CONTENTS OF THE PROJECT.

TOPIC 1: Biography of Charlotte Brontë, the writer of the book of "JANE EYRE". Realised by Francisco Cruz and Félix Fructuoso.

TOPIC 2: Summary of "JANE EYRE". Realised by María Peñalver and Fco Gabriel Millán.

TOPIC 3: Characters of the novel (phisical description, character and role in the novel). Realised by Álex Merino and Laureano García.

TOPIC 4: Historical background: The Victorian Age. Realised by Dimitriy Mineev and Fco Campillo.

TOPIC 5: Schools and children in the victorian period. Realised by Carlos Monedero y Miguel López.

TOPIC 6: Victorian houses. Realised by Antonio Martínez and Cristina.

BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË.

Biography

Charlotte was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816. In 1820 her family moved a few miles to the village of Haworth. Her mother died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and a son Branwell to be taken care of by her sister, Elizabeth Branwell.

 In August 1824, Patrick Brontë sent Charlotte, Emily, Maria and Elizabeth to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. Charlotte maintained the school's poor conditions permanently affected her health and physical development and hastened the deaths of Maria and Elizabeth ,who died of tuberculosis in June 1825. After the deaths of her older sisters, her father removed Charlotte and Emily from the school. Charlotte used the school as the basis for Lowood School in Jane Eyre.

 In 1842 Charlotte and Emily travelled to Brussels to enrol at the boarding school run by Constantin Heger and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Heger. Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music.

Charlotte became pregnant soon after the marriage but her health declined rapidly." Charlotte died with her unborn child on 31 March 1855, aged 38. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis,.

Her first novel, the professor was published in 1857.Another novel was not finished, because she started witting it when she was near her dead There novel was finished by other writers, the most famous version was by clave.

 Novels

• Jane Eyre published 1847
• Shirley, published in 1849
• Villette, published in 1853
• The Professor, written before Jane Eyre, submitted at first along with Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, then separately, and rejected in either form by many publishing houses, published posthumously in 1857
• Emma, unfinished; Charlotte Brontë wrote only 20 pages of the manuscript, published posthumously in 1860. In recent decades, at least two continuations of this fragment have appeared:
•  Emma, by "Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady", published 1980; although this has been attributed to Elizabeth Goudge, the actual author was Constance Savery.
•  Emma Brown, by Clare Boylan, published 2003.

 

Poetry

• Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell(1846)
• Selected Poems of The Brontës, Everyman Poetry (1997)

SUMMARY OF THE BOOK.

The story of Jane Eyre started when she was ten years old. She was living with her aunt and cousins because her parents were both dead. Her aunt, Mrs Reed, and her cousins were very cruel with her, and so she was very unhappy. One day her aunt locked her in a cold room as an unfair punishment. In that room she became ill, and the doctor told her that she had to travel to a school called Lowood.

She thought that in Lowood school her life would be better, but she was wrong. The school was only for girls, who always felt unhappy and hungry. She stayed at Lowood until she was eighteen years old. Then she found a job as a governess in a house called Thornfield Hall. When she arrived in Thornfield, she met Adèle, her student and Mrs Fairfax, the housekeeper. She started a new life there.

One day, she met a strange man near the house who had fallen from his horse. The man was Mr Rochester, the owner of the house. One night, Jane found his bedroom on fire after she had heard a cruel laugh. She saved Mr Rochester’s life.

A few days later, some Mr Rochester’s friends came to the house. One of them was called Mr Mason. One night, Mr Mason screamed so loudly,that Jane and Mr Rochester went to his bedroom.

There they discovered that someone had tried to kill Mr Mason, who was injured. Later, Mr Rochester told Jane that a woman called Grace Poole, who was living in the attic, was the person who wanted to kill Mr Mason. After that, Mr Rochester proposed Jane if she wanted to marry him. Jane, at first, felt surprised, but she finally accepted.

The wedding day was a month later. They was very happy. Two nights before the wedding, while Mr Rochester was travelling, Jane woke up to find a strange woman in his room, which had broken her bridal veil. By telling what happened to Mr. Rochester,she tried to convince her that it was Grace Poole, but his imagination transformed his appearance. The wedding day, an attorney, Mr. Mason declared that Mr. Rochester was married fifteen years ago and his wife was alive. That evening Mr. Rochester told Jane that after four years of tortuous marriage, with his wife, who was mad, he decided to return to England, to lock the woman in Thornfield, and live his life as if nothing had happened.

Jane  wanted to travel as far away from thornfield as she could, she reached Whitecross, where Jane was without money, food or shelter but St. John Rivers, and his sisters,found her and decided that she would be their host.

Jane started a new life with St John and his sisters, working as a teacher for poor kids . She was happy, except for when she thought about Mr. Rochester.Jane knew that she would always love him. One day St John proposes her to marry him and travel to the Indies,but Jane didn’t want to marry him or travel to the Indies.She finally decided to travel to Thornfield Hall to see Mr Rochester again.

When she arrived there, the house was in ruins.Someone told her that Mr Rochester’s wife started a fire and died and Mr Rochester lost a hand and became blind. After that, Mr Rochester was living in a small house. Jane decided to visit him. They both felt happy to meeting each other, and Mr Rochester asked Jane again if she would marry him. Jane accepted again, and they were finally married. In the end  they had a happy life.

CHARACTERS OF THE NOVEL.

Jane Eyre -  Jane is the protagonist and narrator of the novel.

*Physical characteristics:

Jane has got long dark hair. She is very beautiful lady. When she was young, she cut her hair tried help her friend.

*Emotional characteristics:

Jane is an intelligent, honest young girl. She is forced to content with oppression. She found the justice

Edward Rochester Jane's employer and the owner of Thornfield.

*Physical characteristics: a man is a great secret .tiene esconder.es moderately handsome man of fair complexion.

*Emotional characteristics: it is a mighty man, but ultimately friendly, as it has suffered too much in his youth and being the husband of bertha

St. John Rivers -

* Physical characteristics: he has black hair and short. middle height and good complexion.

* Emotional characteristics: it is a great benefactor to jane eyre

  Mrs. Reed  -
* Physical characteristics: she has dark hair and always with a smile on his face

* Emotional characteristics: it is generally strict and harsh with jane eyre, and although jane wants to fix it, still angry with her ​​aunt jane

Helen Burns

* Physical characteristics: she was beautiful before her death, she had red hair and very nice, but the teachers decided to cut it.

* Emotional characteristics: feel a great appreciation for jane, and it was a great friend at Lowood School

Bertha Mason -

* Physical characteristics: it is a very pretty woman but his follies tend to the people around you see it differently.

* Emotional characteristics: it was violent, mentally insane and crazy bestial.su took her to burn on the third floor of Thornfield.

Grace Poole - 

* Physical characteristics: it is a tough and strong woman. is responsible for the safety of the school.

* Emotional characteristics: it is a brave woman, but her low self-esteem leads to heavy drinking, which he fled bertha.

Adèle Varens -

* Physical characteristics: it is a particularly beautiful girl with a great smile and very happy. Rochester believes could be her father.

* Emotional characteristics: is sympathetic and appreciative, always think positively

.

Richard Mason - 

* Physical characteristics: is the brother of bertha.intenta stop the wedding between rochester and jane eyre.

* Emotional characteristics: is generously happy. a great person and very sympathetic.

Bessie Lee -  The maid at Gateshead, Bessie is the only figure in Jane’s childhood who regularly treats her kindly, telling her stories and singing her songs. Bessie later marries Robert Leaven, the Reeds’ coachman.

Mr. Lloyd -  Mr. Lloyd is the Reeds’ apothecary, who suggests that Jane be sent away to school. Always kind to Jane, Mr. Lloyd writes a letter to Miss Temple confirming Jane’s story about her childhood and clearing Jane of Mrs. Reed’s charge that she is a liar.

Georgiana Reed -  Georgiana Reed is Jane’s cousin and one of Mrs. Reed’s two daughters. The beautiful Georgiana treats Jane cruelly when they are children, but later in their lives she befriends her cousin and confides in her. Georgiana attempts to elope with a man named Lord Edwin Vere, but her sister, Eliza, alerts Mrs. Reed of the arrangement and sabotages the plan. After Mrs. Reed dies, Georgiana marries a wealthy man.

Eliza Reed -  Eliza Reed is Jane’s cousin and one of Mrs. Reed’s two daughters (along with her sister, Georgiana). Not as beautiful as her sister, Eliza devotes herself somewhat self-righteously to the church and eventually goes to a convent in France where she becomes the Mother Superior.

John Reed -  John Reed is Jane’s cousin, Mrs. Reed’s son, and brother to Eliza and Georgiana. John treats Jane with appalling cruelty during their childhood and later falls into a life of drinking and gambling. John commits suicide midway through the novel when his mother ceases to pay his debts for him.

Mr. Brocklehurst -  The cruel, hypocritical master of the Lowood School, Mr. Brocklehurst preaches a doctrine of privation, while stealing from the school to support his luxurious lifestyle. After a typhus epidemic sweeps Lowood, Brocklehurst’s shifty and dishonest practices are brought to light and he is publicly discredited.

Maria Temple -  Maria Temple is a kind teacher at Lowood, who treats Jane and Helen with respect and compassion. Along with Bessie Lee, she serves as one of Jane’s first positive female role models. Miss Temple helps clear Jane of Mrs. Reed’s accusations against her.

Miss Scatcherd -  Jane’s sour and vicious teacher at Lowood, Miss Scatcherd behaves with particular cruelty toward Helen.

Alice Fairfax -  Alice Fairfax is the housekeeper at Thornfield Hall. She is the first to tell Jane that the mysterious laughter often heard echoing through the halls is, in fact, the laughter of Grace Poole—a lie that Rochester himself often repeats.

Celine Varens -  Celine Varens is a French opera dancer with whom Rochester once had an affair. Although Rochester does not believe Celine’s claims that he fathered her daughter Adèle, he nonetheless brought the girl to England when Celine abandoned her. Rochester had broken off his relationship with Celine after learning that Celine was unfaithful to him and interested only in his money.

Sophie -  Sophie is Adèle’s French nurse at Thornfield.

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Mr. Briggs -  John Eyre’s attorney, Mr. Briggs helps Richard Mason prevent Jane’s wedding to Rochester when he learns of the existence of Bertha Mason, Rochester’s wife. After John Eyre’s death, Briggs searches for Jane in order to give her her inheritance.

Blanche Ingram -  Blanche Ingram is a beautiful socialite who despises Jane and hopes to marry Rochester for his money.

Diana Rivers -  Diana Rivers is Jane’s cousin, and the sister of St. John and Mary. Diana is a kind and intelligent person, and she urges Jane not to go to India with St. John. She serves as a model for Jane of an intellectually gifted and independent woman.

Mary Rivers -  Mary Rivers is Jane’s cousin, the sister of St. John and Diana. Mary is a kind and intelligent young woman who is forced to work as a governess after her father loses his fortune. Like her sister, she serves as a model for Jane of an independent woman who is also able to maintain close relationships with others and a sense of meaning in her life.

Rosamond Oliver -  Rosamond is the beautiful daughter of Mr. Oliver, Morton’s wealthiest inhabitant. Rosamond gives money to the school in Morton where Jane works. Although she is in love with St. John, she becomes engaged to the wealthy Mr. Granby.

John Eyre -  John Eyre is Jane’s uncle, who leaves her his vast fortune of 20,000 pounds.

Uncle Reed -  Uncle Reed is Mrs. Reed’s late husband. In her childhood, Jane believes that she feels the presence of his ghost. Because he was always fond of Jane and her mother (his sister), Uncle Reed made his wife promise that she would raise Jane as her own child. It is a promise that Mrs. Reed does not keep.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.

THE VICTORIAN AGE

The Victorian age, in British history, is named the period of Queen Victoria, who was Britain's queen from 1837 until 1901.Queen Victoria, with 64 years on the throne, had the longest reign in the history of British monarchs.
The cultural, political, economic, industrial and scientific changes that occurred during his reign were extraordinary.
Some of the most important things of that age were: the industrial revolution and the economic expansion, the improvement of communication links (stagecoaches, canals, steam ships and the railways), social changes like women´s rights (property or divorce).

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 

The Industrial Revolution changed Britain from a land of small towns, villages and farms into a land of cities, large towns and factories. The population grew from 16 million in 1801 to over 41 million by 1901.
The train make that cities grew fast, as people moved from the countryside to work in factories.

Men, women and lots of small childrens worked in factories, and in coal mines. Factory and mine owners became rich, but most factory and mine workers were poor. They were paid low wages, and lived in unhealthy, overcrowded slums.

THE SOCIETY

More than a hundred years ago there were big differences in the way of live, in homes, schools, jobs and entertainments
The entertainment varie by social class. They were interested on literature, dinings clubs, musis bands, circus, nature and sports.Victorian values ​​could be classified as "Puritans", saving money​​, the desire to work, the extreme importance of the moral and the duties of religión.
Social classes were the upper class or bourgeoisie and the lower and middle class (businessmen, doctors, lawyers, merchants)

SCHOOL AND CHILDREN IN THE VICTORIAN PERIOD

Victorian schools.

Basic characteristic of Victorian times. (Chronology and foundation)

The Victorian age in British history is named after Queen Victoria, who was Britain's queen from 1837 until 1901.

There were big differences in homes, schools, toys and entertainments, many children went to work, not to school.

 

Characteristic of Victorian schools.

There were maps and perhaps pictures on the wall. There would be a globe for geography lessons, and an abacus to help with sums. Children sat in small chairs and the teacher sat in a tall desk in front of the class. At the start of the Victorian age, most teachers were men, but later many women trained as teachers.

Children wrote on slates with chalk. They wiped the slate clean, by spitting on it and rubbing with their coat sleeve or their finger! Slates could be used over and over. For writing on paper, children used a pen with a metal feather, dipped into a ink.

Girls and boys learned together in primary schools, but were separated in secondary schools, but were separated in secondary schools. Both boys and girls learned reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling and drill.

Discipline in schools was often strict. Children were beaten for even minor wrongdoings, with a cane, on the hand or bottom. A teacher could also punish a child by making them stand in the corner wearing a ´dunce’s cap´.

Children were often taught by copying and repeating what the teacher told them. Lesson included teaching in right and wrong, and the Christian religion.

 

Characteristic of Victorian Children.

At the start of the 19th century very few children went to school. Most poor children worked. If they went to school, their families lost the money they earned.

There were some good schools for the boys, for example, grammar schools and public schools. Only richer families could afford to pay the schools fees, though some schools gave free places to poor boys. Poor girls did not go to schools when the Victorian age began meaning they had little education. Girls from wealthy families would usually be taught at home by a governess. Sometimes, wealthy girls may have attended schools too.

Many Victorian children were poor and worked to help their families. Few people thought this strange or cruel. Families got no money unless they worked, and most people thought work was good for children. The industrial Revolution created new jobs in factories and mines. Many of these jobs were at first done by children, because children were cheap( a child was paid less than adults).

VICTORIAN HOUSES.

 

Mrs Reed’s house: Gateshead Hall

Mrs Reed’s house is where Jane Eyre lived because her parents were both dead. Mrs Reed was very rich, so this house was very large and beautiful, with a lot of bedrooms, and other rooms like a library, a breakfast room, a nursery, a conservatory, housemaids’ apartment and a housekeeper’s room. As it’s told in the book, there are many servants at Gateshead Hall, and this house reminds Jane Eyre of her horrible childhood with her cousins.

Lowood School

Lowood School is the first school where Jane Eyre was sent to. She describes it as a very large, cold place, because the head of the school, Mr Brocklehurst, didn’t pay for food, hot water and clothes, and all the girls slept in the same room with two girls in every bed. Anyway, in the book we can see a good place in this school: the surrounding grounds, with many flowers and healthful in spring.

Thornfield Hall

Thornfield Hall first appears when Jane looks for a job advertising her for it in a newspaper, and she gets the job in this house as a governess. It was another large place, with three floors, and very quiet, except for when Mr Rochester came to the house. On the first floor there were the dining room, the kitchen, the living room and other rooms, and bedrooms, one for each servant, were located in both the left and right side of a long corridor on the second floor. It was surrounded by a big, green garden.

St John’s house

St John’s house is located in a village with very few houses, It’s the place where Jane arrived after her runaway from Thornfield Hall. This house is not as large as the last ones, but it had two floors. Its rooms were much warmer and welcoming, and it also had a place where Jane Eyre was able to draw her pictures.

Victorian houses

When the owner was very rich, these houses were built in pleasant parts of the cities, and they were very comfortable.

They usually had three floors and a large room under the house called cellar, and they also had gardens at the front and back.

On the ground floor, there were the dining room and a drawing room, where people played cards and listened to music. The kitchen and the scullery were in this floor too, at the back of the house.

The nursery and the servants’ bedrooms were at the top of the house, in the third floor. Finally, rich people houses had an indoor toilet, but in poorer people’s houses, the toilet was located outside.