Remind yourself of the passage in chapter 2 from ‘the Red Room was a square chamber very seldom slept in…’ to the end of the chapter and discuss the significance of the passage in your reading of the novel.
By Hannah Carpenter
The passage from chapter 2 ‘The Red room was a square chamber very seldom slept in …’ to the end of the chapter, is significant in my reading of the novel. The previous passages show Jane’s life at Gateshead; Mrs Reed has locked Jane in the Red Room after she lashed out at John, her cousin. The Red Room has a dark history, as it was the room in which Jane’s Uncle both died and was lain in.
The Red Room is described in the first two paragraphs; ‘A bed supported by massive mahogany, hung with curtains of deep red damask.’ The furnishings are large and of shades of red (dark reds) creating a heavy and domineering atmosphere ‘ their blinds always drawn down, were half shrouded in festoons and falls of different drapery’ The sense of coercion is emphasized by words such as ‘shrouded’ and the imagery of layers of drapery gives a sense of an overpowering heaviness surrounding Jane petite child form, making her seem somewhat insignificant. The sense oppression, or attempt of it, of Jane is a reoccurring idea within the novel; by Mr Brockelhurst and in her time at Lowood school, where strict religious views suppress her passionate nature and the period of courtship between herself and Mr Rochester where he tries to change her, forcing finery and expensive gifts upon her. ‘the wardrobe, the toilet-table were darkly polished mahogany. Out of these dark surroundings rose and glared white, the piled up mattresses.’ The appearance of red and white is symbolic to passion and self-control (fire and ice) a theme ever present in novel as Jane battles with her own reason and feelings an example being whether she follows her heart and stays with Mr Rochester after learning of his living wife, or following reason and moral and leaving him.
