1. Background Information for Jane EyreBy
Charlotte Bronte

2. Jane Eyre: Introduction
What do you do when everyone who loves you is gone and you’re 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 Jane’s 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 Daughter’s School, her 2 older sisters (Maria & Elizabeth) died of tuberculosis

10. Charlotte’s family con.’t
The Clergy Daughter’s School at Cowan Bridge became the model for Lowood, the fictitious girls’ school in Jane Eyre.
Anne and Emily Bronte were also successful writers.
Charlotte’s brother, Branwell, was a gifted painter.

11. More on Charlotte’s Family
In 1846, Charlotte & her sisters started publishing poems and began writing novels:
The Professor was Charlotte’s attempt to fictionalize her love for a college professor she had met at Brussels.
In 1847 Wuthering Heights was sister Emily’s 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. Charlotte’s Religious Views
Father, Patrick Bronte, was an Anglican clergyman
Due to her upbringing, she often wrote about religious hypocrisy—those who preach one doctrine but live by another

16. Jane Eyre’s 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. Charlotte’s 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 Fuseli’s 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 Proud Gloomy Mysterious Passionate
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. Charlotte’s 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 – Bertha’s mysterious keeper, serves as Bertha’s scapegoat
Adèle Varens – Jane’s pupil, daughter of Rochester’s old mistress, Celene
Richard Mason – Bertha’s brother, exposes the secret marriage
Blanche Ingram – socialite after Rochester’s money, opposite of Jane
Adèle
Blanche Ingram

25. Charlotte’s 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