Letteratura inglese - Jane Eyre and the settings

Jane Eyre: a novel of formation

Settings

• Gateshead
• Lowood
• Thornfield Hall
• Moor House
• Ferndean

Gateshead

This is an awful place where Jane feels in prison. Mrs. Reed and Jane’s cousins are very bad. It’s a sort of hell and everybody ill-treats her.

Lowood

Lowood Institution is a very strict school and a difficult place to live in: cold, little food, strict teachers, etc. Here she meets her first friend: Helen Burns, but unfortunately she’s ill and dies (Jane experiences death). Here she also meets Miss Temple, a teacher who loves Jane and is loved by her. This woman will become a sort of model for her. At the end, Jane becomes a teacher in Lowood but, one day, she decides to go away and begins to search for a job as a governess (a teacher that went to teach in the houses of rich families). Why? She wanted to know more about the world and Miss Temple got married (and she didn’t want to stay in Lowood without her). She wants to experience life more and better.

Thornfield Hall

Thornfield Hall - Name thorn (spine) + field (campo). Jane is a teacher here. Mrs Fairfax is the housekeeper and the owner is Edward Rochester, who is away when she arrives there. Jane has to teach to Adèle, a little girl who lives here (probably an illegitimate daughter of Mr. Rochester).

In the house something strange happens. One night Jane smells smoke in a corridor and realizes that it comes from Mr. Rochester’s bedroom. She opens the door and sees that his bed is on fire. She throws some water on the bed and saves him. Mr. Rochester appreciates Jane: she’s not really beautiful but she’s intelligent, brave (she’s not afraid of fire) and she always expresses her own opinion. He trusts her and likes her personality.

One night a guest is wounded and Mr. Rochester asks Jane to stay with him while he’s looking for a doctor. She isn’t afraid of blood and he trusts her.

Mr. Rochester is going to marry Blanche, a beautiful, rich and aristocratic woman. Right after, he decides to propose to Jane.

Strange events

• Laughs
• Mr. Rochester’s bed burning
• Wounded man
• A figure that cuts her wedding veil into two pieces

The person who causes these events is Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester’s mad wife, looked after by Grace Poole. For this reason, he decides to lock her in the attic but sometimes she escapes. Why did Mr. Rochester decide to marry her? This marriage was probably imposed by the family because she was a very rich woman.

Fairy tale pattern

• Good and bad characters (Reed and River cousins)
• Orphan
• Her aunt plays the role of the stepmother (like “Cinderella”)