Character Influences From Setting In Jane Eyre
...to fluctuate as she matures. Jane Eyre begins her life in the wrong place at the wrong
time. During the novel, Jane endures love, hate and friendship, though maturity allows her to
forgive. Settings surrounding Jane's life alter her own ideas of self-acceptance, her actions taken
to release herself from certain settings have effect on her.
In the first few chapters, Bronte establishes Jane's character as a young girl who is the
object of hatred from her cousins and aunt. In Chapter Five, Jane encounters numerous
problems with her cousin John. After a confrontation, Mrs. Reed forces her to the Red-Room for
punishment. Though, Jane resists which is unlike her, she is still placed in the Room. Jane
recalls contents resting in a drawer in her aunts wardrobe, "[. . .] a miniature of her deceased
husband, in those last words lies in the secret of the Red-Room -- the spell which kept it so
lonely in spite of its grandeur (Bronte, 3rd Ed. 2001 p.11)." The Red-Room becomes a symbolic
part of the novel but also an important setting. The Red-Room is "[. . .] the largest and stateliest
chambers in the mansion (p. 11)," the atmosphere of the room lingers an ominous and creepy
tone. Jane's inferior position among the Reed family is set by her punishment in the Red-Room.
Jane explains her hatred towards the Reed's and shows no remorse for them. Soon after Jane's
experiences in the Red-Room, Jane leaves to attend Lowood. As she leaves Gateshead, Jane
emotions are overflowing with joy. The Lowood Institute assists in education impoverished and
orphaned children, receives majority of its funds through charity. Beginning out at Lowood,
Jane is ecstatic. After a period of time Jane expresses, " My first quarter at Lowood seemed an
age; and not the golden age either: it comprised an irksome trouble with difficulties in
habituating myself to new rules...
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