Chapters 17-21

Chapter 17-21

Summary
A number of key events take place during these four chapters. Jane is lead to believe that Mr Rochester is to leave for continental Europe; however he instead brings a number of guests including Blanche Ingram and her mother back to Thornfield. Jane reluctantly is encouraged by Rochester to join the party where she is presented with little civility and rudeness by both Blanche and her mother. Eventually Rochester allows her to leave after she wells up with tears; however he tells her she must sit with them in the drawing room every evening. He also almost revealed his true feelings when he says “Good-night, my—”, before biting his lip.
Jane’s belief that Mr Rochester and Blanche Ingram are to be married is reinforced. A new guest named Mr Mason arrives at Thornfield and a strange gypsy woman calls by one evening. Blanche is first to see her but returns looking sullen and disappointed, Jane is asked for and strangely the gypsy seems to know many truth’s about Jane, however she guesses it is Mr Rochester. He looks concerned to learn that Mr Mason has turned up unexpectedly.
That night a strange screaming is again heard and the guests are reassured that it was merely one of the servants suffering from a rather severe nightmare. Rochester asks Jane if she can stand the sight of blood and on replying ‘yes’ he informs her that Mr Mason has been stabbed, Jane is asked to sit with him in silence whilst he fetches the surgeon. On returning he leads Jane away into the orchard where he proceeds to confide in her a ‘hypothetical’ story which is clearly about him, but he quickly exits before Jane has a chance to reply.
Presently Jane learns that her cousin John Reed has committed suicide and that after suffering a stroke Mrs Reed is on her deathbed. She is reunited with Bessie after she immediately hurries back to Gateshead, where she finds that Eliza and Georgiana have grown apart over the years. Mrs Reed is as stubborn and hostile and refuses Jane’s attempts to patch things up between them and at midnight dies.

Characters
Lady Ingram is rude to Jane. Mr Rochester seems very insecure, mainly towards his feelings towards Jane which is strange considering he is a man of great wealth and grandeur. On the other hand Rochester flirts with Blanche. Rochester tasks Jane for her opinion on him marrying Blanche, yet he hurries off without waiting for a reply, perhaps he is afraid of the truth and the answer and playing more mind games with Jane. We begin to sympathise with Jane as she is made out to be a fool by Blanche. Lady Ingram states- 'She looks to stupid for any game of the sort.' We once again are reminded of how Georgiana is a self-centred, immature, spoilt girl.

Themes and Motifs
Jane’s suspicions. She is wary of meeting new people and continues to be pessimistic especially in view of her life and the bad things that continue to pass. Religion is an obvious theme as Eliza hopes to move to a convent and shows great faith. Relationships are also a definite theme as the relationship between Rochester and Jane seem to grow stronger throughout each chapter. Class and status are also key as we see a clear divide drawn between Jane and the wealthy guests at Thornfield. Gothic elements are also apparent and the re-occurring pattern of Jane’s’ unhappiness and loss of self-worth. Love could also be seen as a strong theme as Jane attempts to hide her love for Rochester and we see the way that he and Blanche interact with one another. Isolation is a motif as Jane prefers to be alone rather than be in the drawing room with the guests, but perhaps she has good reason. Religion is clearly a theme as Jane shows her faith in God when talking to Rochester.

Personal Response
These chapters for me have been by far the most interesting and fast paced of the book. Up till now we have had one bad thing after another for Jane but now things are looking up and becoming progressively more intense and exciting as Jane attempts to suppress her feelings for Rochester. As the reader I am back on Jane’s side, by this I mean that I no longer wish for her to stop whining as I just want to see her happy. The events which take place in chapter eighteen/nineteen with the gypsy is one of my favourite parts of the novel as it is so strange to think that Mr Rochester usually such a stubborn, well mannered man dresses up as a gypsy in order to find out how Jane feels about him, an event which surely would not have taken place at the time in real life. This just shows Bronte’s writing at its best as it is written with such a sense of excitement and imagination.