Jane Eyre Flashcards
“How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare I?”
“You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so” - Page 29
- Lack of love
- Familial love corrupted
- Direct speech
- Mature for her age, brave and courageous of her to speak out
- Rhetorical questions shows maturity, often what a parent would say
“My eyes were drawn involuntarily to his face”
“I looked and had an acute pleasure in looking - a precious yet poignant pleasure” - Page 152
- Lustful love towards Rochester
- Taken aback by him
- Aesthetic features
- Janes internal monologue, his image is potentially romanticised by her
“Not beautiful according to rule, but they were more than beautiful to me” -Page 153
- Unconditional love
- Image of Byronic hero, in her eyes especially, because the description of Rochester actually doesn’t present him as a typical handsome hero
“I have told you, reader, that I had learnt to love Mr Rochester: I could not unlove him now” - Page 162
- Direct address to reader
- Use of ‘learnt’ suggests loving Rochester did not come naturally to her
- Declarative suits her adamant nature
“They generally run on the same theme courtship; and promise to end in the same catastrophe - marriage” - Page 174
- Link to Wife Of Bath
- Idea that love is removed after marriage
- Juxtaposition of marriage and catastrophe, emphasises her opinion of marriage
- Unromantic
- Contextual irony with Bertha
“Jane accept me quickly. Say, Edward - give me my name - Edward - I will marry you.” (Chapter 23)
- love theme presented simultaneously with anger and frustration
- dominant and forceful - fits context of male role in relationships
- direct speech in passage immerses reader in the intensity of their love
“If I had loved him less I should have thought his accent and look of exultation savage” (chapter 23)
- power of love
- form of Jane’s internal monologue again shows how analytical she is of love
- irony of word ‘savage’ which Rochester also uses in relation to Bertha
“The paradise of union - I thought only of the bliss given to me to drink in so abundant a flow” (chapter 23)
- Eden symbolism - paradise in garden
- metaphor of a drink like water suggests love is a necessity for her life
“The great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightening in the night, and half of it split away” (chapter 23)
- danger of love
- symbolism of tree suggests that where they were previously surrounded by romance, this foreshadows their future split
- gothic genre
- structurally, it is a dramatic end to a chapter
“It draws you to the centre and spring of life, wraps my existence about you, and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.”
- passionate love
- fire imagery suggests passion and mirrors the imagery of Jane’s passionate nature
- connotations with elements suggests love is like a foundation of their life
- tri-colon shows Rochester’s persuasive style
“Jane, do you mean to go one way in the world, and let me go another?”
“I do.” (Chapter 27)
- pains of love
- blunt response is ironic of wedding ceremony
- shows Jane’s strength of character which at the time context is surprising.
