Theme Of Trauma In Jane Eyre

How does Charlotte Brontë present Trauma throughout Jane Eyre?

Throughout Jane Eyre trauma is presented by Charlotte Brontë as a main theme with a few subthemes resembling violence, supernatural, death and overall trauma, Trauma is portrayed as something that mainly Jane is the victim of as she experiences all of the relevant themes.

In Jane Eyre violence is one of the main themes to do with trauma and it is presented as something that haunts Jane a bit, but not so much that she is terrified; it only haunts her enough for her to feel danger. The main place that Jane experiences violence and trauma is at the Reeds where she has the experience of Mrs Reed, The Red Room and John Reed. Mrs and John Reed are both extremely violent toward Jane and there is a lot of violence involved in Jane’s journey to the Red Room.

In chapter 20 there is a representation of violence and it is presenes as unpleasant and dangerous, however, it doesn’t haunt Jane so much that she is terrified, but it haunts her enough to feel danger; however she is able to deal with it. In this chapter Mr Mason gets stabbed in the arm and implications of words such as “snarling and “threatening” suggest danger like she felt in the Red room, these words link directly to the danger Jane is feeling in Chapter 20. The word “horror” implies that Jane is scared, shocked and feeling dread, she may also feel a shudder that reminds her of the fights she had with John Reed, where she had similar experiences of danger and shock. Charlotte Brontë also uses words that refer to the dead, for example “glazed” and “crucifix” these words make the reader feel danger and worry for Jane.

In the Reeds house the first main cause of trauma is John Reed who is exceptionally violent and rude to...

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...ane is orphan displays trauma through Jane character because it shows that she is isolated and lonely without any close family is very distressing because you don’t know who to go to in times of struggle and times of difficulty. Charlotte Brontë made Jane a solitary character because when you are alone experiences are scarier; however this might have been preparing Jane for later life where she is isolated and lonely for example when Helen Burns dies.

In conclusion trauma is presented in many ways in Jane Eyre but there are three main themes that trauma is presented and they are violence, supernatural and death and overall trauma. Charlotte Brontë presents trauma through the isolation of Jane, other characters attitude towards Jane and through the Red room. Trauma in Jane Eyre is presented as something that Jane is a victim of and she experiences trauma very often.