titles for essay about jane eyre

Essays About Jane Eyre: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

Writing essays about Jane Eyre? Take a look at our essay examples about Jane Eyre and be inspired by our additional prompts.

Jane Eyre is widely considered a classic novel that poignantly exposed the struggles of Victorian women through a story of love and emancipation. Jane Eyre is a Victorian novel written by Charlotte Brontë and published in 1847. Many aspects of the novel are said to derive from the personal story and experiences of the author herself. 

Brontë published this masterpiece with the gender-neutral pen-name Currer Bell to evade criticisms as the rebelliousness of Jane Eyre was defiant of the accepted social mores of its period. While it stirred controversy in its time, the heroine of the novel, with her grit to conquer adversities, break the rules and achieve her desires, offers many lessons that inspire many to this day. 

Read on and see our top essay examples and writing prompts to help with your essays about Jane Eyre.

1. Jane Eyre And The Right To Pester by Olivia Ward Jackson

2. jane eyre: content warnings are as old as the novel itself by jo waugh, 3. the tension between reason and passion in jane eyre by nicholas johnson, 4. reading jane eyre: can we truly understand charlotte brontë or her heroine today by sam jordison, 5. christianity as a form of empowerment in charlotte bronte’s jane eyre by noam barsheshat , 1. summary and personal reflection, 2. pervasive imageries, 3. jane eyre in the perspective of feminism, 4. best jane eyre film adaptations, 5. how is jane eyre’s life story similar to brontë’s, 6. what are the primary themes in jane eyre, 7. describe the characters, 8. how did jane eyre find her “true home” , 9. jane eyre as a bildungsroman, 10. jane eyre and economic independence, top 5 essay examples.

“Indeed, parallels can be drawn between Jane Eyre and those trapped in a professional hierarchy today. In rejecting an unwanted pass from a superior employee, far worse than damaging a fragile male ego, a woman could offset a chain of consequences which could threaten her entire career.”

The essay pays attention to the similarities between the class conflicts during Jane’s time and the hierarchies in the modern workplace. Finally, as feminists today argue over what practices and behavior would qualify as sexual misconduct, the essay turns the spotlight to Jane, with her determination to stand up against those who pester her, as a possible model.

“Why was the novel considered inappropriate for young girls, in particular? Many Victorians considered it “coarse and immoral”…The novel’s addictiveness might also have been an issue.”

The essay takes off from a university’s warnings against reading Jane Eyre and fellow Victorian novel Great Expectations, citing the “distressing” passages in the novels. The essay collates and presents the commentaries of people in shock with the warning. However, the piece also shows that such cautionary measures were not exactly new and, in fact, the first reaction when the book came to light.

“​​At the end of many trials Charlotte permits Jane to return at last to her lover…. They feel no passion or intrigue..  Instead of fire and ice, Charlotte gives us warm slush. Perhaps she never resolved the tension between reason and passion for herself, and so was unable to write convincingly about it.”

Johnson dives deep into how Brontë juxtaposed reason and passion in her novel’s imageries, metaphors, and even characters. In his conclusion, Johnson finds the resolution to the tension between passion and reason unsatisfactory, surmising that this weak ending conveys how Brontë never resolved this conflict in her own life.

“It’s easy to think we are more sophisticated because we now know more about – say – the early history of Christianity. Or because Brontë is, of course, ignorant of modern feminist theory, or poststructuralism. We can bring readings to her work that she couldn’t begin to imagine. But she could easily turn the tables on us…”

The essays reflect on how one from modern society could fully comprehend Brontë through the protagonist of her masterpiece. Jordison emphasizes the seeming impossibility of this pursuit given Brontë’s complex genius and world. Yet, we may still bask in the joy of finding an intimate connection with the author 200 years after Jane Eyre’s publication. 

“Through her conflicts with various men―specifically, Mr. Brocklehurst, Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers―Jane’s spiritual identity empowers her and supports her independence.”

This critical essay points out how Jane Eyre reconciled feminism and Christianity, highlighting the latter as a vehicle that empowered Jane’s transformation. Despite Jane’s determined spirit to find true love, she reflects her spiritual view of Christianity to prevent falling into an illegitimate love affair, preserving her well-being and self-empowerment. 

10 Best Prompts on Essays About Jane Eyre

Check out our list of the best prompts that could get you started in your essay about Jane Eyre:

Provide a concise summary of the life of the young, orphaned Jane Eyre. First, cite the significant challenges that have enabled Jane’s transformation into a strong and independent woman. Next, provide a personal reflection on the story and how you identify with Jane Eyre. Then, explain which of her struggles and experiences you relate with or find most inspiring. 

From the chestnut and the red room to the ice and fire contrasts, investigate what these imageries signify. Then, elaborate on how these imageries impact Brontë’s storytelling and contribute to the desired effect for her writing style. 

Jane Eyre is highly regarded as one of the first feminist novels. It is a critical work that broadened Victorian women’s horizons by introducing the possibilities of emancipation. Write about how Brontë portrayed Jane Eyre as a feminist if you do not find that the novel advances feminist ideologies, write an argumentative essay and present the two sides of the coin. 

It is estimated that over 16 film adaptations have been made of the book Jane Eyre. Watch at least one of these movie versions and write an analysis on how much it has preserved the book’s key elements and scenes. Then, also offer insights on how the movie adaptation could have improved production, cinematography, cast, and adherence to the book plot, among other factors. 

Draw out the many parallels between the lives of Jane Eyre and her maker Charlotte Brontë. Suppose you’re interested in knowing more about Brontë to identify better and analyze their shared experiences and traits. In that case, The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell is highly recommended. 

Some of the themes very apparent in the novel are gender discrimination and class conflict. First, point out how Brontë emphasizes these themes. Then, dive deep into other possible themes and cite scenes where you find them echoing the most. 

Describe the characters in the novel, from their roles to their traits and physical appearances. Cite their significant roles and contributions to Jane’s transformation. You may also add a personal touch by focusing on characters with whom you relate or identify with the most,

While Jane grew up in Gateshead with the Reed family to whom she is related by blood, the despicable treatment she received in the place only motivated her to take on a journey to find her true home. First, map out Jane’s search for love and family. Then, explain how finding her “true home” empowered her. 

A bildungsroman roman is a literary genre that focuses on a protagonist’s mental, spiritual, and moral maturation. Discuss the criteria of a bildungsroman novel and identify which parts of Jane Eyre fulfill these criteria.

You may also compare Jane Eyre against heroes of other bildungsroman novels like Pip in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Lay down their similarities and key differences.

In the latter part of the novel, Jane gains greater economic independence thanks to the substantial wealth she inherited. But before this discovery of inheritance, Jane had struggled with economic stability. So, first, tackle how finances affected Jane’s life decisions and how they empowered her to see herself as an equal to Rochester. Then, write about how women today perceive economic security as a source of self-empowerment. 

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . 

If you’re still stuck, check out our general resource of essay writing topics .

81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best jane eyre topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting jane eyre topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about jane eyre, ❓ jane eyre essay questions.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: The Novel Reading Analysis If the formalist theory is applied to Jane Eyre, the main point of such analysis would be the form of the novel, its structure, and the imagery.
• Significance of Jane’s and Antoinette’s Dreams in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea The dream is a premonition of danger that is ahead; although she dreams after fighting with her friend Tia, it also represents her conscience because her friend despises her during the ordeal. However, the dream […]
• A Hint of Things to Come: Summary and Analysis of Chapter 25 of Jane Eyre With the help of such walk, the author underlines that something mysterious and unknown to Jane is waiting for her and she has to find more powers to discover the truth.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre appears to have great self esteem even though she is an orphan and has a lot of negative energy and criticism around her in the shape of her aunt and cousins.
• Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” and Rhys’ “Wide Sargasso Sea” Her immediate kin regarded her more as a burden and made her do all the hard work and she lived in a constant environment of scorn and hatred.
• Compare the Relationship of Mothers and Daughters in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea The two works by the authors are related in that one work is the rewrite of another or almost the duplicate of another and therefore almost all the themes are the same in both books […]
• Social Inequality in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte At the same time Jane Eyre symbolizes the struggle of the social classes in 19th century England. The story traced the development of the ten year old child as a hapless prey in an oppressive […]
• Jane Eyre and Daisy Miller: Two Women Ahead of Their Time and Their Men Jane tells her story as explicitly as she can and yet much of the substance of that story is given in the descriptive passages where she uses natural symbolism to convey the mysteries of her […]
• Home Theme in the “Jane Eyre” Film by Fukunaga While Jane is looking for a building full of people who support her to call it her home, her real home is a person she loves.
• Jane Eyre: Novel vs. Film Bronte’s original story narrates Jane’s story as an orphan who finds joy at the end of the story but Stevenson’s film tells the story of Jane as a person who went through a lot of […]
• Charlotte Bronte’s Portrayal of Childhood in “Jane Eyre”
• The Maturation of a Girl Into a Woman in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Passion vs. Reason in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• The Theme of Gender and Marriage in “Jane Eyre”
• Critique of the Behaviour and Values of the 18th Century in “Jane Eyre”
• The Significance of Class Relations in “Jane Eyre”
• The Portrayal of Females in “Jane Eyre” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• An Analysis on the Portrayal of Males in “Jane Eyre”
• Crucial Ideas in the Novel “Wide Sargasso Sea” and “Jane Eyre”
• Identity and Independence of Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s Novel
• The Representation of Social Class and Feminism in “Jane Eyre”
• The Lack of Laughter in Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”
• Psychological, Emotional and Physical Horror in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Jane Eyre”
• Female Mental Illness in “Jane Eyre” and Great Expectations
• A Religious Approach of Evangelical Christianity in “Jane Eyre”
• The Evolution of the Main Character in “Jane Eyre”
• Comparing and Contrasting Jane Eyre’s Mental State From Text to Adaptation
• Challenges Faced and Solved in “Jane Eyre”
• Jane Eyre’s Passion, Sexuality, and Desire in Charlotte Bronte’s Novel
• The Presentation of Women in Society in “Jane Eyre” and “Rebecca”
• The Symbolism of Fire and Ice in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Jane Eyre and Religions Teachings of Forgiveness
• A Feminist Approach to “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Struggling for Self Realization in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• The Evolution of Rochester’s Character in “Jane Eyre”
• Resolving the Issue of Equality Through Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory in “Jane Eyre”
• Importance of Setting in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Women History of Empowerment in “Jane Eyre”
• Sadness, Hope, and Tension in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Analysis of Jane and Rochester’s Relationship in Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”
• The Significance of the Character of Jane Eyre
• Individual vs Society in Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”
• A Critique of the Social Hierarchies of Victorian England in “Jane Eyre”
• Jane Eyre as an Independent Woman in 19th Century
• Imperialism and Colonialism in the Novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Escaping the Society of Patriarchy in Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”
• Rebellion Against Conformity in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• Emotions Over Rationality in Final Chapter of “Jane Eyre”
• Progression of Female Characters From Jane Eyre to Hermione Granger
• Moral Identity of an Orphan in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Convey Childhood and School Experience in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Are Women Presented in “Jane Eyre”?
• What Makes Jane Eyre an Unusual Woman for Her Time?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Use the Different Houses in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Does Bronte Convey Jane Eyre’s State?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Develop the Gothic Features of “Jane Eyre”?
• How Much Sympathy Does the Reader Feel for Jane Eyre at Different Stages in the Story?
• What Are the Main Moral Messages of “Jane Eyre”?
• To What Extent Is Charlotte Bronte Reflecting Victorian Morality in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Does Bronte Create Tension and Suspense in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Does Bronte Show the Reader Jane’s Resilience in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Use Setting and Weather in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Effectively Does Charlotte Bronte Convey the Child’s Viewpoint in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Does Post-colonialism Help Interpret and Evaluate “Jane Eyre”?
• How Does Bronte’s Characterisation of Jane Eyre?
• How Narrative Techniques Are Employed Within “Jane Eyre”?
• How Many Chapters Are in “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte?
• What Is Jane Eyre’s Occupation?
• How Is Lowood Different From What Jane Had Anticipated in “Jane Eyre”?
• In Jane Eyre, What Does Jane Tell St. John and His Sisters of Her Past in “Jane Eyre”?
• What Is the Basic Storyline of “Jane Eyre”?
• In What Ways Might “Jane Eyre” Be Considered a Feminist Novel?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Present Jane Eyre’s Oppression and Her Ability to Overcome It?
• How Does Thornfield Project That Good Things Will Happen to Jane Eyre?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Use Language Detail and Setting in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Do “Jane Eyre” Subvert Gender Stereotypes?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Develop the Adult Jane Eyre Through the Child’s Presentation?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Portray John Reed, Mrs. Reed, and Mr. Brocklehurst in “Jane Eyre”?
• How Did Jane Eyre and Shirley Valentine Achieve Independence?
• How Does Religion Affect the Novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte?
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Research Ideas
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay Ideas
• Call of the Wild Questions
• Catcher in the Rye Topics
• Into the Wild Titles
• Frankenstein Research Topics
• Of Mice and Men Essay Topics
• To Kill a Mockingbird Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 7). 81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/jane-eyre-essay-examples/

"81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 7 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/jane-eyre-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 7 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/jane-eyre-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/jane-eyre-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "81 Jane Eyre Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/jane-eyre-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

• Basic site functions
• Ensuring secure, safe transactions
• Secure account login
• Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
• Remembering privacy and security settings
• Analyzing site traffic and usage
• Personalized search, content, and recommendations
• Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

• Remembering general and regional preferences
• Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Jane Eyre Essay Topics & Ideas

Use our topics suggestions to impress your reader.

• Argumentative Jane Eyre Essay Topics
• Jane Eyre Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

Analytical Jane Eyre Essay Topics

Jane eyre essay topics about symbolism, essay examples on this topic.

Written in the mid-nineteenth century, this story has not lost its popularity to this day. It conquers more and more hearts, captivates readers and encourages them to look into the mystery of love. Jane Eyre is an orphan who was renounced by her aunt when she was raised in an orphanage. Edward Rochester is a wealthy English aristocrat who owned two large, albeit gloomy-looking estates, Thornfield Hall and Ferndean.

Both Jane and Edward are looking for their happiness. She is in a small world, which seems to her infinitely wide, and he – in a wide, but, in his opinion, infinitely small. One day, the characters meet, and then a sincere, passionate feeling flares up between them, which changes their destinies and makes both the gloomy Thornfield Hall and the even gloomier Ferndean startle.

How to Choose Essay Topic on Jane Eyre?

Jane Eyre is a great book for English students because it has so many themes that can be analyzed and discussed in essays. Here are some ideas for essay topics related to Jane Eyre:

• Discuss how Jane’s attitude towards religion changes as she grows older (she starts out as a devout Catholic but ends up rejecting all organized religion).
• Analyze the role of class in this novel—how does it affect Jane’s life? How does it affect her relationships with people like Mrs. Reed and Bertha Mason? Why do you think Brontë chose to include class as such a major theme in the novel?
• Discuss how Rochester’s character develops throughout the course of this novel (he starts out as an arrogant aristocrat but gradually learns.

Tips on How to Write Jane Eyre Essay

As you write your essay about this book, there are several important things to remember:

• You should use examples from both the book and your own life in your essay. These examples will help you develop your argument and show that you have an understanding of the material.
• Make sure you cite all sources correctly so that your work does not get plagiarized or plagiarized by others!
• If you are quoting directly from the text, make sure it is cited properly so that it can be found if someone else wants to look it up or use it for their own writing purposes!
• Remember that essays are often persuasive in nature—this means they typically take one side of an issue and try to convince readers that this side is correct by using logic and evidence rather than emotion alone (although sometimes emotions play a role too).

✒️ Argumentative Jane Eyre Essay Topics

The “Madwoman” in the attic in jane eyre was inspired by real life.

• The Ambiguity Of Bertha Mason In Jane Eyre
• Theme Of Violence In Jane Eyre
• Gender Issues In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
• Miss Temple’s Influence On Jane
• Review of Jane Eyre Characters
• Jane Eyre Themes & Motifs
• The Love Story in Jane Eyre – A Genuine Romance?
• The Translatability of Love: The Romance Genre and the Prismatic Reception of Jane Eyre in 21-Century
• Jane Eyre’s Morality
• Self-actualization In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
• The Issue of Emancipation and Suppression in “Jane Eyre”
• The Woman Question in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

✨ Best jane eyre Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

• Jane eyre as a bildungsroman Front’s Jane Rye is one of development and personal growth. When published, Charlotte Bronze took a male pseudonym in order to avoid prejudices based on gender (Guy). While speculation on the identity of the author was a factor in the popularity Of ….
• Longing for Love in Jane Eyre Jane Eyre – LoveLonging for Love Charlotte Bronte created the novel “Jane Eyre,” with an overriding theme of love. The emotional agony that the main character experiences throughout the novel stem from the treatment received as a child, loss of ….
• Settings In Jane Eyre Writers use different types of literary devices such as puting in their plants to uncover subject. Puting can be described as the clip and topographic point in which an event occurs. It is a major factor in uncovering secret plan and demoing ….
• Moral Reconciliation in Jane Eyre Moral reconciliation is described when one loses their moral, but reconciles with it at the end. In the novel, Jane Eyre, the main character Jane never goes through moral reconciliation because her morals were never broken. As he reward, she returns ….
• The Ambiguity of Jane Eyre The ambiguity of Jane Eyre with respect to gender and class actually makes it more interesting to read. It struggles with sensitive subjects, and sometimes it fails to defy societal convention. But its failures are often as interesting as its ….
• Jane Eyre Dialectical Journals Although Jane presents herself with tough character, withstanding the horrible abuse, it is building up inside of her, a mixture of anger, sadness, feelings of neglecting; not a bit of love or kindness for her from a single person, all hinging that ….
• Mise-en-scene in the Film Jane Eyre The concept of mise-en-scene is a French term which literally means “put in the scene.” It is originally a theater term but when applied to film, it covers a broader meaning, and refers to everything used to complete a scene or a shot. It is ….
• Book Analysis: Jane Eyre I do believed she made the correct decision leaving her tyrannical aunt behind, and destroying thought or possibilities of reconnecting again before doing so. 2. “She broke forth as never yet burst from cloud: a hand first penetrated the sable folds ….
• Essay about Jane Eyre Everyone goes through life searching and questioning what really matters to them and what their own true beliefs are, it’s Just the normal progression of life. In Jane Rye, Jane is seen as searching, and questioning her own spiritual beliefs from an ….
• The Red Room in Jane Eyre The room inspires a feeling of fear, gothiscism, and emptiness Recurrence of various shades of red – scarlet, pink, crimson – signifies passion, danger, aggression, suppression, and confinement…a way of policing female passion The red-room can be ….
• Romeo & Juliet Jane Eyre The first line, “Two households both alike in dignity’ indicates that there are two households, the term alike in dignity’ used to show that they are both of the same social advancement. The fact that there has been perpetual animosity between the ….
• Charlotte Bront Jane Eyre In Charlotte Bront Jane Eyre, the main character faces many struggles. One of the struggles she faces is the temptation to run away with the man she loves and be his mistress or to marry a man who offers her the contrary where it would be a legal ….

✍ Jane Eyre Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

• Compare The Presentation Of The Characters Of Rochester In “Jane Eyre” And Heathcliff In “Wuthering Heights”
• Comparison Between Jane Eyre And Bertha Mason
• Feminism In Jane Eyre And The Wide Sargasso Sea
• “The Red Room”, “Jane Eyre” And “The Fall Of The House Of Usher”
• Comparison Of Jane Eyre And Romeo And Juliet
• Jane Eyre And Helen Burns Comparison
• Typological closeness of the heroines of the novels George Sand “Consuelo” and Charlotte Bronte “Jane Eyre”
• Jane Eyre and the 19th-Century Woman
• Compare & Contrast the Movie and Book “Jane Eyre”
• Female Images in Jane Eyre and The Woman in White
• Compare and Contrast the Characters of Rochester and St. John Rivers

Before Charlotte Brontë created Mr. Rochester, there was the Duke of Zamora.

• What Are The Main Moral Messages Of Jane Eyre?
• How Does Charlotte Bronte Convey These Moral Messages To Her Readers?
• To What Extent Is She Reflecting Victorian Morality In Her Writing?
• Jane Eyre from the Perspective of Feminism
• The Mix of Romanticism and Realism In Jane
• Is Jane Eyre a new woman?
• Critical Examination of Jane Eyre as a Bildungsroman
• Jane Eyre and Upward Mobility
• Representation of the Other in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre
• The Effect of Culturally Familiar Literary Texts on the Student Performance
• Characteristics and role of the gerund in revealing the image of the main character in the novel by Charlotte Brontë “Jane Eyre”
• The structure and narrative functions of dialogue in Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre”
• Moral Value in Charlotte Bronte’s Novel Jane Eyre
• Analyzing the Emotional Expressions in Jane Eyre

Popular Questions

The harsh school Jane Eyre attends was also based on Charlotte Brontë’s own experience.

• The Colonial Subtext In Bronte’s Jane Eyre And Dickens’ Great Expectations
• Jane Eyre Mystery And Suspense
• The Wisdom of Jane Eyre
• Jane Eyre’s Mission to Young Victorian Women
• Romantic Discourse in S. Bronte Jane Eyre
• What is the moral lesson of Jane Eyre?
• Spirituality and Lunar Presence in Jane Eyre
• Essay about Jane Eyre Dialectical Journals
• Essay – Jane Eyre
• Jane Eyre-a Feminist Interpretation
• Jane Eyre – Miss Temple’s Influence on Jane
• Jane Eyre Research Paper Sample
• Jane Eyre Theme Analysis
• Jane Eyre – Violence
• Moral Messages in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• REPRESENTATION OF VARIOUS WOMEN IN JANE EYRE
• Summary of Jane Eyre

Get a Quality Essay on Your Topic

Topic Details

Other Topics

• Lord Of The Flies Essay Topics & Ideas
• Of Mice And Men Essay Topics & Ideas
• 1984 by George Orwell Essay Topics & Ideas
• A Raisin In The Sun Essay Topics & Ideas
• Macbeth Essay Topics & Ideas

Frequently Asked Questions

Don't hesitate to contact us. We are ready to help you 24/7

Hi, my name is Amy 👋

In case you can't find a relevant example, our professional writers are ready to help you write a unique paper. Just talk to our smart assistant Amy and she'll connect you with the best match.

AP® English Literature

The ultimate guide to “jane eyre” for the ap® english literature free response questions.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

The 2017 AP® English Literature Free Response Questions focus on varying themes and are each structured differently. Here we discuss the third FRQ prompt which allows you to choose a particular work of literature as the focus of your essay.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is a well-known classic novel. Herein we will discuss how to determine if the given prompt is appropriate for this particular literary work and give you an idea of what to review before your exam.

Jane Eyre AP® English Lit Essay Themes

To choose a literary work to answer your prompt, it’s important to examine the themes which are outlined in the assigned essay. If the theme is not relevant or well established in a work, you will do well to choose another title to examine. The following are the main themes which you may discuss in your Jane Eyre AP® English Lit Essay.

Love Vs Personal Freedom is a major theme in this novel. Jane struggles with the pursuit of meaningful relationships. She wants desperately to be loved, but not at the expense of her own values or sense of self-worth.

Religion is another prevalent theme in the story. Jane tries to find a balance between the religion she sees and her own ideas of morality. Eventually, she rejects the concrete idea of religion via the church but remains spiritually connected to God. She decides that she doesn’t need a structured religion to live a good life as a Christian.

Social Class is the third central theme in the book. Jane is a victim of Victorian England’s social class system. Because she was raised by the aristocratic caste, she feels uncomfortable in her role as a servant. It’s an internal struggle which she has to deal with causing her to speak out against the system, and it’s treatment of people.

How to use Jane Eyre for the 2017 AP® English Literature Free Response Questions

Jane Eyre is a well-known literary work, with which you should be familiar. It may well be a viable choice for the AP® English Lit free response question. However, that is dependent on the question. Each year the 3rd FRQ is different, and the CollegeBoard supplies a list of suggested books to reference for your essay. The absence of a book from the list does not disqualify it from use, that being said; it’s important to know how to choose which book to use for the given analysis.

In preparation for your exam, it’s a good idea to read previous years’ free response questions posted on CollegeBoard. The following review is for the 2016 FRQ prompt.

2016 FRQ 3: Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended to either help or hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime.

Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Jane Eyre is on the suggested list for this prompt for obvious reasons. The theme of deception is represented by various characters in the story. The most prominent one is Edward Rochester, who lies to hide his insane wife in his attic. A possible thesis is as follows.

In Jane Eyre , Edward Rochester lives a life based on deceit. He pursues his own type of happiness by hiding his wife, lying, and working to please only himself. However, this life of deception and selfishness is unacceptable to Jane, causing a conflict central to the story.

To support this thesis, you may point out that Rochester tried to justify his wrongdoings to Jane and seemed to have even bought into his own deceit, as seen in the following quotes.

“Nature meant me to be, on the whole, a good man, Miss Eyre: one of the better end; and you see I am not so. […] Then take my word for it,—I am not a villain: you are not to suppose that—not to attribute to me any such bad eminence; but, owing, I verily believe, rather to circumstances than to my natural bent, I am a trite common-place sinner, hackneyed in all the poor petty dissipations with which the rich and worthless try to put on life.” (1.14.61)

“Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.” (1.14.63-65)

However, Jane does not entirely buy into his explanations and argues that he would sully her if she allowed him to marry her, despite his ongoing marriage.

“And what will you do, Janet, while I am bargaining for so many tons of flesh and such an assortment of black eyes?”

“I’ll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved—your harem inmates amongst the rest. I’ll get admitted there, and I’ll stir up mutiny; and you, three-tailed bashaw as you are, sir, shall in a trice find yourself fettered amongst our hands: nor will I, for one, consent to cut your bonds till you have signed a charter, the most liberal that despot ever yet conferred.” (2.9.129-132)

To examine another possible use for Jane Eyre on your 2017 English Lit Exam we will take a look at another prompt.

2015 FRQ 3 : In literary works, cruelty often functions as a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Select a novel, play, or epic poem in which acts of cruelty are important to the theme. Then write a well-developed essay analyzing how cruelty functions in the work as a whole and what the cruelty reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim.

Although Jane Eyre is not on the suggested list for this particular prompt, you can still write a well-thought out essay for the nove l . Cruelty is an underlying theme throughout the story. A possible thesis is as follows. In Jane Eyre, the subject of cruelty manifests in both physical and psychological means of individuals and society. This abhorrent behavior shapes the character of Jane Eyre throughout her life, coloring the way she interacts with the world. The isolation and ostracization she experiences, early in her life, are the driving force behind her need to feel loved and accepted, later in the story.

To elaborate on this thesis and explain what it reveals about the perpetrator and/or victim, you will need to choose your examples and expand upon them. In the following quote, Jane is reminded, yet again, of her own poverty and told that she should be thankful for what little she has.

“ You ought to be aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.”’ You ought to be  aware, Miss, that you are under obligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps you: if she were to turn you off, you would have to go to the poor-house.’

I had nothing to say to these words: they were not new to me: my very first recollections of existence included hints of the same kind. This reproach of my dependence had become a vague sing-song in my ear; very painful and crushing, but only half intelligible.” (1.2.14-16)

In the next excerpt, Jane describes the way she was exiled even in a home filled with other children. She describes herself as something that does not fit with the household norm.

“ I was a discord in Gateshead Hall; I was like nobody there; I had nothing in harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage. If they did not love me, in fact, as little did I love them. They were not bound to regard with affection a thing that could not sympathize with one amongst them; a heterogeneous thing, opposed to them in temperament, in capacity, in propensities; a useless thing, incapable of serving their interest, or adding to their pleasure; a noxious thing, cherishing the germs of indignation at their treatment, of contempt of their judgment. I know that had I been a sanguine, brilliant, careless, exacting, handsome, romping child—though equally dependent and friendless—Mrs. Reed would have endured my presence more complacently; her children would have entertained for me more of the cordiality of fellow-feeling; the servants would have been less prone to make me the scape-goat of the nursery.” (1.2.30)

Thanks to her upbringing, and the way she was looked down on for having no money, Jane has a fear of poverty.

“Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty; they think of the world only as connected with ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manners, and debasing vices: poverty for me was synonymous with degradation.” (1.3.63)

In the next passage, Jane explains how her isolation caused her to view school as a welcome change.

“I scarcely knew what school was; Bessie sometimes spoke of it as a place where young ladies sat in the stocks, wore backboards, and were expected to be exceedingly genteel and precise; John Reed hated his school, and abused his master: but John Reed’s tastes were no rule for mine, and if Bessie’s accounts of school-discipline (gathered from the young ladies of a family where she had lived before coming to Gateshead) were somewhat appalling, her details of certain accomplishments attained by these same ladies were, I thought, equally attractive. She boasted of beautiful paintings of landscapes and flowers by them executed; of songs they could sing and pieces they could play, of purses they could net, of French books they could translate; till my spirit was moved to emulation as I listened. Besides, school would be a complete change: it implied a long journey, an entire separation from Gateshead, an entrance into a new life.” (1.3.70)

In the following quotation, you will notice that Jane’s previous experiences with unjust cruelty made her unaccepting of the idea that one should be kind in response to cruelty.

“If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again. […] I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved.” (1.6.50, 52)

The experiences which Jane underwent in her childhood caused her to see her situation at Lowood in a different fashion than those people who may have come from a happy home. “Probably, if I had lately left a good home and kind parents, this would have been the hour when I should most keenly have regretted the separation: that wind would then have saddened my heart; this obscure chaos would have disturbed my peace: as it was I derived from both a strange excitement, and reckless and feverish, I wished the wind to howl more wildly, the gloom to deepen to darkness, and the confusion to rise to clamour.” (1.6.14)

In the next excerpt, Jane explains that her need for approval and love supersedes her want to be morally just.

“’If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.’

No: I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough: if others don’t love me, I would rather die than live—I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen.’” (1.8.11-12)

The following passage illustrates how important a sense of family was to Jane, owing to her lack of family and love, during her childhood.

“‘ And you,’ I interrupted, ‘cannot at all imagine the craving I have for fraternal and sisterly love. I never had a home, I never had brothers or sisters; I must and will have them now: you are not reluctant to admit me and own me, are you?’” (3.7.127)

In conclusion, Jane Eyre has many themes you may find helpful for the last Free Response Question on the AP® English Literature Exam. When reading the prompt and deciding on what literary work to use for your essay, remember to choose a subject where the theme outlined in the given instructions is prevalent.

In the case of Jane Eyre, love vs. personal freedom, religion, and social classes are a few of the more prominent themes discussed. However, as we saw with the 2016 prompt example, this story has many underlying themes which you may examine for your Jane Eyre AP® English Lit Essay.

For more help preparing for your AP® English Literature exam we suggest you read The Ultimate Guide to 2015 AP® English Literature FRQs . And, for writing advice for the AP® English Lit free response questions, Albert.io’s AP® English Literature section has practice free response sections with sample answers and rubrics.

Looking for AP® English Literature practice?

Kickstart your AP® English Literature prep with Albert. Start your AP® exam prep today .

Interested in a school license?​

Popular posts.

AP® Score Calculators

Simulate how different MCQ and FRQ scores translate into AP® scores

AP® Review Guides

The ultimate review guides for AP® subjects to help you plan and structure your prep.

Core Subject Review Guides

Review the most important topics in Physics and Algebra 1 .

SAT® Score Calculator

See how scores on each section impacts your overall SAT® score

ACT® Score Calculator

See how scores on each section impacts your overall ACT® score

Grammar Review Hub

Comprehensive review of grammar skills

AP® Posters

Download updated posters summarizing the main topics and structure for each AP® exam.

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

Charlotte Brontë

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Jane Eyre: Introduction

Jane eyre: plot summary, jane eyre: detailed summary & analysis, jane eyre: themes, jane eyre: quotes, jane eyre: characters, jane eyre: symbols, jane eyre: literary devices, jane eyre: quizzes, jane eyre: theme wheel, brief biography of charlotte brontë.

Historical Context of Jane Eyre

Other books related to jane eyre.

• Full Title: Jane Eyre: An Autobiography
• When Written: 1847
• Literary Period: Victorian
• Genre: Victorian novel. Jane Eyre combines Gothic mystery, a romantic marriage plot, and a coming-of-age story.
• Setting: Northern England in the early 1800s.
• Climax: Jane telepathically hears Rochester's voice calling out to her.
• Point of View: First person. Jane recounts her story ten years after its ending.

Extra Credit for Jane Eyre

Bells and Brontës: The Brontës became a literary powerhouse when Charlotte, Emily, and Anne all wrote successful first novels. Each sister published under a masculine-sounding pseudonym based on their initials. Charlotte Brontë became "Currer Bell"; Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights (1845-46) as "Ellis Bell", and Anne Brontë published Agnes Gray (1847) as "Acton Bell." Women could enter the marketplace as writers and novelists, but many writers, including the Brontës and Mary Anne Evans ("George Eliot"), used male pseudonyms to keep from being dismissed as unimportant.

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center
• Introduction

Publication and analysis

• What was Charlotte Brontë’s childhood like?
• Where did Charlotte Brontë go to school?

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Academia - An Overview: Jane Eyre as a Feminist Novel
• Toronto Metropolitan University Pressbooks - Jane Eyre
• Lit2Go - "Jane Eyre"
• Literary Devices - Jane Eyre
• Internet Archive - "Jane Eyre"
• Table Of Contents

Jane Eyre , novel by Charlotte Brontë , first published in 1847 as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography , with Currer Bell (Brontë’s pseudonym) listed as the editor. Widely considered a classic, it gave new truthfulness to the Victorian novel with its realistic portrayal of the inner life of a woman, noting her struggles with her natural desires and social condition.

When the novel begins, the title character is a 10-year-old orphan who lives with her uncle’s family; her parents had died of typhus . Other than the nursemaid, the family ostracizes Jane. She is later sent to the austere Lowood Institution, a charity school , where she and the other girls are mistreated; “Lowood,” as the name suggests, is the “low” point in Jane’s young life. In the face of such adversity, however, she gathers strength and confidence.

In early adulthood, after several years as a student and then teacher at Lowood, Jane musters the courage to leave. She finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets her dashing and Byronic employer, the wealthy and impetuous Edward Rochester . At Thornfield Jane looks after young Adèle, the daughter of a French dancer who was one of Rochester’s mistresses, and is befriended by the kindly housekeeper Mrs. Alice Fairfax . Jane falls in love with Rochester, though he is expected to marry the snobbish and socially prominent Blanche Ingram. Rochester eventually reciprocates Jane’s feelings and proposes marriage. However, on their wedding day, Jane discovers that Rochester cannot legally marry her, because he already has a wife, Bertha Mason , who has gone mad and is locked away on the third floor because of her violent behaviour; her presence explains the strange noises Jane has heard in the mansion. Believing that he was tricked into that marriage, Rochester feels justified in pursuing his relationship with Jane. He pleads with her to join him in France, where they can live as husband and wife despite the legal prohibitions, but Jane refuses on principle and flees Thornfield.

Jane is taken in by people she later discovers are her cousins. One of them is St. John , a principled clergyman. He gives her a job and soon proposes marriage, suggesting that she join him as a missionary in India. Jane initially agrees to leave with him but not as his wife. However, St. John pressures her to reconsider his proposal, and a wavering Jane finally appeals to Heaven to show her what to do. Just then, she hears a mesmeric call from Rochester. Jane returns to Thornfield to find the estate burned, set on fire by Rochester’s wife, who then jumped to her death. Rochester, in an attempt to save her, was blinded. Reunited, Jane and Rochester marry. Rochester later regains some of his sight, and the couple have a son.

The book was originally published in three volumes as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography , with Currer Bell listed as the editor. (The Lowood section of the novel was widely believed to be inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s own life.) Though some complained that it was anti- Catholic , the work was an immediate success. Jane Eyre ’s appeal was partly due to the fact that it was written in the first person and often addressed the reader, creating great immediacy. In addition, Jane is an unconventional heroine, an independent and self-reliant woman who overcomes both adversity and societal norms. The novel also notably blended diverse genres . Jane’s choice between sexual need and ethical duty belongs very firmly to the mode of moral realism. However, her close escape from a bigamous marriage and the fiery death of Bertha are part of the Gothic tradition.

Jane Eyre inspired various film, TV, and stage adaptations , including a 1943 movie that starred Orson Welles as Rochester and Joan Fontaine as Jane. Jean Rhys ’s novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) offers an account of Rochester’s first marriage.

Feminism In Jane Eyre Essay

Jane Eyre is one of the most well-known and celebrated feminist novels. The story of Jane’s journey from oppressed orphan to independent woman has resonated with readers for centuries. Jane Eyre is a timeless tale of female empowerment and an important work in the feminist literary canon.

A feminist is someone whose beliefs and actions are based on feminism (belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes). Jane Eyre is a critique of gender-related preconceptions. It has a strong feminist perspective; it explores fundamental human desires and fears through the use of literary principles. As a result, Jane Eyre is an example of femininity: she’s young, self-sufficient, committed to her beliefs and Christian virtues strong.

Jane Eyre lives her life according to these values, and in doing so, Jane becomes an admirable character and a role model for future generations of women. Jane Eyre is unapologetically herself. She is honest about her feelings and thoughts, even when they are unpopular or deemed improper. Jane is not afraid to voice her opinions, even when they differ from those around her.

This is one of the most admirable qualities Jane possesses. Women at this time were expected to be seen and not heard; their opinions and thoughts were secondary to those of their male counterparts. Jane bucks this trend and proves that women are just as capable as men of thinking for themselves.

Jane is also a very independent woman. She does not rely on anyone else to take care of her or make decisions for her. Jane is very resourceful and is always able to find a way to get what she needs. This quality is often lacking in women of Jane’s time, who are used to being reliant on their husbands or fathers. Jane’s independence allows her to be in control of her own life and destiny, something that was very rare for women during the Victorian era.

Jane Eyre is an excellent role model for young women. She is a strong, independent woman who stands up for herself and what she believes in. Jane is also a very honest person who is not afraid to voice her opinion. These qualities are all things that young women should aspire to have. Jane Eyre is a feminist novel that speaks to the deep, timeless human urges and fears, using the principles of literature to chart the mind’s recesses. Jane is an admirable character and a role model for future generations of women.

Jane faces the concerns of a young lady who lacks social advantages such as family, money, and beauty, making her especially susceptible to the allure of admiration and security. Jane endures so much anguish throughout the story—as a result of her aunt’s hatred for her disobedience, when she attempts to marry Rochester but he spurns her love, and when she defies St. John by maintaining that marriages should be based on love rather than convenience.

Jane is a victim for most of the novel, but she never gives up – she continues to fight for what she believes in and ultimately prevails against all odds. Jane Eyre is therefore a feminist novel because it tells the story of a young woman who overcomes great adversity to triumph in the end. Jane is a role model for all women who have ever faced oppression and she is an example of how one can overcome anything if they have the strength to fight for what they believe in.

Despite the pain she suffers as a result of her decisions, she remains self-reliant in the face of these overpowering forces over her. And despite the fact that Jane Eyre gets reunited with Mr. Rochester at the end, it is not love but rather bravery that defines her personality.

Second, Jane Eyre is an autonomous woman. She completes her education and works for two years as a teacher after Miss Temple marries. Jane perceives that she has a tremendous desire to travel outside of Lowood, learn more about the world, and improve her living conditions after hearing about Miss Temple’s engagement. She becomes a governess who is plain and hardworking.

Jane is content with her lot, and asks for nothing more than to be left alone to do her work. Jane Eyre’s moral strength and self-respect are put to the test time and time again throughout the novel, as she struggles against a series of obstacles, including an tyrannical guardian, a cruel headmaster, a lecherous employer, and a cold society that treats her as an inferior. But Jane Eyre is no victim; she is a survivor who triumphs over adversity through her own courage and determination. In short, Jane Eyre is a feminist heroine in the truest sense of the word.

This is a powerful feminist statement, and it applies to Jane Eyre in spades. Jane is constantly seeking to better herself, both intellectually and spiritually, and she refuses to be limited by the expectations placed upon her by society. This makes her a true feminist heroine, and one who readers can admire and look up to.

“I should like to live in the country,” says Jane. “Then I could have a garden and plant flowers on it. And you may come there often to see me; for that is quite agreeable to me. It would be dull indeed if we always lived alone together!”

He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad daylight. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol.” Jane is willing to give up her own agency and views on equality in order to be with Rochester, which seems to be a common trend in many marriages during that time. However, Jane does attempt to keep some power by leaving Rochester when she learns about his big secret.

One could argue that Jane Eyre is a feminist novel because it focuses on Jane’s journey to find her own identity and independence. Throughout the course of the novel, Jane grows from a young girl into a woman who is confident in her own skin and capable of standing up for herself.

While Jane does eventually get married, she does so on her own terms and only after she is sure that she loves Rochester and he loves her back. Jane Eyre is therefore a novel about a woman finding her own voice and learning to assert her own needs, which makes it an important feminist text.

More Essays

• Jane Eyre Feminism Essay
• Equality In Jane Eyre
• Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre
• Jane Eyre Weather
• Jane Eyre and The Yellow Wallpaper
• Weather In Jane Eyre
• Isolation In Jane Eyre
• Miss Temple Jane Eyre
• When Does Jane Eyre Take Place

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

91 pages • 3 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Chapter 9

Chapters 10-16

Chapters 17-22

Chapters 23-27

Chapters 28-35

Chapters 36-38

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Religion, Hypocrisy, and Moral Complexity

In her preface to Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë takes a strong stance against religious hypocrisy, preempting the possible objection that Jane and Edward Rochester’s love goes against Victorian morality. Brontë points out that “Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion” (6), arguing that “self-righteous” people often use their adherence to “convention” to mask their lack of actual goodness or moral character. In the novel, Brontë exposes the fallacies, inadequacies, and outright lies of various religious philosophies, encouraging the reader to consider the moral complexity of any given situation rather than dealing in absolutes.

Related Titles

By Charlotte Brontë

Featured Collections

Audio Study Guides

View Collection

British Literature

Feminist Reads

Romanticism / Romantic Period

Victorian Literature

Victorian Literature / Period

• International
• Education Jobs
• Schools directory
• Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search

Jane Eyre - Original Essay Titles for A-Level Pupils

Subject: English

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

27 November 2018

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

Creative Commons "NoDerivatives"

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have downloaded this resource can review it

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

by Charlotte Bronte

Jane eyre study guide.

Published to widespread success in 1847 under the androgynous pseudonym of "Currer Bell," the novel " Jane Eyre " catapulted 31-year-old Charlotte Brontë into the upper echelon of Victorian writers. With the novel's success, Brontë was able to reveal her true identity to her publisher, and it soon became widely known that the author of the popular novel was a woman. This revelation allowed " Jane Eyre " to achieve an additional level of interest in contemporary society by forcing the public to redefine sexist notions of female authorship. Although the text presumably relates events from the first decade of the 19th century, contemporary Victorians, particularly women, identified with Brontë's critique of Victorian class and gender mores. In particular, Brontë's commentary on the difficult position of a governess during the time period was one with which many woman could relate and empathize.

Written as a first-person narrative, the novel follows the plain but intelligent Jane Eyre in her development as an individual from her traumatic childhood. Brontë describes five specific stages of Jane's growth over the course of the novel: first, her childhood among oppressive relatives; second, her time as a student at Lowood School; third, her months as a governess at Thornfield Manor; fourth, her time with her cousins at Marsh's End; and finally, her return to Thornfield Manor and marriage to Mr. Rochester. As a classic example of the Germanic Bildungsroman, or novel of formation, the text demonstrates Jane's attempts to define her identity against forces of opposition in each of these five stages.

Bronte also employs many elements of the Gothic novel, another classic literary tool from the period, in order to provide a more tragic bent to Jane's struggles. Mr. Rochester's characterization as a stereotypical Byronic hero, the ominously gothic nature of Thornfield Manor, Jane's unrequited love for Mr. Rochester, and the concept of the Madwoman in the Attic--each of these aspects of the novel relate directly to understandings of the Gothic tradition.

Many aspects of the novel are modeled on Brontë's own life. She wrote of the novel, "I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself," and, indeed, the characterization of the protagonist as unattractive was largely unheard of in Victorian literature. Like Jane, Bronte was forced to rely on her intellect in order to achieve economic independence and worked a governess with several different families. She attended the harsh evangelical Cowan Bridge School, on which she modeled Lowood. Moreover, the death of Helen Burns at Lowood is a clear reference to the deaths of Brontë's two sisters during their time at the Cowan Bridge School. John Reed 's descent into gambling and alcoholism also parallels the behavior of Brontë's beloved brother, Patrick Branwell, who took to opium and alcohol and died the year after "Jane Eyre" was published.

The tragic and subdued tone of the novel also speaks to Brontë's personal experiences in a more general way. With the death of her mother and two elder sisters during her childhood, Brontë was forced to cope with a strict and severe father and grow up on the desolate moors of Yorkshire (which appear in all their bleakness in Emily Brontë's novel " Wuthering Heights "). The deaths of her three remaining siblings came in the midst of her literary successes, and Brontë was forced to live in a loveless marriage for the few years before her death. Although "Jane Eyre" ends happily--Jane marries Mr. Rochester--there is still a pervasive sense of darkness and depression in the text as a reflection of Brontë's personal state of mind.

Since its publication, "Jane Eyre" has become a staple of British literature; Brontë's characterization of the honest Jane Eyre, tortured Mr. Rochester, and tragically insane Bertha Mason continue to spur the imagination of readers even today. The novel has inspired several films, as well as numerous literary sequels and prequels (the most famous of which is Jean Rhys' " Wide Sargasso Sea ," which describes Mr. Rochester's courtship and marriage to Bertha Mason).

Jane Eyre Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Jane Eyre is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Why did Jane go to the party?

Jane attends the party out of curiosity, she leaves because Rochester's guests are rude and arrogant.

What is it that you most admire about Jane?

I think this is asking for your opinion rather than mine. What do you admire about Jane? Is it her sense of independence as a woman in a patriarchal culture? Is it her thirst for education? Is it her resilience?

Why was Jane so invested in the ingrams?

I think your quesstion is embodied in the character of Blanche Ingram. The young and beautiful society lady who is Jane's primary romantic rival. Jane is convinced that the haughty Miss Ingram would be a poor match for Mr. Rochester, but she...

Study Guide for Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a book by Charlotte Brontë. The Jane Eyre study guide contains a biography of Charlotte Bronte, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Jane Eyre
• Jane Eyre Summary
• Jane Eyre Video
• Character List

Essays for Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a novel by Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

• Women in Literature: Examining Oppression Versus Independence in Henry V and Jane Eyre
• Jane Eyre: The Independent and Successful Woman Of the Nineteenth Century
• Mystery and Suspense
• In Search of Permanence
• Jane's Art and Story

Lesson Plan for Jane Eyre

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Jane Eyre
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Jane Eyre Bibliography

E-Text of Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is an e-text that contains the full text of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

• Chapters 1-5
• Chapters 6-10
• Chapters 11-15
• Chapters 16-20

Wikipedia Entries for Jane Eyre

• Introduction