Jane, for the first time retaliated to this attack “ ’Wicked and cruel boy!...you are like a slave-driver’……I don’t very well know what I did with my hands, but he called me ‘Rat! Rat!’” Little did Jane know that retaliating would change her life so dramatically, everything would be different now. She is punished in a way not even she can fully comprehend; at first glance the punishment may seem simple and unquestionable as she would only be kept in a room alone. No one expects the experience to be how severe and haunting it is.
The incident in the red-room is made frightening because the reader is aware of Jane’s fear and childish imagination. Charlotte Brontë also makes a point of informing the reader of Miss Abbot, Bessie and the lady’s maid all being there with her, holding her down and intimidating her, “Hold her arms, Miss Abbot: she’s like a mad cat.” Jane is constantly dishonoured by everybody living in the Gateshead household, having never ending reminders that she is not worthy of such a family and could easily be sent away, “you are under obligations to Mrs Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.”
Jane was used to being spoken to like this, she had spent the previous years of her life like it and no doubt did not expect it to change, “My very first recollections of existence included hints of the same kind.” Jane is taunted and continually degraded by the servants, Bessie and Miss Abbot, who remind her of her path of misfortunes and lack of future prospects. “you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed……They will have a great deal of money, and you will have none” “God will punish her: He might strike her dead in the midst of her tantrums……I wouldn’t have her heart for anything” As they are going to leave the room, they leave Jane with a horrifying thought “Say your prayers, Miss Eyre……for of you don’t repent, something bad might be permitted to come down the chimney and fetch you away”
Jane’s nightmare was only just beginning, her surroundings inside the room added to the atmosphere, “The red-room was a square chamber” Charlotte Brontë uses the word “chamber” to add to the closed in, frightening feel, it is not a room, it is a chamber. “A bed supported on massive pillars of mahogany, hung with curtains of deep red damask” The use of mahogany and deep red adds to the dark feel of the room, making it seem more daunting in the eyes of a ten year old girl. The use of red and crimsons add to the chilling feel, making it look like everything is blood covered. “two large windows, with their blinds always drawn down” gives the impression that they do not want people seeing in to the room or there is something in there that should be kept in there and people should not know or experience it. Unluckily for Jane, she was locked in the room with whatever was being shut away from the rest of the world.
The red-room was rarely entered, “The housemaid alone came here on Saturdays……and Mrs Reed …at far intervals, visited it to review the contents of a certain drawer… where were stored …her jewel casket, and a miniature of her deceased husband” The room was filled with death, caskets and blood coloured walls. “in those last words lies the secret of the red-room – the spell which kept it so lonely in spite of its grandeur” This gives the impression that the red-room is in some way magical or haunted in some way. “Mr Reed had been dead nine years: it was in this chamber that he breathed his last……since that day, a sense of dreary consecration had guarded it from frequent intrusion” Confirms the suspicion that there is something haunting the red-room, it is Mr Reed, her dead uncle’s spirit, “I thought the swift darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world”
This was the best thing that could have happened to Jayne, it was her way out of Gateshead and away from her abusive family. Mr Lloyd acts as a catalyst in the novel and is the one who suggests sending Jayne away to school. Mrs Reed is keen to get rid of Jayne so she agrees to it and sends her to Lowood, a charity school. During Jayne’s time at Lowood she meets Helen Burns who becomes her best friend. The two friends and the rest of the pupils at Lowood School are extremely harshly treated in many ways, the food they receive is barely eatable, “I had got in hand a nauseous mess” The uniforms they wore were exceedingly tough, “woollen stockings and country-made shoes, fastened with brass buckles” , “coarse straw bonnets”
Charlotte Brontë uses character names to develop their personalities and to add to their character, for example Mr Brocklehurst and Miss Scatcherd are two of the cruellest teachers at Lowood and it is reflected in their names and the reader can straight away get an idea of what that character is going to be like. “Miss Scatcherd……you must take care not to offend her” Charlotte Brontë also uses this device to add the feeling that Miss Temple is the only source of sanctuary at Lowood, even her name reflects this as a Temple is a place you go to worship or if you have a problem. “But Miss Temple is the best – isn’t she?”
All of the harsh aspects of Jayne’s life as she is growing up add to her grown character and makes her a more resilient woman; she develops traits that she may not have developed if it was not for the people surrounding her as she grew up. She is an extremely kind hearted woman, the opposite of her family and most of the teachers at Lowood; they showed her qualities that she did not want to have and grew up to be the smart, independent, wealthy woman that no one expected her to be. In Victorian times it was usually the men that were wealthy and worked, the women usually just stayed a home to look after the house and family and live of their husband’s wage. Jayne, however grew to be independent, although she married Mr Rochester, she still managed to have financial independence because of her inheritance.
Jayne and Mr Rochester first meet when she moves in to his home, Thornfield, to be a governess for his ward Adèle who is French. Their relationship develops throughout the novel and they arrange to get married, however Jayne does not know that Mr Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason. When Jayne finds out about his marriage she calls off the wedding and refuses to marry him as she will only marry for love and definitely not bigamisticly. Jayne’s views on marriage are extremely clear in the novel, later in the book when she meets St John Rivers he also proposes to her but she declines as she will only marries for love and nothing else.
Religion is also a major theme in the novel, Mr Brocklehurst, Helen Burns and St John Rivers all have separate, very different religious views. Mr Brocklehurst has a hypocritical view of religion and uses it to suit him when he wants to; Helen Burns has an extreme faith and wishes to be in heaven, “God waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward” St John Rivers also has an extreme faith but Jayne learns from these people and develops a tempered, true faith that is respected.
Charlotte Brontë uses “Jayne Eyre” as an autobiographical book and makes Jayne the heroine, reflecting her life and her struggle to be a grown, respected woman. According to her family and Lowood, she was “destined for the workhouse” but she proved them all wrong and became an independent, loved, happy woman with a respectable home and family. She even went against the standard way of life of that time period, few women had financial independence, most lived off their husband’s wages while keeping a good home for their family, Jayne still kept a good home filled with love and respect but she also gained what she had always wanted, happiness and independence.
