Sintesi e analisi in inglese del libro Jane Eyre di Charlotte Brontë, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Sintesi e analisi in inglese del libro Jane Eyre di Charlotte Brontë e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under the pen name "Currer Bell", on 16 October 1847. The novel is divided into 38 chapters and is a first-person narrative from the perspective of the title character. The novel's setting is somewhere in the north of England, late in the reign of George III and is a classic example of the bildungsroman, which is a growth narrative, in fact, it tells the experiences of its eponymous heroine, Jane Eyre, from her childhood to her growth to adulthood. Jane Eyre, aged 10, lives with her maternal uncle's family, the Reeds, after her parents died. Mr. Reed, Jane's uncle, was the only member of the family who was ever kind to Jane and Jane's aunt, Sarah Reed, dislikes her, abuses her, and treats her as a burden, and discourages her children from associating with Jane. Jane, as a result, becomes defensive against her cruel judgement. The nursemaid, Bessie, proves to be Jane's only ally (alleato) in the household, even though Bessie occasionally scolds (rimprovera) Jane harshly. Excluded from the family activities, Jane leads an unhappy childhood, with only a doll and books with which to entertain herself. One day, as punishment for defending herself against her cousin John Reed, Jane is relegated to the red room in which her late uncle had died; there, she faints from panic after she thinks she has seen his ghost. he is subsequently attended to (curata) by the kindly apothecary (farmcista) Mr. Lloyd to whom Jane reveals how unhappy she is living at Gateshead Hall. Then He recommends to Mrs. Reed that Jane should be sent to school, an idea Mrs. Reed happily supports. As a girl with a "tendency for deceit(inganno)", she is enrolled in Lowood Institution, a charity school for poor and orphaned girls where Jane attempts to fit in and befriends an older girl, Helen Burns, and Miss Temple , the caring superintendent,who facilitates Jane's self-defence in a harsh life: here, in fact, she is subjected to cold rooms, poor meals, and thin clothing and she is exposed to humiliations and abuses as the other pupils, many of whom are fall ill when a typhus epidemic strikes and among them Helen dies of consumption in Jane's arms. After six years as a student and two as a teacher at Lowood, Jane decides to leave in pursuit of a new life and advertises her services as a governess. A housekeeper at Thornfield Hall, Alice Fairfax, replies to Jane's advertisement and she takes the position, teaching Adèle Varens, a young French girl. One night, while Jane is walking to a nearby town, a horseman passes her. The horse slips on ice and throws the rider. Despite the rider's surliness(scontrosità), Jane helps him get back onto his horse. Later, back at Thornfield, she learns that this man is Edward Rochester, master of the house : Adèle was left in his care when her mother abandoned her. At Jane's first meeting with Mr. Rochester, he teases her, accusing her of bewitching (ammaliare) his horse to make him fall. Jane is able to stand up to his initially arrogant manner and they soon come to enjoy each other's company, and spend many evenings together.Odd things start to happen at the house, such as a strange laugh being heard, a mysterious fire in Mr. Rochester's room, from which Jane saves Rochester, and an attack on a house-guest named Mr. Mason. Mr. Rochester leaves unexpectedly for a distant party gathering, and several days later returns with the whole party, including the beautiful and talented Blanche Ingram. Jane sees that Blanche and Mr. Rochester favour each other and starts to feel jealous, particularly because she also sees that Blanche is snobbish and heartless. Jane then receives word that Mrs. Reed has suffered a stroke and is calling for her; then she returns to Gateshead where Mrs. Reed, before she dies, confesses to Jane that she wronged her, bringing forth (portare avanti) a letter from Jane's paternal uncle, Mr. John Eyre, in which he asks for her to live with him and be his heir. Back at Thornfield, Jane wants to imped Mr. Rochester to marry Blanche Ingram, revealing her feelings for Rochester who, sure about the genuineness of her love for him, proposes marriage to Jane who accepts his proposal. She then writes to her Uncle John, telling him of her happy news. Jane's forebodings (presentimenti) about her wedding arise when a strange woman sneaks into her room one night and rips her wedding veil in two. It's soon learned, in fact, she is Mr. Rochester's wife,Bertha: he explains that his father tricked him into the marriage for her money. Once they were united, he discovered that she was rapidly descending into congenital madness, and so he eventually locked her away in Thornfield. After the marriage ceremony is broken off, Mr. Rochester asks Jane to go with him to the south of France, and live with him as husband and wife, even though they cannot be married. Jane is tempted but she doesn't wanto to refuse to go against her Christian values and beliefs, then despite her love for him, Jane leaves. She travels as far from Thornfield but she accidentally leaves her bundle of possessions on the coach: exhausted and starving, she eventually makes her way to the home of Diana and Mary Rivers, but is turned away by the housekeeper and collapses on the doorstep. St. John Rivers, Diana and Mary's brother and a clergyman, rescues her and St. John, who becomes somewhat closer to Jane, finds her a teaching position at a nearby village school. St. John learns Jane's true identity and astounds her by telling her that her uncle, John Eyre, has died and left her his entire fortune and also reveals that John Eyre is also his and his sisters' uncle. Thinking that the pious Jane will make a suitable missionary's wife, St. John asks her to marry him and to go with him to India, not out of love, but out of duty. Jane initially accepts going to India but rejects the marriage proposal; after she mystically hears Mr. Rochester's voice calling her name, Jane returns to Thornfield where she find only blackened ruins. She learns that Mr. Rochester's wife set the house on fire and committed suicide by jumping from the roof. In his rescue attempts, Mr. Rochester lost a hand and his eyesight. Jane reunites with him, but he fears that she will be repulsed by his condition.When Jane assures him of her love and tells him that she will never leave him, Mr. Rochester proposes again, and they are married. He eventually recovers sight enough to see their newborn son. The novel revolutionised prose fiction by being the first to focus on its protagonist's moral and spiritual development through an intimate first-person narrative, where actions and events are coloured by a psychological intensity. Charlotte Brontë has been called the "first historian of the private consciousness", and the literary ancestor of writers like Proust and Joyce. The book contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of Christian morality at its core, and is considered by many to be ahead of its time because of Jane's individualistic character and how the novel approaches the topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism. Love versus Autonomy Jane Eyre is very much the story of a quest to be loved. Jane searches, not just for romantic love, but also for a sense of being valued, of belonging without sacrificing and harming herself in the process. This influences her fear of losing her autonomy which motivates her refusal of Rochester’s marriage proposal: Jane believes that “marrying” Rochester while he remains legally tied to Bertha would mean rendering herself a mistress and sacrificing her own integrity for the sake of emotional gratification. On the other hand, her life at Moor House tests her in the opposite manner; there, she enjoys economic independence and engages in worthwhile and useful work, teaching the poor; yet she lacks emotional sustenance. Although St. John proposes marriage, offering her a partnership built around a common red-room and teaches her to find comfort in stories and songs. At Lowood, Jane meets Miss Temple, who has no power in the world at large, but possesses great spiritual strength and charm. Not only does she shelter Jane from pain, she also encourages her intellectual development. Jane also finds a comforting model in Helen Burns, whose lessons in stamina teach Jane about self-worth and the power of faith. After Jane and Rochester’s wedding is cancelled, Jane finds comfort in the moon, which appears to her in a dream as a symbol of the matriarchal spirit. Waking from the dream, Jane leaves Thornfield. Jane finds two additional mother-figures in the characters of Diana and Mary Rivers. Rich points out that the sisters bear the names of the pagan and Christian versions of “the Great Goddess”: Diana, the Virgin huntress, and Mary, the Virgin Mother. Unmarried and independent, the Rivers sisters love learning and reciting poetry and live as intellectual equals with their brother St. John. External beauty versus internal beauty Throughout the novel, Brontë plays with the dichotomy between external beauty and internal beauty. Both Bertha Mason and Blanche Ingram are described as stunningly beautiful, but, in each case, the external beauty obscures an internal ugliness. Bertha’s beauty and sensuality blinded Mr. Rochester to her hereditary madness, and it was only after their marriage that he gradually recognized her true nature. Blanche’s beauty hides her haughtiness and pride, as well as her desire to marry Mr. Rochester only for his money. Yet, in Blanche’s case, Mr. Rochester seems to have learned not to judge by appearances, and he eventually rejects her, despite her beauty. Only Jane, who lacks the external beauty of typical Victorian heroines, has the inner beauty that appeals to Mr. Rochester. Her intelligence, wit, and calm morality express a far greater personal beauty than that of any other character in the novel, and Brontë clearly intends to highlight the importance of personal development and growth rather than superficial appearances. Once Mr. Rochester loses his hand and eyesight, they are also on equal footing in terms of appearance: both must look beyond superficial qualities in order to love each other. Symbols Bertha Mason Bertha Mason is a complex presence in Jane Eyre. She impedes Jane’s happiness, but she also catalyses (agevola) the growth of Jane’s self-understanding. The mystery surrounding Bertha establishes suspense and terror to the plot and the atmosphere. Further, Bertha serves as a remnant (residuo) and reminder (promemoria) of Rochester’s youthful libertinism. Yet Bertha can also be interpreted as a symbol. Some critics have read her as a statement about the way Britain feared and psychologically “locked away” the other cultures it encountered at the height of its imperialism. Others have seen her as a symbolic representation of the “trapped” Victorian wife, who is expected never to travel or work outside the house and becomes ever more frenzied (delirante) as she finds no outlet for her frustration and anxiety. Within the story, then, Bertha’s insanity could serve as a warning to Jane of what complete surrender (arrendersi) to Rochester could bring about. One could also see Bertha as a manifestation of Jane’s subconscious feelings—specifically, of her rage against oppressive social and gender norms. Jane declares her love for Rochester, but she also secretly fears marriage to him and feels the need to rage against the imprisonment it could become for her. Jane never manifests this fear or anger, but Bertha does. Thus Bertha tears up the bridal veil, and it is Bertha’s existence that indeed stops the wedding from going forth. And, when Thornfield comes to represent a state of servitude and submission for Jane, Bertha burns it to the ground. Throughout the novel, Jane describes her inner spirit as fiery, her inner landscape as a “ridge of lighted heath” (Chapter 4). Bertha seems to be the outward manifestation of Jane’s interior fire. Bertha expresses the feelings that Jane must keep in check. The Red-Room 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 and lays the grounds for the "ambiguous relationship between parents and children" which plays out in all of Jane's future relationships with male figures throughout the novel. In the red-room, Jane’s position of exile and imprisonment first becomes clear. Although Jane is eventually freed from the room, she continues to be socially ostracized, financially trapped, and excluded from love; her sense of independence and her freedom of self-expression are constantly threatened (minacciato). The red-room’s importance as a symbol continues throughout the novel. It reappears as a memory whenever Jane makes a connection between her current situation and that first feeling of being ridiculed. Thus she recalls the room when she is humiliated at Lowood. She also thinks of the room on the night that she decides to leave Thornfield after Rochester has tried to convince her to become an undignified mistress. Her destitute condition upon her departure from Thornfield also threatens emotional and intellectual imprisonment, as does St. John’s marriage proposal. Only after Jane has asserted herself, gained financial independence, and found a spiritual family—which turns out to be her real family—can she wed Rochester and find freedom in and through marriage. he red room is significant because it lays the grounds for the "ambiguous relationship between parents and children" which plays out in all of Jane's future relationships with male figures throughout the novel Gothic elements The Gothic tradition deeply influences Jane Eyre's plot in its supernatural encounters, remote locations, dark secrets and mysteries. Settings as Lowood, Moor House, and Thornfield as Gateshead too are all described by a gothic feel. In particular, Thornfield Hall is portrayed as dark, dated, enigmatic, and Jane's narration makes it look like an haunted castle full of strange and unnatural laughs that she hears. In an atmosphere of mystery and suspence, unexplainable incidents occurs in Gateshead too, such as the fire in Rochester's bedroom and the wedding veil ripped;Other Gothic occurrences include Jane’s supernatural vision of her dead Uncle Reed in the red-room; The striking of the chestnut tree, under which Jane and Rochester had just sat when he proposed the previous night, foreshadowing of impending separation, disaster and danger for the couple; the moment of unexplained communication between Jane and Rochester when she hears his voice calling her across the misty heath from miles and miles away; Jane’s mistaking Rochester’s dog, Pilot, for a “Gytrash,” a spirit of North England that manifests itself as a horse or dog and the gruesome disfigurement of Rochester at the end of the story. Moreover, both Rochester and Jane possess complicated family histories and Rochester’s hidden wife, Bertha, is the dark secret at the novel’s core: she is the incarnation of moral degradation, excessive sexuality and extreme passion which lead her to mental instability and her exposure is one of the most important moments of the novel’s suspense and mistery. More importantly, however, Brontë uses the Gothic stereotype of the Byronic hero in Mr Rochester: he is handsome and attractive, but dark and melancholic at the same time; brooding (cupo, pensieroso) and tortured, while simultaneously passionate and charismatic,he combines masculine strength with tenderness, he has a mysterious past and is therefore enigmatic. Although Brontë’s use of Gothic elements heightens her reader’s interest and adds to the emotional and philosophical tensions of the book, most of the seemingly supernatural occurrences are actually explained as the story progresses from a rational and pshycological point of view anticipating and elevating the importance of the plot’s turning points.