Gothic fiction elements in the novel Jane Eyre - Essay Example

Gothic fiction elements in the novel "Jane Eyre" Jane Eyre book by Charlotte Bronte is a story set out in the earlydecades of the nineteenth century. It is a story about a female revolt who turns out to be a heroine in the search for identity. All through the novel, we observe writing in a gothic style where we see anxiety and fear of the lead character. The purpose of gothic style used in the novel is to invoke terror by coming up with mysteries that cause horror. In studying the setting of the novel in terms of location, we get to understand that the setting of the novel takes place in northern England in five different locations. And in all this five locations, we are able to comprehend that all this locations display different stages of Jane’s life and we also see the display of the gothic style by the author. The set up at the Reeds family house at Gateshead, represents the childhood of Jane. She is living with her aunt after being left as an orphan after the demise of her parents. And from the novel, we see that when Jane was ten years old, she was punished and locked in a red room where his uncle had supposedly died. The room was painted red which can be interpreted to represent blood; the room was dark with large mirrors that distorted Jane’s image. There was heavy rain outside and dense wind blowing against the moor. Strange voices emanated from the room and it is articulated that Jane even fainted after she panicked when she thought she saw the ghost of her uncle. The thought on her mind was that the ghost of her uncle was visiting to revenge for her mistreatment. We are observing that from when Jane was a young living in Gatehead, we see the gothic nature associated with the book. We are informed that Jane read novels of a gothic nature. Jane being a young girl and portraying an underdeveloped understanding was not capable of understanding the visual images of “black horned” stuff in the books she read and this in itself was enough to make her afraid and cause terror. These mysterious happenings of a gothic nature are set to build tension to the readers and create a mood of anxiety and suspense. It’s not really evident that there were ghost in Charlotte Bronte’s novel but we see that all through the book, Jane had an imagination of ghosts. Jane later moves to Lowood institution, a school that she faces a lot of hardship and even humiliations from Mr. Blockehurst. We see that Jane finds a friend, Helen. The gothic style is used when Jane’s friend Helen dies in Jane’s arms, death being a scary thing causing fear to the readers but in their last conversation we see Jane create a distinction in her beliefs of death and supernatural beings. Jane later moves to Thornfield in Rochester’s manor house. We see the gothic style at play a number of instances. The description by Charlotte Bronte of Thornfield hall in itself is of a gothic portrayal. The house is described as a mansion, more so like a castle of unspecified size, it as gloomy halls, trap doors, secret passages, hidden staircases and many unused room “strange, indeed, by the pallid gleam of moonlight." (Bronte, 92), the description of the castles setting is indeed consistent with the novels gothic nature setting because of the mystery attached to it. This gothic style is further shown during the mysterious fire Jane stopped and succeeded to save Rochester. The gothic style is at play again during the first association between Jane and Rochester’s horse and dog. We see the gothic nature from the novel when Jane associates the horse and dog with the mythical spirit of ‘’Gytrash’’ which is a depiction of the gothic element in the book. We are told that Gytrash was a spirit that took the form of a, horse, large dog in chapter twelve of the novel. We are told that the Gytrash spirit was known to warn people of the coming death of close friends and relatives. The gothic myth is seen again when Rochester and Jane are talking about when they first met and Rochester states that he thought Jane was a fairy and that she had bewitched his horses. Jane’s mythical character is seen again when Rochester refers to Jane as a friend to the “men in green” and that Jane was a sprite or elfin character. An image of the gothic paraphernalia is evident and seen in the character of Rochester. We are able to grasp this point in the description by Jane about his rough face and cagy look, from the mystery of his immoral actions in his past day in Paris and the secrets he kept like having a locked up wife. Jane describes that “He had a dark face, with stern features, and a heavy brow; his eyes and gathered eyebrows looked ireful….” (Bronte, 99). In chapter nineteen of the novel, we see the supernatural nature of Rochester when he poses like a gypsy woman while talking to Jane. We see the gothic factor from his ability to see through Jane’s heart. It was as if a he had a spirit that was taking record of her hearts workings for weeks. We observe a typical gothic imagery the night before Jane’s wedding during the visitation to her room by Rochester’s wife. Rochester’s wife is hysterical and insane and her coming to Jane’s room brings mystery and anxiety to the readers. She causes Jane to be revisited by terror of the same magnitude to the one she felt in the red room. In the morning, when Jane is trying out the veil, she gazes at the mirror and states that she no longer recognizes herself and it’s as if she’s looking at a stranger, "a robed and veiled figure...the image of a stranger" (Bronte, 252). Another instance of use of the gothic style is the mystery surrounding Rochester’s wife. We are told that Jane heard a mysterious laugh coming from the third floor. But she didn’t receive the truth as to who it was coming from. "Has anything happened here? I thought I heard the servants all talking together a while ago." (Bronte, 177). We see a continuation in the mystery of the wife when we come to the realization that she was the one who had tried to put him to blaze before Jane saved him. Jane is unaware also of her presence and only comes to find out on their wedding day. All this conditions create anxiety, suspense and mystery forming the gothic elements. Jane later moves to the River family’s home at Moor house where we see the gothic nature adapted when Jane mysteriously hears Rochester’s voice calling out her name. And finally Jane moves to Rochester’s rural retreat at Ferndean where the gothic nature is seen in Rochester’s repulsive look. He was burnt in one eye, blind in the other and lacking one hand.   Works cited Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Irvine: Saddleback Educational Pub, 2010. Internet resource. Read More