Characterisation of Jane Eyre in Chapters 1 - 4

Passion
1. "'Wicked and cruel boy!' I said, 'You are like a murderer - you are like a slave driver - you are like the Roman emperors!'" pg 6
  1. reflects influence of books on Jane
  2. Jane emphasises the corruption that is inherent in the ruling classes.
    1. sense of injustice
  3. feministic qualities - bold for Jane to shout at "Master" John of a higher social class, as well as a boy
Imaginative
3. "Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting" pg 4
  1. Intelligent
  2. Books provide Jane with an escape from her unhappy domestic situation.
  3. Jane longs for love and adventure.
Class Awareness
1. "humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority" pg 1
  1. Jane is continually reminded by the comparison with her cousins Eliza, John, and Geogiana, that she is physically and socially inferior to them. Even as an adult, Jane repeatedly informs the reader that she is plain and small.
  2. Highlights the extent of Jane's loneliness and unhappiness with the Reed family; it is because of her empty childhood that Jane thirsts for the family and love that she will find with Mr. Rochester at Thornfield Manor.
2. "This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible." pg 8
  1. Thinking of herself as beneath others, even those in the same household with her, is a habit that Jane learns from the very beginning.
Comments from other characters
1. "you are less than a servant" - pg 7
  1. Cinderella
2. "a picture of passion" pg 7
3. " a fury" pg 7
4. "'if she were a nice, pretty child, one might compassionate her forlornness; but one really cannot care for such a little toad as that'" pg 20
  1. Bronte is questioning the values of beauty. Miss Abbot is not recognising the underlying values of Jane
  2. "the servants would have been less prone to make me the scapegoat of the nursery" pg 11
    1. even the servants have no obligation to treat Jane respectfully. Due to her class and position, she is physically inferior.
    2. sense of injustice
5. "a tendency to deceit" pg 27
  1. unfair
6. "wicked" pg 25
"tiny phantoms , half fairy, half imp" pg 9
1. Supernatural/Gothic
2. Superstitous
  1. "I thought the darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world" pg 12
3. As fairy, Jane identifies herself as a special, magical creature, and reminds the reader of the importance imagination plays her in her life.
Opinionated
1. "I was glad of it: I never liked long walks" pg 1
2. "'I must keep in good health and not die'" pg 26
  1. Jane is being slightly sarcastic and not giving Mr Brocklehurst the answers he wants. Proleptic of her later relationship with Mr Rochester. Jane is not intimidated by men - unusual for that time period.
    1. "'Pslams are not interesting'" pg 26
      1. signaling Jane's lack of interest in the self-righteous religion Brocklehurst professes
"a noxious thing", "a heterogeneous thing", "a useless thing" pg 11
1. The way the Reed household at Gateshead Hall has lowered Jane's self-worth and self-image. "Thing" suggests she's like an object
2. sense of injustice
3. Jane characterize herself as different, as distinct.
Assertive
1. "Speak I must" pg 29
2. "How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare I? pg 29
  1. Jane is challenging Mrs Reed and is becoming an equal by taking on an adult role. She seems confident and quite sophiscated - showing she is no longer a "little girl"
Isolation/Exclusion
1. "protecting, but not seperating me from the drear November day"
  1. Jane's choice of books is also significant in this scene. Like a bird, she would like the freedom of flying away from the alienation she feels at the Reed's house.
    1. The situation of the sea fowl that inhabit "solitary rocks and promontories," is similar to Jane's: Like them, she lives in isolation.
  2. "rebel slave" pg 7
    1. imagery of oppression
The older narrator helps explainsthat children are often unable to express their feelings in words; therefore, the reader shouldn't be surprised by her younger's self inability to understand her injustice and miserable circumstances
1. "I see it clearly" pg 10
  1. highlights limitations of younger self

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Characterisation of Jane Eyre in Chapters 1 - 4

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