Pir, 1

Selcuk Pir

Professor Kristie Camacho

English 017-1323

12 February 2024

Elements of Victorian Era Gothic Literature in Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre illustrates plethora of Victorian Gothic features ranging

from ghosts and the supernatural, descriptions of uncanny and gloomy architectural settings and

weather, melodrama, depression and suicidal ideation, detailed discussions of class stratification

and social commentary of the inequality between the wealthy elite and the poor, and in-depth

wranglings of the psychological and emotional state of the protagonist Jane. Bronte’s use of

metaphors, motifs, allegories, symbolism, foreshadowing and other literary devices in the

chapters we have read thus far creates an eloquent and captivating account of a character

development of an orphan girl who is astute, quick-witted, and critical of her surroundings and

societal circumstances she is a part of.

Jane’s time at Gateshead Hall and the Lowood Institution is rife with negative and

gloomy experiences. When Jane gets locked in the Red Room she encounters her dead uncle’s

ghost and she passes out. Before this happens we read: “I thought the swift darting beam was a

herald of some coming vision from another world” , and “Oh I saw a light, and I thought a ghost

would come.” (Bronte 21) The casual mentions of ghosts and the probability of another world

existing exemplify Victorian gothic elements of the novel. Jane has an internal dialogue about

her uncle Mr. Reed’s spirit would rise before her in the Red Room. (Bronte 20). Furthermore, on

page 37, we read the mentions of Jane’s doll having elements of sympathetic magic which is

when a non-human object has human-like, alive qualities. Jane refers to her doll as “half
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fancying it alive and capable of sensation” (Bronte 37). When Jane goes off to the Lowood

Institution, she reads books and talks about how the novel Rasselas was not to her taste because

she saw “nothing about fairies, nothing about genii” (Bronte 67). At Lowood Institution, she is

also constantly criticizing the mistreatment of the poor orphan girls living under horrid

conditions and experiencing terrible health. Jane also talks about letting herself die which is so

unfortunate of a ten year old girl to think about but considering the social commentary and

psychological depth analysis of Victorian Gothic novel genre, it is fitting for the narrator to

acknowledge and comment on the injustices and darkness of the circumstances of the era.

Work Cited

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Scholastic Classics, 2013