Quotes and Analysis
1. “I began to recall what I had heard of dead mean, troubled in their graves by the violation of their last wishes, revisiting the earth to punish the perjured and avenge the oppressed; and I thought Mr. Reed’s spirit, harassed by the wrongs of his sister’s child, might quit its abode - whether in the church vault or in the unknown world of the departed - and rise before me in this chamber … My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing wings, something seemed near me; I was oppressed, suffocated; endurance broke down; I rushed to the door and shook the lock in desperate effort” (22-23).
The Red Room represents Jane’s oppression from the unjust torture inflicted by Mrs. Reed and her children. Jane’s need to be loved and cherished heightens and overwhelms her in the Red Room because she is forced to be alone with her mind and the disturbing past the room holds. Jane’s desperate attempt to break free from the room symbolizes her desire to break free from her oppressive state of worthlessness and inferiority.
2. “I will, in a few words. You are cold because you are alone; no contact strikes the fire from you that is in you; you are sick, because the best feelings, the highest and the sweetest given to man, keeps far away from you; you are silly, because, suffer as you may, you will not beckon it to approach, nor will you stir one step to meet it where it awaits you” (233).
The passion that Jane yearns for transmits from “the fire” from within her to Rochester. Rochester reveals his stalwart feelings about the obdurate nature of passion. The fire that consumes both of them leads them to go against their morals and cave into their earthly wants.
3. Bessie answered not; but ere long, addressing me, she said, - “You ought to be aware Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if you were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.” I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me: my very first recollection of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible” (18)
From the constant degradation and humiliation that Jane experiences during her childhood, Jane creates a concept of inferiority and worthlessness about herself. Her self-deprecation becomes so redundant that she becomes accustomed to feeling poor, alone, and inferior to her cousins because it has been a habit that has been ingrained since the beginning.
4. “A great deal; you are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way; they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should - so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it” (69-70).
Helen Burns serves as a morality compass and religious figure to Jane. Helen argues that even if someone has wronged you you should reciprocate by “turning the other cheek.” However, due to her past Jane challenges Helen’s ideals through her belief that one should counter someone’s wrongdoings by doing the same to them: “an eye for an eye.”
5. “He is not to them what he is to me, I am sure he is - I feel akin to him - I understand the language of his countenance and movements: through rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him” (208).
Jane views her connection with Rochester stronger and more intimate than him with his high-ranked friends. Her assumption highlights how her desire for romantic love is superior than social class conformity.
The Red Room represents Jane’s oppression from the unjust torture inflicted by Mrs. Reed and her children. Jane’s need to be loved and cherished heightens and overwhelms her in the Red Room because she is forced to be alone with her mind and the disturbing past the room holds. Jane’s desperate attempt to break free from the room symbolizes her desire to break free from her oppressive state of worthlessness and inferiority.
2. “I will, in a few words. You are cold because you are alone; no contact strikes the fire from you that is in you; you are sick, because the best feelings, the highest and the sweetest given to man, keeps far away from you; you are silly, because, suffer as you may, you will not beckon it to approach, nor will you stir one step to meet it where it awaits you” (233).
The passion that Jane yearns for transmits from “the fire” from within her to Rochester. Rochester reveals his stalwart feelings about the obdurate nature of passion. The fire that consumes both of them leads them to go against their morals and cave into their earthly wants.
3. Bessie answered not; but ere long, addressing me, she said, - “You ought to be aware Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if you were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.” I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me: my very first recollection of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible” (18)
From the constant degradation and humiliation that Jane experiences during her childhood, Jane creates a concept of inferiority and worthlessness about herself. Her self-deprecation becomes so redundant that she becomes accustomed to feeling poor, alone, and inferior to her cousins because it has been a habit that has been ingrained since the beginning.
4. “A great deal; you are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way; they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should - so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it” (69-70).
Helen Burns serves as a morality compass and religious figure to Jane. Helen argues that even if someone has wronged you you should reciprocate by “turning the other cheek.” However, due to her past Jane challenges Helen’s ideals through her belief that one should counter someone’s wrongdoings by doing the same to them: “an eye for an eye.”
5. “He is not to them what he is to me, I am sure he is - I feel akin to him - I understand the language of his countenance and movements: through rank and wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him” (208).
Jane views her connection with Rochester stronger and more intimate than him with his high-ranked friends. Her assumption highlights how her desire for romantic love is superior than social class conformity.
General Overview
|