Is Jane Eyre best described as a romance or a Gothic novel?

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Is Jane Eyre best described as a romance or a Gothic novel? You should pay close attention to form, structure and language.

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The novel ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte has been categorised as both romantic and gothic by scholars and literary critics. The plot entails the exploration of a woman’s domestic trap, a common Victorian theme, with her subjection to patriarchal authority and her dangerous attempts to escape from such restrictions and the consequences. There is a mixture of mysterious events, moonlit natural environment, beautiful dream-like landscapes, enigmatic characters. Jane is represented as the heroine of the story, the virginal Christian female character. In opposition to her is the character of Bertha who is insane and is hidden in the attic of Thornfield Hall, representing Rochester’s torment and his terrible secret. It can be argued that the plot has many entwined characteristics of both genres and it is very difficult to think of it as of one kind. The essay will discuss the way in which the novel accords with the characteristics of a romantic novel and a Gothic novel and evaluates whether it may be possible to assign it with one of the two labels.  

Romantic novels emphasize imagination and feeling, they focus on nature’s ability to free humans from society’s judgments and limitations. English romance narrates exotic and unusual stories, they are concerned with chivalric deeds (as in the stories of King Arthur), recalling themes of romantic medieval literature. The latter results from a period in English history when society was in search for of order and the approach was that everything had to be explained rationally and scientifically, hence often being referred to as the Age of Reason. However, the romantics’ themes are  in opposition to such a way of thinking and rebelled against such established norms and conventions. The characters in romantic novels place the self at the centre of his/her own existence, this is achieved by focusing on his/her thoughts rather than actions. The theme or romantic love as opposed to passionate love is explored too and the consequences the latter would bring.

Another narrative style which emerged was the Gothic novel. The background setting has a dim and imposing mansion or castle, as a backdrop to the atmosphere of mystery and suspense, where the character’s fears are explored beneath the surface of the “enlightened” psyche. Other features of a gothic tale is the presence of omens, portents and visions. There is usually a suffering, tormented woman who needs to be rescued from a controlling and lustful guardian, and in the process displays an array of extreme sentiments and reactions, such as swooning, crying and sorrow. She is usually often commanded to marry someone she does not love or commit some moral or actual crime. Supernatural events may be used to explain coincidences and many scenes evoke terror through the depiction of physical and psychological violence.

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So I would like to examine how Jane Eyre would seem to be typical of the romantic novel that was so popular in Victorian England, while at the same time having, in my opinion, all the ingredients for a gothic novel. The plot recalls a fairy tale ‘...when you came upon me last night I thought unaccountably of fairy tales’; as Bronte writes in chapter 13. However, Bronte skilfully uses it as a frame, to give a clear picture of her great feminine consciousness, expressed in Jane Eyre’s persona. This is conveyed through the use of a first-person narration, that ...

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