Gothic literature has a long history dating all the way back to the eighteenth century. This is due to the fact that no matter how old we are or what culture we 're from we all love a good horror story that will scare the shit out of you. The term gothic novel broadly refers to stories that combine elements from horror and romanticism. All gothic novels deal with supernatural events, or events occurring in nature that cannot be easily explained or over which man has no control, and typically follow a plot of suspense and mystery. Famous examples of gothic literature include The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Dracula. In the novel Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte uses gothic elements through supernatural events, mystery, and the conflicts
…show more content…
One of the biggest and most terrifying situations that Jane finds herself in is when she is having bad dreams, or what she thinks are dreams. The night before Jane and Rochester are going to wed Jane dreams that a little child cried in her arms as Jane tried to make her way toward Rochester on a long, winding road. Rochester dismisses the dream as insignificant, but then she tells him about a second dream. This time, Jane loses her balance and the child falls from her knee. Jane is so disturbed by the dream that it awakens her. As she wakes up she sees a candle and someone rustling around in her closet so she says, “ Sophie, Sophie! I again cried; and still it was silent. I had risen up in my bed, I bent forward: first surprised, then bewilderment, came over me; and then my blood crept cold through my veins”(274). Jane doesn’t know who this strange woman is standing in her veil and it scares her to death. When Bronte uses words like “blood ran cold” it sends chills up the readers spine and makes them afraid for Jane. When Bronte describes the woman as having a “discolored face- a savage face”(274) it makes her seem threatening and dangerous to Jane. It creates suspense for the reader and a mystery of who the woman is and if she will try to harm …show more content…
Jane continues to be true to herself throughout the novel regardless of what the world tells her she should be. It begins when she is living with the Reeds and she refuses to give in to their abuse and hypocrisy. Jane thinks about how she is mistreated by the family and thinks, “All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sisters’ proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a turbid well”(21). Bronte uses gothic elements when he uses words like violent, disturbed, and dark. This give the reader an idea of how Jane views her treatment by her family. She wonders why she is “always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned”(21). When Bronte uses words like “suffering” and “browbeaten” it gives the reader a sense of pity for Jane and the hope that one day she will have a family that loves her and treats her
One of the biggest and most terrifying situations that Jane finds herself in is when she is having bad dreams, or what she thinks are dreams. The night before Jane and Rochester are going to wed Jane dreams that a little child cried in her arms as Jane tried to make her way toward Rochester on a long, winding road. Rochester dismisses the dream as insignificant, but then she tells him about a second dream. This time, Jane loses her balance and the child falls from her knee. Jane is so disturbed by the dream that it awakens her. As she wakes up she sees a candle and someone rustling around in her closet so she says, “ Sophie, Sophie! I again cried; and still it was silent. I had risen up in my bed, I bent forward: first surprised, then bewilderment, came over me; and then my blood crept cold through my veins”(274). Jane doesn’t know who this strange woman is standing in her veil and it scares her to death. When Bronte uses words like “blood ran cold” it sends chills up the readers spine and makes them afraid for Jane. When Bronte describes the woman as having a “discolored face- a savage face”(274) it makes her seem threatening and dangerous to Jane. It creates suspense for the reader and a mystery of who the woman is and if she will try to harm …show more content…
Jane continues to be true to herself throughout the novel regardless of what the world tells her she should be. It begins when she is living with the Reeds and she refuses to give in to their abuse and hypocrisy. Jane thinks about how she is mistreated by the family and thinks, “All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sisters’ proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a turbid well”(21). Bronte uses gothic elements when he uses words like violent, disturbed, and dark. This give the reader an idea of how Jane views her treatment by her family. She wonders why she is “always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned”(21). When Bronte uses words like “suffering” and “browbeaten” it gives the reader a sense of pity for Jane and the hope that one day she will have a family that loves her and treats her