3. Introduction to the lesson

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, is a Victorian novel that deals with issues that a woman from a normal household had to experience. The novel is narrated in the first person, where the entire story is told from one of the characters' perspective using the first person pronoun 'I'. The protagonist, Jane, recounts her story ten years after its ending.

 

Jane Eyre is originally a novel, and the lesson contains excerpts from the novel, made into a play. It deals with Jane's life, who is an orphan and is tortured by her aunt and cousins. She is helped by a kind person Dr. Llyod, and is sent to Lowood school, where she experiences problems from the school director. She befriends Helen, a fellow schoolmate, but she dies due to an epidemic. She completes her education and later works as a teacher there. She then works at Thornhill and teaches Adela, the daughter of a grim rich man named Mr. Rochester. She decides to marry him, but it gets cancelled due to certain reasons. Jane inherits her uncle's wealth and later ends up marrying Rochester, who turns blind due to a fire accident.

 

The play focuses more on the theme of education from the novel. Jane, being a woman, had to suffer a lot and was not given proper education. But she deals with this in three stages of life. She becomes a teacher to make sure that girls receive the proper kind of education. The play is divided into three sections. The first part deals with her early life in Gateshead, her aunt's house. The second part deals with her school life at Lowood, and the third part deals with her tutoring experience with Adela at Thornhill.

 

Characters from the play: