2. Singer Sargent, John. The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit . 1882. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
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5. Van der Neer, Aert. Moonlit Landscape with Bridge . 1648/1650. Patrons' Permanent Fund.
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8. Jacobshagen, Keith. By June the Light Begins to Breathe . 1999-2000. Contemporary Realism Group.
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Editor's Notes
I connect this painting of “The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” to the scene in Jane Eyre in which Jane is humiliated before the entire school body because the girl in the red frock reminds me of Jane, standing solitary and proud, while the girls in the background seem to be keeping to themselves as well as their distance from the girl in red. The girl seated on the floor reminds me of Jane’s best friend because she is closer to Jane and appears comfortable there as Helen did as she smiled up at Jane. The girl in the red frock stands with the air of confidence and pride as Jane did while she stood upon a stool in front of the entire student body for one half hour. The girls in the background represent the girls being forbidden from speaking with Jane for an entire day as her punishment for being accused of being a liar.
This scene is critical to the book, Jane Eyre , because this scene shows how Jane grew up while at Lowood and how she truly discovered herself. In the beginning of her punishment Jane was embarrassed and ashamed of herself and thought very little of herself. However, while standing upon the stool Jane becomes confident in herself when the girls look at her with pity and she receives a smile from her best friend. Through this self realization as well as growth, this scene is an example of a bildungroman. The tone of this scene begins full of chagrin when Jane still does not believe in herself, yet it changes to dauntless and eminent once she realizes the strength that she has within her. Some of the tone words that really brought out the mood of this scene were burning, scorched, constricting and hysteria. Additionally, I connected the colors of red to embarrassment which the girl standing alone is wearing just as Jane’s face wore, blue to represent distress that Jane would have felt as well as yellow to stand for pride and confidence which she feels towards the end of the scene.
I connect this poem to the scene of Jane Eyre in which Jane is publicly embarrassed in front of her school when her headmaster calls her a liar. In the lines of “Rain on a Grave” by Thomas Hardy that read “…shivered with pain as at a touch of dishonour,” I connect the dishonour and the pain to what Jane felt as she stood upon that stool in the mess hall with a heavy heart and tears brimming in her eyes. Also, the first two lines provided represent the tears that she was resisting because the clouds that spout were actually the accusations that she was a liar which was like a knife through Jane’s heart.
I connect this painting with the scene in Jane Eyre in which Jane and Rochester reunite because the couple walking among the trees are similar to Jane and Rochester as they walked among the forest. In this scene, Jane acted as Rochester’s eyes by describing the beauty that surrounded them as the woman in this painting could also be doing. The couple in this painting are standing close together and seem to be conversing, while the sky overhead is a cloudy, moonlit night. This cloudy, moonlit night reminds me of the desolation and gloom that the two descended into while they were apart. However, the moon peaking through the clouds can represent them coming together once again and coming out of the darkness and misery that they had both sunken into during the year that they were apart.
The scene in which Jane and Mr. Rochester reunite is very important to the book, Jane Eyre , because in the beginning of the scene both are still extremely melancholy and dejected. Although, once Jane arrives the scene turns to joyousness as well as amorous as Jane and Rochester still love each other and want to be together. As the scene goes on, Rochester reveals how contrite he feels towards him letting go of Jane and hurting her the way he did. However, because Jane loves him with all her heart she cannot help but take him back and agree to marry him when he proposes. Also, this time their marriage won’t be put off because Rochester’s wife died in the fire that destroyed his homestead. This scene is very important because it shows that happiness does return to Jane and how everything that should have worked out before in her life, eventually pieced itself back together to allow her to have the life that she truly desired. Throughout the text there you can find key tone words such as misery, desolate, famished and melancholy that help show just how alone the two of them felt and how heartbroken they really were.
I connect this poem to the scene in Jane Eyre in which Jane says yes to Rochester’s marriage proposal for the second time. I believe it fits this scene because Jane agreed to marry Rochester the first time that he proposed, and I believe her yes to be “evermore” as the woman’s yes is in “The Lady’s Yes” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. If her yes was not evermore, she would not have said yes the second time that he proposed to her. Also, not only is her yes evermore but her love is as well because even through all the pain that Rochester put her through, Jane is still in love with him and desires his hand in marriage as she has all along.
I connect this painting to the scene in Jane Eyre when Jane and Rochester attempted to marry for the first time because in this painting the sky is clear and blue to show the calm of life and of the weather that day, just as Jane and Rochester’s wedding day was supposed to be. Instead, Jane and Rochester were met by Rochester’s brother-in-law who let the truth out about Rochester’s marriage to his sister and how Rochester was about to take a second wife knowingly. Instead of calm, the day was thrown into an upheaval and distress.
This scene is significant to the book because throughout most of the book Jane feels desolate just as she does in this scene. However, when she first started to fall in love with Mr. Rochester, she didn’t feel so alone anymore, in fact she felt as if she belonged for the very first time. Little did Jane know that the same man that she was falling in love with was already married, and when he proposed to her she accepted without even the slightest dream that such an atrocity could exist. On their wedding day Jane and Rochester made their way to the wedding chapel to exchange vows, but were instead met by Rochester’s brother-in-law who explained the tale of his sister and Rochester’s marriage. The truth was revealed calmly between all and Rochester even showed his madwoman of a wife to the audience, yet Jane retired to her room heartbroken, dismayed and utterly desolate once again. This feeling is not new to Jane as she felt the same way about losing her parents as well as when her best friend died. The tone of this scene is grief-stricken as both Rochester as well as Jane are heartbroken that they cannot be together and that a painful and horrific secret kept them apart. Also, the tone was somewhat betrayal as well because Rochester did not inform Jane of his existent marriage to a woman that lived within the very walls that he and Jane shared. Some words throughout the text that helped bring out the mood were solitary, corpses, death-struck, mire and suffering. Also, I thought that the colors of grey, which would symbolize suffering, would be a color to represent what both Jane and Rochester were going through, while black would symbolize death and doom and additionally, dark blue would symbolize the misery that the two had sunken into.
I connect these lines from “The Eagle” by Lord Alfred Tennyson to the scene in Jane Eyre in which Rochester and Jane attempt to get married the first time only to be torn apart by Rochester’s existing marriage to Bertha. The line in this poem that I connect most to that scene is “Close to the sun in lonely lands” because both Rochester and Jane both remained lonely throughout the year that they spent apart after the failed attempt at marriage. Also, both stood under the same sun no matter where in the world they were, which was yet another thing that they shared in common while apart.
