How Does Charlotte Bronte Create Sympathy For Jane Essay Example

horrible to her but only later on in the novel the reader understands how ironic this is. "For now they are not crying or quarreling" also this suggests that they usually are crying or quarreling, which shows how bad the family get on with each other.

Bronte then uses "me" a lot; this shows Jane's strength and passion in her character. Jane was always apart from the rest of the family "keeping me at a distance" and Mrs Reed sees her own children as being brilliant but Jane will never be as good as them, she wants to see Jane try to be like Georgiana and Eliza so she keeps Jane at a distance and thinks her children are happy; which is ironic as they are the opposite, they are very unhappy later in life; for example, John Reed commits suicide.

Jane's principles make her hate lying or deceit and when she has done something wrong she wants to know what she has been accused of so she asks questions: "What does Bessie say I have done? " but Mrs Reed stops Jane asking questions which shows the lack of respect towards her and makes us respect Jane. The next setting is the breakfast room where Jane is reading a book. She loves reading but she especially likes books with a lot of pictures, which shows Jane's wild imagination. "Each picture told a story.

This is unusual as most heroines of novels are very intelligent and like reading long books, with no pictures, like Helen Burns who was a very important character in the novel, because she showed Jane how to control her negative passion. The second feeling

of isolation was created when she made a haven of safety behind the curtain. "Having drawn the red moreen curtain nearly close, I was shrined in double retirement. " "Shrined" is a religious image, which is a recurring theme in the novel. The idea of safety and a "shrine" holds something very precious.

Also, Bronte refers back to the dreary November weather, which again, reflects Jane's feelings. Jane is now engrossed in her book and she really does not want to be interrupted. The pictures fuelled her imagination as she got carried away in them. One of the pictures shows a "Solitary rock", another image of isolation and it is very gloomy. A solitary rock is one that sticks out by itself, lonely, which is exactly like Jane. "Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the bleak shores. "

Bronte creates a cold landscape when describing the book Jane is reading, which appeals to her, as there is a feeling of empathy, she can relate to it. I believed to be marine phantoms" is the first sign of superstition and ghosts, which is another running theme in the novel. This shows what people thought about ghosts and how much they believed in them. Jane is interrupted and the incident with John Reed illustrates the cruelty of the relations and the resilience of Jane. She is afraid, but not cowed. Her independence of mind and spirit is already highly developed, although she is still childish. The retaliation against John leads to the first major incident of suffering. This will recur also.

We can tell that this kind of cruelty has happened before "I trembled at the thought of

being dragged forth" we can also see the social hierarchy as John makes Jane call him "Master Reed" as she Jane is socially lower than John so he treats her horribly, which is based on his being the man of the house; he has money; she does not so he thinks he is better than her. Bronte paints a picture of John with adjectives "large and stout for his age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin. " He is fat and unhealthy because his mother spoils him.

John commits suicide, which shows that his mother wasn't doing him any favors while he was young by giving him everything he wanted, which underlines the Christian principles of the novel. Jane was not overindulged and she had happy adulthood. Bronte uses balanced clauses when talking about this ordeal with John "not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice a day, but continually"; the repetition of every in "every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh in my bones," and the emotive language show how much she fears John.

Jane is "habitually obedient to John" as he makes her stand in front of him for three minutes which is torture; he lashed out at her and he had obviously done it before. "I knew he would soon strike. " John insults Jane and calls her animal names, "rat" which was extremely degrading as he tells her she has no rights because she is poor. Money spoke for so much at that time and if you had less money than someone else then you were an inferior person.

Bronte then builds up tension and John

throws a book at Jane, she then breaks the line up into short clauses, "The cut bled, the pain was sharp: my terror had passed its climax," which shows her panic and breathlessness and builds up the drama of the situation. All of this cruelty shows how badly Jane is treated and creates a huge amount of sympathy for her. To finish off the chapter Charlotte tells the reader about the pain that has passed and she builds up a little cliff-hanger with all of the short clauses and then there is an outburst of passion "Wicked and cruel boy! Charlotte also uses litotes to understate the point "I felt a drop or two of blood. "

By not over exaggerating the situation, which is what many people would do, it emphasizes the drama. As Mrs Reed gives sympathy to John, "What fury to fly at Mr John," there is a feeling of injustice, which makes us feel even more indignant for Jane and even more hatred towards Mrs Reed. In the second chapter, Jane has forced into the red room and the metaphor with John is carried on, where she is a slave and he is the Roman Emperor. "Mad cat" is another reference to animals and being degraded.

Mrs Reed says that Jane is "less than a servant" so Jane has no dignity at all. Mrs Reed and Mrs Abbott bully and threaten Jane with being tied up and they tell her that she will never be as good as them, they try to put out Jane's passion and try to scare her: "Besides, God will punish her" which was the cruel reality at that

time and then there is another threat that something will come down the chimney to "fetch" her away because of the religious superstition at that time. Now, a child would laugh if someone told them that, but Jane was genuinely very frightened.

Jane was so annoyed and scared that she thought about suicide, which was thought upon as a wicked sin as at that time it was a strong belief that only God had the power to take someone's life. Jane is locked in Red Room for the attack on John and there is a detailed description of it so you can see it through Jane's eyes: "The red room was a square chamber. " Jane was a "discord" and this is important because it is how it seems hostile looking back. There is dark furniture and there is no fire. It is "cold", "solemn", "silent" and "remote. "

Mr Reed died in the red room so it has a religious significance, his death wish is very important as he asked that Jane would be looked after properly but she wasn't so his spirit parted from his body but is not at rest. Here there is a feeling of injustice People really believed this was true and the spirit of a person could haunt someone. Jane is terrified that Mr Reed's ghost might come back especially when she sees a light and tries to reason with herself but she has a horrific experience, she can't stand the fear anymore - she has a ghostly apparition, which is supernatural and she screams.

Jane starts to bang on the door, as she is so terrified. Bessie is concerned, "Are you

ill? " but Mrs Reed is not, she is aggressive "gown rustling stormily" and accuses Jane of being deceitful, and this is ironic as Mrs Reed is the deceitful one, which we learn about later in the novel. "O aunt have pity" which Jane says is a dramatic moment and shows how desperate Jane is. But Mrs Reed has no sympathy and Jane must accept the punishment although she has suffered so terribly. Jane is locked in again by Mrs Reed for disobedience and has a hysterical fit and passes out.

There is another use of litotes here as she just says, "unconsciousness closed the scene", she does not over exaggerate anything thereby highlighting the drama. Jane's reflection on her own character is the first reference to her independence and freedom of spirit in adversity. Although imprisoned, she is unrepentant. Also, she is perceptive and intelligent and very different from a conventional "Victorian" heroine, she will not bow to injustice or ill-treatment and is not subservient - she will not acknowledge "her place", which also adds to our sympathy.

Overall, Charlotte Bronte uses many different ways to create sympathy for Jane. These are the different uses of settings, language and characters. The way Jane is treated helps the reader feel sorry for her. The Victorian culture shows as Jane has no looks or money she must be inferior to everyone else. Jane feels "alien" and she is socially lower as she didn't have any parents, she had no money and she is "less than a servant" because she does not earn her keep.

There were also fears about poverty since it was the ultimate degradation. To be poor

was the stigma. Also, it was thought that her uncle coming back could really happen and something could fetch her from the chimney, as ghosts and superstition were a large part of people's lives. Also, the fact that Jane even considered suicide showed how distressed she was, the only thing that stopped her was the realization that suicide was a sin. All of these successfully capture our sympathy for Jane.