Jane Eyre Themes

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  • Themes in Jane Eyre
    • Love
      • Jane is deprived of familial love
      • Jane and Rochester meet in the most unstereotypical, unromantic meeting imaginable
      • St John wants to marry Jane, even though they both know that they don't love eachother
    • Gender
      • Jane does not agree that the fact that she is a woman should hold her back in any way
        • She could be considered an early feminist
      • Rochester is a typical Byronic hero
      • Jane needs to be Rochester's equal
        • When she is not completely equal, their relationship fails
    • Gothic and Supernatural
      • Bertha is kept in the attic, and causes many things to happen that are unexplained
        • The fire in Rochester's room
        • Jane's veil that is torn
        • The incident with Mr Mason in the middle of the night
        • The laugh that can be heard throughout Thornfield
      • Many things happen at night or with a full moon
        • Jane and Rochester's proposal
        • Mr Mason is attacked
    • Family
      • Jane is an orphan, so doesn't know what close family is
      • She is taken in by her aunt and uncle, but her uncle dies, and Jane is treated extremely badly by her aunt
      • Mrs Reed hides the fact that Jane has another uncle
        • When Jane discovers this, she inherits his fortune, which makes her Rochester's equal, and gives her financial independence.
          • She also discovers that the Rivers' are her biological cousins, which means that Jane has real family that love her
            • She shares her inheritance with them
              • When Jane discovers this, she inherits his fortune, which makes her Rochester's equal, and gives her financial independence.
                • She also discovers that the Rivers' are her biological cousins, which means that Jane has real family that love her
                  • She shares her inheritance with them
        • Adele does not have a mother, so Jane becomes her motherly figure, as Jane does not want Adele to be deprived of what she was.
        • At Lowood, she makes familial bonds
          • Helen Burns becomes like a sister
          • Miss Temple is a motherly figure
      • Class
        • Jane is made to feel lesser as she is of a lower social class than Rochester
        • Blanche Ingram is a foil for Jane, and she is of a higher class
          • This makes Jane feel bad about herself "Governess, disconnected, poor and plain"
        • When Jane is at Gateshead, she is told that she is "less than a servant"

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