3.1.2.4The novel at a glance
Orphaned Jane is raised unkindly by her aunt, sent to Lowood school, and becomes governess at Thornfield, where she falls in love with Mr Rochester. Their wedding is stopped by the revelation that Rochester is already married to Bertha Mason, who is kept in the attic. Jane flees, nearly dies, and is taken in by the Rivers family. She refuses St John's offer of a loveless missionary marriage, returns to find Thornfield burned and Rochester blinded, and marries him.
Published in 1847. A governess occupied an ambiguous position between servant and family, educated but dependent. Married women had almost no legal identity separate from their husbands, divorce was effectively impossible, and the treatment of mental illness was custodial rather than therapeutic.
- governess
- a woman employed to educate the children of a household, socially between servant and family
- the Gothic
- a tradition using old houses, secrets, madness and the supernatural to create unease
- Evangelical
- a strict strand of Protestant Christianity emphasising duty and self-denial, represented by Brocklehurst and St John
3.1.2.4Characters
Jane's defining quality is refusal. She refuses her aunt, Brocklehurst, Rochester's offer to live as his mistress, and St John's offer of duty without love. Each refusal costs her materially.
Rochester is not offered as a straightforward romantic hero. He deceives Jane, and the novel blinds and impoverishes him before the marriage can take place, which makes the equality Jane demanded materially real.
Bertha is described through animal and demonic imagery and given no speech, which is the novel's most uncomfortable feature. She appears at moments when Jane's own anger is suppressed, inviting a reading of her as Jane's double.
3.1.2.4Themes
Independence and self-respect are the novel's highest values, and Jane states them plainly: the more solitary she is, the more she will respect herself.
Religion appears in three forms, Brocklehurst's hypocrisy, Helen's passivity and St John's severity, and the novel endorses none of them.
Class and gender overlap: Jane's inheritance resolves the class problem financially, which is arguably an evasion of the argument she has made.
Common mistake
Writing that Jane simply wants to marry Rochester. She refuses him at the point when she could have him, and the novel is built around that refusal.
3.1.2.4The writer's methods
Five houses structure the novel, each testing a different kind of dependence: Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House and Ferndean. The first-person narration addresses the reader directly. Gothic conventions, the locked room, the laughter in the corridor, the fire, are used seriously rather than decoratively.
Worked example
Answer:
- Jane's refusals cost her materially every time
- The five houses each test a different dependence
- Bertha is never allowed to speak for herself
- The novel gives St John the last word, leaving his severity standing
AO1-AO4How this text is examined
This text is examined in Paper 1, Section B. The question is worth 30 marks and an extract from the novel is printed, and the question asks you to start with that extract and then write about the novel as a whole. Allow about 50 minutes.
The marks are divided as AO1 12 marks, AO2 12 marks, AO3 6 marks. AO1 rewards a clear argument supported by well-chosen references. AO2 rewards analysis of how the writer achieves an effect, which means writing about choices rather than about events. AO3 rewards context used to deepen a reading of the text.
Common mistake
Retelling the plot. Narrative summary earns nothing under any assessment objective, however accurate it is. Every paragraph should be making a point about how or why, not about what happens.