Notes About Jane Eyre
ADDITIONAL NOTES ABOUT JANE EYRE
Mr Rochester
Mr R’s portrait is that of man as seen by a woman. In the novel he is convincing but he only exists as part of J’s conscience.
He is a byronic hero, proud, tyrannical, violenta and full of masculine violence
Love relationship between Jane and Mr R It is an egalitarian relationship in which they both need each other. Mr R initiates J into love and marriage. They meet as in a fairy tale, but their love has to overcome a number of obstacles.
J responds to Mr R in an straightfoward manner, for example when he asks her if she finds him handsome
As Terry Eagleton points out, J’s relatioship with R is ambiguous: it is marked by equality and indepedence, but it is also a relationship between a master and a servant. R is superior in that he has been sexually initiated and J hasn’t but he is inferior in that he married for money and physical attraction and he needs Jane’s strength.
Narrative technique
The novel is titled “Jane Eyre: an autobiography”, that is, it is a fictional autobiography, the narrative about a life. It is a first person narrative and J is the narrator and modifies the narrative material (we only perceive what the narrator perceives. The reader takes place in the development of the central character.
Tension between detachment and emotional identification: the novel’s capacity to make the reader identify with the heroine is remarkable, but she also maintains a certain degree of detachment or separation. This separation is achieved by addressing the reader frequently to ask him/her to forgive her, inviting her to imagine certain scenes, telling her about her feelings. In this way, the reader is forced to think of herself as someone different from the narrator. To introduce a new scene chap 11, at the end of chapter 27 (moments of emotional tension)
P of v: J is the reflector or observer of the events in the novel. The character is never seen ironically. There is a splittin up of
Mr Rochester
Mr R’s portrait is that of man as seen by a woman. In the novel he is convincing but he only exists as part of J’s conscience.
He is a byronic hero, proud, tyrannical, violenta and full of masculine violence
Love relationship between Jane and Mr R It is an egalitarian relationship in which they both need each other. Mr R initiates J into love and marriage. They meet as in a fairy tale, but their love has to overcome a number of obstacles.
J responds to Mr R in an straightfoward manner, for example when he asks her if she finds him handsome
As Terry Eagleton points out, J’s relatioship with R is ambiguous: it is marked by equality and indepedence, but it is also a relationship between a master and a servant. R is superior in that he has been sexually initiated and J hasn’t but he is inferior in that he married for money and physical attraction and he needs Jane’s strength.
Narrative technique
The novel is titled “Jane Eyre: an autobiography”, that is, it is a fictional autobiography, the narrative about a life. It is a first person narrative and J is the narrator and modifies the narrative material (we only perceive what the narrator perceives. The reader takes place in the development of the central character.
Tension between detachment and emotional identification: the novel’s capacity to make the reader identify with the heroine is remarkable, but she also maintains a certain degree of detachment or separation. This separation is achieved by addressing the reader frequently to ask him/her to forgive her, inviting her to imagine certain scenes, telling her about her feelings. In this way, the reader is forced to think of herself as someone different from the narrator. To introduce a new scene chap 11, at the end of chapter 27 (moments of emotional tension)
P of v: J is the reflector or observer of the events in the novel. The character is never seen ironically. There is a splittin up of