Getting started
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre was published in 1847, under the pseudonym of Currer Bell.
Start your exploration of the novel by finding out some background information on the following
aspects of Charlotte Brontë’s life and works:
1. Charlotte Brontë’s life and her sisters - why they were all published using pseudonyms in
1847
2. Her works – other novels and poems
3. Film versions of Jane Eyre
4. Factory Act 1833, especially how it affected children
5. Poor Law 1834 and life in a workhouse/poor house
6. Chartism and who could and couldn’t vote in 1842
7. The Public Health Act 1848, why it was needed and its effect on sanitation
8. W. E. Forster’s Elementary Education Act1870, its effect on schooling for children
9. Marriage and divorce in 19th century England
10. Treatment of mental illness in 19th century England.
Extension research:
Romanticism, Byronic hero, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
Keeping notes
The GCSE English Literature examination is a closed book assessment and you will not be able to
take the text into the exam with you, so help yourself prepare for it by making notes as you read
the novel. In the exam, you will be given credit for short quotes, relevant paraphrasing of
incidents, accurate reference to characters and analysis of style etc.
A useful way to keep your notes would be a reading log split into three columns or sections for
each chapter where you can record:
a. A short summary of the narrative; ideas on themes, imagery, style and language
b. A character list, including page references of where they are introduced and described,
also where they are involved in events that are important to the plot
c. A record of the places Jane Eyre lives or visits, as her journeys, the places and their
names are significant to the plot and narrative.
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Getting started
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Now read chapters one, two and three, which tell the story of Jane’s childhood at Gateshead
Hall. Answer the following questions and use your answers to help you complete your reading
log for the first three chapters.
1. Why couldn’t Jane go for a walk?
2. Why can’t Jane join the family in the drawing room?
3. Instead, what book does Jane choose to read and why?
4. Where is Jane reading and who discovers her?
5. Give three words to describe John Reed in Chapter 1.
6. How is Jane punished by John and then by Mrs Reed?
7. Who are Bessie and Miss Abbott? Which one has some sympathy for Jane?
8. Why does Jane have to live with her aunt?
9. Draw a family tree to show exactly how Jane is related to Mrs Reed.
10. Describe the red-room, its furniture and atmosphere.
11. Why is the red-room hardly ever used?
12. How does Jane describe her reflection in the mirror?
13. Give three words to describe Eliza and three to describe Georgiana from Chapter 2.
14. Why does Mrs Reed keep Jane at Gateshead Hall when she doesn’t like her?
15. What does Jane imagine to be a ghost?
16. What happens at the end of Chapter 2?
17. Who visits Jane when she is brought out of the red-room?
18. How is Jane left feeling by her ordeal?
19. What solution is suggested?
20. What does Jane learn about her parents?
Extension activity:
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What’s your response to Jane’s life as a dependent at Gateshead Hall? You’ll be able to
add to this when she becomes dependent on other people later in the novel.
How do you expect John, Eliza and Georgiana will turn out as adults? You’ll find
Charlotte Brontë’s description of the three as adults when you reach Chapter 21.
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Getting started
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Themes: Here are some themes you may have suggested in your reading log. Find a piece of
evidence from what you have read so far – an incident, short quote, piece of dialogue – to
illustrate each one.
Family:
Education:
Power:
Appearance:
Violence:
Imagination:
Journeys:
Love and marriage:
Social class differences:
Friendship (or lack of):
Death and superstition:
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Getting started
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Style and imagery: Now think about some of the techniques used by the author, Charlotte
Brontë, to draw the reader into the narrative and the deeper meanings of her story. Find an
example for each, from the first three chapters, and write down your response as you read it for
the first time.
The novel is written as a first person narrative.
Example:
How does using first person narrative affect your reading of this example?
There are many references to coldness – weather, atmosphere, personal feelings.
Example:
Why do you think Charlotte Brontë included these, right from the start of the novel?
The red-room is an example of the gothic style of writing, which aims to create horror.
Example:
What effect does Brontë want this to have on you, the reader?
Now continue to read the novel, completing your reading log at the end of every chapter.
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