ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Society and Class Videos 40 videos
It may be the best of times for Chuck Darnay, but it's pretty much constantly the worst of times for Sydney. Poor guy.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is about a young blacksmith boy (Pip) and his two dreams: becoming a gentleman and marrying the beautiful Est...
Meet Charles Darnay, the nobleman who spends more time on trial and in prison than attending balls and drinking expensive wine. Don't feel too bad...
Jane Eyre 72992 Views
Share It!
Description:
This video covers the plot of Jane Eyre, a novel by Charlotte Brontë. In it, Jane Eyre, an orphan-turned-governess with a miserable childhood falls in love with her new boss, Mr. Rochester. He has it all: looks, money, a crazy wife locked up in the attic. What’s a girl to do?
Transcript
- 00:07
Jane Eyre, a la Shmoop. It's no secret that everybody has a few skeletons
- 00:12
in their closet. Or in their attic. Some secrets are more shocking than others.
- 00:21
For instance, keeping your mentally unstable ex-wife hidden in your attic.
- 00:27
Yep, that's Mr. Rochester's scandalous secret. Bertha Mason, the madwoman in the attic, plays
- 00:33
a large part in the plot of Jane Eyre. So, what's her role in the book?
Full Transcript
- 00:40
She might be a reflection of Rochester's past. Not a pretty picture.
- 00:46
After Rochester married Bertha, he soon realized she was not the right fit for him.
- 00:51
Whereas, Rochester is literally locking away his past and is ready to start a future with
- 01:00
his new British bride. Bertha could also be a warning to Jane.
- 01:10
Rochester seems to be an upstanding guy—aside from that whole wife-in-the-attic thing.
- 01:19
Rochester started out reasonably happy with Bertha, but she was eventually locked away
- 01:24
from the world. Could that be Jane's fate, too, if she doesn't
- 01:28
please Rochester? After all, what's to stop Rochester from throwing
- 01:34
Jane in the basement? The room's available. Finally, Bertha could be Jane's alter ego.
- 01:41
Being a foreigner, Bertha is not your traditional British Victorian housewife.
- 01:47
But neither is Jane. She's feisty and independent, which isn't the norm.
- 01:53
When Jane is locked in the red room, she goes bananas, like when Bertha freaks out that
- 01:59
she's locked in the attic. Jane complains about the expensive veil Rochester
- 02:05
buys her. Enter Bertha. Like an elf sent to do Jane's
- 02:11
bidding, she destroys the veil. Bertha and Jane have a lot in common, but
- 02:16
it's sometimes hard to see because they're so superficially different.
- 02:20
So, what role do you think Bertha played in Jane Eyre? A reflection of Rochester's past?
- 02:26
A warning? An alter ego? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
