Literature - Jane Eyre and Romeo n Juliet

Question 1

Romeo and Juliet
“a plague o’ both your houses) act 3 scene 1
explain what it means

Answer 1

romeos best mate mercutio is stabbed and curses both families. foreshadows the loss off both families that they will soon feel with the deaths of their children

Question 2

romeo and juliet
“o! i am fortunes fool!”
act 3 scene 1
explain what it means

Answer 2

after tybalt and mercutio die, romeo finds out he will be sent to death if he’s caught. romeo is a secretly referencing the prologue as we know he is destined for misfortune.
he also feels he’s being misfortunate as he just got married and is being threatened with death

Question 3

romeo and juliet
“what light though yonder window breaks? it is the east and juliet is the sun’
act 2 scene 2
explain what it means

Answer 3

compared juliet to the sunrise
he says she lights up his world
romeo uses this light imagery with juliet throughout the play
he finds her love to be bright sunny and warm

Question 4

romeo and juliet
“o romeo, romeo wherefore art thou romeo”
act 2 scene 2
explain what it means

Answer 4

juliet is thinking about romeo and his family ties
as wherefore meant why
unaware as to him being below her she is questioning his name as being the conflict with their relationship

Question 5

romeo and juliet
“what’s in a name? that which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet”
act 2 scene 2

explain this quote

Answer 5

still thinking about names. saying his name does not define him as a person
saying he is going against what her family thinks of his name
saying by any other name he would be accepted it’s just because of their family’s feud

Question 6

romeo and juliet
“parting is such sweet sorrow, that i shall say good night till it he morrow”
act 2 scene 2

explain it

Answer 6

juliet expresses her sorrow about being away from her romeo; but her parting is sweet as the next time she sees him they will be marrying

Question 7

why does jane eyre look for love so much?

Answer 7

wants a motherly figure to give her love as mrs reed has never shown her this - miss temple is closest at lowood

wants sibling love that she never got from reeds (first scene of master reed abuse) gets it from the rivers after she leaves rochester due to his proposal

romantic love as she has never felt this before if her life. shows rochester is her true love as she goes back after running away and finding out about his wife

Question 8

why is jane portrayed as an outcast and someone who doesn’t fit into society in these times?

Answer 8

because even as a child she isn’t seen to behave as a “proper” child would in these victorian times. children were expected to be “seen but not heard” and to follow orders without hesitation, much like helen burns.
however jane is an independent woman who stands out for this. as she is always a passionate character who fights for what she believes in, such as lashing out at master reed when he abuses her to talking back to rochester, showing she ignores all class, wealth and age division. she is not rude just very independent, confident and strong minded

Question 9

how does jane struggle from her lower social class?

Answer 9

seen as inferior to her cousins and aunt
looked down upon all her life by family
cannot achieve a high status job in her times as lower class women had a cap
couldn’t get rich unless married a rich man (was lucky to get her inheritance)
had to go to a poor charity school
doesn’t believe her and rochester have a chance ever

Question 10

how is janes inheritance significant?

Answer 10

shows the true hatred from mrs reed as kept it a secret till her dying moments
also very specifically it reveals that only when jane gets this money does she really think about being with rochester and goes back to be with him

Question 11

how is rochesters relationship (or not) with miss ingram significant?

Answer 11

it shows his true love and qualities. as he ignores the fact that miss ingram would be a better marriage overall; better class, more power, more stable, better looking, more education
however he looks past this and sees her as a bad person inside, he ignored looks and power for someone who is much worse off but overall is a much nicer person, this shows that his relationship and love towards jane is actually really passionate and is more than physical it’s spiritual.

Question 12

explain the theme of fulfilment to jane

Answer 12

jane is always looking for fulfilment from her family love in her life (rivers) to friends (helen) to even romantic (rochester)
however all of these come at a cost, she has to leave the rivers eventually, her best friend died, her and rochester seem to end because he is married already and their marriage wouldn’t be socially accepted.
then st. john offers her security and stability in marriage but not love and it requires her life being devoted to god.

Question 13

how does bronte use religion in the novel to show it as good?

Answer 13

st. john is a kind and caring person who has devoted his life to what he loves, takes him in when she’s almost dead
helen burns is a caring best friend who teaches her to be content and to be accepting
miss temple tried to ensure jane was always looking on the good side and did everything she could to improve the way jane used her passion and to control it

Question 14

how does bronte use religion in the novel to show it as bad?

Answer 14

mr brocklehurst;
cuts natural hair “girls need to be plain” no curly hair, but his daughters do
all need to be this same dresses and style but his daughters n wife are dressed up drawing attention
says religion is about restricting yourself without luxurious things e.g. food and clothing and accessories but his family have all of this, he is overall a huge hypocrite and shows that people use the theme of religion to mould the world around them to benefit themselves also shows how he judges people when he makes everyone not like or talk to jane, goes against all christian values he talks about

Question 15

how is jane seen to be spiritually connected to bertha mason in the novel?

Answer 15

when rochester talks about having many past misteresses and angers jane, bertha mason acts out. as does she when jane feels caught out with the fortune teller trick.
also when jane is nervous about the marriage it is bertha who rips up the veil.
bertha has to die to enable jane and edward to marry.
bertha is almost presented as janes dark side and alternative personality that has to die to enable her to become the true wife that rochester is looking for
which could show that the ending isn’t happily ever after since jane had to change as person to be with rochester, which isn’t normally associated with love as you should be accepted for how and who you are

Question 16

explain this jane eyre quote “He is not to them what he is to me,” I thought: “he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine” in scene 2 act 2

Answer 16

jane realised when rochester is in the company of other higher class people that in fact he is more like her than them.
she sees past the wealth and social division in this victorian society. 
jane however admits her love for him but acknowledges the chances are not in her favour as she thinks they will not be able to overcome all of the social obstacles in their path of love to be together

Question 17

explain this quote from jane eyre “I am glad you are no relation of mine. I will never call you aunt again as long as I live. I will never come to visit you when I am grown up; and if any one asks me how I liked you, and how you treated me, I will say the very thought of you makes me sick” from chapter 4

Answer 17

her outburst to her aunt, it shows her true feelings about her and how she knows she doesn’t deserve it
it also shows jane knows she deserves love and affection as well as her asserting her dominance over her somewhat unstable aunt

Question 18

“You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.” chapter 1 jane eyre
explain the meaning

Answer 18

it shows that throughout her childhood jane eyre is constantly reminded of how she is poor
despite living in the same house as her cousins and aunt, they see and treat her as lower class, this is shown when we are told she won’t inherit any of their money.

Question 19

why is the telepathic love scene from chapter 35 “when they can hear each other shouting their names”
so significant? Jane eyre

Answer 19

it shows their love is so strong they can communicate sublimely across miles apart. they sense each other falling out in the night, this is when she fully realised the sep h and extent of her love for rochester. it is a love which can overcome barriers of age, society and class as well as wealth

Question 20

blanche quote- don’t mention governesses the word makes me nervous chapter 16-17

Answer 20

shows how cruel the ingram are, almost come across as arrogant and rude. showing that because they are rich they believe that they can speak bad about someone who is present without caring about their feelings

Question 21

the clothed hyena rose up and stood tall on its hind feet
chapter 25
jane eyre

Answer 21

the mystery of bertha is revealed as the wedding is ruined, bertha is often described as an animal or someone who behaves as one

Question 22

i am no bird and no net ensnares me
chapter 23
jane eyre

Answer 22

jane wants rochester to know she is an individual and isn’t like any other conventional wife, she wants him to know she is hoping to be his equal when married

Question 23

reader i married him

final chapter

Answer 23

shows after everything they went through they still managed to pull the impossible off and their story ended happily ever after unlike any other character we see in the story

Question 24

how is love an important theme in romeo and juliet?

Answer 24

right from the prologue we see that their love is going to be the most important thing in their lives as it reveals their love will be the cause of their deaths.
we see the intense love shown in many ways;
from at first sight with R and J
to him leaving his friends to go back to her balcony
them going against their families to marry
mercutio fighting on behalf of his friend and in the end the two families

Question 25

key theme-
the fate of their love
“star crossed lovers”

Answer 25

this shows how that their will never end well as their destiny is decided for them.
we constantly see omens of this throughout
the feud and all the fighting wouldn’t end well for all the families and ironically it killed both their children

Question 26

light imagery in romeo and juliet

Answer 26

the use of light imagery is constant as this goes against standard uses of this imagery, since it shows the dark imagery of night as no longer linked with mysterious and danger but the other way round since they only meet in the dark. and therefore because of the feud and how secret their love has to be kept in the dark, in the light it’s danger

Question 27

act 2 scene 5 romeo and juliet
friar lawrence-
these violent delights have violent ends

Answer 27

shows that now they are having dangerous fun and love it will soon end badly, all bad things have bad endings, foreshadows the future and secret reference to the prologue again