Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to our next lesson of "Jane Eyre." In today's lesson, Jane is feeling rather restless at Thornfield Hall.

She then goes for a walk into the woods where she meets a very mysterious man.

I wonder who he might be.

Let's begin.

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

Okay, let's begin with a recap from our last lesson.

What is our first impressions of Thornfield Hall? Option one, Rochester loves Thornfield Hall, option two, Thornfield is a place full of mystery, option three, Thornfield Hall is a happy place, or option four, Rochester is looking after Thornfield Hall.

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

Off you go.

I will now tell you the right answer, which is option two.

Thornfield Hall is a place full of mystery.

We have a sense that this country manor holds many dark secrets.

Well done if you got that right.

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

You may have chosen option one, Rochester loves Thornfield Hall, but I must remind you that Rochester has been away from Thornfield Hall for a very long time.

Even though Thornfield belongs to Rochester, for some strange reason, he is avoiding this place.

So I would suggest that option one is not right.

Rochester probably does not love Thornfield Hall.

Some of you may have chosen option three, Thornfield Hall is a happy place.

I would suggest that it's a rather strange place and arguably a rather sad place too.

Remember, it's got dark, shadowy corridors.

Remember the strange laugh that Jane heard in the corridors.

I would not suggest that Thornfield Hall is a particularly happy place.

And some of you may have chosen option four, Rochester is looking after Thornfield Hall.

I would remind you that he has actually neglected this place for a very long time.

This old country hall has not been looked after at all.

Okay, let's move on.

I will now explain to you my plan for today's lesson.

First of all, we're going to answer this question.

How were women treated in Victorian times? Then, we're going to learn about Jane becoming bored when she's at Thornfield Hall.

And then, after this, we're going to read about how Jane meets a mysterious stranger on a walk.

Let's begin.

So let's begin with looking at this question here.

We've already been through this in a previous lesson, but I want to refresh your memory.

How were women treated in Victorian times? Well, in the 21st century, when most of us imagine a relationship between a man and a woman, I would imagine that most of us like to assume that the man should be equal to the woman.

They should both have equal amounts of power in their relationship.

But people in the 19th century, generally did not think this way.

In the 19th century, in Victorian times, the man was viewed to be the head of a household and the woman was expected to be obedient and submissive to their husband.

Now, let's think a little bit more about how Victorians viewed women.

Women were generally expected to devote their lives to domestic chores and child-raising.

That word, domestic, means something which is related to the home.

In other words, women were expected to spend the bulk of their time maintaining their houses, cooking, and raising children.

That was deemed to be their chief responsibility in life.

And for that reason, women were not generally expected to have a career.

Their life was expected to be devoted to their home and their family.

In fact, women had no vote at all.

In Victorian times, it was generally viewed and women were generally expected to play no role in public life at all.

And they were expected in the home to be obedient and submissive to their husbands.

In other words, the husbands were the partner in the relationship that was expected to be the leader, and women were expected to follow their husband's instructions.

And women in polite society were also expected to be gentle and meek.

They're expected to be graceful and polite.

Some emotions, such as anger, were not expected to be displayed by women in public.

Right, let's now revise those ideas again.

Number one, during the Victorian era, women were expected to devote themselves to domestic chores.

Number two, Victorian women were forbidden from public life.

They were not allowed to vote and were not expected to have a career.

Number three, during the Victorian era, women were expected to be obedient and submissive to their husbands.

Okay, press the pause button on your video now, revise those ideas, and then we will test your memory.

Off you go.

Right, let's now test your memory.

Go through these three sentences, filling in the words in blank.

Off you go.

Right, let's now take a look at the right ideas.

During the Victorian era, women were expected to devote themselves to domestic chores.

Number two, Victorian women were forbidden from public life.

They were not allowed to vote and were not expected to have a career.

Number three, during the Victorian era, women were expected to be obedient and submissive to their husbands.

Well done if you got those right.

Let's now learn about how Jane becomes bored of life at Thornfield.

Now, you may remember in our last lesson that Jane arrived at Thornfield Hall.

She is here to be a governess.

And Jane is here to teach Adele.

Adele is a young French girl who lives at Thornfield Hall.

Now, Jane gets on with Adele rather well, and Adele behaves reasonably well for Jane, and everything's going okay.

Nevertheless, Adele is not the sort of company that Jane longs for.

And Jane also gets on rather well with Mrs. Fairfax.

Mrs. Fairfax is a very kind old woman.

Nevertheless, Jane feels rather bored, lonely, and restless.

Her life at Thornfield Hall feels rather mundane and dull.

Her life has not become the adventure that she longs for.

We're now going to read an extract describing why Jane feels so restless, and how she thinks her degree of boredom very much comes from her status as a woman.

Let's read.

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied and happy with tranquillity and peace.

They must have action, and they will make it if they cannot find it.

Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt and rebellion against their lot.

Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth.

Women are supposed to be very calm generally, but women feel just as men feel.

They need exercise for their faculties and minds, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do.

They suffer from too rigid a restraint to absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer, and it is narrow-minded in men, they're more privileged fellow creatures, to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.

Let's now revise some of these words in a bit more detail.

So basically, this whole extract is Jane's condemnation of Victorian expectations for how women should live.

In this final set of phrases here, Jane describes the expectations that Victorian society held for women.

She says they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.

In other words, Jane is suggesting that her society expects women to devote themselves to domestic life, to making puddings and knitting stockings, playing on the piano, embroidering bags.

In other words, a woman's life is expected to be devoted to their home.

Now, Jane's not happy about this.

She thinks that women actually long for more adventure and challenge in their lives.

This is what she says.

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied and happy with tranquillity and peace.

They must have action, and they will make it if they cannot find it.

So in these words, Jane is suggesting that both women and men need to have action, and adventure, and challenge in their lives.

They cannot simply be satisfied by living a very tranquil and peaceful life at home.

So through this paragraph, Jane is criticising the lack of freedom that Victorian women enjoy.

And we must remember that the whole way through this book, Jane has not been able to experience freedom.

Remember, she had to live that awful life at Gateshead Hall, where she was expected to be obedient and submissive.

She was imprisoned in the red-room, and she had to live in Lowood School, which was very, very strict and had all sorts of tyrannical rules.

So as you can see, Jane has not experienced freedom throughout her life.

But this extract makes us view Jane's lack of freedom slightly differently.

The main reason that Jane has not experienced freedom in her life is not just because of her circumstances, but because Jane is a woman.

And because Jane is a woman, she cannot experience the same freedom as men.

Now, having written this, Jane then describes hearing that same strange laugh ringing through the corridors of Thornfield Hall.

What a strange laugh, and where could it be coming from? It sounds like a woman who has gone insane.

Maybe Jane isn't the only woman to feel imprisoned at Thornfield Hall.

Okay, let's now begin to write.

Here are two sentences to help you structure your writing.

Number one, Jane's life at Thornfield is peaceful, but.

And number two, Jane feels that women are unfairly treated by Victorian society because.

Here's some key words that you can use to help you expand these sentences.

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

Now, you might want to write one sentence but feel free to write more than one sentence for each of these.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now take a look at some exemplars.

Number one, Jane's life at Thornfield is peaceful, but she feels imprisoned and bored by her mundane existence in the isolation of this country hall.

Jane is restless because she cannot live the life of adventure and challenge that she desires.

And number two, Jane feels that women are unfairly treated by Victorian society because they're expected to devote themselves to a boring life of domestic chores and forbidden from opportunities to experience adventure and challenge.

Having read those two exemplars, you might now look at your sentences and think that you'd like to improve them a little bit.

If you'd like to improve your sentences, press the pause button on your video now and improve your work.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now read about how Jane meets a mysterious stranger.

So at the beginning of this extract, Jane is feeling particularly bored.

She has just left Thornfield Hall to go for a walk through the woods.

It is winter time, and Jane is about to experience a mysterious stranger.

Maybe her adventure is about to begin.

At the start of this extract, Jane hears a very loud noise coming from further down the road.

Let's read.

A rude loud noise broke on these fine ripplings and whisperings, at once so far away and so clear, a positive tramp, tramp, a metallic clatter.

The din was on the causeway.

A horse was coming.

The windings of the lane yet hid it, but it approached.

I was just leaving the stile, yet, as the path was narrow, I sat still to let it go by.

In those days, I was young, and all sorts of fancies and fantasies bright and dark tenanted my mind.

The memories of nursery stories were there amongst other rubbish.

And when they recurred, maturing youth added to them a vigour and vividness beyond what childhood could give.

As this horse approached, and as I watched for it to appear through the dusk, I remembered certain of Bessie's tales, wherein figured a North-of-England spirit called a Gytrash, which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunted solitary isolated ways, and sometimes came upon belated travellers, as this horse was now coming upon me.

So as Jane is waiting for this horse to approach her, she remembers one of Bessie's old fairytales.

The fairytale about the Gytrash.

Now, a Gytrash is often depicted as a very large dog, although it can be a horse or mule.

This was a supernatural creature which apparently haunted some roads in the North of England and often appeared to solitary, lonely travellers.

So this sound is really appealing to Jane's imagination and reminding her about all the fairytales that she has heard in the past.

Let's read to see what happens next.

It was very near, but not yet in sight.

When, in addition to the tramp, tramp, I heard a rush under the hedge, and close down by the hazel stems glided a great dog, whose black and white colour made him a distinct object against the trees.

It was exactly one form of Bessie's Gytrash, a lion-like creature with long hair and a huge head.

It passed me, however, quietly enough, not staying to look up, with strange pretercanine supernatural eyes, in my face, as I half expected it would.

The horse followed, a tall steed, and on its back a rider.

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.

No Gytrash was this, only a traveller taking the short cut to Millcote.

He passed, and I went on, a few steps, and I turned.

A sliding sound and an exclamation of "What the deuce is to do now?" And a clattering tumble arrested my attention.

Man and horse were down.

They had slipped on the sheet of ice which glazed the causeway.

The dog came bounding back, and seeing his master in a predicament, and hearing the horse groan, barked till the evening hills echoed the sound.

I walked down to the traveller, by this time struggling himself free of his steed.

His efforts were so vigorous, I thought he could not be much hurt, but I asked him the question, "Are you injured, sir?" I think he was swearing, but am not certain.

However, he was pronouncing some formula which prevented him from replying to me directly.

"Can I do anything?" I asked again.

"You must just stand on one side," he answered as he rose, first to his knees, and then to his feet.

The traveller now, stooping, felt his foot and leg, as if trying whether they were sound.

Apparently something ailed them, for he halted to the stile whence I had just risen, and sat down.

I was in the mood for being useful, I think, for I now drew near him again.

"If you are hurt, and want help, sir, I can fetch someone "either from Thornfield Hall or from Hay." "Thank you.

I shall do.

"I have no broken bones, only a sprain." And again he stood up and tried his foot, but the result extorted an involuntary, "Ugh!" Something of daylight still lingered, and the moon was waxing bright.

I could see him plainly.

His figure was enveloped in a riding cloak, fur collared and steel clasped.

Its details were not apparent, but I traced the general points of middle height and considerable breadth of chest.

He had a dark face, with stern features and a heavy brow.

His eyes and gathered eyebrows looked ireful and angry and thwarted just now.

He was past youth, but had not reached middle-age.

Perhaps he might be 35.

If even this stranger had smiled and been good humoured to me when I addressed him, if he had put off my offer of assistance gaily, happily, and with thanks, I should have gone on my way and not felt any vocation to renew inquiries and questions, but the frown, the roughness of the traveller, set me at ease.

It made me feel relaxed.

I retained my station when he waved to me to go, and announced, "I cannot think of leaving you, sir, at so late an hour, "in this solitary lonely lane, "till I see you are fit to mount your horse." He looked at me when I said this.

He had hardly turned his eyes in my direction before.

"I should think you ought to be at home yourself," said he, "if you have a home in this neighbourhood.

"Where do you come from?" "From just below, I am not at all afraid "of being out late when it is moonlight.

"I will run over to Hay, the village close by, "for you with pleasure, wish it.

"Indeed, I am going there to post a letter." "You live just below.

"Do you mean at that house with the battlements?" Pointing to Thornfield Hall, on which the moon cast a hoary gleam, bringing it out distinct and pale from the woods that, by contrast with the western sky, now seemed one mass of shadow.

"Yes, sir." "Whose house is it?" "Mr. Rochester's." "Do you know Mr. Rochester?" "No, I have never seen him." "He is not a resident, then?" "No." "Can you tell me where he is?" "I cannot." "You're not a servant at the hall, of course.

You are." He stopped, ran his eye over my dress, which, as usual, was quite simple, a black merino coat, a black beaver bonnet, neither of them half fine enough for a lady's-maid.

He seemed puzzled to decide what I was.

I helped him.

"I am the governess." "Ah, the governess!" He repeated.

"Deuce take me, if I had not forgotten! The governess!" In two minutes he rose from the stile, his face expressed pain when he tried to move.

"I cannot commission you to fetch help," he said, "but you may help me a little yourself, "if you will be so kind." "Yes, sir." "You have not an umbrella that I can use as a stick?" I came.

"Excuse me," he continued.

"Necessity compels me to make you useful." He laid a heavy hand on my shoulder, and leaning on me with some stress, limped to his horse.

Having once caught the bridle, he mastered it directly and sprang to his saddle, grimacing grimly as he made the effort, for it wrenched his sprain.

"Now," said he, releasing his under lip from a hard bite.

"Just hand me my whip.

It lies there under the hedge." I sought it out and found it.

"Thank you, now make haste with the letter to Hay, "and return as fast as you can." A touch of a spurred heel made his horse first start and rear, and then bound away.

The dog rushed in his traces.

All three vanished.

"Like heath that, in the wilderness, "the wild wind whirls away." I took up my muff and walked on.

The incident had occurred and was gone for me.

It was an incident of no moment, no romance, no interest in a sense, yet it marked with change one single hour of a monotonous life.

My help had been needed and claimed.

I had given it.

I was pleased to have done something trivial, small, transitory though the deed was, it was yet an active thing, and I was weary and bored of an existence all passive.

Now, when Jane returns back to Thornfield Hall, she learns that the man that she's just helped was Mr. Rochester, the mysterious owner of Thornfield Hall.

Okay, let's now revise the main things that we learnt about in that extract.

Jane is going for a walk when she sees a man fall off his horse onto some ice.

The man appears very angry, but Jane is not intimidated by him.

Jane helps the man back onto his horse.

Jane later finds out that this man is Mr. Rochester, the owner of Thornfield Hall.

Okay, press the pause button on your video now, read through those ideas again, and then we will test your memory.

Off you go.

Right, let's now test your memory.

Go through these four sentences here, filling in the words in blank.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at the right answers.

Number one, Jane is going for a walk when she sees a man fall off his horse onto some ice.

Number two, the man appears very angry, but Jane is not intimidated by him.

Number three, Jane helps the man back onto his horse.

And number four, Jane later finds out that this man is Mr. Rochester, the owner of Thornfield Hall.

Well done if you got that right.

At the beginning of today's lesson, we learnt about how Jane feels very bored by her monotonous life at Thornfield Hall.

But now, she's met the mysterious Mr. Rochester, and there's something about this man that intrigues Jane greatly.

Little does Jane know that her adventure is about to begin.

Here's the credits that we've used for today's lesson.

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

Well done for all of your hard work.

At the beginning of our lesson, we learned about how Jane felt very bored of her monotonous life at Thornfield Hall.

But then, she met Mr. Rochester on the road.

Jane's adventure is about to begin.

Join us in our next lesson when Jane learns a little bit more about this mysterious man.

But can she really trust Mr. Rochester? Well, we will find out.

I'll see you next time.

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