JANE EYRE
CHARACTERS
SETTINGS
SYMBOLS
FEMININITY and GOVERNESS ROLE
NARRATOR
LECTURES
VICTORIAN BACKGROUND
Jane: the protagonist and narrator
Reed family
Miss Temple: thanks to who Jane understands there are good people
Helen Burns
mr Rochester
Bertha Mason
relation between heroines and place names
RELATION WITH THE AUTHOR LIFE
Bewick's History of British Birds: image oneself in other worlds
Thornfield Hall
Moor House
Gateshead Hall
Lowood institute
is her "gateway" or entrance to the rest of the world and the "head" or fount of all her problems.
"Lowood" meaning "low wood" because that’s where the place is built, but also because it’s a "low" time in her life.
where she finds mystery and temptation: a "field of thorns" with an almost allegorical or Biblical flavor.
Ferndean Manor
after Thornfield is burnt a new "ferny brae" or Eden-like paradise appears
enemy of Jane
religious spirit, she dies, helps Jane understand the importance of being good with others and not to be angry and take revenge
she seems to be the antagonist but she is the hide side of the victorian women, she is described as the devil of the house, she is audible at the beginning
gothic aspects
never told as MRS Rochester, she is said as an animal
word of negation for hero, never, did not...
she lives in the attic : not the usual meaning of the low as bad/hell and up as good/heaven
he will be blind as punishment, he will be represents by his son
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the narrator is in 1st person
she prefers to hide herself, intact the narration doesn't begin with the presentation of the girl but with a neutral sentence
in the last part of the book jane in the adulthood who looks at the jane characters as a stranger
fire: is a way to clean all the past of Rochester, and to purify the House were Berta lived and died
blindness: a sort of punishment and a way to clean the sins, to be blind is a way of punishment but on the other hand it elevates Mr Rochester as a great man (Sansone in the bible)
the cold and the solitude: as a representation of the Jane character
marriage: is the link between Jane and Mr Rochester not the word love, It is a social symbol in the victorian age
the son, thanks to which Mr Rochester lives
Rasselas by Samuel Johnson 1759: the research of the happiness
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p. 107 and ch. 15
the author is a governess herself: she represents herself thanks to the Character of Jane
the governess is the most ambiguous role in the society
governess is from a low class society but she is superior in morality and spirituality that give her the possibility to stay up in the society
jane eyre is the representation of the author who till the infant life was in search od an affirmation of herself
power of Jane when Mr Rochester has to be dependent to her
sins have always a punishment
to be mother is the higher point of the woman life in victorian age
the family and other settings in which we can find injustices and hypocrisy
moral integrity when Jane becames the legal wife
WE represents the all family except Jane
not have self control means to be mental sick
the window
the first place thanks to which Jane dreams and search the freedom
Bertha is the symbol of the devil in the victorian background, contamination; the fire is the only way to purify everything
the ribirth place and social position