Lesson 6: Romantic Novel, Jane Eyre

Why is Jane Eyre considered a radical novel for its time?

• Focuses on one female protagonist with a rich inner life

• Jane demands equality, not rescue

• Challenges patriarchy, class hierarchy, and religious authority

• Shows female anger, desire, and moral autonomy

How does Chapter 19 show Jane’s outsider position?

• Rochester hosts an aristocratic party

• Jane is watched, judged, and silently excluded

• Miss Ingram’s disapproval highlights class boundaries

• Jane is present but does not belong socially

Explain Jane’s attitude toward her own social standing.

• She is aware of being poor and obscure

• Refuses to internalise shame

• Judges people by character, not class

• Maintains dignity without pretending to be aristocratic

How does fire imagery relate to Jane’s personality?

• Fire = passion, anger, emotional intensity

• Red Room → suppressed rage

• Thornfield fire → sexual and emotional danger

• Ending → controlled warmth = balanced selfhood

In what way are Jane and Bertha doubles?

• Both imprisoned (Red Room / attic)

• Both express female rage

• Jane controls her anger; Bertha is consumed by it

• Bertha represents what Jane must not become

Explain the significance of

“Me, she had dispensed from joining the group.”

• Passive construction → Jane is excluded by others

• “Me” vs “group” shows social separation

• No name yet → loss of identity

• Establishes Jane as isolated from the start

Analyse the quote from Chapter 23:

“Do you think I am an automaton?”

• Jane rejects being treated as an object

• Asserts emotional and spiritual equality

• Challenges class and gender hierarchy

• One of the most feminist moments in the novel

What does

“Reader, I married him.”
reveal about narration?

• Jane controls the narrative

• Marriage is her choice, not fate

• Direct address creates intimacy

• Breaks Victorian narrative conventions

How is Bertha described, and why is this problematic?

• Exoticised, racialised language

• Linked to madness and violence

• Reflects colonial stereotypes

• Modern critics read this as imperial anxiety

Why is Jane Eyre a Bildungsroman?

• Follows Jane from childhood to adulthood

• Focus on moral, emotional, and social growth

• Key stages: Gateshead → Lowood → Thornfield → Moor House → Ferndean

• Ending = achieved balance between independence and love

Explain Theory of Mind in Jane Eyre.

• Jane reflects deeply on her own emotions

• Understands others’ motives and pain

• Psychological realism unusual for the time

• Reader is invited into her moral reasoning

How does the novel critique Victorian religion?

• Brocklehurst = hypocritical authority

• St John = duty without compassion

• Helen Burns = passive endurance

• Jane chooses conscience over dogma

What Romantic elements are present in Jane Eyre?

• Emphasis on emotion and passion

• Nature mirrors inner feelings

• Gothic settings and symbolism

• Focus on individual identity

Is Jane Eyre a feminist novel? Explain.

• Yes: Jane seeks equality, autonomy, self-respect

• Rejects domination by men

• Gains financial independence before marriage

• Expresses female desire and anger openly

How does social class shape Jane’s identity?

• She moves through multiple classes

• Never fully belongs anywhere

• Develops empathy across social boundaries

• Ultimately judges people by morality, not status

How does the novel combine Romanticism and Realism?

• Romantic: emotion, nature, Gothic suspense

• Realist: social detail, psychology, moral conflict

• Creates a “synthesis of passion and principle”

Why did Charlotte Brontë use a male pseudonym?

• Women writers weren’t taken seriously

• Novel was considered too radical

• Gender neutrality increased credibility

• Highlights constraints on women authors