Background Information for Jane Eyre

1
Background Informationfor Jane Eyre

• By
• Charlotte Bronte

2
Jane Eyre Introduction

• What do you do when everyone who
• loves you is gone and youre all alone in
• the world?

Jane Eyre is an orphan in 1800s England. Her aunt
has agreed to raise her but treats her badly. She
allows Janes cousin to bully her and punishes
Jane harshly, yet she expects Jane to be
thankful.
3
THE NOVEL

• Published in October 1847
• During the Industrial Revolution

4
Schooling

• During the early 19th century, it became
  fashionable to educate females.
• However, free education was not yet available for
  either sex.
• Only the very rich could send their daughters to
  elegant girls schools

5
Governesses

• 1. Less costly schools were formed by
  well-meaning benefactors in order to educate poor
  females.
• 2. Illness was common because there was not a
  clear understanding of the relationship between
  dirt disease

• 3. With the new stress on female education,
  governesses were in demand.
• 4. Pay was poor, but it was one of the only jobs
  available to educated, yet impoverished young
  women

6
Role of the governess

• Employers other servants shunned the governess
  because they felt she was putting on airs.
• Her employers would ignore her, too, because she
  had a superior education, which intimidated many
  people.

7
A ground breaking novel

• Why?
• The heroine is small, plain, poor
• The heroine is the first female character to
  claim the right to feel strongly about her
  emotions and act on her convictions
• This romantic ground had previously been reserved
  for males
• Such a psychologically complex heroine had never
  been created before

8
Charlotte Bronte

• Lived at Haworth, a parsonage

• Born of Irish ancestry in 1816

• Mother died of cancer when Charlotte was 5 years
  old.

9
The Bronte sisters

• Charlotte had 4 sisters and 1 brother.
• While at the Clergy Daughters School, her 2
  older sisters (Maria Elizabeth) died of
  tuberculosis

10
Charlottes family con.t

• The Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge
  became the model for Lowood, the fictitious
  girls school in Jane Eyre.
• Anne and Emily Bronte were also successful
  writers.
• Charlottes brother, Branwell, was a gifted
  painter.

11
More on Charlottes Family

• In 1846, Charlotte her sisters started
  publishing poems and began writing novels
• The Professor was Charlottes attempt to
  fictionalize her love for a college professor she
  had met at Brussels.
• In 1847 Wuthering Heights was sister Emilys
  first success. Charlotte followed with Jane
  Eyre.

12
Tuberculosis

• Tuberculosis was a common killer during the
  Victorian era.
• Tuberculosis often destroys its victims lungs,
  resulting in a bloody cough.
• If untreated, sufferers may die of tuberculosis
  because their lungs are so badly damaged.

13
All 3 Bronte Sisters

• Used a masculine pen name because women writers
  were not taken seriously at that time in
  Victorian England.
• Charlotte used the name Currer Bell.

14
Marriage Bells

• In 1854 She marries her father's curate, Arthur
  Bell Nichols.
• The next year, she became pregnant, then ill.
• She died a month before her 39th birthday

15
Charlottes Religious Views

• Father, Patrick Bronte, was an Anglican clergyman
• Due to her upbringing, she often wrote about
  religious hypocrisythose who preach one doctrine
  but live by another

16
Jane Eyres Romantic Heritage

• The Romantic Movement
• Came into play in at the end of the 18th Century.
• Championed for the rights of the individual over
  the demands of society.
• Believed that humans were inherently good
• Valued imagination over reason
• Inspired by nature

17
Charlottes Gothic Influence

• Jane Eyre displays some characteristics of the
  gothic novel
• Imprisoned women
• A heroine who faces danger
• Supernatural interventions at crucial moments in
  the plot
• A romantic reconciliation

18
Jane Eyre and the Gothic Novel

• Dark Romanticism
• Mystery
• Haunted castle or house
• Dreaming and nightmares
• Doppelgänger or alter ego
• Physical imprisonment
• Psychological entrapment and helplessness
• Involvement of the supernatural
• Psychology of horror and/or terror

Henry Fuselis The Nightmare, 1781
19
Feminist Novel

• During this time period, men and women were
  separated into separate spheres
• Men occupied the world of work, knowledge, power,
  society, etc.
• Women occupied the world of the home and family
• There were few occupations available to women

20
Bildungsroman

• A novel that considers the development
  (psychological/spiritual) of a person from
  childhood to maturity, to the point at which the
  protagonist recognizes his/her place and role in
  the world
• 
  
  From The Bedford Glossary of Critical
  and Literary Terms, 2nd Ed.

21
Topics Explored in Jane Eyre

• The various natures of love
• Female independence in a world where women are
  made to be dependent on men
• Forgiveness
• The effect of money on happiness
• The effect of religious belief on social conduct

22
Byronic Hero

• This term is created by the famous poet George
  Gordon, Lord Byron.
• Characteristics are
• Proud
• Gloomy
• Mysterious
• Passionate
• Mr. Rochester is an example of this type

23
Charlottes Quotes

• It is vain to say human beings ought to be
  satisfied with tranquility they must have
  action and they will make it if they cannot find
  it.
• If we would build on a sure foundation in
  friendship, we must love friends for their sake
  rather than for our own.

24
Other Characters (Cont.)

• Grace Poole Berthas mysterious keeper, serves
  as Berthas scapegoat
• Adèle Varens Janes pupil, daughter of
  Rochesters old mistress, Celene
• Richard Mason Berthas brother, exposes the
  secret marriage
• Blanche Ingram socialite after Rochesters
  money, opposite of Jane

Adèle
Blanche Ingram
25
Charlottes Gothic Influence

• Jane Eyre displays some characteristics of the
  gothic novel
• Imprisoned women
• A heroine who faces danger
• Supernatural interventions at crucial moments in
  the plot
• A romantic reconciliation

26
THE END