Tone In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Decent Essays
In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë uses tone to establish Jane's personality. The tone of the novel is very blunt and direct, much like Jane's character. Such an example is during a conversation with Mrs. Reed. Jane says, "I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world." (48) Jane addresses her dislike towards Mrs.Reed outright, telling her very clearly and almost nonchalantly that she does not care for the Reeds and is happy to move away and attend Lowood. Jane's bluntness can also be seen in her conversations with Mr. Rochester. For example, when Mr. Rochester asks her if she finds him attractive, Jane is quick to respond that she thinks he is ugly. The fact that Jane is not afraid to hide her opinions from Mr.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Charlotte Bronte’s novel uses literary techniques to characterize the phases of life her protagonist is leaving and entering. She starts off her novel with her character, Caroline Helstone who is eighteen years old. Charlotte says that at eighteen, she still doesn’t know the meaning of life. This stuck with me because if she is eighteen and still doesn’t know the meaning of her life then what phase is she in? This passage referred to the life before eighteen years old as a tale, a marvelous fiction.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This ending is foreshadowing because it’s giving the reader hint making them predict, either will a storm cause in Emaline’s family or will Meeka get lost in the storm? As for me, I predict that Angus will lose his job and then be sent back to the ‘mental’ due to the damage the storm will cause on the crops. Angus will probably persuade Emaline’s mother or the chief to let him continue on the farming and fix the damage, but he might get sent back to the ‘mental’ because of Mr Records decision. Angus might feel hope, but maybe the other people will not feel hope towards him so leaving him no chance but to go back to the ‘mental’. This is why the ending is foreshadowing.…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane Eyre is a novel, written in the Victorian era by the author Charlotte Bronte. Bronte uses different setting in order to show what the characters are feeling, illustrates character development, and to foreshadow certain events that are going to occur. Jane Eyre makes particularly powerful and complex uses of setting, which it intertwines with plot, characterization, and, of course, symbolism and imagery. The setting of the story is carefully divided into five distinct places, each of which has its particular significance in Jane's history.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mr. Rochester has to balance out his fiery nature and Jane must determine where she stands on the spectrum between passion and reason. In the end, Jane finally grows into herself, and sheds her old skin. This scene reveals that Jane has learned to balance…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zack Curtis Dr. Swenson English 1212: British Literature II April 4, 2016 Split Reality Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, depicts the constant struggle between virtue and desire with a man by the name of Dr. Jekyll, and his counterpart, Mr. Hyde. The story of these two sides of the same coin shed light on the internal battle between right and wrong. While Dr. Jekyll represents the acceptable, lighter side of humanity, Hyde portrays the selfish side with no concern for any consequence of his actions. Dr. Jekyll is the crème of the crop for his time; he is tall, well-educated, respected, and a man of class. He lives a life of luxury in his nice house full of servants.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapter 25 Jane Eyre

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Throughout these chapters Jane continues to have overwhelming anxieties from Changing her overall identity and being married to rochester under the reveal…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane Eyre Research Paper

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Wherever you are is my home – my only home”, are Jane Eyre’s confessed words of love to Mr. Rochester, revealing that a home is not necessarily confined to a place, it could also be found where people are. In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane’s home is Mr. Rochester, who she falls madly in love with him, and it is that precise love intensity that allows her to continue demonstrating her diligence and great work ethic as a governess throughout the novel – and reason for her to ultimately return home to him. As far as how Rochester affects Jane’s actions and work, she struggles to find a balance between that of her yearning of love and belonging (i.e. a home) and that of her religious and personal morals. Upon discovering Mr. Rochester’s…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While many of Jane’s moments alone in Volume One reveal her desire to explore the unknown, similar moments in Volume Two reveal why she does not take that risk and often remains in the familiar. As she falls in love with Rochester, Jane becomes more and more critical of herself and her social standing. After she learns of the possible engagement between Rochester and Blanche, Jane is especially critical of herself in a moment alone, imagining what Blanche might look like. This private moment of harsh truth reveals her inner insecurities, but it becomes vital in allowing her to maintain her composure in public.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    How Does Jane Eyre Mature

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages

    She continued, stating, “had he been a handsome, heroic-looking young gentleman, I should not have dared to stand thus questioning him against his will, and offering my services unasked” (125). Despite her initial lack of attraction, Jane falls madly in love with Rochester accepting a marriage proposal from the mysterious man. Jane‘s hopes, however, are again ruined on the couple’s wedding day. Jane discovers, Rochester has been keeping an astonishing…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jane Eyre Injustice

    • 2017 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Even at age ten, she knew what her consequences were for speaking the truth, yet she still did so anyway. She found her way out of oppression and with her rank as a teacher and governess, she has already raised her rank slightly in society and gained respect by many. She helped anybody when she could, even if that meant saving the cold-hearted Mr. Rochester from the fire on his bed curtains. When she realized that her love would always be the one and only, Edward Rochester, she denied marrying her cousin St. John and returned to her former lover. This also shows that Charlotte Bronte exercised the theme of love to the extent that Jane was ready to accept a blind and helpless Mr. Rochester out of her deep love for him.…

    • 2017 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Betrayal In Jane Eyre

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This betrayal pushes Jane to make the decision to leave Rochester and attempt to go on to find herself in the world. It was Rochester’s betrayal that was the driving force for Jane to finally try to search for her independence. Before this occurred, Jane had experienced hardship her whole life;however, she had never attempted to survive on her own. When Jane was at Thornfield, she experienced a sense of comfort which she had never experienced before. Rochester’s betrayal tampered the sense of comfort that Jane had with Thornfield.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    An effective way that a novel becomes timeless is through the social change that the story may prompt. Once a book influences thought or action, its validity and relevance increases. During the Victorian Era in which Jane Eyre takes place, women were forced by society into becoming simplistic and conforming without rebellion. Instead of allowing individuality and expression, men tended to suppress the freedom and personalities of females. To this day still, the lack of female empowerment in a patriarchal society takes prevalence.…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    She makes this bold statement to the reader to reassure that her feelings are intact and must be understood. This aside shows the reader that Jane can have strong feelings and be able to understand them even if she does not understand her true desires. She is stating she has feelings for Rochester and desires him in a very unconventional manner. This desire is something she has not experienced; it is almost sexual, which is outside of the realm of experiences she has had. This aside also shows how Jane is confiding her feelings and being vulnerable to…

    • 1783 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Power In Jane Eyre

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Her decision to include Jane’s internal monologue adds to the development of the motif of equality through establishing that her silence is not a trademark of dumbness, but one of stubbornness and a desire to be treated as Rochester’s equal. Jane does not wish to be manipulated into thinking that she is more than an employee to Rochester, as he attempts to do. Instead, through her silence, she forces him to express a genuine interest in her if he wants a response. This situation orchestrates a significant power shift between the two. This is depicted in Rochester’s last line in the passage, where he requests that she leave superiority out of the question and “still agree to receive my orders now and then, without being piqued or hurt by tone of command.”…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oppression In Jane Eyre

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Reed was no longer in the picture , Jane is seen as an inferior to Mr. Rochester. Although Jane Eyre might have been victim of oppression with Mr. Brocklehurst back in Lowood School, by him constantly punishing girls because of their gender and his believe of gender superiority, Mr. Rochester pushes the boundaries of oppression towards Jane Eyre. The following quote:” but women feel just as men feel... it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures...” (Bronte 111-112) shows how Jane Eyre feels about sexist people like Mr. Brocklehurst and Mr. Rochester. After testing Jane Eyre in the piano, Mr. Rochester says: "You play A LITTLE, I see; like any other English school-girl; perhaps rather better than some, but not well" (Bronte 155-156) using sarcasm to emphasize his sexist thoughts upon Jane and all girls.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays