This document provides an overview and analysis of key elements in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, including: 1) It summarizes the plot, which follows the story of Jane Eyre as she survives a wretched childhood and eventually falls in love with Mr. Rochester, though dark secrets threaten their relationship. 2) It analyzes themes of love versus autonomy, gender relations, and Brontë's feminist philosophy as seen through Jane asserting her independence and self-worth. 3) It examines how power dynamics between Jane and Rochester shift throughout the story, from his initial mastery over her through his gaze to her position of power as an independent woman after she inherits money.

1. Female Independence and Rebelliousness in
Jane Eyre
Class: V Liceo Linguistico
Time: 2 lessons - 4 hours
Pre-requisites: knowledge of the historical,
social and cultural
context of the
Victorian Age
Objectives: improvement of the students’
critical spirit and of their reading
through the lines and
understanding beyond words

2. Author
Charlotte Brontë (originally published under
the male pseudonym Currer Bell)

3. Jane
it is a simple and common name;
lack of status; lack of pretence
Eyre
it is an archaic spelling for “air”; in French,
“aire” refers to a bird’s nesting place, among
other
things; in medieval times, “eyre” also signified
circuit-travelling judges; “eyre” also
sounds like “heir” and like “ire”

4. Structure
Preface
Volume I – chapters 1-15
Volume 2 – chapters 16-26
Volume 3 – chapters 27-38

5. Genre
a mixture of different genres: the
Autobiography; the Gothic novel; the
Romantic novel; the Bildungsroman
Point of view
all the events are told from Jane’s point of
view:
she is the omniscient narrator

6. Setting (time)
early decades of the 19th century
Setting (place)
the novel is structured around five separate
locations: the Reeds’ home at Gateshead;
the Lowood School; Rochester’s manor house
Thornfield; the Rivers’ home at Moor House;
Rochester’s rural retreat at Ferndean

7. Themes
love versus autonomy; religion; social class;
gender relations
Motifs
fire and ice; substitute mothers
Symbols
Bertha Mason; the red-room

8. Plot
Boldly searching for love and independence on
her own terms, Jane survives a wretched
childhood, unbroken in spirit and integrity, to
eventually fall in love with the troubled but
romantic Mr. Rochester.
Dark secrets, a presence in the attic and
scandalous revelations, however, might herald
the end of all her longed for love and happiness

9. Chapter 12, pages
“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but
women feel just as men feel; … they suffer from too
rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as
men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their
more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought
to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting
stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering
bags.”
Women’s role in the Victorian society
Femininity defined by male gaze
Jane’s sense of her self-worth and dignity
Brontë’s feminist philosophy

10. Chapter 12, pages 129-130
Are you injured, sir?” … “Can I do anything?”
I asked again.
“You must just stand on one side.” … I did. …
“I cannot think of leaving you, sir, at
so late an hour, in this solitary lane, till I see you are
fit to mount your horse.”
He looked at me when I said this: he had hardly
turned his eyes in my direction before. …”
Male authority versus female submission
Jane’s challenging words
Rochester’s gaze as a form of mastery

11. Chapter 37, page 479
…and [I] stood to watch him – to examine
him,
myself unseen, and alas! to him invisible.
Jane’s position of power
Rochester’s blindness: he can no longer shape
and master Jane through his gaze

12. Chapter 37, page 483
" I am an independent woman now. … My uncle
in Madeira is dead, and he left me five thousand
pounds. … If you won't let me live with you, I can
build a house of my own close up to your door, and
you may come and sit in my parlour when you want
company of an evening.“ … "I told you I am
independent, sir, as well as rich: I am my own
mistress.“
Jane’s gained independence and self-knowledge
Independence as acknowledged equality

13. Chapter 38, page 498
Reader, I married him
The narrator addresses the reader
Marriage as a free choice

14. Bibliography
Brontë C., Jane Eyre, Penguin Books, (1847) 2003
Allen W., The English Novel, Pelican Books (1954)
1958
Duby G., Perrot M., Storia delle donne, l'Ottocento,
Laterza, 1991
Jackson R., Fantasy, the literature of subversion,
Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1981
Sitography
www.sparknotes.com/lit/janeeyre