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This article analyzes the role of the Gothic in Jane Eyre, concentrating on this genre's allusive presence in the passage detailing the protagonist's terrifying ordeal in the red-room, where she experiences a variety of contrasting emotions. First I will be highlighting a range of the author's narrative techniques and examining how they help to establish character and convey emotion, before briefly considering the selected passage's influence over the rest of the novel. My contention is that through the revision of certain literary modes, Brontë succeeds in creating a heightened sense of reality. She achieves this in part through effectively mobilizing eighteenth-century Gothic conventions.
'Anger' is the first of Jane's emotions and the author habitually delineates her heroine's mental turmoil by juxtaposing the girl with her environment: "What a consternation of soul was mine that dreary afternoon!" (p.15). The use of the word "tumult" in the succeeding sentence is intriguing as it not only reflects Jane's conflict of emotions but also alludes to her rebellious streak, a notion strengthened by the word "insurrection". Explanation marks also serve to consolidate the protagonist's indignation.
Jane's anger largely stems from her sense of confusion at her aunt's unjust treatment: "I could not answer the ceaseless inward question - why I thus suffered" (p.15). The concept of multiple narrators is apparent in the presence of an older Jane who is able to reflect on the possible qualities (sanguine, handsome, romping etc) that may have endeared her to the Reed household, qualities the child Jane seems never to have acknowledged. The Russian literary theorist and philosopher of language Mikhail Bakhtin refers to the presence of several competing narrative voices as 'dialogic form', and through this approach, Brontë is seemingly able to convey several emotions at once - the 'confusion' felt by the child Jane is juxtaposed with the 'clarity' of the adult Jane. This style of first-person narrative, with its alternating immediacy and retrospection, although suggestive of autobiography, also puts forward the notion of veracity as we are not sure which Jane to believe. Frequent repetitions of "I" keep the reader conscious of the adult Jane, while the employment of the word 'thing' to describe the child Jane assists to establish a distance between them.
Jane Eyre is a novel steeped in symbolism, much of which is evident in the red-room. The combined forces of beating rain and howling wind seem to play a part in quelling the protagonist's anger: "fell damp on the embers of my decaying ire" (p.16). Through the use of the word "embers" Jane's sudden spark of anger is figuratively likened to fire, an element which functions as a recurrent metaphor throughout the novel, symbolizing hearth and home on the one hand as well as fury, rebellion and purgation on the other. The reader gathers that 'anger' isn't Jane's usual temperament however as she describes her "habitual mood of humiliation, self-doubt, forlorn depression" (p.16) returning. The last of these sentiments ascends a temporary dominance as Jane's thoughts turn to the morbid, with her powerfully introspective imagination - of which the reader is given frequent access - envisaging the vault under Gateshead Church as "an inviting bourne" (p.16). It is here where the traditional Gothic is subtly invoked, with the words: "death", "die", "vault", "buried", and "dread", all featuring in the one paragraph.
Intimations of the Gothic fittingly lead to Jane experiencing her final emotion in the red-room: 'fear'. Her morbid reverie moves on to thoughts of her late uncle returning from his grave to avenge his wife's injustices; imaginings that betray the novel's intertextuality, as the reader is under the impression that they derive in part from Jane's earlier perusal of Bewick's vignettes. The heroine's anxiety is conveyed in both vocabulary and sentence structure, with the words "horror" and "agitation" abounding, while clusters of sentences are comprised of short clauses - characteristic of Brontë's writing - which serve to heighten tension as well as create a quasi-poetic feel. Despite the distance established by the adult narrator, the reader feels in close proximity to the child Jane, aided in part through descriptions of her physical sensations: "My heart beat thick, my head grew hot" (p.17). The language conveys a rapidly escalating sense of fear as Jane's anxiety moves on to terror before climaxing in panic with her "wild, involuntary cry" (p.17). It is vital to realize that the vivid descriptions of Jane's environment, such as those depicting the red-room, are not intended to be merely decorative, but instead function as a powerful internalizing technique that exploit early Gothic conventions to enhance the portrayal of her inner life.
The scene in the red-room exerts a considerable influence over the rest of the novel. Certain situations, themes and metaphors recur again and again throughout the story, and the protagonist's early confinement foreshadows subsequent narrative events, most notably Bertha's appearance, which signals the decisive introduction of the Gothic. Rochester's mad wife's destruction of Thornfield is subtly anticipated during Jane's red-room experiences, when she "endeavoured to be firm" (p.17), structurally anticipating the insanity that may ensue if she succumbs to her rage.
An understanding of the red-room's significance is crucial for an appreciation of Jane Eyre, for in this scene, Brontë makes several important developments in the establishment of her heroine's character. This is achieved through an effective use of language, utilizing a range of narrative techniques as well as reworking certain literary modes, all of which have a combined effect in conveying emotion, creating a dramatically complex psychological portrait.
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