Jane Eyre fait de la résistance

“Speak I must; I had been trodden on severely and must turn”. It is with these unspoken but no less eloquent words that Jane starts attacking her baffled aunt, who is not used to being addressed in this way by one who is usually obedient and silent. The scene, which follows the incarceration in the...

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Main Author: Claire Bazin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2012-06-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1450
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author Claire Bazin
author_facet Claire Bazin
author_sort Claire Bazin
collection DOAJ
description “Speak I must; I had been trodden on severely and must turn”. It is with these unspoken but no less eloquent words that Jane starts attacking her baffled aunt, who is not used to being addressed in this way by one who is usually obedient and silent. The scene, which follows the incarceration in the red room and Brocklehurst’s visit, can be read as a "Vindication of the rights of Jane” and also as both a metamorphosis and a reversal: Jane is out of herself and rebels against the enemy who gradually turns into a powerless child, ready to cry, unable to recognize this new Jane whom she vainly tries to propitiate. If Jane comes out victorious from this verbal confrontation, her triumph has a bitter after-taste and her previous exaltation is followed by a kind of depression, which is often the case with her. I propose to study this emblematic scene firstly by following three axes: a double metamorphosis where Jane defeats Mrs Reed who loses her composure, in a spectacular reversal of roles, and then by analysing Jane’s ensuing inner monologue, where the narrator’s I takes over from the character’s in this splitting of the narrative voice that is common to both novelistic and fictitious autobiographical forms.
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publisher Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
record_format Article
series Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
spelling doaj-art-2482a7cabb45411bab14127ac56e0c0d2025-01-30T10:21:30ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492012-06-0175314010.4000/cve.1450Jane Eyre fait de la résistanceClaire Bazin“Speak I must; I had been trodden on severely and must turn”. It is with these unspoken but no less eloquent words that Jane starts attacking her baffled aunt, who is not used to being addressed in this way by one who is usually obedient and silent. The scene, which follows the incarceration in the red room and Brocklehurst’s visit, can be read as a "Vindication of the rights of Jane” and also as both a metamorphosis and a reversal: Jane is out of herself and rebels against the enemy who gradually turns into a powerless child, ready to cry, unable to recognize this new Jane whom she vainly tries to propitiate. If Jane comes out victorious from this verbal confrontation, her triumph has a bitter after-taste and her previous exaltation is followed by a kind of depression, which is often the case with her. I propose to study this emblematic scene firstly by following three axes: a double metamorphosis where Jane defeats Mrs Reed who loses her composure, in a spectacular reversal of roles, and then by analysing Jane’s ensuing inner monologue, where the narrator’s I takes over from the character’s in this splitting of the narrative voice that is common to both novelistic and fictitious autobiographical forms.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1450metamorphosisInner monologueJane EyreMrs Reedrebellionreversal
spellingShingle Claire Bazin
Jane Eyre fait de la résistance
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
metamorphosis
Inner monologue
Jane Eyre
Mrs Reed
rebellion
reversal
title Jane Eyre fait de la résistance
title_full Jane Eyre fait de la résistance
title_fullStr Jane Eyre fait de la résistance
title_full_unstemmed Jane Eyre fait de la résistance
title_short Jane Eyre fait de la résistance
title_sort jane eyre fait de la resistance
topic metamorphosis
Inner monologue
Jane Eyre
Mrs Reed
rebellion
reversal
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/1450
work_keys_str_mv AT clairebazin janeeyrefaitdelaresistance