Chapters 11 to 27: Thornfield — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
Chapters 11 to 27: Thornfield
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Jane as governess to Adèle at Thornfield Hall: meeting Mr Rochester, the strange laugh and the fire, Blanche Ingram and the house party, the gypsy and Mason's wounding,
Mrs Reed's death at Gateshead, the proposal, the torn veil, the wedding halted by Bertha's existence, and Jane's decision to leave.
Key quotations: 'a curious laugh; distinct, formal, mirthless', 'like a corridor in some Bluebeard's castle', 'I was in the mood for being useful, or at least officious', 'Nothing ever rode the Gytrash: it was always alone', 'Tongues of flame darted round the bed: the curtains were on fire', 'a demoniac laugh—low, suppressed, and deep', 'Portrait of a Governess, disconnected, poor, and plain', 'had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away', 'I declare the existence of an impediment', 'Mr. Rochester has a wife now living', 'Reader, I forgave him at the moment and on the spot', 'My daughter, flee temptation!'.
Structure: the secret of the third storey kept from Jane and the reader until the wedding, and the omens that foreshadow it, such as the split chestnut tree.
The middle chapters in brief: Blanche Ingram and the house party, the gypsy, Mason's wounding and Mrs Reed's death at Gateshead, and how each deepens the mystery or draws Jane and Rochester together.
