Jane Eyre: A Tale of Courage and Strength

morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when he came near,' Jane explained.

This obviously shows that she is very fearful and is intimidated by John Reed. This would have gained great sympathy from the reader as it showed that she was continually getting bullied and even when she tried to get away from the Reeds', they would come back and haunt her, in this case John Reed. The sympathy for Jane would then grow as 'he struck suddenly and strongly.'John Reed then followed with 'You have no business to take our books; you are a dependant, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with gentleman's children like us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear at our mama's expense.' In my view I feel this is probably the part in the novel when the reader feels most sympathetic for Jane.

This is because John has explained all the bad things that she is or has happened to her in her life, and by doing this has made her feel that she is practically nothing and shouldn't really be living. The reader probably feels sympathy because they have found out she is heavily dependant on the Reeds' due to her having no money and no father, therefore being an orphan. Not only does the reader feel great sympathy for Jane here, but also probably great hatred for John Reed, due to him bullying her.The reader's hatred for John also probably grew when he hurled a book at her head, and Jane explained 'and I fell, striking my head against the

door and cutting it.' Moreover this would have strengthened the reader's sympathy for Jane, that they already had and additionally, in response to John's violent conduct against her, she exclaimed 'Wicked and cruel boy! You are like a murderer - you are like a slave-driver - you are like the Roman emperors!' I personally felt glad when she blurted out this, probably because of the large amount of sympathy I had felt for her at that time.

Jane had taken John by surprise and he 'ran headlong' at her. Eliza and Georgiana had run for Mrs Reed and she arrived promptly - 'Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there.'Jane resisted all the way but was eventually dragged to the dreaded red-room. Sympathy from the reader was reinforced due to this because she was wrongfully punished due to her finally retaliating to John's brutal bullying and if she were seen as equal in the household John would have been punished more severely than she was, but this clearly wasn't the case. 'What shocking conduct, Miss Eyre, to strike a young gentleman, your benefactress' son! Your young master.' This strengthens the fact that Jane wasn't seen as an equal in the household because John Reed was Jane's 'young master.

' So this proves that Jane wasn't seen as an equal, and therefore sympathy had grown for her once more.Bessie, who was Mrs Reed's servant, also reminded Jane the fact that she was a dependant. 'Mrs Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.' Miss Abbott then joined in 'And you ought not to

think yourself on equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed.

' Again this makes sympathy grow from the reader for Jane and once again proves that the Reed family sees Jane as unequal.Additionally, Bronte increases the sympathy from the reader for Jane by asking the rhetorical questions 'Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, forever condemned? Why could I never please? Why was it useless to try to win any one's favour?' These brought sympathy because it shows that Jane was very depressed about the way she was unfairly treated and seems to be blaming herself.In conclusion, Bronte brought sympathy from the reader for Jane in "Jane Eyre" in many different ways. She was seen as an outsider and unequal to the Reed family, she was bullied and treated unfairly. Also not forgetting the use of rhetorical questions used by Jane as she questioned herself about why so many awful things were happening to her.

I found this technique very effective but overall I feel that Charlotte Bronte was also very successful in bringing sympathy from the reader for Jane Eyre.