Questions on Jane Eyre study guide?

Question

I have several questions, actually, on a Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte study guide.

1. Why does Bronte juxtapose Jane's musings about women's social restraints with the mysterious laugh that Jane attributes to Grace Poole?

2. Does Rochester ever actually intend to marry Blanche Ingram? If so, when does he change his mind? If not, why does he go to such lengths to make Jane believe he does?

3. What does St.John feel for Jane? Why does Jane end her story with his prayer?

4. When Jane first appears at Moor House, Hannah assumes she is a prostitute, but St.John and his sisters do not. What distinguishes that characters who misjudge Jane from those who recognize her true nature?

Thanks so much for your help!

This is due tomorrow, by the way...

Answer 1

1. Bertha, the actual laugher, is a woman with zero social restraints, because she's insane. The laugh is there to show that, while too much restraint is a bad thing, so is being a creature of impulses. These two points also come up when Jane runs away from Rochester (restraining impulses that would make her lose her self-respect and even Rochester's respect for her), but will not marry St. John either (recognizing the importance of feelings and passion).

2. No. He wants to make Jane jealous, so that she will love him more and express her feelings.

Answer 2

It is more than half a lifetime since I read Jane Eyre, and I really cannot remember specific details of the novel other than very generally.  However, these sites should help you with your work with it.

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/li...

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/janeeyre/

http://www.studyguide.org/jane_eyre.htm

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitN...

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/t...

Answer 3

I probably shouldn't, since you have to answer these questions yourself in your own words, with your own observations, but...

1. Interesting question. Perhaps it is to show that both extremes are wrong. For instance, Victorian society was very rigid with respect to women (interesting considering the powerful monarch was a woman) - women had no true freedom, they belonged first to their fathers or guardians and then to their husbands, they couldn't make their own way in society (Jane was very independent in this respect) and more. That wild laugh indicated a woman without restraint of any kind - a mad woman. Complete restraint was wrong, since a woman is more than a possession of some man; complete lack of restraint is not to be desired either, because only the insane recognize no restrictions, no moderation.

2. No, Mr. Rochester never intended to marry Blanche. He used this flirtation with Blanche to make Jane Eyre jealous. It had to look convincing. Besides, I always had the feeling that Mr. Rochester enjoyed playing with some of the arrogant members of his social strata. Blanche and her family, in fact most of those at his house party, were among that number. Blanche was the most haughty and avaricious, so I believe he enjoyed making her think he was interested in marrying her when he wasn't.

3. St. John liked Jane well enough. He certainly neither loved nor had any passion for her. He thought she was a strong and moral woman who would make a good missionary companion for him. I suppose you could say he had a certain dispassionate respect for Jane. In the end, Charlotte Bronte is letting you know what will happen to St. John. That last chapter is the wrap up. By ending with St. John's prayer from the Bible, she is telling you that St. John was going to die soon, he knew it but was unafraid. To end the story that way also tells you something of Charlotte Bronte and her own beliefs. (Keep in mind her father was a clergyman, as was her husband.) The reason I say this is because the end sentence usually is an important one.

4. Hannah was a servant, loyal to St. John and his sisters. She saw a bedraggled, thin and pale, ill-looking woman and thought the worst of her. At best she thought this woman was begging and, at worst, a prostitute who was in bad shape. Hannah was protective and knew that St. John and his sisters lived their Christianity and would give the proverbial shirts off their backs to someone in need. St. John and Diana and Mary were in a different social sphere than Hannah: they were educated, cultured, intelligent and compassionate. Hannah was from the lower classes with their prejudices and less sympathetic to those in need because they, themselves, knew what it was to suffer. There was also a lack of education and culture in the lower classes. The intelligence may be as high or higher, but the learning and refinement wasn't there.

I hope you have actually read the book. It's a great one. If you haven't read it, you won't be able to tell if my ideas have any merit or not! You can read it online or search for words and phrases in the story here: http://www.online-literature.com/brontec...

Answer 4

I only can answer No. 2.

2. No, he does not intend to marry Blanche Ingram. He goes to such lengths because he wants to see if Jane loves him. To tell if she loves him or not, he is basically seeing if she gets jealous. If she gets jealous, she loves him.