Brontë continues to use the cold weather to emphasise Jane’s suffering throughout the novel. In chapter seven she states; ‘our clothing was insufficient to protect us from the severe cold: we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes and melted there; out ungloved hands became numbed covered with chilblains, as were out feet: I remember will the distracting irritation I endured from this case, every evening when my feet inflamed;… raw and stiff toes into my shoes in the morning.’ She says at the weather is cold and the girls in the school are treated unfairly and not given sufficient clothing to cope with the weather conditions. The vocabulary prepares you for the tragedy in the story.
Brontë uses words such as ‘saddened’, ‘my physical inferiority’ and ‘desolate’. This tells the reader that she has been made unhappy by her aunt and she feels isolated and alone. We can tell her life is depressing and that she is unhappy and extremely frightened of her Aunt Reed. She uses a metaphor that could reflect to her loneliness; ‘a wreck just sinking’ which also creates a very dark picture, synonymous with her life.
In comparison to the cold and bitter weather she uses warmer and more pleasant weather conditions to show her happier change of mood as shown in chapter eleven when she says: ‘… tranquil hills, all reposing in the autumn day’s sun; the horizon bounded by a propitious sky, azure marbled with pearly white.’ This weather shows us that Bronte’s mood has changed and shows that she is happy and content with the weather. The words ‘tranquil’ and ‘reposing’ tell us the weather is calm and peaceful. The word ‘propitious’ tell us that she likes the blue sky as it is her favourite weather. Another quote that shows the more pleasant weather conditions are used to show a change in her sombre mood is; ‘That arch of blue air to which I had been looking up, and to that sunlit scene of grove, pasture, and green hill, of which the hall was centre, and over which I has been gazing with delight.’
Brontë uses first person because it reflects on her life as the novel is semi-autobiographical. It signifies her personal experience. Her writing has a narrative tone and vivid description. As a child, Brontë walked two miles every day in the freezing cold. We can tell Jane likes reading to build her vivid imagery when she quotes “where the northern ocean, in vast whirls, boils round the naked, melancholy isles of farthest Thule; and the Atlantic surge Pours in among Hebrides.” This shows how she seeks books to escape from reality and her loneliness which makes her creative and a dreamer.
Brontë persuades us to dislike certain characters in the novel that she doesn’t like for example John Reed, her cousin she tells the audience that he has ‘dingy and unwholesome skin… heavy limbs and large extremities.’ This portrays a vulgar and distasteful image of John. The audience gets the feeling that he is pampered by his mother when Jane tells us that ‘he gorged himself habitually at the table which made him bilious, and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks.’ This shows Jane and her cousin had a strong antipathy towards each other and as a result she describes him in a horrible and ugly way. This also tells the reader that she stands up for herself and what she believes in. She has a feminist voice. Brontë can seem to be a feminist. Jane is attacked by her cousin as shown when Brontë tells us; ‘… every morsel of flesh trickled down when he came near’ and ‘I felt a drop or two of blood from my head trickle down my neck.’ This proves Johns bullying character and how he abuses and doesn’t like Jane.
Brontë also does this to her Aunt Reed although she describes her in a masculine way to make us hate her. This is shown when she tells us she has a ‘composed grey eye’, large face…’, ‘large chin and prominent’ and ‘square shouldered and square limbed.’ This encourages the reader not to like her as Brontë has made her physically unattractive. Women in the 19th century were discouraged to be aggressive and masculine as it was not the right behaviour for women to carry around at that time. So, the audience is less likely to like Aunt Reed. In comparison to this, when Aunt Reed is dying Jane suffers no feeling of rejection or loss whereas before when she was rejected as a child. He was ‘seemingly lethargic’ with ‘feeble fingers.’ This tells the audience that Jane is no longer in need of her aunt’s love and she is not in control of her and her Aunt is emasculated by her illness.
We can also compare this to the masculine Bertha Rochester in chapter ten when Jane tells the audience that she is ‘tall and large, with thick and dark hair.’ We can now tell that she does this to all the characters in the novel, but only to the ones that she doesn’t like to make the readers feel the same way and to make us feel sorry for her.
Her Aunt shows no affection or support for Jane and she eventually sends her to a charitable school called Lowood. Jane is excluded from the family activity which is shown when she says ‘me, she has dispensed form joining the group...’ She is an unwanted and unloved member of the family.
She accepts her harsh treatment and beatings bravely which is shown when she says; “take her away to the red-room and lock her in there.’ Four hands were immediately laid upon me, and I was borne upstairs.’ The red-room is the punishment room where her aunt’s husband, Mr. Reed died.
Jane is afraid of this room as she has been locked inside the punishment room, treated harshly and she is left alone. She is treated in a disrespectful way as she is abused and penalized incessantly. The metaphor ‘red’ represents the danger and tyranny that she faces and ‘room’ is her feelings being let out of her.
She tells us ‘the room was chill because it seldom had a fire, it was silent, because remote from the nursery and kitchen.’ Her aunt ignores Jane’s fear, cries and pain. She behaves inhumanly and ignorantly.
We sympathise with Jane when Mr. Brockelhurst visits. Mrs. Reed tells her him that Jane ‘has a tendency to deceit.’ This means that she think Jane is dishonest and a cheater. Jane is so used to being punished and she takes the infliction bravely. She says ‘...Well I might dread, well I might dislike Mrs Reed; for it was her nature to wound me cruelly.’ This implies that she is treated in a despicable way and was generally neglected within the family. Brontë and her siblings were also reared by their Aunt after their mother died. This could also mean that she is exaggerating her own feelings of loss after her mother’s death through the portrayal of Mrs. Reed in the novel.
As with some of the hated characters, Mr.Brockelhurst is also described as being physically unattractive. Brontë tells us ‘... the lines of his face were equally harsh and prim. He is described in and repulsive way. He tells her; ‘... deceit is, indeed, a sad fault in a child... all liars will have their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone.’ We get the impression he is cruel and harsh towards her.
At Lowood, Brockelhurst continues his cruel behaviour by chastising her in front of other pupils. He says ‘...this girls a liar!’ She would have been rather embarrassed and she once more finds that she is wronged and rejected.
In Lowood they didn’t have many luxuries as “...a keen north-east wind, whistling through the crevices of our bed-room windows all night long, had made us shiver in our beds, and turned the contents of our ewer to ice.’ This tells us that they were left cold and freezing and as a result, they wouldn’t be able to sleep. Brontë went to Cowan Bridge School until she was eight years old. It was owned by Rec. Cariss Brooke who said that the children were wicked and better off ‘dead’. Charlotte’s two elder sisters died of tuberculosis due to the unsanitary conditions.
In conclusion, I believe that Charlotte Brontë acquires the reader’s sympathy for Jane at the start of the novel. She uses her personal experiences in her life and incorporates them into her novel as Jane’s personal experiences. I believe Jane Eyre is a very independent and strong woman. Women were taught to be silent and quiet in the 19th century but in contrast to that Jane stands up for herself and what she believes is right. Her character has a lot of confidence and power, even to stand up to the ones who treat her badly. Despite the fact it was also frowned upon for young ladies to be so outspoken in the Victorian Era she does speaks for herself very well. Therefore Jane Eyre is a great role model to females in the modern day. I think Brontë did an effective job of acquiring the audience’s sympathy by targeting out the good and bad characters by giving them individuals descriptions which made the reader automatically see whether the character is to be liked or not. Personally, I would feel very sympathetic toward Jane and the life she has been led to live so, I believe that Brontë has definitely sent out a message towards all the reader and her way of getting through to the reader was very efficient.
JRR.
