Intertextuality and the context of reception Jane_Eyre... · Resource A – Extract from Jane Eyre...
Transcript of Intertextuality and the context of reception Jane_Eyre... · Resource A – Extract from Jane Eyre...
Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë
Inte
rtex
tual
ity
and
the
cont
ext
of r
ecep
tion
: J
an
e E
yre
- ch
apte
rs 2
6 an
d 27
by
Cha
rlot
te B
ront
ë
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 1 of 5
Lesson plan
Resources Resource A – Extract from Jane
Eyre chapters 26 and 27 with
corresponding Bible passages
Resource B – Film Clip of Jane Eyre
chapter 26
Resource C – Film Clip of Jane Eyre
chapter 27
Highlighters
Learning objectives To consider how Brontë presents
Jane’s misery in chapter 26
To consider Jane’s decision to leave
Thornfield
To consider the messages of the
novel
Starter activity – recapping Jane’s misfortunes In pairs, students make a list of all
the unfortunate occurrences that
have happened to Jane in her life,
from being orphaned, to the
revelation on her wedding day that
Rochester is already married (e.g.
excluded from Reed family life,
bullied by cousins, fight with cousin
John, sent to red room, sent to
Lowood, publically humiliated and
accused of being a liar, various
deprivations at Lowood, Helen dies,
rejected by Aunt Reed even on
death bed, disappointment over
Rochester’s expected marriage to
Blanche, etc.).
Feed back to create complete list
Of each of these events, which
do we think would be hardest for
Jane to deal with?
Why?
What keeps Jane going through
all her trials? (You could create a
graph to represent Jane’s
emotions through the novel so
far.)
Main activity 1 – analysing
Jane’s misery in chapter 26 Read the extract from chapter 26
[Resource A] and watch the film clip
[Resource B].
For each chunk of narrative,
students draw the image created
(e.g. dead fist born children, water
etc.)
Which image is most powerful in
communicating Jane’s despair at
this moment?
Justify your decision
What is Brontë communicating
about the extent of Jane’s misery?
Why does Brontë/Jane use these
biblical references?
Explain that the psalms
normally contain an individual’s
song or prayer to God with an
outpouring of often personal
feeling – why should the
imagery come from the psalms
in particular?
Main activity 2 – analysing Jane’s decision in chapter 27 Jane’s misery could be alleviated by
abandoning her principles and
agreeing to live with Rochester as his
mistress. Create a table of reasons
why Jane should stay with Rochester,
or leave Thornfield and start a new
life:
Reasons why Jane
should stay
Reasons why Jane
should go
Why does she decide to leave?
Read the extract from chapter 27
[Resource A] and watch the film clip
[Resource C]. The extract reveals
Jane’s inner turmoil and inner ‘voices’
(personified as ‘Conscience’ and
‘Passion’) debating what to do.
Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë
Inte
rtex
tual
ity
and
the
cont
ext
of r
ecep
tion
: J
an
e E
yre
- ch
apte
rs 2
6 an
d 27
by
Cha
rlot
te B
ront
ë
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 2 of 5
Students highlight the text to
identify the two sides of the
debate and the arguments given
‘Conscience’ strikes the winning
blow with the gruesome imagery
‘you shall yourself pluck out your
right eye; yourself cut off your
right hand’
Consider: Why is this a
powerful reference?
Look at the Bible verse and what
is being saved by making the
sacrifice of cutting herself off
from Rochester (i.e. that ‘thy
whole body should be cast into
hell’)
In what sense would staying
with Rochester lead her to
hell?
On reflection, does Jane make
the right choice?
Rochester would choose for her
to stay. Look out for what
happens to his hand and eye
later in the novel…
Plenary – summing up Students complete the sentence in
as many different ways as possible
(could contribute ideas in
pairs/groups, or go around the
group playing ‘last man standing’):
‘In chapters 26 and 27, Brontë
presents Jane as…’
What are the
qualities/assumptions being
promoted of the nineteenth
century female?
Homework How does Brontë present how hard
it is for Jane to leave Thornfield?
(written close analysis of chapters
26 and 27)
Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë
Inte
rtex
tual
ity
and
the
cont
ext
of r
ecep
tion
: J
an
e E
yre
- ch
apte
rs 2
6 an
d 27
by
Cha
rlot
te B
ront
ë
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 3 of 5
Resources
Resource A
Jane Eyre ch 26
I was in my own room as usual--just myself, without obvious change: nothing had
smitten me, or scathed me, or maimed me. And yet where was the Jane Eyre of
yesterday?--where was her life?--where were her prospects?
Jane Eyre, who had been an ardent, expectant woman--almost a bride, was a cold,
solitary girl again: her life was pale; her prospects were desolate. … My hopes were
all dead--struck with a subtle doom, such as, in one night, fell on all the first-born in
the land of Egypt. I looked on my cherished wishes, yesterday so blooming and
glowing; they lay stark, chill, livid corpses that could never revive.
Exodus 11:4-7 4And Moses said, ‘Thus saith the LORD, ‘About midnight will I
go out into the midst of Egypt: 5And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall
die, from the first born of Pharaoh …, even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant …. 6And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of
Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.’
I looked at my love:
that feeling which was my master's--which he had created; it shivered in my heart,
like a suffering child in a cold cradle; sickness and anguish had seized it … Mr.
Rochester was not to me what he had been; for he was not what I had thought him.
My eyes were covered and closed: eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and
reflection came in as black and confused a flow. Self-abandoned, relaxed, and
effortless, I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river; I
heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, and felt the torrent come: to rise I had
no will, to flee I had no strength. I lay faint, longing to be dead.
Psalm 42:6-7 6O my God, my soul is cast down within me … 7Deep calleth
unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are
gone over me.
Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë
Inte
rtex
tual
ity
and
the
cont
ext
of r
ecep
tion
: J
an
e E
yre
- ch
apte
rs 2
6 an
d 27
by
Cha
rlot
te B
ront
ë
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 4 of 5
One idea only still throbbed life-
like within me--a remembrance of God: it begot an unuttered prayer: …
'Be not far from me, for trouble is near: there is none to help.'
Psalm 22:11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near: there is none to help.
It was near: and as I had lifted no petition to Heaven to avert it--as I had neither
joined my hands, nor bent my knees, nor moved my lips--it came: in full heavy swing
the torrent poured over me. The whole consciousness of my life lorn, my love lost, my
hope quenched, my faith death-struck, swayed full and mighty above me in one sullen
mass. That bitter hour cannot be described: in truth, 'the waters came into my soul; I
sank in deep mire: I felt no standing; I came into deep waters; the floods overflowed
me.'
Psalm 69:1-5 1Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2I
sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters,
where the floods overflow me. 3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried:
mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
Intertextuality and the context of reception: Jane Eyre - chapters 26 and 27 by Charlotte Brontë
Inte
rtex
tual
ity
and
the
cont
ext
of r
ecep
tion
: J
an
e E
yre
- ch
apte
rs 2
6 an
d 27
by
Cha
rlot
te B
ront
ë
© 2012 crossref-it.info
Page 5 of 5
Jane Eyre chapter 27
Some time in the afternoon I raised my head, and looking round and seeing the
western sun gilding the sign of its decline on the wall, I asked, 'What am I to do?'
But the answer my mind gave--'Leave Thornfield at once'--was so prompt, so dread,
that I stopped my ears. I said I could not bear such words now. 'That I am not Edward
Rochester's bride is the least part of my woe, that I have wakened out of most
glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is a horror I could bear and
master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly, entirely, is intolerable. I cannot
do it.'
But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it and foretold that I should do it.
I wrestled with my own resolution: I wanted to be weak that I might avoid the awful
passage of further suffering I saw laid out for me; and Conscience, turned tyrant, held
Passion by the throat, told her tauntingly, she had yet but dipped her dainty foot in
the slough, and swore that with that arm of iron he would thrust her down to
unsounded depths of agony.
'Let me be torn away,’ 'Let another help me!'
'No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you: you shall yourself pluck out
your right eye; yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victim, and you
the priest to transfix it.'
Matthew 5:29-30
29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy
whole body should be cast into hell. 30And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it
off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Resource B – http://www.crossref-it.info/articles/484/Jane-Eyre-~-ch-26
Resource C – http://www.crossref-it.info/articles/485/Jane-Eyre-~-ch-27