Jane Eyre - AO1

Jane Eyre

• '"I am poor, obscure, plain and little."'

• 'I was termed naughty and tiresome, sullen and sneaking.'

• “you have the air of a little nonnette; quaint, quiet, grave, and simple, as you sit with your hands before you, and your eyes generally bent on the carpet

• "The Lowood constraint still clings to you somewhat; controlling your features, muffling your voice, and restricting your limbs"

• "You are original," said he, "and not timid. There is something brave in your spirit." - St John Rivers

Mr Rochester

• "the man, the human being" 

• 'He had a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow.'

• "To tell me that I had already a wife is empty mockery; you know now that I had but a hideous demon"

Helen Burns

• “It is not violence that best overcomes hate - nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury”

• “Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

• “Hush, Jane! you think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement

• “I am very happy, Jane; and when you hear that I am dead you must be sure and not grieve; there is nothing to grieve about. We all must die one day, and the illness which is removing me is not painful; it is gentle and gradual; my mind is at rest…By dying young I shall escape great sufferings…I believe; I have faith; I am going to God.”

Bertha

• “What it was, whether beast or human being, one couldn’t tell” - Jane 

• “To tell that I already had a wife is empty mockery; you know that I had but a hideous demon” 

• “intemperate and unchaste” 

• "clothed hyena" 

• "the lunatic raised her teeth to his cheek" 

• 'This was a demonic laugh - low, suppressed and deep' 

• '"She sucked the blood: she said she'd drain my heart."' - Richard Mason

St John

• “He prizes me as a soldier would a good weapon; and that is all”  

• “[he would not] relinquish, for the Elysium of her love, one hope of the true, eternal Paradise” 

• "I was sure St John Rivers – pure lived, conscientous, zealous as he was – had not yet found that peace of God that surpasseth all understanding" 

• "the scantier the meed his toil brings – the higher the honour"  

• Rosamund is a "last conflict with human weakness...that I will overcome" 

• “God and nature intended you for a missionary’s wife. It is not personal but mental endowments they have given you; you are formed for labour, not love. A missionary’s wife you must—shall be. You shall be mine; I claim you—not for my pleasure, but for my Sovereign’s service.” 

• [when Jane rejects him] 'it is not me you deny, but God"

• “I burnt for the more active life of the world”

Miss Temple

"She again summoned us to the fire; we sat one on each side of her"

Rivers sisters

• "I liked to read what they liked to read: what they enjoyed delighted me; what they approved of I reverenced"

• "Thought fitted thought; opinion met opinion; we coincided, in short, perfectly"

Blanche Ingram

• 'she played: her execution was brilliant; she sang: her voice was fine; she spoke French apart to her Mama'

• 'her mind was poor, her heart barren by nature…she was not good. She was not original'

• 'I saw he was going to marry her, for family, perhaps political reasons, because her rank and connections suited him.'

• 'half of them detestable and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi' - on governesses

Mr Brocklehurst

• "my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh"

• 'We are not to conform to nature. I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly.'

Rebellion

• “You are like a murderer - you are like a slave-driver - you are like the Roman emperors”

• “For liberty I gasped” “grant me at least a new servitude”

• "I have no relative but the universal mother, Nature: I will seek her breast and ask her repose"  

• “Women feel just as men feel”  

• "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."

Oppression of women

• "If you don't sit still, you must be tied down...lend me your garters" (Bessie) 

  • 2 female servants enforcing patriarchy 

• "I will myself put the diamond chain round your neck”

• "Your words are such as ought not be used: violent, unfeminine and untrue" (St John) 

• "I want you to give up German and learn Hindostanee"  

Passion vs reason

•  "There is room enough in Adele's little bed for you" 

• "I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout" 

• 'tongues of fire that licked the bed'

• 'I care for my self. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.'

Class

• “poverty for me was synonymous with degradation"  

• "must not forget that these coarsely-clad little peasants are of flesh and blood" 

• "I felt desolate to a degree...I felt degraded...I shall strive to overcome them" 

• "You are a dependant...you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentleman's children like us"  "less than a servant" (John Reed)

• "I was not heroic enough to purchase liberty at the price of class" 

• 'He is not of your order: keep to your caste'

• 'I am independent, sir, as well as rich: I am my own mistress.'

Love

• “I scorn your idea of love. I scorn the counterfeit sentiment you offer: yes, St John, and I scorn when you offer it” (Jane rejecting St John’s marriage proposal)

• “All my confidence is bestowed on him, all his confidence is devoted to me; we are precisely suited in character - perfect concord is the result” (Jane upon her married life with Mr Rochester) 

• “Not a human being that ever lived could wish to be loved better than i was loved…and i must renounce love and idol” (Jane deciding to leave Mr Rochester following her discovery of his wife, despite her love for him)

• "it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably to a similar string.. of your little frame"  

Identity

 

• "Mrs Rochester! She did not exist; she would not be born till tomorrow" 

Fairytale

• "Dripping like a mermaid" 

• "Most phantom-like...mere dream" 

• "Witch" 

Marriage

• 'When I mean shortly to claim you – your thoughts, conversation, and company – for life' - Rochester to Jane

• "it removed my veil from its gaunt head, rent it in two parts, and flinging both to the floor, trampled on them."

• “I would not exchange this one little English girl for all the Grand Turk’s bazaar” 

• To be your wife is, for me, to be as happy as I can be on earth…To be privileged to put my arms round what I value—to press my lips to what I love—to repose on what I trust; is that to make a sacrifice?...then certainly I delight in sacrifice.”

Motherhood

• 'Me, she had dispensed from joining the group.'

• Mrs Reed "boxed both her ears" - negative perception of motherhood

• Jane and her doll - "human beings must love something...and I contrived to find pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image"