Themes Flashcards
What are the main themes?
-Social class
-Religion
-Gender
-Family
-Love/Passion
-Independence
-Supernatural
-Feminism
Religion- Jane Eyre
“He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun”
- Simile
- Rochester takes away everything she believes in such as christian values
- Conflict between her internal desire and moral duties
“i am not an angel…i will not be one to lie die”
- Saying rochester shouldnt worship her because she’s an escape for him but to follow god instead of idolising her
“marrying at john…angles beckoned, Gods commanded”
- Feels like it’s her moral duty to be a missionaries wife
-however st john’s religion is driven by ambition and self perusing goals rather than his dedication to religion
- It’s not janes destiny
- Independent choices
- Angels (semantic field of religion)
- Won’t marry cuz it’s not honest to herself and honest to god
- His religion was performative
“ God and nature intended you for a missionaries wife”
-Imperative
- forcing jane
- Different ideas of religion
Religion- Helen Burns
“you are too impulsive, too vehement, the sovereign hand that created your frame has provided you with other resources”
- Religious way of living
- god had taught her better
- synecdoche (word that represents one part which represents the whole)
Religion- Mr Rochester
“it will atone, it will atone”
- struggling with honesty and purity
- God punishes him for him choosing earthly pleasures
- repetition
- atonement is god forgiving and forgets it
- foreshadowing that he is hiding secrets
- marrying jane will make him pure
“i did you wrong, divine justice pursued it’s course, disasters came thick upon me”
- He’s accepting his punishment
Class Jane Eyre-
“my father had been a poor clergyman…my mother had married him against the wishes of her friends”
- Jane was born of original sin
- semantic field of family
“poverty looks grim to grown people”
- She should be thankful to be treated as a lowly orphan
-how poor people are looked down on
“the good lady evidently belongs to this class…mr rochester in her eyes a gentleman”
- Mrs Fairfax idolises upper class people
-morally superior
“he is not of your order, keep to your class”
- Cast out
- jane talks to herself telling her to stay away
- understands what society would view this relationship as
“he was going to marry her, her ranks and connections suited him”
- class is very important to mr rochester but jane realises he doesn’t actually value it
Class Blanche Ingram
“scorned to touch me with the hem of her robe”
Class Mr rochester-
“you have saved my life, i have a pleasure in owing you such an immense debt”
- Values Jane
- truly sees her
- she’s unique
- Victorian protagonist
-hyperbole (exaggeration of debt”
“i sometimes have a queer feeling with regards to you”
- different feelings when talking to jane
- pursue her past social normalities
-juxtaposition of pronouns “i” and “you” difference between them
-foreshadowing love
Love
Two types of love-
Friendship between jane and helen
genuine love for mr rochester
contrast to blanche who is fake towards rochester
love- helen burns
“Resting my head on helen’s shoulder i put my arms around her waist”
- Heartwarming
- good friend to jane
- genuine friendship and kindness
-contrast to reed family
- intimacy (semantic field of body parts) change from her physical and mental abuse
Love- Jane eyre
“i thought only of the bliss given to me to drink in so abundant a flow”
- Rochester ignores social boundaries
- proposal
- “bliss” walking on air
- drink and flow- water- love- free and easy
“In his presence i really lived”
- Declarative sentence
- Brings her alive
Love- Mr rochester
“i ask you to pass through life by my side as my second soul”
- sibilance- snake- secrets
-power over jane
- rich victorian gentleman
“it is as if i had a string somewhere under my left rib…knotted to a similar strong situated in your little frame”
- Biblical reference to adam and eve
- meant to be
- connected
- Jane completes him
- Simile
- string repeated= connection
Jane- Independence
“do you think because i am poor, obscure, pain and little, i am soulless and heartless?”
Rochester- Independence
“i will put this diamond chain around your neck” and “load those fairy like fingers with rings”
- Jane doesn’t want to be owned or owe anything
- doesn’t care about riches
- he isn’t listening to her wishes
“his smile was such as a sultan might bestow on a slave”
- she feels trapped (link to bird)
Description of Bertha
“wild animal”
“clothes hyena”
Jane vs rochester (fire and ice)
“my love shivered like a suffering child in a cold cradle”
“he seemed to devour me with his flaming glance”
- he thaws her out
- she feels alone and isolated
“i feel under a freezing spell”
- she feels oppressed by st john
