I have never seen Jane act in such a way- viciously attacking the young Master John. It took all the strength of Miss Abbot and me just to get her to the red room. Her words were very passionate and full of defiance, unlike the enduring girl I have come to know. Just as we had decided to make use of Miss Abbot’s strong garter to tie her down to the chair, she seemed to have decided to stop fighting and stay. I tried to warn Miss Eyre of her position in Gateshead then we left and locked the door behind us. Later our evening routine was disrupted by Miss Eyre’s hysteria in the red room. At first I was worried she had come down with a kind of illness, and enquired as to what was wrong. She desperately grabbed a hold of my hand and muttered something about ghosts. The hysteria had also caught the attention of Mrs Reed who was angry about us disobeying her orders. She commanded that Jane let go of my hand and accused her of using underhanded ways of getting her attention. It was at this moment I retreated to my duties.
2. Response Adrienne Rich’s “Jane Eyre: The Temptation of a Motherless Woman”
I do not agree with Adrienne Rich’s argument that we see the “germ of the person we finally know as Jane Eyre is born.” Jane Eyre as we know her is born before in the rebellion against the authority of Master John. She saw herself as being able to fight him, showing how she had come to the realisation that they were equals. She is standing up for herself showing her determination to live and to lead a life with dignity, integrity and pride. Master John’s abuse represented her worthlessness and degradation thus standing up to it was choosing to live a life as mentioned above. The red room is a space where Jane could organise her thoughts and gives an opportunity for self-reflection. It was where she could resolve what she could do in her situation. Her ability to sort out her thoughts and seek out alternatives is very mature. The clear thing and pragmatic Jane Eyre is that the reader knows can be recognised in that girl. But it is not the germ, as it is only after her first rebellion that we see her again gathering the courage to speak to Mrs Reed as an equal and stand-up to her just as we saw her stand up to Master John. We also see a rebellion of this sort in Lowood. Thus then it can be concluded that the germ of the older Jane Eyre was developed when she had had enough of the abuse.
3. Response to Sandra M Gilbert’s argument
The argument presented in the quotation states that the red room was an important scene in that it introduced the larger context of the book: the victimisation of the poor and women. The red room is the beginning of a series of challenges that Jane faces. These are similar in that they are situations where Jane is trapped and has to escape. They are situations where she is forced to reflect on herself, her position and make a decision on how to conduct herself. This explanation is too simplistic. The red room is an important scene which sets up Jane and what the reader can expect from the ten old, but the issues that Jane deals with are much more complex and different to the ones which was facing in that room. They are a different kind of reflection and escape from different situation which the red room does not prepare the reader for. The paradigm which the red room sets up extensive enough to prepare the reader for the treatment that Jane has to endure the presence of Mr Rochester’s guests or at Lowood.
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