LITER ATURE – 3A

START THINKING … Jane Eyre is an orphan who lives with

her cruel aunt, Mrs Reed, and her
1 Work in pairs. Discuss the questions. cousins in Gateshead, their huge
● If you saw someone being bullied, what would you do? house. Jane is unwanted and bullied
● ‘Bullies never prosper.’ What does this mean? Do you think it’s true? by the whole family. Jane is reading
alone in the dining room.
● How would you feel if someone accused you of something you
hadn’t done?

JANE EYRE (1847) Charlotte Brontë

John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; four Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair: he spent
years older than I, for I was but ten: large and stout for his some three minutes in thrusting out his tongue at me as far as he
age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin; thick lineaments 30 could without damaging the roots: I knew he would soon strike,
in a spacious visage, heavy limbs and large extremities. He and while dreading the blow, I mused on the disgusting and ugly
5 gorged himself habitually at table, which made him bilious, appearance of him who would presently deal it. I wonder if he
and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks. He read that notion in my face; for, all at once, without speaking, he
ought now to have been at school; but his mama had taken struck suddenly and strongly. I tottered, and on regaining my
him home for a month or two, ‘on account of his delicate 35 equilibrium retired back a step or two from his chair.
health.’ Mr Miles, the master, affirmed that he would do ‘That is for your impudence in answering mama awhile since,’
10 very well if he had fewer cakes and sweetmeats sent him said he, ‘and for your sneaking way of getting behind curtains, and
from home; but the mother’s heart turned from an opinion for the look you had in your eyes two minutes since, you rat!’
so harsh, and inclined rather to the more refined idea
Accustomed to John Reed’s abuse, I never had an idea of
that John’s sallowness was owing to over-application and,
40 replying to it; my care was how to endure the blow which would
perhaps, to pining after home.
certainly follow the insult.
15 John had not much affection for his mother and sisters,
‘What were you doing behind the curtain?’ he asked.
and an antipathy to me. He bullied and punished me; not
two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, ‘I was reading.’
but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every ‘Show the book.’
morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when he came near. 45 I returned to the window and fetched it thence.
20 There were moments when I was bewildered by the terror
‘You have no business to take our books; you are a dependent,
he inspired, because I had no appeal whatever against mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought
either his menaces or his inflictions; the servants did not to beg, and not to live here with the gentlemen’s children like us, and
like to offend their young master by taking my part against eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mama’s expense.
him, and Mrs Reed was blind and deaf on the subject: she
50 Now, I’ll teach you to rummage my bookshelves: for they are mine;
25 never saw him strike or heard him abuse me, though he did
all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years. Go and stand
both now and then in her very presence, more frequently, by the door, out of the way of the mirror and the windows.’
however, behind her back.
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 3A LITER ATU R E

I did so, not at first aware what was his intention; but when I don’t very well know what I did with my hands, but he called
I saw him lift and poise the book and stand in act to hurl it, I me ‘Rat! Rat!’ and bellowed out aloud. Aid was near him: Eliza
55 instinctively started aside with a cry of alarm: not soon enough, and Georgiana had run for Mrs Reed, who was gone upstairs:
however; the volume was flung, it hit me, and I fell, striking my 75 she now came upon the scene, followed by Bessie and her maid
head against the door and cutting it. The cut bled, the pain was Abbot. We were parted: I heard the words –
sharp: my terror had passed its climax; other feelings succeeded. ‘Dear! dear! What a fury to fly at Master John!’
‘Wicked and cruel boy!’ I said. ‘You are like a murderer – you ‘Did ever anybody see such a picture of passion!’
60 are like a slave-driver – you are like the Roman emperors!’
Then Mrs Reed subjoined –
I had read Goldsmith’s History of Rome, and had formed
80 ‘Take her away to the red-room, and lock her in there.’ Four
my opinion of Nero, Caligula, etc. Also I had drawn parallels in
hands were immediately laid upon me, and I was borne upstairs.
silence, which I never thought thus to have declared aloud.
‘What! what!’ he cried. ‘Did she say that to me? Did you hear
65 her, Eliza and Georgiana? Won’t I tell mama? but first –’
He ran headlong at me: I felt him grasp my hair and my
shoulder: he had closed with a desperate thing. I really saw in
him a tyrant, a murderer. I felt a drop or two of blood from
my head trickle down my neck, and was sensible of somewhat
70 pungent suffering: these sensations for the time predominated
over fear, and I received him in frantic sort.

Glossary
1 sick and likely to vomit 6 to think about something carefully and
2 to eat until you are unable to eat any for a long time
more 7 to walk with difficulty in a way that looks
3 a feeling of sadness or longing due to as if you are about to fall
the absence of something or someone 8 rudeness and not showing respect
4 a feeling of strong dislike, opposition, 9 unpleasantly strong (smell)
or anger 10 to separate or cause something or
5 confused and uncertain someone to separate

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 3A LITER ATU R E

2 3A.1 Read the text and listen. 9 LISTENING 3A.2 Listen to Jane reflect on
her relationship with her cousins. Complete the
3 Complete the glossary. Match the words in bold character notes with the names in the list. Use one
to the definitions. of the names twice.
4 Read the text again. Answer the questions. Eliza | Georgiana | Jane | John

1 What effect has John’s diet had upon his 1 The servants take ’s side all the time.
appearance? 2 People look up to .
2 Why does Jane believe John might have 3 uses her looks to get what she wants.
attacked her? 4 often calls Mrs Reed a rude name.
3 Which three reasons does John give for 5 is scared to do anything wrong.
attacking her?
4 Who pays for Jane’s food and clothing? 10 LISTENING Listen again. Complete the
3A.2
summary. Write one word.
5 Who does Jane compare John to and why?
6 Who took Jane to the red-room? While Jane is in the red-room, she thinks about her
relationship with the family. She says that she is always
5 READ BETWEEN THE LINES Answer the miserable and can never 1 anyone. She talks
questions. Give reasons and examples from about her female 2 Eliza and Georgiana. She
the text. says that Eliza is 3 , headstrong and well-
1 What type of character is Mrs Reed? What respected, whereas Georgiana is the beautiful one with
evidence do we have? pink cheeks and curly 4 . She says that John is
2 How does the family treat Jane? What does this violent: he breaks the 5 of pigeons (a type of
6 ), encourages the dogs to attack the
tell us about the family’s situation and Jane’s?
7 and kills plants. Her 8 still hurts
3 What does John mean when he says ‘all the house
belongs to me’? What do you think will happen after John attacked her and she decides there are only
to John? two ways to 9 her sad life. She can either run
away or 10 by refusing to eat or drink.
6 VOCABULARY Complete the sentences with
the correct form of the words from the glossary.
WRITING A discussion essay
1 In many Victorian novels, the rich characters
11 WRITING‘Physical bullying is more damaging
on food while the poor characters starve.
than emotional bullying.’ Write an essay giving
2 For a long time, people belived that diseases WIT
reasons for your point of view.
were carried by smells.
1 Paragraph 1 (Introduction): Say what the quotation
3 Children were expected to behave perfectly at PEN NAMES
means to you. Explain the key words. End the
home; wasn’t acceptable. paragraph with your initial opinion.
4 Even when servants felt to their masters, MEMOIRS
2 Paragraph 2: Give arguments that support your
they continued to work hard. opinion. Give clear examples and evidence.
5 If orphans for their parents, they didn’t THEMES
3 Paragraph 3: Think about the opposite opinion.
dare to show it. Give examples, but say why the argument is weak.
6 Wealthy children were from their mothers SHAKESPEARE’S
4 Paragraph 4 (Conclusion): Summarise your essay
and restate your opinion in your first paragraph.
at an early age and sent to boarding school.
ENGLISH
7 Underline five words in the text that are new
to you. Look them up in a dictionary and then STYLE
write each of them in a sentence. Strong female characters
8 ROLE PLAY Work in groups of three. Imagine Charlotte Brontë was influenced by books on the
the next part of the story as Jane is taken to the position of women that were being published at the
red-room by the servants. Student A is Jane, time. Many of the female characters in Jane Eyre are
Student B is Abbot and Student C is Bessie. strong and rebellious: Jane, Helen Burns, Miss Temple
Read the beginning of the conversation and and Rosamund Oliver.
then continue it with your own ideas.
12 Choose a novel you know with a strong female
JANE Please don’t take me to the red-room. protagonist. Explain what makes her strong or
I didn’t do anything wrong. You know what’s rebellious and the effect this has on the novel.
in there … Then present your ideas to the class.

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