Letteratura inglese - Jane Eyre and the settings

Jane Eyre: a novel of formation

(settings)

Jane Eyre can be considered as a novel of formation.

1. Gateshead

2. Lowood

3. Thornfield Hall

4. Moor House

5. 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,… 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 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 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



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 Mr. Rochester decided 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”)

 Bertha Mason seems to be a “monster”

