Critics by theme Flashcards
Illusion and reality
Jane Eyre reflects and displays the contradictory nature of Victorian society – Maggie Berg
‘beauty is truth, truth beauty’ – Keats
Religion
Lowood – ‘where orphan girls are starved into proper Christian submission ‘ –Gilbert and Gubar
To Jane the moon is a mother figure – Anne Crowe
‘Bronte challenges the notions that if the body was punished, the mind would be saved’ – Sally Shuttleworth
‘Helen’s beliefs prove to be an incomplete part of a whole’ – Nicholas Johnson
‘Jane’s spiritual bildungsroman requires that she develop a moral and ethical agency’ – Maria Lamonaca
Love and marriage
‘Bronte criticizes the marriage of convenience, declaring that only qualities of mind prove what a woman is worth’ – Ya-Huei Wang
‘Love is the pairing of equals in these (intellectual, spiritual and economic) spheres’ – R.B Martin
‘Jane escapes (St John’s) fetters more easily (than Rochester’s or Brocklehursts)’ … ‘a measure of how far she has travelled in her pilgrim to inward maturity’ – Gilbert and Gubar
Home and family
‘Jane tends to feel more at home outside than inside because the natural world has provided her with more of a refuge than any human habitation’ -Shmoop (reference as you will/ won’t)
‘Jane conceives of ‘home’ as an emotional space created by interpersonal relationships, not as a physical shelter.’ -Shmoop again
Madness
‘When Jane follows her passions and loses her self-control she behaves and is punished like Bertha, therefore creating violence’ – Carol Atherton
Bertha is a political symbol of female rage against patriarchy – Gilbert and Gubar
‘the narrative strategies used by Charlotte Bronte clearly designate Bertha as ‘Other’’ – Carol Atherton
Bertha is Jane’s ‘truest and darkest double’ – Gilbert and Gubar
Freedom
Jane Eyre ‘offers a deeply sympathetic portrayal of a rebellious child’ – Sally Shuttleworth
‘When Jane follows her passions and loses her self-control she behaves and is punished like Bertha, therefore creating violence’ – Carol Atherton
‘Bertha’s many strange actions reflect Jane’s succession through her stages of feeling oppressed (…) as Jane grows nearer this slavery, the more extreme and violent her counterpart’s actions become’ – Richard Juplit
‘Every woman in a patriarchal society must overcome: oppression (Gateshead), starvation (Lowood), madness (Thornfield), coldness (Marsh End)’ – Gilbert and Gubar
Lowood – ‘where orphan girls are starved into proper Christian submission ‘ –Gilbert and Gubar
‘Jane escapes (St John’s) fetters more easily (than Rochester’s or Brocklehursts)’ … ‘a measure of how far she has travelled in her pilgrim to inward maturity’ – Gilbert and Gubar
‘Inheritance allows Jane independence and power over Rochester’ – Terry Eagleton
Highlights the tension between ‘passionate rebellion and cautious conformity’ – Terry Eagleton
Bertha is a political symbol of female rage against patriarchy – Gilbert and Gubar
Lowood attempts to destroy their individuality; it represents sexual oppression – Elaine Shawlter
‘We are conscious of a woman’s presence – of someone resenting the treatment of her sex and pleading for its rights’ – Virginia Woolf
‘the narrative strategies used by Charlotte Bronte clearly designate Bertha as ‘Other’’ – Carol Atherton
‘The attic was a head space as well as a room space, in which invisible injustices and wildness were stored, ready to burst into the world and create havoc at any moment.’ - Andrew Motion
Social class
Lowood – ‘where orphan girls are starved into proper Christian submission ‘ –Gilbert and Gubar
‘Love is the pairing of equals in these (intellectual, spiritual and economic) spheres’ – R.B Martin
‘Inheritance allows Jane independence and power over Rochester’ – Terry Eagleton
Many of Jane’s problems can be traced back to her ambiguous status as a governess at Thornfield – Gilbert and Gubar
Jane’s ‘romantic relationship with her employer… broke all the rules of social hierarchy’ - Sally Shuttleworth
Beauty
‘beauty is truth, truth beauty’ – Keats
Appearances are almost always inversely related to the actual nature of the characters
Substitute mothers
Adrienne Rich noted Jane encounters a series of nurturing and strong women on whom she can model herself or look to for help and guidance: these women serve as mother figures for the orphaned Jane.
To Jane the moon is a mother figure – Anne Crowe
Gender
In 1966, R.B. Martin stated that Jane Eyre was the first major feminist novel, “although there is not a hint in the book of any desire for political, legal, educational, or even intellectual equality between the sexes.”
‘Bronte criticizes the marriage of convenience, declaring that only qualities of mind prove what a woman is worth’ – Ya-Huei Wang
‘Love is the pairing of equals in these (intellectual, spiritual and economic) spheres’ – R.B Martin
‘Bertha’s many strange actions reflect Jane’s succession through her stages of feeling oppressed (…) as Jane grows nearer this slavery, the more extreme and violent her counterpart’s actions become’ – Richard Juplit
‘Every woman in a patriarchal society must overcome: oppression (Gateshead), starvation (Lowood), madness (Thornfield), coldness (Marsh End)’ – Gilbert and Gubar
Lowood – ‘where orphan girls are starved into proper Christian submission ‘ –Gilbert and Gubar
‘Jane escapes (St John’s) fetters more easily (than Rochester’s or Brocklehurst’s)’ … ‘a measure of how far she has travelled in her pilgrim to inward maturity’ – Gilbert and Gubar
‘Inheritance allows Jane independence and power over Rochester’ – Terry Eagleton
Bertha breaks all the conventions women were supposed to conform to – Gilbert and Gubar
Highlights the tension between ‘passionate rebellion and cautious conformity’ – Terry Eagleton
Bertha is a political symbol of female rage against patriarchy – Gilbert and Gubar
Lowood attempts to destroy their individuality; it represents sexual oppression – Elaine Shawlter
‘We are conscious of a woman’s presence – of someone resenting the treatment of her sex and pleading for its rights’ – Virginia Woolf
Adrienne Rich noted Jane encounters a series of nurturing and strong women on whom she can model herself or look to for help and guidance: these women serve as mother figures for the orphaned Jane
‘the narrative strategies used by Charlotte Bronte clearly designate Bertha as ‘Other’’ – Carol Atherton
Creole women ‘were often depicted as self-willed, decadent and untrustworthy – the very essence of Rochester’s description of Bertha’ – Carol Atherton
‘The attic was a head space as well as a room space, in which invisible injustices and wildness were stored, ready to burst into the world and create havoc at any moment.’ - Andrew Motion
Violence and suffering
‘Jane internalises and turns the blame on herself when she asks why she can never please anyone. She doesn’t seem to realise yet that it isn’t her fault at all’ – Gilbert
‘When Jane follows her passions and loses her self-control she behaves and is punished like Bertha, therefore creating violence’ – Carol Atherton
‘Bertha’s many strange actions reflect Jane’s succession through her stages of feeling oppressed (…) as Jane grows nearer this slavery, the more extreme and violent her counterpart’s actions become’ – Richard Juplit
‘Every woman in a patriarchal society must overcome: oppression (Gateshead), starvation (Lowood), madness (Thornfield), coldness (Marsh End)’ – Gilbert and Gubar
Lowood – ‘where orphan girls are starved into proper Christian submission ‘ –Gilbert and Gubar
‘Bronte challenges the notions that if the body was punished, the mind would be saved’ – Sally Shuttleworth
‘The attic was a head space as well as a room space, in which invisible injustices and wildness were stored, ready to burst into the world and create havoc at any moment.’ - Andrew Motion
‘Brocklehurst and John Reed [are] foils against which the main characters define themselves.’ - Nicholas Johnson
Fire and ice/Passion and reason
‘the world within Lowood is claustrophobic, fiery, like ten-year-old Jane’s own mind’ – Gilbert and Gubar
The deaths of Bertha and St John ‘symbolis[e] the danger Bronte saw in taking either of these paths to the exclusion of the other.’ -Nicholas Johnson
‘At [the end] it seems that the tension between reason and passion should have been resolved. However, this is not the case… Instead of fire and ice, Charlotte gives us warm slush.’ - Nicholas Johnson
Isolation
‘the world within Lowood is claustrophobic, fiery, like ten-year-old Jane’s own mind’ – Gilbert and Gubar
Spiritual bildungsroman
‘Every woman in a patriarchal society must overcome: oppression (Gateshead), starvation (Lowood), madness (Thornfield), coldness (Marsh End)’ – Gilbert and Gubar
‘Jane escapes (St John’s) fetters more easily (than Rochester’s or Brocklehursts)’ … ‘a measure of how far she has travelled in her pilgrim to inward maturity’ – Gilbert and Gubar
‘Inheritance allows Jane independence and power over Rochester’ – Terry Eagleton
Red Room conveys Jane’s transition from childhood to adulthood – Elaine Showalter
‘the world within Lowood is claustrophobic, fiery, like ten-year-old Jane’s own mind’ – Gilbert and Gubar
‘Jane’s spiritual bildungsroman requires that she develop a moral and ethical agency’ – Maria Lamonaca
‘As an account of one woman’s journey of spiritual growth… Jane Eyre succeeds admirably. However, in the arrival it fails.’ - Nicholas Johnson
Identity
The deaths of Bertha and St John represent the ‘death of individuality, in which Jane risks losing herself and her separate identity,.. Either by surrendering to Rochester, or to St John’ -Nicholas Johnson
‘Brocklehurst and John Reed [are] foils against which the main characters define themselves.’ - Nicholas Johnson
