Discuss the various ways in which Charlotte Bronte creates sympathy for Jane Eyre in the first 10 chapters of the novel.

English essay – Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte created sympathy for Jane Eyre in many ways during the first 10 chapters of the novel. Charlotte Bronte is a fictional autobiography. It tells us, the reader, the story of an imaginary person, yet Bronte can relate to Jane in several ways. Several individuals i.e. Brocklehurst, her Aunt Reed and her cousins, John,Eliza and Georgiana, subject her to hardship and inequality.

In the first chapter Charlotte Bronte uses pathetic fallacy to reflect Jane’s mood. Jane is being kept away from Mrs. Reed - her aunt and her cousins so she goes to sit on the windowsill.

“A scene…storm-beat shrub, with ceaseless…wildly before a long and lamentable blast.”

Bronte describes the weather outside as ‘storm-beaten’ and ‘cold’ and ‘sombre’. These words do not only refer to the weather outside, but also to Jane’s mood; Jane being cold herself, frozen out of a relationship with her aunt and cousins, she has nobody to talk to; a sad and lonely person. Also, in the first paragraph of the book, Jane talks about the walk the family were not allowed to go on, as it was raining. Jane does not like these walks, she speaks of them as ‘dreadful’ the fact that she is made to go on these walks shows the brutal treatment she is shown. She comes back cold and miserable with ‘nipped fingers and toes’; this shows that she is made to tolerate pain. This creates a sense of sympathy for Jane, as the reader sees straight away that her life is unhappy, that she is treated poorly at such a young age and made to do things she doesn’t want to.

Jane is isolated from the Reed family, both emotionally and physically. Bronte uses contrast to show us this,

‘now clustered round their mama…with her darlings’

This shows the love between Mrs Reed and John, Eliza and Georgiana. Bronte then writes,

‘she had dispensed from joining the group’

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Jane is isolated from the Reed family, both emotionally and physically. Bronte uses contrast to show us this,

‘now clustered round their mama…with her darlings’

This shows the love between Mrs Reed and John, Eliza and Georgiana. Bronte then writes,

‘she had dispensed from joining the group’

Jane is ignored by Mrs Reed and left alone. Mrs Reed excludes Jane from the warmth and love of the family very frequently. The reader feels more sympathetic towards Jane because of her age and situation; she is only ten years old and is an orphan. Jane is separated so much from the family that she has no one to talk to or turn to for love; so she reads books. They rescue her from what is going on around her.

Jane is locked into the red-room. Although it is the biggest and best room of the mansion, it is creepy as Jane’s Uncle had died in that room, and she is very superstitious. In that room, on her Uncles death bed, he had made his wife promise to bring Jane up as one of her own; obviously this had not happened, as she is always treated as an outcast. Mrs Reed is Jane’s aunt by marriage. Because Mrs Reed isn’t blood related to Jane, she makes Jane emotionally, mentally and sometimes physically isolated from the family, an outcast. Even the servants treated Jane as if she is of a lower caste.

“Master! How is he my master? Am I a servant?”

A maid had said it is shocking behaviour to “strike at a young gentleman” her “young master”. John reed is not her master as she had rightly said. She is his cousin, and therefore should be an equal to him. The maids say to Jane that she is less than a servant. Imagine how Jane feels being called “less than a servant”, when she should be treated exactly the same as her cousins. Mrs Reed’s attitude towards Jane is insensitive and hurtful, because Jane is young and vulnerable as she does not have any of her parents’ love. She is dependant on Mrs Reeds love. Mrs Reed already resented Jane even before she steps into her house, thus making us feel sympathy for Jane. Aunt Reed is an evil woman. She is doing everything she can to ruin it for Jane. When Mr Brocklehurst interviews Jane, she tells him that Jane is a liar. She tells him of Jane’s “deceitful nature”. Jane can immediately see that she cannot defend herself. She has no power at all. How can a young child defend herself from unjust accusations? She is helpless. This makes us feel sympathetic towards Jane. In Lowood School, Mr Brocklehurst humiliates Jane. He makes her stand on a stool in front of everyone and tells everyone what he thinks of her.

“a little castaway…an alien… – this girl is – a liar”

Mr Brocklehurst calls Jane a liar in front of the whole school. He calls her an alien, a little castaway. You feel sympathetic towards Jane because of way she treated as an outcast rather than a human being. She is made to feel as if she is not part of the human race.

Jane is portrayed as a helpless, innocent child that is neglected and blamed for mishap by her so-called relatives.

Sheena Patel