Jane Eyre: Writer's Methods and Techniques (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Writer’s Methods and Techniques

The best responses at GCSE take a whole-text approach to Jane Eyre. That means you should expand your analysis beyond single plot events, or analysis of specific words or phrases, to include the methods and techniques that Brontë uses across her novel. The following topics show you how to approach Brontë’s writing more widely:

• Structure

• The first-person narrator

• The supernatural

Structure

Understanding structure is an excellent way to develop a whole-text approach. Writing about how Brontë has structured Jane Eyre demonstrates your knowledge of the whole novel. You’ll also be analysing a complex aspect of the text, which will increase the sophistication of your response.

Settings

• Each of the five phases in Jane Eyre takes place in a different setting

• Brontë uses each setting to develop Jane’s character and the atmosphere of the story, often incorporating symbolism: 

  • Jane’s position behind the curtain is symbolic of her exclusion from the family

  • The colour red is also symbolic of Jane’s anger at the unjust treatment she encounters

  • The buildings echo the figure of Mr Brocklehurst, who Jane sees as a “black pillar”

  • The lack of lighting is symbolic of the lack of openness and truth about the conditions at Lowood

  • The darkness is symbolic of the secrets concealed at Thornfield

  • Many of the most important scenes at Thornfield take place at night

  • The light is symbolic of the welcome, warmth and friendship that the Rivers family offers Jane

  • The fading light is symbolic of Rochester’s blindness and fading hope

  • Jane is first seen hiding behind a red curtain at Gateshead Hall:

  • Lowood school is huge, dark and “gloomy”:

  • When Jane arrives at Thornfield Hall, she enters it in darkness:

  • Jane is drawn to Moor House when she sees its light from the darkness of the moor:

  • Jane reaches Ferndean Manor in the evening: 

• As well as contributing to the atmosphere and symbolism in the novel, settings often suggest Jane’s lack of freedom:

  • She frequently “paces” the upper floors and the flat roof

  • This emphasises her sense of confinement, which mirrors Bertha’s physical imprisonment

  • When Jane is ordered to join Rochester’s guests, she sits alone at the edge of the room, just like she did at Gateshead

  • This physical setting emphasises her social marginalisation

  • At Gateshead, Jane is locked in the red-room, which increases her feelings of anger, exclusion, alienation and confinement

  • At Thornfield, Jane is often seen at the edge of rooms and buildings:

Motifs

Many of the symbols and images used by Brontë are repeated or echoed across the novel, and are referred to as motifs. Understanding what motifs are, and what they represent, will enable you to use them effectively in your analysis.

• Fire is an important motif in Jane Eyre, and it is used in a number of ways:

  • This represents her sense of exclusion physically

  • For example, the first intimate moment between Jane and Rochester comes just after Bertha has set his bed-curtains on fire

  • Later, when Rochester is disguised as a fortune-teller, Jane tells him that the fire “scorches” her

  • This links Rochester’s deception of her at that moment and later, when he proposes to her

  • Fire represents Rochester’s passionate nature as well as his destructive power

  • Brontë uses the motif of fire to foreshadow the destruction of Thornfield

  • When St John Rivers tells her, “I am cold: no fervour infects me”, she responds, “Whereas I am hot, and fire dissolves ice” (Chapter 33)

  • At Lowood, Jane cannot get near enough to the fire to warm herself:

  • Fire is often associated with Rochester:

  • Jane’s passionate feelings and anger at injustice are also represented by fire:

• The plainness of Jane’s clothing is a motif that emphasises her moral correctness:

  • To speak plainly is to be open and honest

  • The motif of Jane’s “plain” wedding veil symbolises her honesty

  • In contrast, the expensive veil Rochester buys Jane symbolises his pretence and deception of her

• The disastrous nature of Jane’s planned marriage to Rochester is foreshadowed by two motifs: 

  • The chestnut tree, which is struck by lightning and split in half immediately after Rochester has proposed to Jane (Chapter 23)

  • The wedding veil that Rochester has bought for Jane is torn in half by Bertha (Chapter 25)

The first-person narrator

The Bildungsroman

• Brontë wrote Jane Eyre as a bildungsroman, which means it focuses on its protagonist's learning and development from childhood to adulthood

• Jane Eyre is written in the first person as a fictional autobiography, with Jane as the narrator

• However, as Jane states in Chapter 10, “this is not to be a regular autobiography”:

  • This technique means that Brontë can focus on events that are engaging or dramatic, to maintain her readers’ interest

  • The central example of this is Bertha Mason, whose existence is a mystery to the reader until the truth is revealed to Jane

  • Jane only recounts events that have “some degree of interest” (Chapter 10): 

  • The first person narration limits the information that Jane can share with the reader

  • This means that many events are unexplained until the narrator finds out about them:

  • This narrative strategy enables Brontë to create and sustain suspense

Subjectivity

• As the narrator of the novel, Jane’s voice is entirely subjective:

  • There are no competing voices or versions of events, as there would be in a novel with a third-person narrator

• The repeated use of “I” to describe Jane’s experiences binds the narrative together

• Brontë uses this method to give Jane narrative authority in the novel:

  • By using this narrative technique, Brontë is demonstrating her belief that a woman’s voice can be as valid and powerful as a man’s

Direct address

• At several points in the novel, Jane addresses readers directly as “Reader”

• Brontë uses this technique to create a direct dialogue between narrator and reader:

  • This creates a sense of intimacy with Jane’s feelings and thought processes

• However, like Jane’s reference to her “autobiography”, the direct address reminds us that we are reading a work of fiction

Past and present

• At different points in the novel, Brontë moves into the present tense to describe Jane’s experiences:

  • When Jane arrives in Millcote on the way to Thornfield (Chapter 11)

  • When she returns to Thornfield from Gateshead (Chapter 22)

  • When she flees Thornfield (Chapter 28)

  • When she moves into her first home in Morton (Chapter 31)

  • The present tense enhances the effect of living through the moment with Jane and seeing everything through her eyes

  • This often happens at transitional points in the narrative, for example:

  • Brontë uses this technique to draw attention to crucial movements in the novel:

The supernatural

Brontё’s extensive use of the supernatural in Jane Eyre has two main effects:

• It illustrates the richness of Jane’s imagination and adds an extra dimension to her story 

• It provides readers with elements of excitement, mystery and suspense

Otherworldly elements

• Brontë’s use of the supernatural includes folk beliefs, such as elves, fairies, witches and monsters, otherworldly phenomena like ignis fatuus, and ghost stories:

  • When Jane is locked in the red-room, she is terrified that Mr Reed’s ghost will appear

  • Instead, she sees her own image in the mirror as “half fairy, half imp”

  • Brontë uses this otherworldly image to emphasise Jane’s sense of alienation

• Brontë uses the motif of ignis fatuus twice in Jane Eyre:

  • In Chapter 16, Jane uses it to describe her “secret love” for Rochester

  • In Chapter 22, Rochester uses it to describe Jane

    • Both instances reinforce the illusion and deception surrounding their feelings for each other

  • On both occasions, it is used in connection with Jane’s relationship with Rochester:

• Rochester often compares Jane to otherworldly beings, such as “elf”, “fairy”, “witch” and “sorceress”:

  • It demonstrates the deceptive and unrealistic nature of his intentions, even if his feelings are sincere

  • Brontë’s technique creates a sense of unreality around Rochester’s interactions with Jane:

Supernatural connections

• Brontë also suggests an otherworldly dimension to Jane’s relationship with Rochester:

  • Jane “hears” Rochester’s voice calling her name

  • She later discovers that he has heard her voice at the same time

  • This device enhances Brontë’s presentation of the strength of feeling between Jane and Rochester 

• Brontë’s use of the supernatural includes Jane’s dreams, which often seem to predict the future:

  • This dream of separation from Rochester will become reality

  • The crying child could represent Jane’s own fear of abandonment

  • This dream comes true when Thornfield burns to the ground after Jane has left Rochester

  • Just before her disastrous wedding day, Jane dreams about carrying a little crying child and seeing Rochester in the distance, but being unable to reach him:

  • On the same night, Jane dreams of Thornfield being a deserted ruin:

• Brontë also shows Jane having frightening experiences that she cannot explain rationally:

  • The “demoniac” laughter she hears in the night at Thornfield

  • The fire in Rochester’s bedroom, which also happens at night

  • The invasion of her room by a “spectre” two nights before her wedding

• These devices are used by Brontë to create an atmosphere of mystery and to sustain narrative suspense