Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - Riassunto + Appunti, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - Riassunto + Appunti e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! JANE EYRE By Charlotte Brontë - 1847 - Charlotte Brontë but published under the male pseudonym Currer Bell - A mixture of three genres: • Gothic novel • Romance novel • Bildungsroman Beginning of the 19th Century Plot Jane is a penniless orphan, brought up by her cold aunt, Mrs. Reed. Jane is then sent to Lowood School, a very strict school where she is not given enough food and clothing. When she grows up, she besoms a teacher there. She decides to accept a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, its owner. Her stay at Thornfield Hall is disturbed by strange noises and frightening events. After spending some time at her aunt’s deathbed, Jane returns to Thornfield and Rochester proposes to her. Two nights before the wedding she wakes up and sees a figure standing by her bed. The wedding is interrupted by a stranger who declares that Rochester has already a wife, Bertha Mason, a madwoman who lives in the attic. Rochester asks Jane to stay with him but she leaves Thornfield and goes to live with her cousins at Moor House. There she meets St John Rivers, a religious man who proposes to her. Jane refuses, one night se hears Rochester’s voice calling her. She returns to Thornfield Hall, but the house has been destroyed by a fire caused by Bertha. Mr. Rochester lost his sight and a hand in the attempt to save his wife. He now leaves in Ferndean, where Jane visits him and agrees to marry him. He finally recovers his sight and they have a child. CHARACTERS - Jane Eyre: The development of Jane Eyre’s character is central to the novel. From the beginning, Jane possesses a sense of her self-worth and dignity, a commitment to justice and principle, a trust in God, and a passionate disposition. Her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel. An orphan since early childhood, Jane feels exiled at the beginning of the novel, and the cruel treatment she receives from her Aunt Reed and her cousins only exacerbates her feeling of alienation. Afraid that she will never find a true sense of home or community, Jane feels the need to belong somewhere. In her search for freedom, Jane also struggles with the question of what type of freedom she wants. While Rochester initially offers Jane a chance to liberate her passions, Jane comes to realize that such freedom could also mean enslavement—by living as Rochester’s mistress, she would be sacrificing her dignity and integrity for the sake of her feelings. Charlotte Brontë may have created the character of Jane Eyre as a means of coming to terms with elements of her own life. Much evidence suggests that Brontë, too, struggled to find a balance between love and freedom and to find others who understood her. Mr Rochester - Mr. Rochester: Edward Rochester is rather a dynamic and round character that changes notably. He has values that are far from freedom, respect, and integrity. In his behaviours to Jane, one can notice dramatic changes. First of all, his being passionate, guided by his senses rather than his rational mind, drags him to marry an insane woman. Secondly, Rochester is a cynical rebel who refuses to accept and yield to the orders of society. It is only when he meets Jane, a woman who is intellectually equal to him and morally superior than him and who understands his true nature, that his sensitivity is revealed. He loves Jane in a physically plain but in a mentally deep way which shows that he is not shallow. In the end he becomes a new man, his dark secrets and qualities ceases to be a part of his life. SYMBOLS - The red room: The red room, once the bedroom of Jane’s Uncle Reed, was also the chamber in which he died. Locked in the red room, believing that her uncle’s ghost is rising from the grave, Jane experiences a moment of extreme trauma leading to hysteria. The red-room can be viewed as a symbol of what Jane must overcome in her struggles to find freedom, happiness, and a sense of belonging. In the red-room, Jane’s position of exile and imprisonment first becomes clear. - Eyes: The eyes are the windows to the soul in Jane Eyre. Jane is especially attracted to Mr. Rochester's black and brilliant eyes, which symbolize his temper and power. After Mr. Rochester loses his eyesight in the fire, Jane becomes his eyes: metaphorically, Jane now holds the position of mastery. - Drawings: Through dreams and drawings, Jane visualizes her deepest feelings. Jane's portfolio contains pictures that symbolize her life. Portraits can also stand in for people's characters. Jane compares her portraits of herself and Blanche Ingram, which mirror the differences in the two women's personalities and social class. - Food: food was a reoccurring theme of throughout many Victorian novels because of the hunger that many people faced in this time period. This theme is reflected in the vivid description of under nourishment at Lowood School in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Setting The novel is set in the early decades of the 19th century. It is structures around five separate locations. Each of these settings provides both indoor and outdoor spaces, so Jane can always move fluidly between nature and civilisation and develop her inclination to cross boundaries. Every house or place represents a stage in her life and has a symbolical name. - Gateshead: is where Jane spends her unhappiest moments but also reaches her ethical awakening with her imprisonment in the red room. It’s the Reed’s home, the place of Jane’s childhood. The name stands for ‘gateway’. - Lowood: means ‘low wood’ because the school was built in a low valley beside a wood. Also, in coincides with a ‘low’ time in Jane’s life. It is the place of Jane’s education. - Thornfield Hall: is an allegorical name, a ‘filed of thorns’. It’s a place of mystery and temptation. It’s Mr. Rochester’s house, the place of independence and young love. - Moor House: is ‘out on the moors’, in the wilderness. It’s the place where Jane tries to give sense to her life again. It’s the Rivers’ house, the place of temporary banishment. - Ferndean: it stands for ‘fern ill’, it’s the new Eden, where Jane finds mature love. It’s the place for a new start. The structure of the novel is based on the idea of a journey of personal development of the character, this idea is represented by the different journeys Jane undertakes. Each journey represents a fase in her life.