Jane Eyre as a Gothic Novel Essay Sample

During this section of the book. Jane is forced to do things she does not like. For example, she appears to be getting married to Mr. Rochester by every next day, as the chapter opens. This is the night before the “big day”. Jane waits for Mr. Rochester, who had been in Thornefeild during this time. She reflects on the dreams she had been having the previous. She and Mr. Rochester get to talking. Jane tells him about the dreams that she had been having, and she tells him how she feels on the inside. Jane’s dreams both had her carrying a baby which she had thought was Mr. Rochester's; the dream continues on showing that Jane, while still carrying the baby, struggles to walk through muddy and sandy terrain, preventing her to get to Mr. Rochester; in these dreams, she isn’t able to reach him. This to me seems like she is carrying a weight of either trauma or grief with her and isn’t able to move on from it; she isn’t able to reach her peace. Mr. Rochester comforts Jane after hearing what she was telling him saying: “We will sit there in peace tonight, though we shall never be more destined to sit there and be together!” 

Jane has also kept a secret to herself, she didn’t reveal to Mr. Rochester until that evening, when they were talking among themselves; that after she woke up from her dream, she was able to see a woman with long brown matted hair, holding a candlestick walking across her room towards her bed, where she lay, “It was a savage face!” Jane had said to Mr. Rochester. Throughout the rest of the chapter Jane thinks about that experience; she focuses on it, not only was the woman in her room creepy. But, Jane believed that she meant something, unlike fortune. Jane believed that she meant a “fate”.

I believe that all throughout Chapter 25, the gothic theme is very ominous. The dreams Jane is having, the way Mr. Rochester is represented in those dreams, and so on throughout the chapter seem like something that (in my opinion) Shakespeare would write for one of his many plays. The way Bronte writes this chapter is very dark and dismal, which are perfect words to describe this section. I chose words like ominous, dismal, and dark because of the gothic description for this essay, especially during the description of the dreams Jane had been having. It was almost depressing as she had described it to Mr. Rochester. This is why I have used these words, and I chose this prompt. I strongly believe that the whole book of Jane Eyre has an underlying gothic theme, the way Jane is treated growing up, the depressing boarding school she went to, and the dreams and ghosts she has and sees,  yes, it’s a very gothic story.