Chapter 5

Within chapter five, Bronte paints vivid images of exactly what it was like to be in a poorer classed school during the Victorian era, and it Jane's experiences at Lowood Institute that help define the novel into a 'conditions of England' work. Jane describes walking through Lowood 'compartment by compartment, from passage to passage' this monotonous description could be synonymous with a prison, as if the bedrooms she passes could be cells (this is furthered later in the chapter when she describes the garden as an 'enclosure' with 'walls so high to exclude every glimpse of prospect' to reinforce the idea that she is trapped here) immediately her description of Lowood is negative- giving the distinct impression that this was not a nice place to be. She describes walking through 'dreary silence[s]' and when finally seeing some of the pupils there is only a 'hum', i infer from this that the residence are not having a fun time at Lowood- the atmosphere is dreadfully depressing. The room she walks into has only 'two candles' lighting the room and they all sit on benches showing the  meagre rations and discomfort here.  Jane describes Lowood 'institution' as a place very much governed and run through vigorous discipline ('discipline prevailed') she describes girls sat 'motionless and erect' on the benches as if they were regiments. All of this comes from Charlotte Bronte's own short experience of schooling and gives a representation of what exactly these school were like in the Victorian Era.

From a Post Colonialist perspective we could argue that Jane herself is discriminatory to other races: she describes a "strange, foreign looking lady" apart from the other teachers before revealing that she is only French. She then goes on to describe her as 'the dark one' 'the foreigner harsh and grotesque' we could argue that Jane is unfairly picking out that she is foreign as one of her bad traits, she also only mentions her in negative terms "the dark one" particularly harsher description than that of any other teacher at the school. As she is foreign Jane thinks suspiciously of the character "do you like the black one?" simply because she is not English; this is reflective of the Victorian thinking of the time.

Mrs Temples gives the pupils bread and cheese to make up for the 'burnt porridge' which opposes Mr Brocklehurst harsh rationing of food, Mrs Temple believes in generosity while Mr Brocklehurst's wants the school to be regimented and believes luxury ties with vanity, so the children would be better off in the eyes of god through living in these harsh conditions. Furthermore, while Mr Brocklehurts follows religion as a way of ruling and commanding his pupils, Helen Burns represents his opposite, a stoic, she believes in 'turning the cheek' and striving to accept the punishments given to her. She believes in finding the good in everyone. Helen Burns is the model Christian while Brocklehurst could be seen as a religious dictator.

From a Psychological perspective we could argue that Mrs Temple's name derives from Jane idolising, and placing the character on a pedestal. To Jane, Mrs Temple offers comfort that she has never received in her early childhood so naturally she places her as an idol. A Temple a reference to God, Mrs Temple offers divine comfort and kindness as well as being a 'godlike' idol. Temple's first name is 'Maria' which was also Jane's mother’s name. Bronte would have given Miss Temple this name to pursue the idea that she is a mother like figure for Jane.

Chapter 4

Jane Eyre is a Bildungsroman novel as it follows the maturity of Jane from early childhood till over a decade later, Chapter 4 is an important step in Jane's journey as it shows a progression in maturity but also a close in a chapter of Jane's life; it is in chapter 4 that Jane finally becomes relived of Gateshead's residency and sent to Lowood school for the orphaned and the poor and finally given the chance to live independently, without the oppression of the Reeds. From the beginning of the chapter it is evident that things have changed at Gateshead since Jane attacked John Reed, he and his siblings no longer physically abuse her as she has become excluded from their presence; Jane becomes Bessie's helper around the house and naturally becomes closer to her because of it. After a visit from "the black pillar" that is Mr Brocklehurst, Jane learns that she will soon be leaving "in a day or two". After Mrs Reed attempts to extend Jane's suffering to Lowood (by asking Mr Brocklehurst to keep an eye on her) Jane vents all of the anger upon Mrs Reed that has been kept inside her for years: she illustrates the hate she has for each of her children, Georgiana's lies, Eliza's vanity and John's Gluttony, as well as her hatred for Mrs Reed herself. Jane Describes how after this "her soul expanded" and relishes in being "the winner of the field" as she describes the verbal battle with Mrs Reed as a "triumph". The Chapter ends with Bessie noting Jane's new found confidence admiring how "you've got quite a new way of talking", the pair then walk back to the house embraced as the chapter closes to give the impression of a Bright future for Jane.

Charlotte uses the adult retrospective voice of an older Jane to analyse her own, younger Jane's, thoughts. The narrator states how she finds comfort in loving one of her dolls "i doted on this little toy" as "human beings must love something" However, an older Jane then speaks out and marks how strange an idea this was, as if retrospectively she realises this was just childlike behaviour " it puzzles me now to remember with what absurdity i doted on this little toy"

Charlotte uses childlike language to help describe meeting Mr Brocklehurst from a child's perspective, she describes Mr Brocklehurst with a "grim  face at the top, like a carved mask" also "two inquisitive-looking grey eyes which twinkled under a pair or brushy brows" which almost parallels a description of the wolf in Red Riding Hood; this helps us imagine the character as a child would but also shows how Jane is making links between her descriptions of people to the children’s books she would of read. This shows her Childlike imagination.

 

Mr Brocklehurst's speech regarding Lowood school in comparison to his own daughters could be criticized from a Marxist perspective. It is obvious that Mr Brocklehurst attempts to lead the school under the same morals that would be exhibited in the Bible, however instead of adopting the Christian beliefs of equality; Mr Brocklehurst uses religion for authority and twists the words to justify how he makes the children at the school live as plain, poor individuals. It is obvious that instead of using the money funded for the school on the pupils he uses this wealth to keep his own family in good standing; the pupils at Lowood are 'plain' while his daughters have lavish curls and 'silk frocks'. This shows how the upper class reap off of the money intended for the lower classes, by Brocklehurst using the money for his own needs he is oppressing the lower class (his pupils) instead of aiming to use the money equally.

 

Chapter 3

A clear example of people being treated differently according to their social status is in the employment of Mr Lloyd. Mr Lloyd is an apothecary, and supplies the medicine (plays the role of a doctor) for the servants at the Reed residence. Mrs Reed herself and the rest of the Reed children employ " a physician" who would be the professional doctor. It is obvious that Mrs Reeds does not see the servants as worthy as having upperclass medical care, simply because they are of a lower class.

Bessie's song shows the significance in Jane's growth in maturity since leaving the red room. She states how before "they were a lively delight" but now hearing the song she realises the sombre meanings and truly understands that the lyrics "the poor orphan child" can be seen as Jane herself.

We learn that Jane's mother came from the Reed family, her uncles sister and was predominantly wealthy. However, she found love in the form of a poor clergyman (the Eyre heritage) and through marrying him was distanced and shamed by the Reed family, as to step down in class was seen as an atrocious act. Jane's father then contracted TB as did her mother leaving Jane orphaned and still distanced from the Reed family.

However Jane shares the same view as many Victorians did about social class, even though she resents the Reed family she would never let herself "belong to a poor family" "poverty looks grim", she still recognises her luck in residing with the upper classes.

The last piece of dialogue obviously promotes the idea that women will succeed higher in life if they are beautiful with "long curls and blue eyes" while a "little toad" like Jane could never succeed as she is plain to the eye. This suggests that women are entirely relying on their looks as a way to succeed, that they are entirely appearance and nothing else. A feminist would argue this as a poor representation of a woman, that Charlotte neglects to portray how a woman's intelligence or work could place her equally to a man etc

Chapter 2

At the beginning of chapter two we see rebellious/fiery side of Jane's character becoming exposed, she acknowledges that her "resistance" to being dragged to the red room is a "new thing" for her so we know that she does not often resist the forcefullness of the Reeds. She momentarily compares it to "mutiny"  and even herself to a "rebel slave". At this point Jane cannot control her emotions and continually resists the efforts of Abbot and Bessie to control her, she only lapses her resistance when she realises Mrs Reed is planning to tie her down with Abbots garments, at this point Jane acknowlegdes this "took the excitement out of me".
At this point in the novel it is clear Jane is still a young child who cannot control her emotions, her fit of anger draws paralells with that of a small child.

When Jane is speaking to Bessie, Bessie threatens that if Jane does not stop her tempers she will be sent to "the poor house",  she uses this as the a threat at is well known the upper classes fear poverty and being poor. For the Victorian's social stature was a fixed system, the class you were born into was expected to be the class you die in, Bessie threatens Jane with being sent to the poorer parts of England because she knows young Jane will view this decline down the social ladder as a horrific idea, as she displays later in the novel "Poverty looks grim... No i should not like to belong to poor people".

From the quote "God will punish her: He might strike her dead" make it obvious that religion in the Victorian era was still taken very seriously, almost as fact. It is clear that the speaker thinks that God is actually capable of striking Jane down; while modern readers may dismiss this claim, religious readers of the time would often agree with the statement.

Charlotte uses the adjectives "chill" and "silent" in describing the red room to create a link towards death or gothic settings like graveyards and ghouls, the silence only suggests that something will happen to break the silence and creates tension through this, the chill could reference the feeling of a spirit in the room or reference the cold touch of a corpse. Similarly, "cold as stone" also could parallel the touch of a gravestone or the rigid stone like qualities of a body.

The red room was the final resting place of her uncle, Mr Reed, so naturally Jane as a child is scared of the room.

When Jane is looking into the mirror in the red room the narrative shifts to a third person viewpoint, for this moment it appears as though Jane does not recognise herself describing a "strange little figure" with "a white face and arms specking the gloom". This description is obviously quite unnerving and freak-like; incidentally this idea of her not recognising herself parallels Bertha's insanity as she cannot recognise herself in the mirrors of Thornfield. Similarly, when Jane describes having a "disturbed mind" and "the brain was in constant tumult"

Jane's childlike imagination features when she begins listing fairytale creatures from Bessie's stories: Phantoms, half fairy, half imp.

Throughout the novel we continually get brought back the the colour red to emphasise motifs (fire and ice) or express symbolism, in this particular chapter it is the red room itself that is used to express hidden meanings. From a simple perspective the "red" room represents Jane's anger, simply "seeing red" and it is the "Red Room' That Jane will mentally return to upon suffering later in life. However, deeper psychological readings of the red room could lead you to believe the room represents the womb,  and when Mrs Reed forces her into it she could be wishing to force her back into "the womb" in an attempt to re birth her as a loveable child, or as a Reed child, as at the moment she cannot love her. Furthermore, linking again to the womb, the Red Room could reference a woman menstration, a "coming of age" and it is this chapter that we see the young Jane begin to change into a wiser, learned character. This chapter marks the beginning of Jane's change.

Chapter One

Pathetic Fallacy is used at the beginning of the chapter to express the bleak, depressing like that Jane lives, the "cold winter wind" and the "sombre" clouds reflects Jane's bleak outlook of life- there is no light to signify hope. The "penetrating" rain reflects young Jane's temper. All the language featured is extremely negative, again showing Jane's own bleak, negative outlook towards life.

The repetition of the pronoun "I" distances herself from the other characters, this reflects Jane's isolation from the Reed family. SHe continues this segregation when describing the perfect victorian family "clustered around their mama" with "her darlings about her" apart from herself. It is clear she is conscious of her alienation from the Reeds.

Jane goes on to quote Ms Reed talking over her, she expresses that she lacks "a sociable, childlike disposition" making it clear that Jane is not part of her perfect family.

Jane continues the theme of isolation when she sits herself behind the "red noreen curtain"/ This is significant as it presents a physical barrier between Jane and the outside world. The "red" curtain also foreshadows her being trapped in the red room later on.

Mist and cloud paragraph, motif of unknown. Blind? Future unseen, ghostlike?

Jane is attracted to the pictures of isolated structures within her book, the "solitary rocks and promontories". She is attracted to these pictures as it reflects her own isolated being. She becomes fascinated by a rock standing alone in the sea while "billow and spray" beat against it. We could infer that she see's herself within this image. She being the rock isolated within the sea that is her own world, an outsider and outcast, while resisting the "billow and spray" beating against her that is the Reed family's abuse towards her. She even makes this comparison herself " I formed an idea of my own: shadowy, like all the half-comprehended notions  that float  dim through children's brains, but strangely impressive." This making is clear that she is conscious of the fact she is making parallels between the book and her own life.

It is made obvious that the servants of the house must ignore the beatings Jack gives Jane simply because of his gender. He is their "young master", as he is the only male of the house, he will become the master of the house once he becomes of age. Simply because he is male, he has power over the other members of the household. This is a result of the male patriarchal system, the victorian women become oppressed by a society which is still dominantly male led. The maids at the house know that Jack will be their master eventually, so cannot interfere when he bullies Jane. Therefore Jack has power over every member of the household simply because of his gender.

In chapter one we are presented with a child with a fully developed self dependancy. It is clear she has come to turns with her isolation with the Reed family, but accepts this and even acknowledges her isolation from the family. We see a glimpse of her feisty nature when she attempts to overpower Jack, yet we can see her intelligence when she realises she has gone to far and accepts her punishment (sitting herself on the stool)