Helen Burns What do you already know? Mindmap the character!

Learning Objectives Understand the significance of Helen Burns in the novel (A02/A03/A04) Explore and analyse the language and imagery associated with the character Demonstrate our understanding with an analytical passage

Helen Burns

To explore & understand the character of Helen Burns. Find as many quotes to describe her character as you can. To explore & understand the character of Helen Burns.

Learning Check Draw a picture which represents everything you have learnt about Helen Burns so far.

Helen Burns Helen is Jane’s pious best friend at Lowood Institute. Helen is extremely intelligent, calm, and caring, but her most important aspect is her devout religious faith. If Jane Eyre were an allegory, Helen would basically be a walking version of the New Testament instructions to "turn the other cheek" and "bless them that curse you" and "love your enemies.“ Constantly victimized by the nasty teacher Miss Scatcherd, Helen never seems to take offense at the way she’s treated and even tries to see things from Miss Scatcherd’s perspective. Jane is confused by Helen’s patient, loving response to mistreatment, but she’s also awed by Helen’s brilliance and knowledge. Of course, a character this virtuous really couldn’t make it very far into the novel without dying in a tragic yet beautiful way. Helen is based on Charlotte Brontë’s sister Maria, who died young.

Read Read the extract from the novel and answer the questions about Helen Burns.

Why is Jane suddenly comfortable being literally next to death, a concept which she feared when she lived with the Reeds? Was her fear a fear of the unknown, which Helen has made more familiar? Was her fear of death and ghosts based more on her unhappiness in her living situation? How is Helen's acceptance of her illness and her probable death similar to the way she conducted herself in life? How is that different from Jane? Does her certainty comfort not only herself, but also Jane? Helen refers to God as many things: Maker, father, friend, universal Parent. What is the significance of God having many roles? How might these roles appeal to Jane, who lacks some of those individuals in her life? Helen's interpretation of God is often based on duality. She speaks of the hour which will "restore me to him, reveal him to me" and states "I love him; I believe he loves me". How do these ideas of reciprocity and balance in a relationship apply or contrast to her life, her friendship with Jane (in this passage or in general), or Jane's life at the Reeds' house or at Lowood? The girls discuss sleep in their dialogue, and Jane's narration refers to both falling asleep. Is this a euphemism for death? How are the two related in this text?

Write Write a paragraph about the character of Helen Burns. You should begin it… Jane is the antithesis to Helen because…