Red: What do we associate with it? Watch the trailer. Does it help with your interpretation? Red: What do we associate with it?

What? All will explore the presentation of The Red Room in ‘Jane Eyre’ & explore possible interpretations. How? Discussion Watching a trailer Reading academic essays Answering some questions. Why? To contribute to your understanding of the novel, ahead of your exam. To understand symbolism in the novel.

The Red Room AO2 What do you know about it? Once the bedroom of Jane’s Uncle Reed The chamber in which he died Jane is forced into The Red Room by her Aunt Reed Jane panics, believing the room to be invaded by her Uncles ghost

Possible Readings AO3 The red-room is a space in which the purity and innocence of childhood meets the intense and bitter emotions that come with unpleasant life experience – anger, fear, and anxiety. Think of Jane as "seeing red" at this moment. The red-room experience is part of the indescribable trauma of suffering; remember, Jane loses consciousness because she can hardly deal with it, and she can never quite verbalize what the problem is (besides the possibility of a ghost). Whenever Jane suffers in the future, it will take her, emotionally, back to the red-room. In the red-room, Jane’s position of exile and imprisonment first becomes clear. Although Jane is eventually freed from the room, she continues to be socially ostracized, financially trapped, and excluded from love; her sense of independence and her freedom of self-expression are constantly threatened. The red-room is like a womb, and Aunt Reed is infantilizing Jane and forcing her back into the womb to be born again with, needless to say, a new attitude.

Read Read the essay on ‘The Red Room & Jane’s Imprisonment and answer the questions in detail. Make sure you use quotations wherever possible!

1. What is Brontë's purpose in having Jane's prison be a location so seldom frequented? How does this affect Jane's reaction to her internment, and why is it so devastating to her? 2. What is the significance of the room being mostly furnished in red? How does it specifically affect the ambience of the bedchamber? What is the importance, if any, of Jane noting the contrast of the white mattresses and pillows with the rest of the room? 3. Jane eventually believes herself to be in the presence of a ghost, and she proceeds to panic and go into a fit, eventually losing consciousness. What point does this frenzy and temporary insanity make with regards to Jane's characterization? Why does Brontë equate supernatural situations with insanity? 4. Is the reader supposed to believe that a truly supernatural event is occurring at this point in the novel, or are we to suppose that Jane is merely using her imagination too much? How does this coincide with the other events in the story that might have a supernatural explanation? 5. Why does Jane fear this possible ghost if she thinks it is Mr. Reed coming to avenge her mistreatment? If the ghost is friendly as she imagined, and attempting to right the injustice she has experienced, why does she try to escape in order to avoid it?