How Does Charlotte Bront Use The Language Detail and Setting In The First Two Chapters Of

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How Does Charlotte Brontė Use The Language Detail and Setting In The First Two Chapters Of “Jane Eyre”?

“Jane Eyre” is a novel written by Charlotte Brontë in the 19th century. Throughout the novel Brontë incorporates elements of her own personal life. A prime example of this is the inequalities between men and women. When she wrote this novel she had to use a male nom de plume so she could sell the book it was only after the novel was well known that she revealed that she wrote it. Another interesting example of this is that Brontë was a benefactress as is Jane in the novel,  a benefactress is a private tutor/teacher or someone who supports or helps a person. The novel is written using a first person narrative, which develops sympathy for the young heroin Jane. Brontë uses pathetic fallacy and uses language detail carefully to ensure maximum effect. Brontë also uses the setting to create mood and the atmosphere.

Brontë uses setting to create mood and atmosphere very effectively the whole way through the novel however it is used to brilliant effect in the first two chapters. The first chapter/scene is set in a winter afternoon in November. The author describes the weather as having “clouds so sombre”, “rain so penetrating”. This reflects that the atmosphere in the Reed’s household is negative and depressing. As the novel is in first person narrative we see everything in Jane’s views and thoughts only. Brontë describes the rain as ‘ceaseless’, which means that it seems forever raining which could relate to the atmosphere being forever upsetting and depressing. We can clearly see that Jane isn’t treated as well as the Reed children are from the start, we see this when Jane is punished for fighting with John but John isn’t punished at all. This may make her upset or depressed and most probably seems unfair to her. She is treated badly because she is different from them in terms of personality and looks. There is Georgiana with her rosy cheeks and blonde, curly locks of hair. John who is supposedly a grand young man according to his mother etc…  

The stories, which Bessie is telling the young children, create a superstition in Jane and this is shown in the red-room when she thinks she sees the spirit of the late Mr Reed. The stories that are being told are set in dark, gothic places, described in words such as “shadowy”, “ghastly”, “death-white”, “haunted”, “churchyard”, Jane also mentions the words “phantoms”, “terror” the effects of these words are to make the description more interesting and to further the gothic/supernatural features in the first two chapters. These words also may relate to the mood and the atmosphere that Jane is in. Also it relates to the red-room, which is packed, full of gothic features and colours for example the large features in the room and the colours of red that it uses. These stories all build up in Jane and she becomes very wary of such stories as we see later on the novel where she hears Mr Rochester’s mad wife laughing we feel that it is a haunted place just because of the superstition that Jane has.  

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We see afterwards why Jane hates the manor in which she lives. The reason being John Reed is cruel to her and violent towards her, this is because he sees her as a person of lower class to him. All the setting representing the atmosphere has been explained after the events of John and Jane. It uses dark colours, dreary days to show how unhappy Jane is. Also violent words when describing the weather are used for example “storm-beat” which may mean that her personality has been beat down by violence.

Another example of the setting is the ...

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