Summary:
Jane arrives at Thornfield of which her first impressions are good. Upon arriving she meets Miss Fairfax and Miss Adele, whom she is to tutor. Jane later meets Mr Rochester, quite unaware at first as the first time they meet is when she assits him after he falls of his horse and he hides his identity.
Characters:
We are introduced to Mrs Fairfax who we discover is a kind, respectable married woman. We are also introduced to Adele, who Jane tutors. She is described as a lively, spoilt child. She is very fond of Mr Rochester and craves to see him. He however describes her as unsophisticated. Mr Rochester is introduced to the reader through the opinion of Mrs Fairfax who describes him as unimpeachable. After being properly introduced to him, one can form one’s own opinions of him. I found him to be sarcastic and rude yet still amusing; even if his aim is only to amuse himself. This can be demonstrated by his blaming Jane for his sprain. He is abrupt which can be construed as negative, for example his opinions on Jane’s portfolio. However this is strange as later he calls for her portfolio to share it with an acquaintance. Therefore he was impressed by her work but ridiculed her despite.
Jane develops much in these chapters; Ï cannot precisely define what they expected but it was something pleasant- not perhaps that day or month, but an indefinite future period.” Jane is here describing her hopes. The reader can deduce from this that Jane is for the first time optimistic. She is stronger too than in previous chapters. This can be proved by firstly her courage to move to Thornfield and also her knowledge that should she not like it there, she has the power to leave. Jane describes herself as “unbound”. However, though Jane has progressed somewhat in her self-confidence her self deprecation remains. She later describes her physical appearance extremely negatively.
Themes/Motifs:
A definite recurring element of these chapters is mistaken identity. Examples of this are; Jane’s belief that Mrs Fairfax was indeed the owner of Thornfield Manor as opposed to the housekeeper. Another is Jane’s belief that Miss Adele is Mrs’Fairfax’s daughter. Lastly, Jane does not recognize the man who had fallen off his horse as her new master, Mr Rochester but thought him to be an ordinary man. This mistaken identity was however encouraged by Mr Rochester.
New Beginnings is a theme, Jane describes in detail the grandeur of Thornfield and everything is new to her. She has traveled from Lowood to which she was resident for eight years. Her move to Thornfield Is a monumental change in her life and it is in fact a new beginning.
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3 comments:
i thought the part you wrote on janes new optimsim and her steady trickle of self depravation was interesting. reading back i can see this perspective of jane, i have to admit i've only been able to see her more suppressing and self depravating qualities which is perhaps why i've ended up disliking Jane so much!
she's optimistic for the first time but she clings to the need she has for love, from other people, it's like an obsession. She is stronger but maybe only because she's happy, she hasn't learnt to stand up on her own two feet, although her move to Thornfield might be a step towards it maybe. But then she clings to Mr R and I thinks it's pathetic how quickly that happens.
The idea of optimism is good. Also, I like the way you talk about mistaken identity. Is this part of her 'weakness' overall in that she doesn't see things clearly? Is it a perceptual issue? I'm not sure what I'm getting at but I think I mean that Jane sees what she wants to see. Maybe?
I'm probably agreeing with Camille here, in that she jumps on to things - part of her need to belong and find love.
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