Gothic elements in Jane Eyre PDF

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Gothic Elements that can be found in Jane Eyre by C. Brontee...

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The novel blends realism and fantasy. There are many Gothic elements: → Brontee makes use of natural images (animals, the weather, landscape and nature) deriving from Shakespeare and from Romantic poets (reading she made as a young woman) in order to emphasize the romantic influence. Natural elements give atmosphere and help describing the characters. → She also elaborates on folklore and fairy tales (also part of her Irish background) → Jane is provided with a Gothic imagination, which is triggered in particular when she reads books that allow her to travel to faraway places. For example in Ch.1 she reads a book about birds, about wild life. The book is full of beautiful images, and Jane describes herself as a childe whose self is also "undeveloped" and "imperfect." → the Red-Room is characterized by a Gothic atmosphere of fear. The Red-Room is described as a secret, prison like room where she is confined as a punishment for responding to her cousin John's violence towards her. It is not inviting nor cozy, and, more importantly, it is not inhabited: Jane thinks that the previous owner of the room, her dead uncle, is haunting the room. All this is enhanced by the fact that she is just a child and therefore she is superstitious. → some of the settings are Gothic, in particular Gateshead, where Jane lives as a child with the Reeds, and Thornfield, where Jane falls in love with Mr. Rochester and is torn between passion and self-control. The description of Thornfield Hall conveys a gothic feel. It is dark, dated and, laboured with secrets, enigmatic and recalls the image of a gothic castle. Jane's narration makes it look like an haunted house, for example when she talks about the strange and unnatural laughs she hears. There is an atmosphere of mystery and suspence. Unexplainable incidents occur in both houses, such as the fire in Rochester's bedroom, wedding veil ripped, strange laughter. → Jane struggles to have equality and fight oppression of the male → Charlotte Brontee here strengthens the psychological dimension of the traditional Gothic novel, which means that Gothic elements are elaborated from a psychological point of view, in the sense that the scary things are necessarily outside yourself, but somehow they're deep within yourself. For example there's a lot of insecurity about identity in Jane Eyre. Moreover Brontë uses these gothic features to show how Jane’s character grows when she is exposed to the gothic elements. This shows her beginning transformation from a child to an adult that she goes through in the red room → Mr Rochester represents both the Romantic hero and the Gothic villain, he is, handsome (in contrast with Jane, who wasn't physically attractive) and attractive, but also dark and melancholic, he combines masculine strength (strong behaviour) with tenderness, he has a mysterious past and is therefore enigmatic and gives a Gothic vibe. He symbolizes and reveals and excites Jane’s passionate part. His character is revealed through conversations with Jane. Their first meeting (Ch. 12) anticipates the final resolution of the story and Rochester’s dependence on Jane, in fact the reader immediately realize that there is something between them: when they first meet, Mr. Rochester falls from his horse and Jane is there to support him: aid that is resumed at the ending. → Bertha Mason (Mrs. Rochester ) is Rochester's first wife, he married her when he was in the Carribean for business: he invested in the colonies and married Bertha due to an agreement with her parents. She indeed is a problematic character and has many functions in the novel, one of which is to enhance the Gothic, supernatural element in the novel, in fact she is the cause of the supernatural events at Thornfield and her existece will be revealed later. Moreover she is a madwoman and she is the encanation of excessive sexuality and moral degradation. In fact not conforming with the norms and expressing extreme passion lead her to mental instability....