Chapter 17 Flashcards
(5 cards)
Voice narrative / perspective:
- Lots of internal dialogue- due to Mr Rochester being away-nobody to give her voice/platform.
-So internal monologue reflects her isolation -Jane is in a room full of society people and no one is talking to her-trapped.
-Aslo trapped in her own head.
-Links to when she first arrives at Thornfield and felt alone. - Internal monologue is only chance to express emotion- Victorian women told to suppress,
“i had not intended to love him” secret thought she wouldn’t share. - Insight into Jane and Rochester relationship-woman perspective of love vs male.
Character:
Jane has similar outlook on status and class as she’s looking at the group of high class people and,
“I had no sympathy in their appearance” - could link to her teachings at Lowood as they were forced to believe that looks were not important.
- Jane shows sympathy for Rochester-realising Rochester is trapped in his class like she is
- He feels as though he has to act like the other people in his class.
- Releasing upper class isn’t necessarily happiness.
“I saw them smile laugh-it was nothing”,
Jane has similar outlook on status and class as she’s looking at the group of high class people and
“I had no sympathy in their appearance” - could link to her teachings at Lowood as they were forced to believe that looks were not important.
- Jane shows sympathy for Rochester-realising Rochester is trapped in his class like she is.
-He feels as though he has to act like the other people in his class.
- Releasing upper class isn’t necessarily happiness.
“I saw them smile laugh-it was nothing”.
- ”The light of the candle has as much soul in it as there smile”.
- Wealth means nothing to Jane -realising likes Rochester for him and not anything to do with his high status,
“I feel akin to him”
“I have something in my brain and heart…that assimilates me mentally to him”.
- Spiritual and soul connection.
This is a turning point as Jane finally accepts her feelings of love - something that she has denied in her mind up until this moment.
Structure:
Describes Rochesters same features when she first met him -but now change in perspective views him differently and is on awe.
-More detailed and in a positive light.
“Beauty is in the eye of the gazer”.
“Square, massive brow, broad”.
- Compared with first description,
“He had a dark face”
she now says he has an “Olive face”
- This shows how much more she knows the detail and tiny aspects of his looks.
Genre:
- Romance:
- Lots of romance genre shown.
- Chapter is full of romantic tension between Jane and Rochester.
- Jane observes Rochester interacting with Miss Blanche Ingram, and we see her jealousy and emotional conflict.
- Love triangle is classic romance trope.
- “he is not to them what he is to me “.
- “he not of their kind.i believe he is mine”.
Bildungsroman: - Jane is more aware of her feeling for Rochester - Watches him with Blanche and realises she loves him but also understands her social position and doesn’t let her feelings control her.
“I must remember that he cannot care much for me”. - She doesn’t envy their wealth or beauty - she critiques their character, which shows her growing independence of mind.
- Staying firm in her own morals and values.
Context:
- Context around the role of the governess:
- Jane is a governess, a job that places women in an awkward social position: educated but not equal to the upper class, and above servants but still employed by the family.
- Victorian society marginalised women like Jane-who are intelligent and moral but lack wealth and status.
- Contextually, this mirrors how real Victorian governesses were often underpaid, underappreciated, and stuck in a liminal class position.
- Gender expectations
women are expected to be caring, beautiful and marriageable.
