The first in a series of articles discussing aspects of Charlotte Bronte's most famous novel.

Most of us are familiar with term “Gothic fiction,” a type of literature that developed in the eighteenth century and is still highly popular today. Horace Walpole’s 1746 novel The Castle of Otranto is widely credited as being the first Gothic novel, and introduced many of the elements that have become such a familiar part of this genre.

Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847) was evidently influenced by aspects of Gothic. This novel has been classified as belonging to any number of genres, including the Bildungsroman and the Romance Novel, but the story of how poor, plain orphan Jane finds work and eventually a husband at Thornfield also relies heavily on key Gothic conventions.

The Haunted Castle

Thornfield is neither haunted nor a castle, but this huge, imposing house has a mysterious and threatening atmosphere. Jane grows to love the house as she loves its master, but parts of it are dark, chilly and gloomy: “the staircase window was high and latticed; both it and the long gallery into which the bedroom doors opened looked as if they belonged to a church rather than a house. A very chill and vault- like air pervaded the stairs and gallery, suggesting cheerless ideas of space and solitude” (chapter 11).

Madness, Secrets and Lies

Thornfield is also the home of mad Bertha, Rochester’s secret wife. She is kept locked in the attic, and both Jane and the reader are unaware of her presence there for some time. Thus when we hear her ghostly laugh,” a curious laugh; distinct, formal, mirthless” (chapter 11), we are unsure how to interpret it. Jane assumes the laugh belongs to servant Grace Poole, but the reader is unconvinced by this and knows that some terrible secret must lurk in the mysterious attic.

A similarly ghostly and frightening atmosphere is evoked when Jane describes her first sighting of Bertha: “ ‘It seemed, sir, a woman, tall and large, with thick and dark hair hanging long down her back. I know not what dress she had on: it was white and straight; but whether gown, sheet, or shroud, I cannot tell’ ” (chapter 25).

The Hero

The moody Mr Rochester is a Byronic hero, a figure that has become familiar to fans of Gothic. He is charismatic, well-travelled, bad-tempered, and has a huge secret lurking in his past. The moment that Jane first lays eyes on him is significant, indicating Jane’s belief in the supernatural as well as Rochester’s elusive and enigmatic nature: “close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog...it was exactly one form of Bessie’s Gytrash—a lion-like creature with long hair and a huge head...The man, the human being, broke the spell at once. Nothing ever rode the Gytrash: it was always alone; and goblins, to my notions, though they might tenant the dumb carcasses of beasts, could scarce covet shelter in the commonplace human form” (chapter 12).

Aspects of the Supernatural

Jane Eyre is full of unexplained or partially explained occurrences: the light that she sees in the Red Room (chapter 2), which she takes to be the spirit of her dead uncle but might just be somebody walking out side with a lantern; the splitting of the oak tree by lightening just before the wedding, seemingly indicative of the stormy times ahead; Jane’s prophetic dreams. The novel has been criticised for its use of coincidence: Jane goes wandering and just happens to end up at the house of her cousins. The turning point of the novel rests upon such an unexplained event. Jane returns to Thornfield because she hears Rochester calling for her help, and travels back to find the house burned down and Rochester maimed.

A Gothic Romance

Thus, rather than term Jane Eyre a romance, we could perhaps better describe it as a Gothic Romance: certainly the course of true love does not run smooth in this novel.

Read about Charlotte Bronte's life, and the autobiographical elements of Jane Eyre.