In a literary work, mood is kindled in the reader by means of setting, theme, diction, and tone. These elements generate emotional responses in readers and thereby establish the emotional attachment of the reader to the text.
Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, is considered by many as a Gothic novel, and as such it has settings that lend themselves to the moods of gloom and mystery. Below, I have described some various plot points...
In a literary work, mood is kindled in the reader by means of setting, theme, diction, and tone. These elements generate emotional responses in readers and thereby establish the emotional attachment of the reader to the text.
Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, is considered by many as a Gothic novel, and as such it has settings that lend themselves to the moods of gloom and mystery. Below, I have described some various plot points and settings in the novel, highlighting various words which help establish the changing moods of the novel.
- Gateshead Hall - This is the first home for orphaned Jane and it is a melancholy place for little girl. There she feels imprisoned and unwanted, and she is mistreated by all but the servant Bessie. The red room into which she is unjustly locked causes Jane so much fear and distress that she falls ill. But when Bessie takes Jane under her care, the girl recovers. She likes to listen to Bessie's singing. Nonetheless, when Bessie sings to her after her traumatic experience in which she sees the ghost of her dead uncle, she finds in the maid's sweet voice "an indescribable sadness."
- Lowood School - This school for "charity cases" is a very depressing and threatening environment. Jane describes the garden with its high walls and a covered veranda that in January is a barren place:
When full of flowers they would, doubtless, look pretty; but now...all was wintry blight and brown decay. I shuddered as I stood and looked around me: it was an inclement day for outdoor exercise;not positively rainy, but darkened by a drizzling yellow (often a color of evil) fog....
- Jane is very unhappy at Lowood. There is a sweet, saintly girl named Helen with whom she has made friends. Even Helen is treated with gratuitous cruelty, but she never becomes bitter. When Helen dies from her abuse, Jane is devastated.
- Thornfield Hall - After Jane attains her education, she becomes a teacher at Lowood. But, when her confidante, Miss Temple, leaves the school to marry, Jane decides to accept a position as a governess for Mrs. Rochester's ward, Adele.
When Jane first encounters Mr. Rochester outside of Thornfield Hall, the ground is icy and his horse slips, causing him to fall. A nervous Jane worries if her new employer will approve of her.
Thornfield Hall is the most Gothic of settings. There Jane hears sounds in the night. The place becomes increasingly eerie, as Jane begins to hear what seems to be voices. She thinks that Grace Poole, who stays upstairs is, perhaps, deranged. - Thornfield Hall is becoming more and more eerie, as Jane hears disembodied voices, and one night Rochester almost dies when his bed catches fire under mysterious circumstances.
Further, Jane becomes anxious when it seems that Mr. Rochester will marry Blanche Ingram because Jane, who is in love with her employer, will have to leave if he marries Blanche. She becomes very despondent.
However, Mr. Rochester does not marry Blanche; instead, he reveals his love for Jane so they plan to marry. Without warning a strange man appears on their wedding day only to reveal that Rochester is already married to an insane woman who is locked into a room upstairs with Grace Poole as her caretaker and guard. - Moor House - Jane leaves Thornfield and is absolutely distraught. She starves and is nearly dead when she collapses on the doorstep of a family who turn out to be her cousins on her father's side. Fortunately for Jane, the Rivers women nurse Jane back to health. While living with these cousins, Jane learns that she has inherited a sum of money from her father's brother, and she shares this money with her cousins. Her happiness is mitigated, though, by St. John Rivers's proposal that they marry and she accompany him on his missionary work in India. Jane does not love him, so she refuses him.
Then, one eerie night Jane hears the disembodied voice of Mr. Rochester calling her. Believing in this spiritual and supernatural experience, Jane goes to Thornfield only to discover that his insane wife has succeeded in burning it, although she has killed herself by jumping from the building. - Ferdean - After her marriage to Rochester, Jane is finally happy as she serves as the eyes for her blind husband.
Never did I weary of reading to him; never did I weary of conducting him where he wished to go: of doing for him what he wished done. And there was pleasure in my services without painful shame or humiliation.
Certainly, the moods change during the narrative of Jane Eyre. The frightened and miserable orphan who lives in the cold and painful solitude of Gateshead and Lowood School and the bizarre and eerie Thornfield Hall is rescued at Moor House where she finally feels love and warmth. But, Jane heeds a supernatural calling and rescues the spirit of Mr. Rochester. In the end, Jane finds fulfillment and true happiness.
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