Editing Jane Eyre (section)

=== Gothic ===
[[File:Bertha Mason illustration - Edmund Henry Garrett.jpg|thumb|150px|Bertha Mason, illustrated by [[Edmund H. Garrett]]]]
The [[Gothic fiction|Gothic genre]] uses a combination of supernatural features, intense emotions, and a blend of reality and fantasy to create a dark, mysterious atmosphere and experience for characters and readers. Jane Eyre is a homodiegetic narrator, which allows her to exist both as a character and narrator in the story world, and her narration establishes an emotional connection and response for the reader.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hume |first=Robert D. |date=March 1969 |title=Gothic Versus Romantic: A Revaluation of The Gothic Novel |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1261285 |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=282–290 |doi=10.2307/1261285 |jstor=1261285 |s2cid=163496074 |issn=0030-8129}}</ref> This intentional, narrative technique works in tandem with Gothic features and conventions. Jane and the reader are unaware of the cause behind the "demoniac laugh--low, suppressed, and deep" or "a savage, a sharp, a shrilly sound that ran from end to end of Thornfield Hall," though the reason comes from Bertha Mason. The element of the unknown works in conjunction to the possibility of the supernatural. The intensity of emotions and reactions to Gothic conventions can solely exist in the protagonist's imagination. Instances that a protagonist interprets to be their imagination turns into reality. Jane's experience in the red room represents an aspect of Gothic conventions as Jane feels fear towards being punished in the red room because she believes and imagines that her dead uncle haunts the room.

The Gothic genre uses the [[Gothic double]]: a literary motif, which is described as the protagonist having a double, alter ego, or [[doppelgänger]] interpreted between Jane Eyre and Bertha Mason, where Bertha represents the other side of Jane and vice versa.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gilbert |first1=Sandra M. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxkn74x |title=The Madwoman in the Attic |last2=Gubar |first2=Susan |date=17 March 2020 |publisher=Yale University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctvxkn74x |isbn=978-0-300-25297-2}}</ref> The commonly used Gothic literary device, [[foreshadowing]], creates an environment filled with tension, ominousity, and dread. After Jane agrees to marry Rochester, a horse-chestnut tree in an orchard is struck by lightning, splitting the tree in half. The lightning strike is ominous and foreshadows Jane and Rochester's separation.

The Gothic Genre in tandem with Murphy's the "New Woman Gothic" establishes an opportunity to go against the Romantic's concept that the antagonist is usually a villainous father.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Margree |first=Victoria |date=2016 |title=The New Woman Gothic: Reconfigurations of Distress by Patricia Murphy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/vcr.2016.0051 |journal=Victorian Review |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=197–198 |doi=10.1353/vcr.2016.0051 |s2cid=164785994 |issn=1923-3280}}</ref> The Gothic genre allows there to be a complex consideration of who or what hinders Jane's happiness. The barriers Jane experiences, whether related to social class, societal and cultural norms, Bertha Mason, or Rochester, have antagonistic elements.