Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to our next lesson of Jane Eyre.

In our last lesson, Jane was beginning to adjust to her new life in Lowood school.

She befriended Helen Burns, and the two now spend a lot of time together.

In today's lesson, Jane's happiness is going to be threatened when the fearsome Mr. Brocklehurst arrives at the school.

Now, Mr. Brocklehurst appears to be a very pious and religious man.

But is he really as devoted to his religion as he appears, or is something more sinister going on? All shall be revealed.

Let's begin.

For today's lesson, you will need an exercise book, or paper, and a pen.

If you do not have this equipment, press the pause button on your video now, go and collect this equipment, and then we will begin our lesson.

Let's begin with a recap from our last lesson.

In what way is Jane different to Helen? Option one, Jane is happy, whereas Helen is sad.

Option two, Jane is lazy, whereas Helen is a hard worker.

Option three, Jane believes that we should get revenge on people who wrong us, whereas Helen believes in forgiveness.

Or option four, Helen is loved by her teachers, whereas Jane is hated by them.

Press the pause button on your video now, and tell the screen the right answer.

I will now tell you the right answer, which is of course, option three.

Jane believes that we should get revenge on people who wrong us, whereas Helen believes in forgiveness.

Well done if you got that right I will now tell you my plan for today's lesson.

First of all, we're going to learn a new word, hypocrisy.

We'll then read our extract.

And after that, we're going to think about this question.

How is Helen's faith different than Mr. Brocklehurst's? Let's begin.

So first of all, we're going to learn about hypocrisy.

Let me explain to you what this word means.

If you practise hypocrisy, you teach others about behaving morally, while not following this teaching yourself.

In other words, you tell other people about what you think is right and wrong, good and evil behaviour, and yet, you don't follow this teaching yourself.

There is a contradiction between your words and your actions.

Now, if your behaviour is hypocritical, you could be described as a hypocrite.

I will now give you some examples of people behaving with hypocrisy.

The hypocritical preacher preached about the dangers of greed while secretly stealing money from his church.

So in this example, the preacher is telling his congregation all about what is right and wrong.

In particular, he is telling them about the dangers of greed.

But this preacher is not following his own words, because he's secretly stealing money from his church.

Here's another example.

You're a hypocrite, claimed Johannes.

You always tell me that it's bad to smoke, but you're smoking right now! So the person that Johannes is talking to is clearly telling everyone that smoking's bad, but they don't follow this teaching themselves, because they smoke.

Here's another example.

I don't want to be hypocritical, said the teacher.

If I am telling my pupils to be polite to me, I must also be polite to them.

So this teacher does not want to be hypocritical.

They want their words and their actions to align with one another.

They want to make sure that their moral teaching that they give to their pupils is exemplified by their own behaviour.

Let's now go on to test your understanding of this idea.

Which person's behaviour is hypocritical? Option one, Lewis always judged his classmates because he thought they were lazy.

Option two, Antonio told this mum that he would be back home by 8:00 PM, but he got lost, and arrived back at 9:00 PM.

Option three, Cynthia told her teacher that a dog ate her homework, this was a lie.

Option four, Georgia criticised everybody for gossiping, but she was actually the biggest gossip in the school.

Press the pause button on your video now, and tell the screen the right answer.

I will now tell you the right answer, which is of course, option four.

Georgia is a hypocrite.

She criticises everybody for gossiping.

So she teaches everyone this moral idea that we should not gossip, but she does not practise this moral teaching herself, because she is the biggest gossip in the school.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, some of you may have chosen one of the other options.

I will now explain why the other options do not describe hypocritical behaviour.

Some of you may have chosen option one.

Lewis always judged his classmates because he thought they were lazy.

This example here is describing someone who's very judgmental, but just because you're judgemental, doesn't necessarily mean that you're hypocritical.

Remember, if you're hypocritical, you teach others about moral ideas, but you don't follow this teaching yourself.

So we do not know whether or not Lewis is hypocritical.

You may have chosen option two.

Antonio told his mum that he would be back home by 8:00 PM, but he got lost, and arrived back at 9:00 PM.

I think this example describes someone who's quite unreliable.

Antonio's words is not necessarily reflected by his actions.

But we think that Antonio did not mean to arrive back so late, he's got lost.

So it's more of a mistake.

It isn't so much that he's teaching one thing and deliberately not following his own moral teaching.

So we cannot therefore describe Antonio as a hypocrite.

Some of you may have chosen option three.

Cynthia told her teacher that her dog ate her homework, this was a lie.

So Cynthia is clearly telling a lie right now, but telling a lie is different to being a hypocrite.

Remember, if you're a hypocrite, you preach a set of moral, you teach others a set of moral ideas, but you don't follow these moral ideas yourself in your own life.

Later on today, we are going to meet a character who is a hypocrite.

I wonder who it might be.

We're now going to get ready to read our extract to see what happens next in Jane Eyre Now in this extract, we get introduced to a new character.

This is Miss Temple.

Miss Temple is a young and very kind teacher at Lowood school.

Now, Miss Temple has realised that often the porridge is burnt.

So she organises, on days when the porridge is burnt, she organises for cheese and bread to be given to the pupils instead.

Miss Temple is a very kind and generous teacher.

In this extract, Miss Temple meets Mr. Brocklehurst.

Now, Mr. Brocklehurst, as you know, is the headmaster of Lowood School.

And Mr. Brocklehurst finds out that Miss Temple has been feeding the pupils cheese and bread on days when the porridge is burnt.

Mr. Brocklehurst becomes rather angry, and explains why pupils do not deserve to eat food as delicious as cheese and bread.

Let's begin.

This is Mr. Brocklehurst speaking at the beginning of the extract.

He's going to explain why pupils should not be fed bread and cheese.

Let's read.

Madam, allow me an instant.

You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is not to accustom them to habits of luxury, and indulgence, and pleasure.

But to render and make them hardy, strong, patient, self denying.

Should any little accidental disappointment of the appetite occur, such as the spoiling of a meal, the under or the overdressing of a dish, the instant ought not to be neutralised and fixed by replacing with something more delicate and tasty, thus pampering the body, and obviating and ruining the aim of this institution and school.

It ought to be improved to the spiritual edification and improvement of the pupils.

By encouraging them to develop fortitude, and endurance, under temporary privation and hunger.

A brief address on these occasions will not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the primitive early Christians.

To the torments and suffering of martyrs.

Those who died for their religion.

To the exhortations and teaching of our blessed Lord Jesus himself calling upon his disciples to take up their cross and follow him.

To his warnings that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.

To his divine consolations and comforts.

If ye hunger or thirst for my sake, happy are ye.

Oh, madam, when you put bread and cheese instead of burnt porridge into these children's mouths, you may indeed feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal, eternal souls.

So, this conversation is happening between Mr. Brocklehurst and Miss Temple.

And what happens next is Mr. Brocklehurst visits the rest of the school.

And he sees some pupils having curls in their hair.

And Mr. Brocklehurst isn't very happy that a pupil has curls in their hair.

He thinks that pupils should wear their hair far more plainly, without such things as curls in them.

So once again, Mr. Brocklehurst is going to tell Miss Temple off for allowing such behaviour in the school.

Let's read to see what happens.

Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth, or fireside, with his hands behind his back, majestically surveyed the whole school.

Suddenly, his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled, or shocked.

Turning, he said in more rapid accents, or words, than he had hitherto used, Miss Temple, Miss Temple.

What, what is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled, curled all over? And extending his cane, he pointed to the awful object, his hands shaking as he did so.

It is Julia Severn, replied Miss Temple, very quietly.

Julia Severn, ma'am.

And why has she, or any other curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept rule and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly? Here, in an evangelical Christian charitable establishment, as to wear her hair one mass of curls.

Julia's hair curls naturally, returned Miss Temple, still more quietly.

Naturally, yes, but we are not to conform to nature.

I wished these girls to be the children of grace, and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated and explained that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly.

Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely.

I will send a barber tomorrow.

Madam, he continued, or pursued.

I have a master to serve, whose kingdom is not of this world.

My mission is to mortify and destroy in these girls the lusts and desires of the flesh and the body.

To teach them to clothe themselves with shame facedness, and sobriety, and seriousness, not with braided hair, and costly apparel and clothing.

And each of the young persons before us have a string of hair twisted in plaits, which vanity itself might have woven.

These, I repeat, must be cut off.

Think of the time wasted, of.

Mr. Brocklehurst was here interrupted.

Three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room.

They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired and clothed, in velvet, silk, and furs.

The two younger of the trio, fine girls of 16 and 17, had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful headdress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled.

The elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls.

Here is a picture of the three ladies who now arrive in the room.

Now, this is rather embarrassing for Mr. Brocklehurst.

Let me explain to you why.

Mr. Brocklehurst has here been explaining to Miss Temple that all the pupils in the school must be plainly dressed.

In particular, they must not wear anything in their hair, they must not have any curls in their hair, and they must wear a very simple, plain school uniform.

Mr. Brocklehurst is explaining that he thinks that such a plain appearance will help these pupils have their mind on spiritual things.

It will help them grow in their faith by not being distracted by their appearance.

As Mr. Brocklehurst is explaining these ideas, his three daughters walk into the room.

And as you can see, Mr. Brocklehurst's three daughters do have curls in their hair, and they are wearing very, very expensive clothes.

So Mr. Brocklehurst has obviously raised his daughters in a completely different way to the way that he wants these pupils to be raised.

He's a hypocrite.

There's a contradiction between his words, which is against having an emphasis on appearance, against ladies putting effort into looking nice.

There's a contradiction between those words and his actions, because he allows his daughters to appear like this.

Let's continue.

So the next thing that happens is Mr. Brocklehurst is in front of the whole school.

And at this point, everybody's working, and Jane is working on her maths.

Now Jane has a chalkboard slate in front of her, so that's sort of like a board that you do maths sums on.

And Jane is trying to avoid Mr. Brocklehurst's eye.

She's so worried about this that she drops her chalkboard slate and it breaks on the floor.

She's about to get in a lot of trouble with Mr. Brocklehurst now.

Let's see what happens next.

My treacherous slate somehow happened to slip from my hand.

Unfolding with an obtrusive, loud crash, directly drawn every eye upon me.

I knew it was all over now.

And as I stooped to pick up the two fragments of slate, I rallied my forces for the worst.

It came.

A careless girl, said Mr. Brocklehurst.

And immediately after, it is the new pupil, I perceive.

And before I could draw breath, I must not forget I have a word to say respecting her.

Then, aloud, how loud it seemed to me, let the child who broke her slate come forward.

Fetch that stool, said Mr. Brocklehurst, pointing to very high one from which a monitor just risen.

It was brought.

Place the child upon it.

And I was placed there by whom I don't know.

I was in no condition to note particulars.

I was only aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of Mr. Brocklehurst's nose.

That he was within a yard of me, and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage extended and waved before me.

Mr. Brocklehurst hemmed.

Ladies, said he, turning to his family.

Miss Temple, teachers, and children.

You all see this girl? Of course they did, for I felt their eyes directed like burning glasses against my scorched skin.

You see that she is yet young.

You observe she possesses the ordinary form of childhood.

God has graciously given her the shape that he has given to all of us.

No signal deformity points her out as a marked character.

Who would think that the evil one, the devil had already found a servant and agent in her? Yet such, I grieve to say, is the case.

My dear children, pursued the black marble clergyman with pathos.

This is a sad and melancholy occasion, for it becomes my duty to warn you that this girl, who might be one of God's own innocent lambs, is a little castaway not a member of the true flock, not a true Christian, but evidently an interloper, and an alien, and a stranger.

You must be on your guard against her.

You must shun her example, if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse.

Teachers, you must watch her Keep your eyes on her movements.

Way well her words.

Scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul, if indeed such salvation be possible for my tongue falters, will I tell it? This girl, this child, the native of a Christian land, worse than many a little heathen, and non Christian, who says its prayers to Brahma, and kneels before Juggernaut, this girl is a liar! Let her stand half an hour longer on that stool, and let no one speak to her during the remainder of the day.

There was I then mounted aloft in the air.

I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of a room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy.

What my sensations were, no language can describe, but just as they all rose, stifling my breath and constricting my throat, a girl came up, and passed me.

In passing, she lifted her eyes.

What a strange light inspired them.

What an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through me! How the new feeling bore me up.

It was as if a martyr, a person who dies for their faith, a hero, had passed a slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit.

I mastered the rising hysteria and madness, lifted up my head, and took a firm stand on the stool.

Helen Burns smiled at me as she again went by.

What a smile.

Okay, so quite a lot of things happened in that extract.

Let's now revise the key things that you need to know.

So first of all, Mr. Brocklehurst arrives at Lowood School and meets Miss Temple.

Mr. Brocklehurst is unhappy because Miss Temple has allowed the children to have bread and cheese on days when their porridge is burnt.

Mr. Brocklehurst wants the pupils lives in school to be tough and simple, so that they might develop a strong faith.

Mr. Brocklehurst demands that no pupils should have curls in their hair, and that every pupil must wear simple clothing.

Once again, he wants pupils to be focusing upon their faith, focusing upon their religion, rather than focusing upon their appearance.

Now, just as Mr. Brocklehurst is explaining this, he's interrupted.

As he is speaking, Mr. Brocklehurst's three daughters arrive.

They are wearing very expensive clothes, and have finely curled hair.

So Mr. Brocklehurst clearly does not teach his family the same thing that he teaches these pupils.

Jane drops and breaks her slate by mistake.

Mr. Brocklehurst makes her stand on the stool as a punishment.

He also tells the whole school that she is a liar, and should be shunned by everybody.

Now you may remember that Mrs. Reed told Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane was a liar, that Jane was deceitful.

Well, that's what Mr. Brocklehurst continues to think of Jane.

And now, he humiliates her by telling the whole school this.

As Jane is on this chair, she's overwhelmed with shame, until she sees Helen smiling at her.

This gives Jane the encouragement that she needs to stand up proud and tall on her stool for the length of the punishment.

Press the pause button on your video now, read back through these seven points, and then we're going to test your memory.

Okay, let's now test your memory.

Press the pause button on your video now, go through these seven points, reading each one out, including the words in blank.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at the answers.

Number one, Mr. Brocklehurst arrived at Lowood School and meets Miss Temple.

Number two, Mr. Brocklehurst is unhappy because Miss Temple has allowed the children to have bread and cheese on days when their porridge is burnt.

Number three, Mr. Brocklehurst wants the children's lives in school to be tough and simple, so that they may develop a strong faith.

Number four, Mr. Brocklehurst demands that no pupil should have curls in their hair, and that every pupil must wear simple clothing.

Number five, as he is speaking, Mr. Brocklehurst's three daughters arrive.

They are wearing very expensive clothes, and have finely curled hair.

Number six, Jane drops and breaks her slate by mistake.

Mr. Brocklehurst makes her stand on the stool as a punishment.

He also tells the whole school that she is a liar, and should be shunned by everybody.

Number seven, as Jane is on this chair, she is overwhelmed with shame, until she sees Helen smiling at her.

This gives Jane the encouragement that she needs to stand up proud and tall on her stool for the length of her punishment.

Well done if you got all of those right.

Let's now move on to analyse this extract and answer this question.

How is Helen's faith different than Mr. Brocklehurst's faith? So let's first of all talk about Mr. Brocklehurst's faith.

We learn a lot about this character, and learn a lot about this character's approach to religion in this extract.

So first of all, we learn that Mr. Brocklehurst is a very judgmental character.

He thinks very critically about people around him, and is very quick to make very harsh judgements on those around him.

This is what he says to the whole school about Jane.

This girl, who might be one of God's own innocent lambs, is a little castaway, not a member of the true flock, not a Christian, but evidently, an interloper and an alien.

So here, Mr. Brocklehurst explains that Jane is not a Christian.

She is not one of them.

In fact, she's an interloper and an alien.

In other words, she's a stranger.

And then, Mr. Brocklehurst encourages the whole school to distance themselves from Jane, have nothing to do with this girl.

All because Jane's auntie, Mrs. Reed, told Mr. Brocklehurst that Jane is a liar.

And now, Mr. Brocklehurst tells the whole school to have nothing to do with her.

So he's a very judgmental character.

Mr. Brocklehurst doesn't know anything about Jane at all, he doesn't know her personally, but instead, he judges her very harshly indeed.

So Mr. Brocklehurst belongs to a religious tradition that's very judgmental.

Next of all, Mr. Brocklehurst's religion also seems very cruel, too.

You may remember that he insists that pupils eat burnt porridge when that happens, rather than being fed bread and cheese, as Miss Temple recommends.

And this is why, this is what he says.

Oh, madam, when you put bread and cheese instead of burnt porridge into these children's mouths, you may feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal, eternal souls.

In other words, Mr. Brocklehurst places more emphasis upon these children's inner lives, upon their faith, than their actual physical bodies.

He's perfectly happy for them to eat horrible meals, as long as they have strong faith.

In fact, he thinks that if a school deliberately feeds these children bad food, that will help them develop a better faith, because good food is a distraction from their religion.

Now you can see very clearly just how cruel this perspective is.

Also notice that Mr. Brocklehurst clearly dislikes these pupils.

He refers to their vile bodies, in other words, their disgusting bodies.

So Mr. Brocklehurst's actions are not inspired by any love or care for these pupils.

Now, as you can see, Mr. Brocklehurst clearly comes across as a very religious man.

He talks a huge amount about Jesus.

He talks a huge amount about how he wants these pupils to develop a strong faith.

But I would suggest that his words do not reflect, his actions do not reflect his words.

They both contradict each other.

He preaches one thing, but he does another thing.

He is a hypocrite.

We can see this when Mr. Brocklehurst insists that pupils at Lowood are plainly dressed and don't wear curls in their hair, but his own daughters wear very expensive clothes, and have fine curls in their hair.

Now, the funny thing that Bronte does is she deliberately interrupts Mr. Brocklehurst's words about the pupils' appearance, and how the pupils should all wear plain clothes, and have no curls in their hair.

As Mr. Brocklehurst is talking, Bronte has his three daughters arrive, to clearly demonstrate that contrast between Mr. Brocklehurst's words, and the way that he brings up his family.

Bronte uses this contrast to demonstrate Mr. Brocklehurst's hypocritical behaviour.

Now, another idea that you may be thinking about Mr. Brocklehurst is this.

It's very odd that Mr. Brocklehurst feeds these children so badly.

And it's very strange that Mr. Brocklehurst makes sure that the children in this school have very cheap uniforms, and are fed very badly, when he raises his children and buys very expensive clothes for them.

So he spends far more money on his family than on these pupils.

Maybe Bronte is hinting about the true reason, the true motivation that Brocklehurst has in running the school.

Perhaps Mr. Brocklehurst does not run this school to help the pupils, but instead runs this school in order to make money for himself and for his family.

He is not a truly religious person at all.

In fact, he uses his religion to financially benefit himself.

Now Helen Burns is presented in this novel as a real contrast to Mr. Brocklehurst.

Even though they both appear to be religious characters, Helen's religion is very different to Mr. Brocklehurst's.

First of all, Helen is a very kind character.

She smiles encouragingly at Jane when Jane is told to stand on the stool in the middle of the school by Mr. Brocklehurst.

And this smile at Jane has a real impact upon her.

Let's read these words describing how Jane feels when Helen smiles at her.

How of a new feeling bore me up.

It was as if a martyr, a person who dies for their faith, a hero had passed a slave, or victim, and imparted strength in the transit.

In other words, Jane feels greatly encouraged and strengthened by Helen's encouraging smile.

She feels as if a martyr, so that's like someone who's really celebrated in Christianity, someone who's given up their faith, or a hero, has walked past Jane, and is now giving her spiritual strength to be able to endure this humiliating punishment.

So Helen is a very kind character.

Her religion teaches her to be kind, while Mr. Brocklehurst's religion seems to be very cruel.

Next of all, Helen is also nonjudgmental.

Rather than judging Jane as a liar, as Mr. Brocklehurst told her to do, Helen remains loyal as her new friend.

So while Helen's religion teaches her to be nonjudgmental, to not think badly about other people without knowing them, Mr. Brocklehurst's religion encourages him to be judgmental.

And next of all, Helen practises her faith in her actions.

So there's no contradiction between Helen's words about her religion and her actions.

In the previous chapter, she talked about how important it is to love people.

And in this chapter, we see her practising this teaching through her actions.

This is a complete opposite to Mr. Brocklehurst, because Mr. Brocklehurst is a hypocrite.

His words and his actions do not follow one another in the same way as Helen does.

So, as you can see, there is a great contrast between these two characters.

They both, and arguably represent two different sides of religion in Bronte's view.

Helen represents the sort of religion that teaches love and forgiveness, while Mr. Brocklehurst represents a corrupt religion, that teaches selfish, and cruel, and judgmental attitudes towards others.

Okay, it's now time for you to write.

There's four sentences here.

You've got the sentence starter.

You're going to need to finish off each of these sentences.

Here's a table of key words that you can use in your answers.

Press the pause button on your video now, and complete these four sentences in your book, or on your page.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at some exemplar answers.

Number one, even though Mr. Brocklehurst teaches that the pupils should dress plainly, he hypocritically allows his own three daughters to wear fine curls in their hair, and parade around the school in luxurious clothes.

Number two, whereas Helen's words about her faith are reflected in her actions, Mr. Brocklehurst's selfish and cruel actions contradict his pious words about following Christ's example of self denial.

Number three, Mr. Brocklehurst claims that he provides the pupils cheap clothes and feeds them poorly to help their eternal souls, but it's likely that the real motive behind these actions is actually his desire to keep the money donated to the school for himself and his family.

Number four, despite hearing Mr. Brocklehurst's words that Jane is a liar, Helen continues to stay loyal to her friend, because she is a nonjudgmental character, who seeks to love everyone, including wrongdoers.

Well done for your work there.

If you would like to complete the extension task, here it is.

Write a paragraph answering the following question.

How is Helen's faith different than Mr. Brocklehurst's faith? You've got some key words that you can use in the table there.

If you'd like to complete this extension task, press the pause button on your video now, and complete this task in your book, or on your page.

Off you go.

Here's the list of credits for today's lesson.

Well that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Well done for all of your hard work.

Join us in our next lesson, when a deadly disease, tuberculosis, arrives at Lowood School.

One of our favourite characters is going to become very, very sick.

Make sure your tissues are ready, because things are going to get rather sad.

I'll see you next time.

And before you go, make sure you complete the end of lesson quiz.