28. Jane decides to leave Thornfield...Mr R against this
29. Jane traverses the moors and stumbles upon the Rivers'
30. Jane decieves with a false name!!!!!!!!!!!!
31. Jane takes over a school and an uncle is discovered to be dead
32. Talk and speculations of love
33. Jane makes St.John admit he likes Rosamond
34. Jane is found out and finds a fortune and family
35. St.John Proposes
36. Jane says nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
37. Jane leaves for Thornfield and finds it burnt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
38. Mr R and Jane meet again...argue a bit... then happily ever after
39. Reader i married him
Themes
- Love and true love
- Family
- Class
- Religion
- Independance and dependance
- Isolation
Character
Jane
Jane tries to run away from her problems. She denies all of her feelings and tries harder in this section of the book to suppress herself than at any other time. She allows herself to be manipulated and told what to do in every aspect of her life.Until she realises that this is no way to live and returns to a kind of equality with Rochester
Rochester
Tries to blow over the problems of society and brush over them by runnning away by trying to pretend that nought has happened. However he is less of a man because of it. When Jane returns he has also realised his mistakes in life and his betrayals which Bronte physicalises through his crippled state.
St.John
Self righteous. He is extremely charitable but is of the opinion that all work is and should be for God rather than that for some this is not the way for everyone and that living for yourself is ok. Described as a Grecian marble statue (i perceive that this construes that St.John is perfect but yet he is as stone, cold and flawless)
Motifs
- Red as a symbol of passion...
- Bland vs exotic
- Hypocrisy
- gothicism and the supernatural
- fire
- passion vs logic
- Blood
Place
This is the section where, i think, place has the most significance of any other part of the book. At the beginning of this section the place changes abruptly where Jane leaves Thornfield and wonders about through many villages filled with dark and dank imagery that emphasise her state of mind. Then Jane arrives at Moor House. Moor House is plain but homely in the same fashion as lowood. It contains the bare essentials for living. This parallels its emotional state also. The Rivers offer the bare essentials of kindness but she does not have the same red intimacy that she had with Mr R. But then Jane returns to Thornfield and find that it has been burned. This symbolises the scorching and ruination of the firery passion of love. Jane then finds Mr R at Ferndean; secluded and peaceful Jane finds her hearts content.
Narrative Voice
Jane becomes far more supressive of her own character once more. All of the imagery that Bronte uses reflects this somewhat. All her surroundings are ordinary, dank, dull and mediocre. It is only when jane returns to Mr R that she becomes herself in language and spirit again.
Interesting Quotes
'I wanted to be weak... and conscience, turned tyrant, held passion by the throat... unsounded depths of agony.' pg 297- jane wrestles with herself- passion vs logic
'...pluck out your right eye, yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victime...' pg 297
'..my good angel...kindling in pure,powerful flame, fuses you and me into one' Mr R tries to persuade Jane pg 315
'I was experiencing an ordeal: a hand of fiery iron grasped my vitals. Terrible moment: full of struggle, blackness, burning...and him who loved thus i absolutely worshipped: and i must renounce love and idol. One drear word compromised my intolerable duty-'Depart' pg 315
'This was the climax. A pang of exquisite suffering- a throe of true despair- rent and heaved my heart' pg 335 outside the Rivers' door
'Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education' pg 341
'Had he been a statue instead of a man...it was like a Greek face..'pg 344/5
'St john was a good man...he was hard and cold...he lived only to aspire...i comprehended all at once that he would hardly make a god husband... the nature of his love for miss oliver... it was a love of the senses... to stifle and destroy it; how he should mistrust its ever conducing permanently to his happiness or hers...' pg 392
'You are formed for labour not for love' pg 402 the proposal
'I felt his influence in my marrow...' pg 406
'...if you reject it , it is not me you deny, but God.' pg 409
'he stretched his right hand (the left one, the mutilated one, he kept hidden in his bosom)
3 comments:
I like your comment about how Bronte physicalises R's crippled state. Your identification of motifs is also good.
I agree that place is very important at the end of the novel. It does parallel J's emotional state.
You have been making very good comments. You have offered some perceptive views. Have a read of what critics say about the novel to give you some further ideas.
Thanks don :) i will indeed have a browse. I recently found an essay comparing the symbols and hierachy in Jane Eyre to those in Alice in Wonderland particularly fascinating... would you recommend a look at modern critics or those from the time or both?
Comparing Jane Eyre with Alice sounds fascinating. I'd recommend modern critics, especially from the current perspective of feminism and theories of narrative.
There's a book published in the 1970s (not too old) called 'The Mad Woman in the Attic'. I should have a copy of the relevant chapter. Ask me.
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