Lesson video

Hello everyone.

Welcome to our next lesson of "Jane Eyre".

In today's lesson, Rochester has a very difficult decision to make.

Will he choose to marry the beautiful and wealthy, Blanche Ingram, or will he follow his heart instead and marry Jane Eyre? We shall see.

Now the extract that we're going to read, contains one of the tensest arguments in the whole novel.

So there's plenty of drama that you will experience today.

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.

Why might Rochester choose to marry Blanche Ingram rather than Jane? You have four options.

Option one, Rochester loves Blanche more than Jane.

Option two, Rochester admires Blanche's character more than Jane's character.

Option three, Blanche comes from a wealthy background that is similar to Rochester's background.

Or option four, Rochester enjoys Blanche's company more than Jane's company.

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.

Rochester might choose to marry Blanche rather than Jane, because Blanche comes from a wealthy background that is similar to Rochester's background.

As you're going to see later on in our lesson today, in Victorian times, people were expected to marry others from a similar social class.

As a rich gentlemen, Rochester is likely to be looking to marry someone who comes from a similarly rich background as he comes from.

So option three is correct.

Now some of you may have chosen one of the other options, you may have chosen option one, Rochester loves Blanche more than Jane, although I don't think that's true.

We get a sense that Rochester will only choose to marry Blanche because of her wealth.

And we also get a sense that Rochester actually, isn't really interested in Blanche's personality, in fact, Rochester's love lies with Jane.

Some of you may have also chosen option two, Rochester admires Blanche's character more than Jane's character.

Again, that's not quite true.

We get a sense that Rochester actually admires Jane more than Blanche.

As you saw in your last lesson, Blanche actually has a rather unpleasant personality, she's domineering, selfish, and incredibly arrogant.

So, Rochester actually admires Jane more than Blanche.

And some of you may have chosen option four, Rochester enjoys Blanche's company more than Jane's company.

Again, that's not quite true.

Remember in our last lesson when Rochester asked Jane to spend every night in a drawing room with him while he had his guest staying at Thornfield, this is a clear reflection that Rochester actually enjoys Jane's company more than anyone else's, including Blanche's company.

Well done if you got that right.

I now want to tell you my plan for today's lesson.

First of all, we're going to revise Victorian views of women.

We're then going to read our extract.

And then we're going to answer this question, how does Brontë challenge Victorian views on relationships? Let's begin.

We're going to revise Victorian views of relationships today.

Now in the 21st century, we often imagined relationships between men and women, to be one that is equal.

The man, holds an equal amount of power as the woman.

That's how many of us in a 21st century think.

But in Victorian times, people thought very differently.

In Victorian times, most people believe that the man was the head of a household.

He was the person who had the authority and power in the relationship.

Women, were meanwhile expected to be obedient and submissive to their husband.

Now, let me now tell you a little bit more about how Victorian society expected women to act.

First of all, they were expected to devote their lives to domestic chores and child-raising.

In other words, they were expected to devote themselves to making sure that their houses were clean, supposed to devote themselves to cooking and to raising children.

So because of this, women were not expected to have a career.

You may remember that Brontë, had to publish this book under a male pseudonym, because people simply did not think that women could really be serious writers.

There was not an expectation that women would pursue a serious career.

Instead, they were supposed to devote themselves to their house and to their family.

And due to this, women could not vote, this was against the law.

Women indeed had no role in public life at all.

And within the home, women were expected to be obedient and submissive to their husbands.

As I said before, the husband was expected to be the head of a household.

And women were also expected to be gentle and meek.

These were the emotions or the characteristics that they're expected to display.

They were not expected to display emotions such as, anger or assertiveness.

Instead, they were expected to be graceful, gentle and meek.

I now want to explain another aspect of Victorian views on relationships.

Victorians were expected to marry people from a similar social class.

Now let me explain what that phrase, social class, means.

A social class belongs to a group in society that someone belongs to, according to how much money they have.

If you belong to the upper class, it means you are rich.

If you belong to a lower class, it means you are poor.

Now in Victorian times, people were expected to marry others from a similar social class.

So imagine a rich Victorian man.

A rich Victorian man is not expected to marry a poor Victorian woman, that would be rather surprising.

Instead, a rich Victorian man would be expected to marry someone from a similar social class, he would be expected to marry a rich Victorian woman.

Okay, let's now test your understanding of these ideas.

True or false.

Number one, Victorian women were expected to hold an equal amount of power over their households as their husbands.

Two, Victorian women were expected to obey their husbands.

Three, it would be surprising for a rich Victorian man to marry a poor Victorian lady.

Press the pause button on your video now, go through these three sentences telling the screen whether each sentence is true or false.

Off you go.

I will now go through the right answers.

Number one is false.

Victorian women were not expected to hold an equal amount of power over their households as their husbands.

In fact, Victorian women were expected to obey their husbands.

The husband, was expected to be the head of a Victorian family.

Two is of course true, Victorian women were expected to obey their husbands, as I said.

And three is also true.

It would be surprising for a rich Victoria man to marry a poor Victorian lady, because Victorians expected people to marry within the same social class.

Well done if you got those right.

Let's now get ready to read our extract.

Now in our extract today, Jane goes for a walk with Mr. Rochester through the garden of Thornfield Hall.

It's a beautiful evening, and they begin to talk about Rochester's plans for marriage.

Let's read.

This is Rochester speaking, "Very soon, my.

that is Miss Eyre.

it is my intention to put my old bachelors neck into the sacred noose, to enter into the holy estate of matrimony, to take Miss Ingram to my bosom." Now in these words, Rochester is telling Jane that he's planning to marry Blanche Ingram.

But he uses rather interesting wording to describe this marriage.

He describes his marriage, as putting his old bachelors neck into the sacred noose.

Now that word noose, refers to the rope that is used to hang people.

When Brontë was writing this novel, a common way for people to be executed was for them to be hanged.

And a noose, a rope would be tied around their neck and they would be suffocated.

So it's interesting that Rochester is using this language to describe his marriage.

He is comparing marrying Blanche Ingram to being hanged.

Now, Rochester is joking here, but I think this joke does reflect a serious point.

Rochester is clearly not looking forward to marrying this lady.

He's obviously chosen to marry her not because he loves her, but because Blanche Ingram will bring him extra wealth and power.

Let's continue to read.

Rochester now shares with Jane his plans for what he's going to do with her after his marriage.

"Adele must go to school and you Miss Eyre, must get a new situation." Rochester says that he has found Jane a new job as a governess in Ireland.

He asks Jane what she thinks of this.

And as you can imagine, Jane isn't very happy with this idea.

She loves Rochester very much, and does not want to leave him.

Let's read to see what she says.

"Ireland is a long way off, sir," Jane replied.

"No matter a girl of your sense will not object to the voyage or the distance." "Not the voyage, but the distance.

And then, the sea is a barrier." "From what, Jane?" "From England and from Thornfield, and.

." "Well? "From you, sir." I said this almost involuntarily and with as little sanction of free will, my tears gushed out.

I did not cry so as to be heard, however, I avoided sobbing.

The thought of leaving Thornfield struck cold to my heart, and colder the thought of all the brine and foam, destined, as it seemed, to rush between me and the master at whose side I now walked, and coldest the remembrance of the wider ocean, wealth, cast, custom intervened between me and what I naturally and inevitably loved.

"It is a long way," I again said.

"It is, to be sure.

I shall never see you again, Jane, that's morally certain.

I never go to Ireland, not having myself much of a fancy for the country.

We have been good friends, Jane, have we not?" "Yes, sir." Now Jane and Rochester now walk and they find this Chestnut tree, and they sit underneath this tree and continue their conversation.

Rochester then said, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you, especially when you are near me, as now.

It is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame.

And if that boisterous Channel, and 200 miles or so of lands came broad between us, I'm afraid that cord of communion will be snapt.

And then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly.

As for you, you'd forget me." "That I never or should, sir.

You know." It was impossible to proceed.

The vehemence of emotion, stirred by grief and love within me, was claiming mastery, and struggling for full sway, and asserting a right to predominate to overcome, to live, rise and reign at last, yes, and to speak.

"I grieve to leave Thornfield, I love Thornfield.

I love it because I have lived in it a full and delightful life, momentarily at least.

I have not been trampled on, I have not been petrified, I have not been buried with inferior minds, and excluded from every glimpse of communion with what is bright and energetic and high.

I have talked face to face, with what I reverence, with what I delight in, with an original, a vigorous and expanded mind.

I have known you, Mr. Rochester.

And it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you forever.

I see the necessity of departure, and it is like looking on the necessity of death." "Where do you see the necessity?" He asked suddenly.

"Where? You, sir, have placed it before me." "In what shape?" "In the shape of Miss Ingram, a noble and beautiful woman, your bride." "My bride! What bride? I have no bride!" "But you will have." "Yes, I will, I will!" He set his teeth.

"Then I must go, you have said it yourself." "No, you must stay!" I swear it and the oath shall be kept." "I tell you, I must go." I retorted, roused to something like passion.

"Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? A machine without feelings? And can bear to have my more morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am so soulless and heartless? You thinking wrong! I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart! And if God had granted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me as it is now for me to leave you.

I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh, it is my spirit that addresses your spirit, just as if both have passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal as we are!" "As we are!" Repeated as Mr. Rochester.

"So," he added enclosing me in his arms, gathering me to his breast, pressing his lips on my lips.

"So Jane!" "Yes, so, sir," I rejoined.

"And yet not so, for you or a married man or as good as a married man, and wed to one inferior to you, to one with whom you have no sympathy, whom I do not believe you truly love, for I have seen and heard you sneer at her.

I would scorn such a union, therefore I am better than you, let me go!" "Where Jane?" To Ireland?" "Yes, to Ireland.

I have spoken my mind and can go anywhere now." "Jane, be still, don't struggle so.

Like a wild frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation." "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me.

I'm a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you." "Come to my side, Jane, and let us explain and understand one another." "I will never again, come to your side.

I am torn away now, and cannot return." "But, Jane, I summon you as my wife, it is you only I intend to marry." I was silent, I thought he mocked me.

"Come, Jane, come hither." "Your bride stands between us." He rose, and with a stride reached me.

"My bride is here," he said, again drawing me to him, "because my equal is here, and by likeness.

Jane, will you marry me?" Still I did not answer, and still I writhed myself from his grasp, for I was still incredulous, I still did not believe him.

"I would not, I could not marry Miss Ingram.

You, you strange, you almost unearthly thing! I love as my own flesh.

You, poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are, I entreat to accept me as a husband.

Will you be mine? Say yes, quickly." "Mr. Rochester, let me look at your face, turn to the moonlight." "Why?" "Because I want to read your countenance, turn!" His face was very much agitated and very much flushed, and there were strong workings in the features, and strange gleams in the eyes.

"Oh, Jane, you torture me!" He exclaimed.

"With that searching and yet faithful and generous look, you torture me!" "How can I do that? If you are true, and your offer real, my only feelings to you must be gratitude and devotion, they cannot torture." "Gratitude! He ejaculated and added wildly.

"Jane, accept me quickly.

Say Edward, give me my name, Edward, I will marry you." "Are you in earnest? Do you truly love me? Do you sincerely wish me to be your wife?" "I do.

And if an oath is necessary to satisfy you, I swear it." "Then, sir, I will marry you." "Edward, my little wife!" "Dear Edward!" "Come to me, come to me entirely now," said he.

And added in his deepest tone, speaking in my ear as his cheek was laid on mine, "Make my happiness, I will make yours." Okay.

Let's now go through the main things that happened in that extract.

First of all, Rochester tells Jane that he has decided to marry Blanche Ingram.

Rochester tells Jane that he has arranged for her to leave Thornfield Hall, because Adele needs to go to school.

He has found her a new job in Ireland.

Now as you can imagine, Jane is very upset about the idea of leaving Thornfield Hall and leaving Rochester.

Jane now admits that she loves Rochester and Rochester admits that he loves Jane.

Rochester now changes his mind and begs Jane not to leave Thornfield.

But Jane says that she will definitely leave.

Jane cannot bear to live in Thornfield when Rochester is now married to a new woman, Blanche Ingram.

Jane has decided she will leave, Rochester is begging for her to stay.

Rochester then asks Jane to marry him, and Jane agrees.

Press the pause button on your video now, read through these five points and revise them, before we test your memory.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now test your memory on these ideas.

Go through these five points here, reading out the full sentences to your screen and filling the words in blank.

Off you go.

Okay.

Well, let's now go back through the right answers.

Number one, Rochester tells Jane that he has decided to marry Blanche Ingram.

Two, Rochester tells Jane that he has arranged for her to leave Thornfield Hall, because Adele needs to go to school.

He has found her a new job in Ireland.

Number three, Jane admits that she loves Rochester, and Rochester admits that he loves Jane.

Four, Rochester now changes his mind and begs Jane not to leave Thornfield.

But Jane says that she will definitely leave.

Five, Rochester then asks Jane to marry him and Jane agrees.

Well done if you got those right.

Let's now analyse this extract and answer this question.

How does Brontë challenge Victorian views on relationships? Now I would suggest that this conversation between Jane and Rochester, really challenges many of your expectations, that Brontë's Victorian readers, would have held on how relationships should work.

According to Victorian expectations on relationships, Rochester should be the dominant partner in the relationship between him and Jane.

This is for two main reasons.

So Mr. Rochester would be expected to be the more powerful partner in a relationship with Jane, for two reasons.

Number one, he's a man.

And in Victorian times as you know, the man in the relationship was expected to be the more powerful partner.

And number two, Rochester's also more wealthy than Jane.

So these are two reasons that we'd expect Rochester to have a power in this relationship.

But, Jane actually seems to be an equal partner in this relationship with Rochester, as you're now going to see.

So Jane has an equal relationship with Rochester.

Let's now look at some evidence for this idea.

When Rochester tries to persuade her to stay at Thornfield after his marriage to Blanche, Jane refuses.

This is what she says, "You think wrong, I have as much soul as you and full as much heart!" So, this is very significant, that Jane is refusing to follow Rochester's instructions here.

She refuses to submit to Rochester's wishes.

And as you may remember in Victorian times, the woman in a relationship was expected to submit to the man in a relationship.

But Jane refuses to follow Victorian expectations, for how this relationship should work, she refuses to obey Rochester.

And then she says this, she says, "I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart!" So Jane basically uses these words to justify why she thinks she can refuse Rochester.

And she says she has just as much soul as Rochester, and just as much heart.

So what's she implying through these words? Well, Jane is basically claiming that she has the same depth of feelings and inner-strength as men like Rochester.

She's claiming that her emotions and her passions are just as strong as Rochester's, and therefore she should be free to not obey him.

And this very much challenges Victorian views, that women were emotionally weaker than men.

In Victorian times, women were seen to be the weaker gender, they were believed to be less emotionally resilient and tough as men.

Well, Jane, is completely challenging these ideas here.

She's saying that she's got exactly the same strength and heart as Rochester.

So this is evidence that Jane has an equal relationship with Rochester.

Press the pause button on your video now, and take some notes on this quotation.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at some more evidence, that Jane has an equal relationship with Rochester.

This is what Jane says.

This is what she says when Rochester is ordering her to stay at Thornfield Hall, after he gets married to Blanche.

And this what Jane says, "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me.

I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you." So there's some very interesting language that Jane is using here.

She compares herself to a bird, she says that she's not a bird, she says, "I am no bird and no net ensnares me." So she's using this metaphorical language here, to suggest that she is refusing to be controlled by Rochester.

She's not like a bird that you can catch in a net, no, Jane is a human being and she chooses to follow her own will through her life, she will not be controlled by Rochester, she will not submit to this man.

And then she says this, she says, "I am a free human being with an independent will," so she here is asserting her independence.

She is saying that she is free to live her life as she pleases.

So once again, Jane is challenging Victorian ideas about how women should submit to a man in a relationship.

She is here saying that she's refusing to follow Rochester's instructions.

Press the pause button on your video now, and take some notes on this quotation.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now take a look at some more evidence that Jane has an equal relationship with Rochester.

This is our third and final quotation.

This is what Rochester says when he's asking Jane to marry him.

He says, "My equal is here, and my likeness.

Jane, will you marry me?" So Rochester recognises that there is equality between Jane and him.

He does not view himself as the dominant partner in this relationship.

He recognises that Jane, has just as much power and independence as he enjoys.

And this very much challenges the Victorian norm, in which the man is a dominant partner in a relationship.

This aspect of a novel, would have been rather controversial in Charlotte Brontë's day, the idea that this relationship between a man and a woman is a relationship of equals.

Great, press the pause button on your video now, and take some notes on this quotation.

Off you go.

Right.

Let's now get ready to write.

You're going to answer this question.

How does the equality between Jane and Rochester challenge the Victorian custom that the male should be the leader of the relationship? Now you've got to begin your paragraph with this sentence here.

Jane's relationship with Rochester challenges Victorian beliefs about relationships because.

So that's the sentence that you will begin your paragraph on.

Here are some key words and phrases that you can use in that paragraph.

And here's also some quotations that you can use as evidence in your paragraph.

Press the pause button on your video now, and answer this question in your book or on your page.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at two example of paragraphs.

So this is our acceptable answer to the question, how does the equality between Jane and Rochester challenge the Victorian custom that the male should be the leader of the relationship? Let's read.

Jane's relationship with Rochester challenges Victorian beliefs about relationships, because she refuses to obey him.

When Rochester asks Jane to stay at Thornfield after he marries Blanche Ingram, Jane refuses.

She cannot accept this.

It would be horrible to live at Thornfield knowing that Rochester is married to another woman.

Jane wants to remain true to her feelings.

She says to Rochester, "I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart!" These words are surprising, because many Victorians believed that women were emotionally weaker than men.

But Jane is claiming that she is just as strong a character as Rochester.

She also refuses to obey him.

She says, "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me." Jane is suggesting that she cannot be controlled by Rochester like a bird in a net.

Jane wants to follow her own independent will.

Rochester then abandons his plans to marry Blanche and now chooses to marry Jane, because she is his equal.

He recognises that Jane is just as important as him.

Now there might be some ideas in this paragraph here, that you would like to use in your own writing or some ways that you could improve your writing.

If you would like to improve your writing, press the pause button on your video now.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at a good answer.

Jane's relationship of Rochester challenges Victorian beliefs about relationships, because she refuses to submit to her lover.

When Rochester pleads with Jane to stay at Thornfield after he marries Blanche Ingram, Jane defiantly refuses.

The heroin declares, but she could not accept such a humiliating arrangement.

Jane then claims the right to act in allegiance with her convictions, because she has as much soul as Rochester, and full as much heart.

These words challenge the common Victorian belief that women were emotionally weaker to men, and the suggestion, that Jane's strength of character is a match to Rochester's.

Jane refuses to act in accordance to societal norm, that women play the submissive role in a relationship.

She asserts, "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me." Jane uses this metaphorical language to suggest that she is free from the nets and snares of a male-dominated world.

Instead, she is determined to take charge of her life through exercising her own independent will.

Faced with a show of strength from a woman he dearly loves, Rochester crumbles.

He abandons his plan to marry Blanche and now chooses to marry Jane, because she is his equal.

This moment would have been truly shocking for many of Brontë's readers, because of its radical subversion of gender roles.

If you'd like to improve your work based upon that piece of writing, press the pause button on your video now, and improve your work.

Off you go.

Now, we're coming to the end of the lesson.

But to finish this extract off, I just want to read a little bit further on.

This is a very happy moment in the novel.

It looks as if Jane's finally about to marry the man that she dearly loves.

But, Brontë finishes this chapter on an ominous note, there is a sense that something terrible might happen.

As Jane and Rochester have finished their conversation, it begins to get very dark and a terrible storm begins to blow.

And this is what Jane writes.

But what had befallen the night? The moon was not yet set, and we were all in shadow.

I could scarcely see my masters face, near as I was.

And what ailed the Chestnut tree? It writhed and groaned, while wind roared in the laurel walk and it came sweeping over us.

"We must go in," said Mr. Rochester, "the weather changes.

I could have sat with thee till morning, Jane." "And so," thought I, "could I with you?" I should have said so, perhaps, but a livid, vivid spark leapt out of a cloud at which I was looking, and there was a crack, a crash and a close rattling peal, and I thought only of hiding my dazzled eyes against Mr. Rochester's shoulder.

The rain rushed down.

He hurries me up the walk, through the grounds, and into the house, but we were quite wet before we could pass the threshold.

Before I left my bed in the morning, so this is when she wakes up the next day, little Adele came running in to tell me that the great horse-Chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away.

So you may remember the Chestnut tree.

This was the tree under which Jane and Rochester decided to get married.

Well at the end of this chapter we get told, that this tree has been split in half by a terrible strike of lightning.

I wonder what this might hint will happen later on in the story.

Okay, so that's the end of the lesson.

Here's our credits for today.

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

Well done once again for all of your hard work.

Join us in our next lesson, when a terrifying visitor breaks into Jane's room in the middle of the night.

Things are going to get really scary once again.

I'll see you next time.

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