Jane Eyre Writing Prompt

Explain how Bronte makes character appearances important to the structure of the novel to the novel as a whole. Consider the absence and reappearance of these characters: Helen Burns, Bessie Leaven, Mrs. Reed, Edward Rochester, and St. John Rivers.

                Charlotte Bronte utilizes the absences and reappearances of certain characters to propel the events that shape Jane Eyre’s life. One of Jane’s most life changing events is when she meets Mr. Rochester. Her evolution as a character when she is with Rochester is not simple nor is it due to one chance encounter, but rather it is based on the sudden absence and then sudden reappearance of him. Her life starts to take shape based on several events of Mr. Rochester appearance, disappearance and then reappearance.

Her very first encounter with Mr. Rochester was quite peculiar. Jane is on her way from delivering a letter when she encounters a mysterious man who is in trouble. Jane assists the man who then disappears however Jane cannot stop thinking about this man. When she returns to Thornfield, she is surprised to meet the mysterious man, whom she did not think she would re-encounter, situated in the house. He turns out to be Mr. Rochester a man who plays a major role in Jane’s life.

At one point in the novel, Mr. Rochester throws a party, a typical Victorian style party filled with the mingling of strangers and the game of charades. Amidst all of the party antics, Mr. Rochester slips away and soon after a gypsy lady arrives and insists on telling the fortunes of all the ladies at the party. The last one to have their fortune told is Jane. While Jane is with the gypsy lady, it is revealed that it was actually Mr. Rochester imitating one to have some fun with his guests. His appearance as a gypsy lady was to coax his guest and try to instill the idea in Jane that her one love, aka Rochester, is close by.

In another day, Mr. Rochester appears at Jane’s door one evening asking her to accompany him to a room. She obliges, not knowing exactly why he has asked her. When they arrive at a room situated on the third floor, there is a man, who is later revealed to be Mr. Mason, soaked in blood. Rochester asks Jane to tend to his wound while he sends for a doctor. Jane, without a second thought, complies. There is, however, one thing that Rochester strongly demands, that Jane not speak one word to Mr. Mason nor should Mr. Mason speak to Jane. With that said, Rochester disappears for several hours, as Jane recollects, she could not remember how many hours it had been that he had been gone.

All of these events work together in shaping out the life of Jane Eyre, thus contributing to the structure of the novel since the novel is in fact a flashback that Jane is telling. The absence and reappearance of characters is crucial to the structure of the novel not only because of how much they shaped out Jane’s life but because they added to the gothic elements of the novel. Each event that touched Jane added mystery, suspense and sometimes gore to the novel which is truly how Charlotte Bronte made the appearance of characters, i.e. Mr. Rochester, important in her novel, Jane Eyre.