Themes

Abuse

• ‘he seemed to devour me‘ - Rochester’s description after grabbing Jane when she attempts to leave. ‘devour‘ is a violent, showing that Rochester is violent and harmful towards Jane. It is also animalistic imagery, perphaps saying that Rochester is more similar to Bertha than he realised.

• ‘employed it as sort of lever to hoist our dead weights from the house‘ - Blanche discussing her governess. Shows bias against governesses at the time, and how they were disliked by their students and their employers. Jane is present when this is said, showing Blanche’s cruelty and dislike of Jane.

Fire and Ice/ Pathetic Fallacy

• ‘You are cold…no contact strikes the fire from you that is in you‘ -Said by Rochester disguised as a gyspy to Jane. Jane’s current nature is cold, but fire is within her. Links to her past anger that she has buried. ‘contact‘ likely refers to Rochester, who wishes to bring out the passion from within her.

• ‘the trunk, split down the centre…community of vitality was destroyed‘ - The state of the tree that was split by lightening after the engagement. ‘split down the centre‘ could represent Rochester and Bertha, or Rochester and Jane, who are separated due to God and insanity. Could be seen as an act of God for Rochester’s bigamy. ‘vitality was destroyed‘ shows there is no growth in their relationship, could also show Jane’s and Rochester’s relationship with Thornfield is destroyed after what happened, such as Jane and Fairfax.

• ‘his eye was both spark and flint‘ - Jane’s description of Rochester after Bertha is revealed. ‘flint‘ ignites fire in others’ showing that Rochester has ignited fire in Jane and perphaps even Bertha. ‘spark‘ tells us he is fire and passion, and is filled with this the moment Bertha is revealed.

Supernatural/ Animal Comparison

• ‘Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it - the savage beautiful creature‘ - Said by Rochester to Jane once she attempts to leave after discovering Bertha. ‘savage‘ is a term often used to describe Bertha, which links to her heritage as well as comparing her to an animal. While the use of ‘cage‘ can mean bird, it can also imply any ther zoo creature, such as what is often used for Bertha. ‘creature‘ also implys this. This compares Jane to Bertha too, who is a savage creature locked in a cage, who Rochester cannot do anything about.

• ‘the clothed hyena rose up, and stood tall on its hind-feet‘ - Description of Bertha in her prison room. ‘clothed hyena‘ tells us she is acting as a human and is an animal, not the other way round. ‘hind-feet‘ tells us she often crawls on all fours, which shows her as a wild animal.

• ‘mon ange‘ - Rochester’s description of Celine, showing that he compares the women he loves to supernatural beings, as he believes love for him to be unnatural.

• ‘angel as my comforter‘ - Rochester describing Jane and how she has made him feel comforted for all the dark things he has done, such as Celine Varons. He asigns her this role without her consent, wven though she does become his comforter in the end. He also called his other mistress angel, perphaps foreshadowing his attempt to make Jane his mistress.

Social Class/ Inferiority

• ‘I will not be your English Celine Varons‘ - Jane resisiting Rochester’s treatment of her like Celine Varons, his mistress who he gave all his money and left him with a child. Jane still desires her independence from Rochester, and his respect. Her not wanting to be a mistress stems from her religious beliefs.

  • ‘Jewels for Jane Eyre‘ - Shows Rochester going against Jane’s wishes and forcing her into his mistress role, by buying her gifts. This shows his power over her to attempt to force this upon her.

• ‘any other English school-girl‘ - Rochester describing her piano skills. ‘any other‘ shows him dismissing her as nothing of note. ‘school-girl‘ highlights her inferiority in age, done to make her feel lesser than him in age and experience. Shows his power over her, to talk about her as if she can’t hear him.

• ‘because I am poor, obsecure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!‘ - Jane response to Rochester convincing her must stay, even when he is to marry. Jane demands she is equal to Rochester, even though she does not have his riches, size or fame. A controversial statement for the time. She uses a rhetorical question to show her anger at the way he treats her, that he is leading her along. This is the culmination of her anger at watching Rochester with Blanche this whole time.

• ‘Gentlemen in his station are not accustomed to marry their governesses‘ - Said by Mrs Fairfax to Jane after learning of their engagement. Highlights the class differences between the two. Shows that Fairfax cares for Jane, as she is advising her. Foreshadows to Rochester not marrying her.

Gender Roles/ Sexism

• ‘sweet subdued vivacity‘ - How Jane describes the female attendants of Rochester’s party. ‘vivacity‘ means attractive liveliness, which is oxymoronic next to ‘subdued‘. This shows the only way women can be attractive is to be quiet and still. Jane also views attractiveness in this way, showing this is an internalised belief.

• ‘they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do‘ - Jane when thinking about her boredom in Thornfield. ‘as their brothers‘ explicity puts women on the same level as men, something that was extremely controversial at the time. ‘field‘ also hints towards research, when women weren’t allowed an education and therefore a place in any fields of study.

• ‘pantomine of a marriage‘ - Description of Blanche and Rochester’s peformance during charades, showing thier marriage never could be, although it still acts to make Jane jealous. Also foreshadows to her own marriage, which due to its bigamy could never be a legitmate marriage.

Bird/ Gothic Imagery

• ‘Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it - the savage beautiful creature‘ - said by Rochester to Jane once she attempts to leave after discovering Bertha. ‘cage‘ implys Jane is like a bird locked in a cage but ‘cannot get at it‘ tells us she is not vulnerable or submissive to Rochester’s wants. It also tells us she is trapped by something, this can be seen as her religious morality or Rochester himself.

• ‘whence the bracelet had been washed or torn‘ - Jane’s first painting is quite gothic and dark themed, ‘torn‘ is quite violent imagery. It shows a drowning woman whos riches have been robbed from her, which she reaches towards even in death. Could represent Jane having her riches stolen from her by her aunt, or perphaps how she believes her aunt feels about her, as the bracelet was stolen by a bird which is imagery consistently used to describe Jane.0

Religion

• ‘it will atone - it will atone‘ - Rochester’s mumbles to himself after proposing to Jane. This is Rochester begging God to forgive him for his sins of adultery throughout the years, as well as his current sin of bigamy. Could suggest he is not marrying Jane for love, but simply because he believes it will atone for his past harms. Also could show he does love Jane, and is begging for atonement for what he is doing to be with her.

• ‘unheard-of combinations or circumstances demand unheard-of rules’ - Rochester telling Jane his reasoning for his actions, that he believes he can justidy his actions by saying he had difficult circumstances - forced into a marriage with a mad-woman. This is his excuse for all his sins, and hints to his justification of marrying Jane that he is uplifting her to riches when she is lonely and poor. Jane opposes this idea, which is the reason they eventually seperate. Rochester believes himself to judge morality better than God.

• ‘Believe in heaven. Hope to meet there again.’ - Jane responding to Rochester trying to convince her to commit bigamy with him. Jane does not relent, and unlike throughout the rest of the novel where Rochester demands Jane she demands him back, through imperatives like ‘Believe‘ and ‘Hope.‘ This shows her morals beating her hopes to be with Rochester, and that God has a plan for them to meet again.

• ‘There was a heaven - a temporary heaven‘ - Jane when considering Rochester’s offer to be his mistress. She admits that she wants to do this, and be with Rochester, but calls it ‘temporary’. To attain eternal heaven she must escape temptation and sin, or they cannot be together.

Motherhood/ Family

• ‘to nurse it and notice it as if it had been his own‘ - Mrs Reed telling Jane why she hated her - that her deceased husband wished to look after her. Shows Mrs Reed’s jealously of Jane. ‘it‘ dehumanises Jane, and views her as more of an animal or object than a baby.

• ‘My daughter, flee temptation‘ - Jane’s dream before she decides to finally leave Thornfield. Shows how important her mother is, as she is the one to give her strength to flee, more strength than even God did. Also shows that Jane wanted to flee, as this is her subconscious thoughts. Shows that she was saved by another woman, who helped to escape a man who wanted to harm her.

• ‘Mrs Fairfax found you to train it‘ - Shows Rochester’s lack of care towards Adele, using ‘it‘ to dehumanise her. While he is paying for Jane and Mrs Fairfax, he does not seem to particulary care who looks after Adele. Comparison of Adele to an animal, the same way Jane is, showing they were both raised by people who had little care for their fates.

• ‘The chill of Mrs Fairfax warnings‘ - Jane reflecting on Mrs Fairfax’s cautions about her marriage with Rochester. Mrs Fairfax is talking about her employer and yet still advises Jane carefully, showing how much she cares for her. ‘chill‘ shows she has cooled Jane’s passions and excitement to marry Rochester, that she has brought her thoughts towards reality.

• Descriptions of Eliza, John and Georgiana:

  • ‘I never saw a busier person…difficult to say what she did‘ - Jane describing Eliza. Eliza becomes a nun, and is an extremely busy person. She represents the extreme end of rationality, which is seen as negative. It being ‘difficult to say what she did‘ highlights the uselessness of what she does.

  • ‘Spoiled temper, a very acrid spite…purchase indemnity for every fault‘ - Jane’s description of Georgiana. She is a horrid person, and represents the far end of passion. However, she is too pretty too ever recieve critism from those around her, and therefore gets away with it.

  • ‘he ruined himself and half-ruined his family, and is supposed to have committed suicide‘ - Jane on her cousin who abused her. Shows his lack of care for his family and her. His commiting suicide shows him as unchristian, which can be said for the rest of his family as well.

• ‘large cat sat demurely at her feet…beau-ideal of domestic comfort‘ - Jane’s description of Fairfax upon entering the house. Shows that this is to be a mother figure to Jane, and to be her future home.

Characters

Jane

• ‘You are cold…no contact strikes the fire from you that is in you‘ -Said by Rochester disguised as a gyspy to Jane. Jane’s current nature is cold, but fire is within her. Links to her past anger that she has buried. ‘contact‘ likely refers to Rochester, who wishes to bring out the passion from within her.

• ‘Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it - the savage beautiful creature‘ - Said by Rochester to Jane once she attempts to leave after discovering Bertha. ‘savage‘ is a term often used to describe Bertha, which links to her heritage as well as comparing her to an animal. While the use of ‘cage‘ can mean bird, it can also imply any ther zoo creature, such as what is often used for Bertha. ‘creature‘ also implys this. This compares Jane to Bertha to, who is a savage creature locked in a cage, who Rochester cannot do anything about.

• ‘the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance, and degredation‘ - Jane while shopping with Rochester. ‘cheek burned‘ shows that Rochester is angering and impassioning her. ‘degredation‘ shows that he is disrespecting Jane’s wishes for his own gain. He does not respect her reasoning for not wanting his riches, and wishes to spoil her as he did her mistresses.

• ‘I will not be your English Celine Varons‘ - Jane resisiting Rochester’s treatment of her like Celine Varons, his mistress who he gave all his money and left him with a child. Jane still desires her independence from Rochester, and his respect. Her not wanting to be a mistress stems from her religious beliefs.

• ‘because I am poor, obsecure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!‘ - Jane response to Rochester convincing her must stay, even when he is to marry. Jane deamnds she is equal to Rochester, even though she does not have his riches, size or fame. A controversial statement for the time. She uses a rhetorical question to show her anger at the way he treats her, that he is leading her along. This is the culmination of her anger at watching Rochester with Blanche this whole time.

• ‘Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it - the savage beautiful creature‘ - said by Rochester to Jane once she attempts to leave after discovering Bertha. ‘cage‘ implys Jane is like a bird locked in a cage but ‘cannot get at it‘ tells us she is not vulnerable or submissive to Rochester’s wants. It also tells us she is trapped by something, this can be seen as her religious morality or Rochester himself.

• ‘Believe in heaven. Hope to meet there again.’ - Jane responding to Rochester trying to convince her to commit bigamy with him. Jane does not relent, and unlike throughout the rest of the novel where Rochester demands Jane she demands him back, through imperatives like ‘Believe‘ and ‘Hope.‘ This shows her morals beating her hopes to be with Rochester, and that God has a plan for them to meet again.

• ‘There was a heaven - a temporary heaven‘ - Jane when considering Rochester’s offer to be his mistress. She admits that she wants to do this, and be with Rochester, but calls it ‘temporary’. To attain eternal heaven she must escape temptation and sin, or they cannot be together.

• ‘My daughter, flee temptation‘ - Jane’s dream before she decides to finally leave Thornfield. Shows how important her mother is, as she is the one to give her strength to flee, more strength than even God did. Also shows that Jane wanted to flee, as this is her subconscious thoughts. Shows that she was saved by another woman, who helped to escape a man who wanted to harm her.

Rochester

• ‘he seemed to devour me‘ - Rochester’s description after grabbing Jane when she attempts to leave. ‘devour‘ is a violent, showing that Rochester is violent and harmful towards Jane. It is also animalistic imagery, perphaps saying that Rochester is more similar to Bertha than he realised.

• ‘his eye was both spark and flint‘ - Jane’s description of Rochester after Bertha is revealed. ‘flint‘ ignites fire in others’ showing that Rochester has ignited fire in Jane and perphaps even Bertha. ‘spark‘ tells us he is fire and passion, and is filled with this the moment Bertha is revealed.

• ‘any other English school-girl‘ - Rochester describing her piano skills. ‘any other‘ shows him dismissing her as nothing of note. ‘school-girl‘ highlights her inferiority in age, done to make her feel lesser than him in age and experience. Shows his power over her, to talk about her as if she can’t hear him.

• ‘it will atone - it will atone‘ - Rochester’s mumbles to himself after proposing to Jane. This is Rochester begging God to forgive him for his sins of adultery throughout the years, as well as his current sin of bigamy. Could suggest he is not marrying Jane for love, but simply because he believes it will atone for his past harms. Also could show he does love Jane, and is begging for atonement for what he is doing to be with her.

• ‘unheard-of combinations or circumstances demand unheard-of rules’ - Rochester telling Jane his reasoning for his actions, that he believes he can justidy his actions by saying he had difficult circumstances - forced into a marriage with a mad-woman. This is his excuse for all his sins, and hints to his justification of marrying Jane that he is uplifting her to riches when she is lonely and poor. Jane opposes this idea, which is the reason they eventually seperate. Rochester believes himself to judge morality better than God.

Fairfax

• ‘Mrs Fairfax found you to train it‘ - Shows Rochester’s lack of care towards Adele, using ‘it‘ to dehumanise her. While he is paying for Jane and Mrs Fairfax, he does not seem to particulary care who looks after Adele. Comparison of Adele to an animal, the same way Jane is, showing they were both raised by people who had little care for their fates.

• ‘The chill of Mrs Fairfax warnings‘ - Jane reflecting on Mrs Fairfax’s cautions about her marriage with Rochester. Mrs Fairfax is talking about her employer and yet still advises Jane carefully, showing how much she cares for her. ‘chill‘ shows she has cooled Jane’s passions and excitement to marry Rochester, that she has brought her thoughts towards reality.

Blanche

• ‘pantomine of a marriage‘ - Description of Blanche and Rochester’s peformance during charades, showing thier marriage never could be, although it still acts to make Jane jealous. Also foreshadows to her own marriage, which due to its bigamy could never be a legitmate marriage.

• ‘employed it as sort of lever to hoist our dead weights from the house‘ - Blanche discussing her governess. Shows bias against governesses at the time, and how they were disliked by their students and their employers. Jane is present when this is said, showing Blanche’s cruelty and dislike of Jane.

Bertha

• ‘the clothed hyena rose up, and stood tall on its hind-feet‘ - Description of Bertha in her prison room. ‘clothed hyena‘ tells us she is acting as a human and is an animal, not the other way round. ‘hind-feet‘ tells us she often crawls on all fours, which shows her as a wild animal.

Adele

• ‘Mrs Fairfax found you to train it‘ - Shows Rochester’s lack of care towards Adele, using ‘it‘ to dehumanise her. While he is paying for Jane and Mrs Fairfax, he does not seem to particulary care who looks after Adele. Comparison of Adele to an animal, the same way Jane is, showing they were both raised by people who had little care for their fates.

Mrs Reed

• ‘to nurse it and notice it as if it had been his own‘ - Mrs Reed telling Jane why she hated her - that her deceased husband wished to look after her. Shows Mrs Reed’s jealously of Jane. ‘it‘ dehumanises Jane, and views her as more of an animal or object than a baby.