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Revision Notes Jane Eyre A Level English Literature
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A LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATUREJane Eyre
Brief Introduction:
Jane Eyre tells the story of the eponymous heroine (an eponymous hero or heroine is the
character in a play or book whose name is the title), in first person narration. We travel with
Jane through her misery at the neglect and mistreatment at the hands of her aunt and cousins;
away to school with its hardships, friendships, and lessons; off to work, first as a teacher in the
school, then as a governess for the brooding Mr Rochester; and through her growing intimacy
with Rochester, with its joy and despair, before a terrible revelation sends her running away
into the unknown.
Orphaned as an infant, Jane Eyre lives with at Gateshead with her aunt, Sarah Reed, as the
novel opens. Jane is ten years old, an outsider in the Reed family. Her female cousins,
Georgiana and Eliza, tolerate, but do not love her. Their brother, John, is more blatantly hostile
to Jane, reminding her that she is a poor dependent of his mother who should not even be
associating with the children of a gentleman. One day he is angered to find Jane reading one of
his books, so he takes the book away and throws it at her. Finding this treatment intolerable,
Jane fights back. She is blamed for the conflagration and sent to the red-room, the place where
her kind Uncle Reed died. In this frightening room, Jane thinks she sees her uncle's ghost and
begs to be set free. Her Aunt Reed refuses, insisting Jane remain in her prison until she learns
complete submissiveness. When the door to the red-room is locked once again, Jane passes
out. She wakes back in her own room, with the kind physician, Mr. Lloyd, standing over her
bed. He advises Aunt Reed to send Jane away to school, because she is obviously unhappy at
Gateshead.
Essay Questions
1. How does Jane Eyre challenge the class structure of British society? (How does the use of a
governess as a protagonist allow the novel to criticise these structures? Consider the factors of
education, background, wealth, and gender.)
2. Helen Burns, St. John, and Mr. Brocklehurst represent three possible approaches to religion.
(How does the novel represent each of these characters? What does Jane learn from each of
them? What is the relationship between gender and religion? What is the relationship between
class and religion? How do these three characters fit with the developing theme of personal
freedom? What obstacles do they represent?)
3. “It is primarily through settings and landscapes that Brontë reveals most about Jane”. With
close reference to at least two other parts of the novel, discuss this view of the text.
, 4. With close reference to the text examine the way in which Charlotte Bronte depicts Victorian
Christianity in a predominantly unfavourable light.
In their analysis of the ways meanings are shaped in Jane Eyre in presenting the theme of
Victorian Christianity through narrative techniques and language choices, candidates might draw
upon the following:
various characters’ attitudes towards Christianity and the way these ideas are presented
structure – callous and materialistic depiction of Brocklehurst’s evangelical Christianity set
against the purity and innocence of Helen’s faith
the language of disdain used by Brocklehurst is used to foreground his religious hypocrisy and
emphasise the extent of the physical and emotional suffering inflicted upon children at charitable
religious institutions
St John’s dogmatic religious devotion/ love for Christ which leads him to sacrifice his worldly
happiness in the belief that it will offer eternal salvation. Some candidates might focus on the
fact that St John offers Jane another form of marriage that is as false as Rochester’s bigamous
proposal
the way in which human rather than divine love is sacred to Jane.
We are likely to see reference to a range of relevant contexts and their influence upon the ways
in which Brontё presents the theme of Victorian Christianity. Candidates are likely to draw upon
some of the following which will need to be integrated relevantly into their discussions:
the church as a provider
C19th notions of charity
C19th notions of religious faith/ belief and the academic/theological challenges to established
Christianity
C19th religious dissent
C19th notions of missionary work
family obligations
Essay on female empowerment:
In their analysis of the ways meanings are shaped in Jane Eyre in presenting the theme of female
empowerment through narrative techniques and language choices, candidates might draw upon
the following:
Jane’s rebellious presentation as a child at Gateshead
Jane’s emotive language when re-telling her decision to flee Thornfield and abandon Mr.
Rochester: she will not become his mistress
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