ANALYSING FICTIONAL CHARACTERS Thursday 26 th November

Mr Brocklehurst The handle turned, the door unclosed, and passing through and curtseying low, I looked up at--a black pillar!--such, at least, appeared to me, at first sight, the straight, narrow, sable-clad shape standing erect on the rug: the grim face at the top was like a carved mask, placed above the shaft by way of capital. Mrs. Reed occupied her usual seat by the fireside; she made a signal to me to approach; I did so, and she introduced me to the stony stranger with the words: "This is the little girl respecting whom I applied to you." HE, for it was a man, turned his head slowly towards where I stood, and having examined me with the two inquisitive- looking grey eyes which twinkled under a pair of bushy brows, said solemnly, and in a bass voice, "Her size is small: what is her age?"

Mr Brocklehurst "Ten years." "So much?" was the doubtful answer; and he prolonged his scrutiny for some minutes. Presently he addressed me--"Your name, little girl?" "Jane Eyre, sir." In uttering these words I looked up: he seemed to me a tall gentleman; but then I was very little; his features were large, and they and all the lines of his frame were equally harsh and prim. "Well, Jane Eyre, and are you a good child?" Impossible to reply to this in the affirmative: my little world held a contrary opinion: I was silent. Mrs. Reed answered for me by an expressive shake of the head, adding soon, "Perhaps the less said on that subject the better, Mr. Brocklehurst." "Sorry indeed to hear it! She and I must have some talk;" and bending from the perpendicular, he installed his person in the arm- chair opposite Mrs. Reed's. "Come here," he said.

Mr Brocklehurst I stepped across the rug; he placed me square and straight before him. What a face he had, now that it was almost on a level with mine! what a great nose! and what a mouth! and what large prominent teeth! "No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?" "They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer. "And what is hell? Can you tell me that?" "A pit full of fire." "And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?" "No, sir." "What must you do to avoid it?" I deliberated a moment; my answer, when it did come, was objectionable: "I must keep in good health, and not die."

Analysis On your handout, identify the following: Language choices Language techniques Narrative structure Sentence structure Punctuation Write two PETAL paragraphs analysing Mr Brocklehurst. One PETAL paragraph must be about Narrative structure, Sentence structure or Punctuation.

Example Mr Brocklehurst comes across as a very powerful man in the passage. His constant use of interrogatives to Jane Eyre demonstrates that he demands answers, “Your name, little girl?”. It is clear that even when Jane has answered his questions, he is still unhappy with the responses and so asks even more questions. His use of the phrase ‘little girl’ shows the reader his condescending nature towards younger people.

Writers’ language choices Building upon our analysis from previous lessons, we will now analyse a very different fictional character. We shall concentrate The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Using the image below, create a description of the ‘Woman in Black’. You may wish to use the following youtube clip to help you:

Description of The Woman in Black. However, towards the end of it, and on hearing some slight rustle behind me, I half-turned, discreetly, and caught a glimpse of another mourner, a woman, who must have slipped into the church after we of the funeral party had taken our places and who stood several rows behind and quite alone, very erect and still, and not holding a prayer book. She was dressed in deepest black, in the style of full mourning that had rather gone out of fashion except, I imagined, in court circles on the most formal of occasions. Indeed, it had clearly been dug out of some old trunk or wardrobe, for its blackness was a little rusty looking.

A bonnet-type hat covered her head and shaded her face, but, although I did not stare, even the swift glance I took of the woman showed me enough to recognise that she was suffering from some terrible wasting disease, for not only was she extremely pale, even more than a contrast with the blackness of her garments could account for, but the skin and, it seemed, only the thinnest layer of flesh was tautly stretched and strained across her bones, so that it gleamed with a curious, blue-white sheen, and her eyes seemed sunken back into her head. Her hands that rested on the pew before her were in a similar state, as though she had been a victim of starvation. Though not any medical exert, I had heard of certain conditions which caused such terrible wasting, such ravages of the flesh, and knew that they were generally regarded as incurable, and it seemed poignant that a woman, who was perhaps only a short time away from her own death, should drag herself to the funeral of another.

Nor did she look old. The effect of the illness made her age hard to guess, but she was quite possibly no more than thirty. Before I turned back, I vowed to speak to her and see if I could be of any assistance after the funeral was over, but just as we were making ready to move away, following the parson and the coffin out of the church, I heard the slight rustle of clothing once more and realised that the unknown woman had already slipped quickly away, and gone to the waiting, open grave, though to stand some yards back, beside another headstone, that was over-grown with moss and upon which she leaned slightly. Her appearance, even in the limpid sunshine and comparative warmth and brightness outdoors, was so pathetically wasted, so pale and gaunt with disease, that it would not have been a kindness to gaze upon her [...] I intended to wait for the sick-looking woman and offer my arm to escort her. But she was nowhere to be seen.

Writers’ language choices Read Susan Hill’s description of the Woman in Black. How did it contrast your own?

Writers’ language choices In order to address the skills needed for your GCSE, we will now identify and analyse the following: Language choices Language techniques Narrative structure Sentence structure Punctuation

Plenary Write two PETAL paragraphs analysing The Woman in Black. One PETAL paragraph must be about Narrative structure, Sentence structure or Punctuation.