.

ON JANE EYRE AND “REVOLUTION”

Lady Georgina Fullerton in a review published in 1848 complained that Charlotte Bronte

work “burned with moral Jacobinism”.

WOMEN SUCH AS…

- George Sand (male pseudonym of Amantine Lucille Aurore Dupin) would question

the social norms that had entrapped women in specific gender roles and lifestyles.

She sometimes dressed up like a man and published her thoughts on feminism.

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BILDUNGSROMAN

- The novel moves towards the maturity and self-knowledge of its 2 central

characters.

- Jane: her maturation is the most detailed and central because it goes from her as a

child to her as a grown-up married woman.

- Rochester: his growth is necessary to complete Miss Bronte’s vision of the world. His

story is of sin and redemption.

POINT OF VIEW

Since Jane is the narrator and the protagonist of the story, we never forget what she’s

feeling. On the other hand, when Rochester is telling something about his life we are less

absorbed with his narration and his feelings of remorse than we are with Jane’s reactions to

the necessary finitude of relationships based on passion alone. In other words, we focus on

the feelings that Jane feels as a result of Rochester’s stories.

THE NARRATOR AND ITS FUNCTIONS

1. Narrative function: this role is assumed by the narrator, whether present or not

2. Directing function: the narrator performs a directing function when he interrupts the

story to comment on the organization of his text

3. The function of communication: the narrator addressed the narratee directly to

establish contact with him or her

4. Testimonial function: the narrator affirms the truth of his story also by expressing

his emotions about it

5. Ideological function: the narrator interrupts his story to introduce instructive

NARRATIVE INSTANCE

It is said to be the conjunction of:

1. narrative voice (who is speaking?)

2. time of the narration (when does the telling occur, relative to the story?)

3. narrative perspective (point of view)

NARRATIVE LEVELS

NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE

1. Zero focalization: the narrator knows more than the characters (omniscient

narrator);

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2. Internal focalization: the narrator knows as much as the character (this narrator

filters the information provided to the reader (he cannot report the thoughts of other

characters);

3. External focalization: the narrator knows less than the character (he acts like a

camera lens, following the protagonists’ actions from the outside, unable to guess

their thoughts).

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MODE: convergence of the narrator and the protagonist that in this

case happens by the end of the novel.

The novel can be divided into 5 parts based on the 5 primary locations of activity within it:

1. Gateshead: a place filled with disappointment where she fails expectations

2. Lowood

3. Thornfield Hall

4. Marsh End

5. Ferndean

She mainly experiences the first 2 places during her childhood. The other 2 are the places

where she learns the most about herself and the world surrounding her. In the last location,

she was able to enter completely into adulthood.

NOVEL - Chapter 1

The first sentence → It's a metaphor for problems that she must solve to be independent

That day → real beginning of Jane's progress.

She feels inferior to her cousins (physically). She is not only verbally, but also physically

abused by her relatives.

They said Eliza.. look perfectly happy → here is represented the ideal of the perfect

Victorian's family (the image of the mother in front of a fire with her darlings).

However Jane is excluded from this family scene → Me(at the beginning to

emphasize), she had dispensed from joining the group. From one side she felt isolated but

She was glad of it →

on the other side. Better being excluded than being mistreated

→ children should be happy

Jane Eyre fails to conform to Victorian's Era expectations

but she wasn't so Jane reads books in this sort of refuge that she found for

herself → books are a means of escape. Jane used books as protection but also as

rebellion (a female who reads at that time). → here is underlined the fact that she

She is not allowed to take the books of the house

owns nothing (even though she was the daughter of a wealthy woman, now she's

an orphan, so she has no money) (a well educated

Jane is a rebel child, she dares to answer and react to the insults

Victorian girl would never act like this) → Due to this attitude and due to the fight

with her cousin, she is locked in the “red-room”— the frightening chamber in which her

Uncle Reed died — as punishment.

MRS REED

● Mrs Reed is Jane's aunt and she looks after Jane at Gateshead.

● She is cruel towards Jane, offering her little happiness and punishing her

relentlessly. She punishes Jane by locking her in the Red Room and forbidding

anyone to let her out.

● Mrs Reed idolizes her children, John, Georgiana and Eliza, making them selfish,

egotistical and arrogant.

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● She is jealous of Jane, as her husband loved Jane dearly, perhaps more than their

own children. This could be the reason behind her malicious treatment of Jane.

NOVEL - Chapter 2

- Before she never reacted to the abuses, but now she begins to defend herself. 'I was

→ (fuori di me) out of myself → this is the adult Jane, the

trifle beside myself'

narrating I French is considered here in a negative way → as a sign

- Revolution moment:

of rebellion and revolution.

Differences between Jane's situation and one of her relatives is always

- underscored → Jane has to change if she wants to be part of the family

(not to be rude and passionate, but useful and pleasant)

→

- Red room bedroom. It's red vs white (fire and ice-passion and affection to Mr

Rochester vs the cold behaviour of her relatives). The room is also the symbol of the

patriarchate (here uncle Reed died), even the furniture is imponent.

→ Jane reflects herself, but she doesn't recognize herself → a

- Looking glass

part of herself is imprisoned in the room, the other in the mirror, doubled

imprisoned (visionary hallow). Then she meditates on the injustices of her

life: the acts of violence and abuses remains now in her disturbed mind,

seen like a turbid well (pozzo torbido)

→ She thinks to see a ghost (is all in her mind) and the

- Gothic experience

only ways to escape from her situation are to run, die or be mad. She

almost loses her mind → 'I suppose I had a species of fit'

- During the Victorian Era, poor children attended charity schools or went to work in

factories. They couldn't rely on financial funds, so they had to prepare their selves to

work life. The charity schools trained children in sewing for example. Their aim was

far from educating them.

The only way a woman could support herself was the marriage →

Victorian's Era ideal

The method to educate girls were:

Send girls away to fashionable boarding schools → in this way they

• could have a certain freedom and meet other girls who maybe had

brothers (mix and match method)

• The second way was to hire a governess, a private teacher, who was of gentle

origins but with limited incomes

- Women had to be innocents; they should protect their reputations (a bad experience

could ruin forever their integrity).

Jane couldn't afford the boarding school but couldn't even attend a charity school like

the poor child (she was between two institutions) so she was sent to Lowood, an

institution created to educate.

NOVEL - Chapter 3 - 4

- She’s still recovering from the stay in the red room, she is frightened and exhausted

because she was locked there against her will and she knows she is treated less

than a servant because Mrs Reed called the apothecary (pharmacist) when servants

and Jane were feeling sick. Instead, she called the physician for her and her children.

- When she got out she entered the living room and sees a person, a man, Mr

Brocklehurst, described as a black pillar and a disturbing presence.

- He is described as the “Red Riding Hood’s Wolf”, with big teeth and a largemouth.

He is a presence that intimidated these little girls forced to go to feminine institutions.

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Mr Brocklehurst had very rooted and static morality and educated girls with Christian

teachings (humility, silence, chastity and mortification).

MR BROCKLEHURST:

● The supervisor of a boarding school for orphaned girls, Lowood Institute;

● He enjoys intimidating little girls, keeping them half-starved and cold, and telling them

that they’re going to hell for their sins (all while feeling self-righteous about doing it

and thinking that God’s giving him approval). Moreover, wears them in uniforms to

underline the fact that they’re poor and orphans and that they are not an individual

but all the same (diminished human value).

● He’s seen as “the ultimate hypocrite” Mr Brocklehurst’s own children wear silk and fur

and we’re sure they’ve never missed a meal in their lives

- When Mr Brocklehurst first sees Jane, he’s disappointed with her physical aspect

and answers (Jane doesn’t attempt expectations).

- People keep telling Jane who she is (young liar, ...) even if she has the right to speak

for herself. People have given their version of her story, but she doesn’t accept them

and wants to speak for herself, also she is bubbling (boiling over).

- When Mrs Reed orders her to leave, she feels a tremendous need to talk, and she

comes back. Jane speaks freely from the heart, with resentment, and tells the whole

truth in front of Mrs Reed and Mr Brocklehurst.

- Jane rejects all the crimes she had been accused of and speaks with violence and

with mental and physical effort. She is too PASSIONATE, SAVAGE and

OUTSPOKEN.

- When she is left alone, she feels proud of what she has done but slowly realizes that

her first attempt to tell the truth about herself was a failure and begins to