12 AP English
Jane Eyre
Notes and Study Guide
Read the following information as a supplement to the novel, Jane Eyre (we recommend that you read this
handout before you read the novel). You should also read the handout, Tips For A Successful Summer
Reading. We expect that a) you will give the novel a thorough reading, b) you will have evidence of text
interaction (notes in your entire book), and c) you will come to class prepared to begin the deepest level of
analysis.
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1854) – Brontë was the third of six children of
Rev. Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria. When she was four, the family moved to
Haworth parsonage in West Yorkshire, England when her father was appointed as
curate of Haworth village. Maria Brontë died of cancer the next year, leaving
Reverend Brontë to raise their six children alone. In 1824, when she was eight,
Charlotte was sent with her two elder sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, and her younger
sister Emily to a boarding school called The Clergy Daughter’s School, which
Charlotte later used as the model for Lowood School in Jane Eyre. When Maria
and Elizabeth left the school following an illness and died shortly after, Charlotte
and Emily were brought home to Haworth. There the four surviving Brontë
siblings, brother Branwell and sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne, grew very close,
entertaining themselves in the remote rural village by creating and writing stories
about the invented kingdoms of Gongol and Angria. Charlotte herself wrote copiously as a teenager,
composing volumes of short stories, dramas, and poems. In 1846, after several years working as a governess
for a number of different families and a failed attempt to open a local school with her sisters, Charlotte
procured publication of a volume of poetry written by all three Brontë women. Due to prejudice against
women writers at the time, the volume was published under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton
Bell (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne respectively). The following year saw the publication of novels by each of
the Brontë sisters: Jane Eyre (Charlotte), Wuthering Heights (Emily), and Agnes Grey (Ann). All three
novels were published under the women’s pen names and Jane Eyre was an instant success with many critics
and readers, allowing Charlotte to travel to London and circulate among a more elite social circle, including
many prominent authors of the day. Unfortunately, despite Charlotte’s literary triumph, the Brontës were
beset by tragedy when Branwell died of alcohol and opium addiction in September of 1848, Emily died of
tuberculosis in December of 1848 and Anne also died of tuberculosis in May of 1849. None of the siblings
lived past the age of 31. Charlotte devoted the rest of her life to her father and writing, though she did
marry “late in life” (she was 38). Charlotte died in 1854 after a brief illness.
You can read a more detailed biography of Brontë at the following web sites:
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/bronteov.html
http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/brontes/bronte_story/bronte_story.asp
The Gothic, Romantic, and Victorian Periods – Although it was published near the middle
of the century in the Victorian era (1830-1901), Jane Eyre combines elements of two preceding genres, the
Gothic and the Romantic. The Gothic Period can be traced back to 1764, but is technically from 17901820, while the Romantic Period dates from 1780-1830. The Gothic era may have ended in the early
1800s, but plenty of contemporary authors still employ the genre, such as Stephen King and Anne Rice.
In the gothic novel, setting is a key element, not only “[evoking] the atmosphere of horror and dread, but
also [portraying] the deterioration of its world. The decaying, ruined scenery implies that at one time there
was a thriving world. At one time the abbey, castle, or landscape was something treasured and appreciated.
Now, all that lasts is the decaying shell of a once thriving dwelling” (http://cai.ucdavis.edu/waterssites/gothicnovel/155breport.html). The hero (or heroine) of the Gothic novel is often isolated, through
either self-imposed or compulsory means, and encounters an antagonist who is either implicitly evil or has
experienced a fall from grace. In the end the heroine is redeemed through a reunion with a lover or family
member.
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Romantic
Love of nature
Love of the common man
Focus on energy,
experimental boldness,
creative power, promise,
renewal, possibility,
imagination, emotion, and
freedom, etc.
Byronic hero (see below)
Famous authors include:
William Wordsworth, Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron,
Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
David Thoreau
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Gothic
Love of nature
Relationship between
individual and society
Fascination with supernatural
(madness, ghosts, spirits,
haunted houses, folklore,
secrets, etc.)
Terror (psychological and
physical)
Famous authors include:
Mary Shelley, Horace Walpole,
Daphne du Maurier
The Byronic hero – named from Lord Byron’s writing in
the 19th century, and one of the most prominent literary
character types of the Romantic period. A Byronic hero
exhibits several characteristic traits, and in many ways he
can be considered a rebel. He does not possess "heroic
virtue" in the usual sense; instead, he has many dark
qualities. With regard to his intellectual capacity, selfrespect, and hypersensitivity, the Byronic hero is "larger
than life," and "with the loss of his titanic passions, his pride,
and his certainty of self-identity, he loses also his status as
[a traditional] hero." He is usually isolated from society as
a wanderer or is in exile of some kind. It does not matter
whether this social separation is imposed upon him by some
external force or is self-imposed…Often the Byronic hero is
moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue.
He also has emotional and intellectual capacities, which are
superior to the average man. These heightened abilities
force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident,
abnormally sensitive, and extremely conscious of
himself…In one form or another, he rejects the values and
moral codes of society and because of this he is often
unrepentant by society's standards. Often the Byronic hero
is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed
sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero
is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination.
(http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/charw
eb/CHARACTE.htm)
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Victorian
Industrialization and
urbanization
Relationship between
individual and society
Scientific and economic
progress
Colonialism/imperialism
Evangelicalism
Moral earnestness
Gender and social class issues
Famous authors include:
Charles Dickens; William
Thackeray; George Eliot; Anthony
Trollope; Thomas Hardy; Alfred,
Lord Tennyson
As You Read: Make note of the
following in Jane Eyre
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Look at Bronte’s characterization and
treatment of women
Note the importance of names –
consider both people and places
Notate Bronte’s symbolic use of
nature throughout the novel
Consider Bronte’s commentary on the
elements of the Romantic, Gothic, and
Victorian eras (pay particular
attention to role of the individual,
gender roles, fascination of the
supernatural, and Byronic hero)