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Jane Eyre The novel Jane Eyre is a story about a stoic woman who fights her entire life through many trials and tribulations until she finds true love and achieves an almost nirvana-like state of being. The manner, in which Charlotte Bronte writes, her tone and diction especially, lends its self to the many purposes of the novel. The diction of Bronte usually had characteristics of gothic culture and showed the usually negative and angry inner thoughts of Jane. The tone of the novel was there sympathetic towards Jane and displayed her as an intelligent and kind person who has been given a terrible lot in life.
This allows the audience to feel connected with Jane because most people have gone through times in their life where they have felt similar emotions to that of Jane. This common thread between Jane and the audience allowed Bronte to better explain the internal struggles of Jane Eyre. Bronte usually showed Jane as a woman who was constantly abused, whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally. Usually words she chose had negative connotations and are synonymous with pain and egregiousness. For example in the following passage, Jane described the emotions she had felt when Mrs.
Reed told Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane was susceptible to deceit. This blatant lie had caused emotional abuse to Jane, “Now, uttered before a stranger, the accusation cut me to the heart: I dimly perceived that she was already obliterating hope from the new phase of existence which she destined me to enter (Bronte 36). One word stood out largely within this passage, obliterating. Both words are connected with negative subjects and are very cacophonous. They are appropriate however, because they show the true anger that Jane has within her mind. She thinks that Mrs.
Reed is not only ruining her chances at the new school, but obliterating it which is damage beyond repair. The hyperbolic manner in which the word is used does give it a much more negative appeal and more sympathetic appeal to Jane. Thus, the purpose of the word obliterate was too show how much damage Jane felt that Mrs. Reed was doing to her, which would allow the audience to detest Mrs. Reed more and strengthen the bond between Jane and the audience. The tone of the passage is also very negative. The way the sentence is arranged makes it sound even painful.
The accusation did not only hurt her feelings, but it cut through her heart. That phrase will call to the readers minds a painful and volatile image that one incorporates with maliciousness. The rough cacophonous sound of the words like accusation, cut, and obliterate made the readers uncomfortable reading the sentence. The audience will feel much sympathy for Jane because the sentence structure itself causes anguish. Again similar to diction, the tone of the passage and the rest of the essay is used to create a strong bond between the readers and Jane so that all her problems can be more easily related and more interesting.
While the previous passage showed how Bronte’s diction and tone of Jane’s inner thoughts provoked sympathy; there are also times when external factors are shown in a light that demonstrate the dreadfulness of Jane’s life. In a section in which Jane describes her teacher, she shows her displeasure of each teacher by giving scathing descriptions of each teacher, “I was still looking at them, and also at intervals examining the teachers-none of whom precisely pleased me for the stout one was a little coarse, the dark on not a little fierce, the foreigner harsh and grotesque, and Miss Miller, poor thing! ooked purple, weather-beaten, and over-worked. ” (Bronte 49). The description of each teacher gave evidence to the melancholy atmosphere that ruled over Lowood. Each teacher was described in a very unpleasant and sordid manner. The foreign teacher and Miss Miller were described in the worst way. Harsh and grotesque are words that have definite downbeat connotations. The word grotesque especially has a very nasty image associated with it. Miss Miller is given a sympathetic but still negative description.
The words used, purple, weather-beaten and overworked all remind the audience of a mother or matriarchal figure who was once beautiful but is now rough and unsightly. The word choice of each teacher shows how Jane feels toward the school in general. The external problems that plague Jane give the audience even more connections. Everyone has had teachers who are visually and mentally unattractive which allows for the readers to have sympathy. The tone of this passage is very ugly and melancholy. The unattractiveness f the teachers just compounds the problems of Jane’s already terrible life. Since the reader is already aware of the emotional problems of her life, the mediocre school which she now attends only makes Jane more, “Plain Jane”. There is also a bit of a Sisyphean tone in this passage in context of the whole novel. It seemed that every time Jane was close to success, she was faced with another ordeal and sent her back to block one. Most people have probably gone through periods in their life where no matter what they do; they always fall down the proverbial mountain of quandary.
After she left her dreadful home she thought she would be going to a pleasant school with a chance to succeed, however; she is sent to a school that is filled with unattractive and grotesque teachers which implies the general atmosphere of the school is gothic and melancholy and again she falls down the mountain and has to push the rock up once more. Wherefore the tone is again use to continue to strengthen the bond between the audience and “Plain Jane” and sympathize with her plight.