 The theme of class is a recurring theme that occurs throughout Jane Eyre. Indeed, this theme continuously crops up from the opening of her life when we find out that her own mother, so Jane Eyre's mother, married a man beneath her social status, and this in many ways seems to have cursed her parents who ended up dying. And Jane Eyre was then raised as a very poor orphan and she was mistreated in Mrs. Reed's household and then sent to Lowood School, which basically served as an orphanage for children who did not have parents that could look after them, okay? So on the one hand, we experienced just how harshly Victorian society treated those who were poorer, okay? So working class people were treated very harshly, but also we realized that Victorian society had very, very rigid ideas to do with class. In other words, it was seen as improper, it was seen as forbidden. If somebody from one class, so for example, someone who was working class, married somebody who was upper class and that's exactly what Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester did, okay? So the marriage didn't eventually go through when Mr. Rochester had money, but of course they ended up eventually marrying, but this is after he had lost all of his wealth. However, the fact that Mr. Rochester, especially when he was still rich, was happy to contemplate marrying Jane Eyre. This was seen as a scandalous decision in Victorian eyes, okay? So in society's eyes, a better match would have been if he had gone ahead and married Blanche Ingram, so that was the woman who was really interested in marrying him because there were of a similar upper class social status, okay? However, Mr. Rochester realizes that this is a very shallow way of seeing life and of course also a lot of the time when people marry purely based on class, this is not necessarily the best match in terms of personalities, okay? In fact, Mr. Rochester himself was suffering from a very unhappy marriage to Bertha Mason because he had initially married her out of the money that he would and his family inherited, but of course also because she was of a similar social status even if she was from the Caribbean, okay? So class continuously pervades this story and this story also shows how silly these rigid class divides were because it basically prevented for a long time, Jane, from requiting her love with Mr. Rochester even if they were perfectly suited as people because of this massive class division and then on top of that, Mr. Rochester was already married. This is now what really stood in their way primarily when it came to love, okay? So it's really important to be very clear on this theme of class and especially if you're writing about it, other for your course record exams it's good to have some quotes prepared as well as do some word love analysis. So as you can see behind me, I prepared the most relevant quotes I would suggest considering if you were writing about the theme of class as it's shown in Jane Eyre's, let's go over them. Now the first quotation which illustrates how in some ways Jane was cursed from the beginning is this, her mother had committed almost, it seems from society's eyes, from Victoria's society's eyes, she'd committed this original sin of marrying a man who was her social inferior. In other words, he was poorer than her and hence in some ways that their union was cursed, okay? And this is illustrated when Jane Eyre admits, my father had been a poor clergyman, ellipsis. My mother had married him against the wishes of her friends. So here we can see that her mother had committed this huge social blunder. She had gone against what all of society wanted for her which is marrying somebody of a similar social status and in some ways she was punished for this, okay? So her and her, Jane Eyre's mother and father ended up dying in obscurity, dying in poverty and then Jane had this really, really difficult early life, okay? Now the word levinosis you want to focus on here and of course what this is illustrating is how class divisions were so severe and it was seen as a scandalous affair if her mother had married her, the father that she did, okay? So she married this poor clergyman. Now the word levinosis which emphasizes this firstly the adjective poor, okay? And this really in some ways defined how the father was seen in this marriage as just a poor man. But also of course the words mother and father belongs to semantic field of family, okay? So this is Jane Eyre's origins, okay? And of course also the fact that her mom ignores social boundaries could perhaps show foreshadow how Mr. Rochester ignores the social boundaries in marrying Jane Eyre. And finally you want to focus on the alliteration of M in my mother and married, okay? So of course here what this establishes from the beginning is how divided people were according to their class in Victorian society and how it was seen as very improper and very scandalous of somebody of a different class to consider marrying someone who was their social superior, okay? The next quotation that relates to the theme of class is when Jane Eyre when she first meets Blanche Ingram. So this is Blanche Ingram at first she doesn't realize that Mr. Rochester has actually fallen in love with her and she notices that Blanche Ingram seems to be on the same social hierarchy and the social position as Mr. Rochester. So she sees how they interact and she realizes number one that she's an outsider but number two Mr. Rochester is more likely to marry her even if she feels like from her conversations with Mr. Rochester, you know, he thinks very differently. She then realizes actually he's more likely to marry her because he felt he is very obliged by his social position to do so. And this is illustrated when Jane Eyre states, I had thought him a man unlikely to be influenced ellipsis but the longer I considered the position ellipsis acting in conformity to ideas and principles. Now, what this is illustrating is that Jane Eyre realizes the social pressure, the sheer amount of social pressure that Mr. Rochester faced in marrying a woman who was of the same social class as him. Otherwise it would be scandalous, it would be seen as unheard of if he married a woman who was not of his social position. And so Jane Eyre actually empathizes with that. She says, okay, I can kind of see where it's coming from because even if he showed me to be somebody who thinks really differently, actually he still kind of has to be loyal to his social class. And even if maybe he doesn't marry Blanche Ingram, he still has to marry her. He doesn't love her. Even if he doesn't love Blanche Ingram, he still has to marry her, okay? So she understands this. Now, the one that I want to focus on for this quotation is firstly the verb thought, okay? So this is Jane Eyre reflecting on the importance of class in Mr. Rochester's consideration as to who he marries. Also the adjective influenced, okay? This idea that, you know, she first thought that Mr. Rochester was very strong-minded. He doesn't really care about who he marries in terms of class, but then she realizes, on second thought, I think this is really important to him. And also you want to focus on the abstract noun ideas and principles. And of course this is to do with the general ideas and principles within Victorian society, which was you have to marry somebody who's of a similar social status to you, okay? The next quotation which ties into the theme of class is when this is in Jane Eyre's young mind, okay? This is when she's considering poverty and the prospect of even being kicked out of the reed household and why she should be thankful to be treated like this terrible orphan, okay? And she realizes that poverty looks grim to grown people, okay? And here what you want to focus on is the alliteration of G and Grim and Grown. And of course, again here, what this is illustrating is how lowly working class people were looked upon, especially by the adult world, but even by children, okay? This idea that anything to do with working class, anything to do with poverty was seen almost as a stain on, and if somebody associated with a poor working class person, this also could stain their background and record, okay? So Jane Eyre, especially when she was young, she was really scared of being cast out of the reed household because she might herself also become poor, but of course it became unbearable being mistreated the way she was just because she was a poor orphan, okay? Now the next quotation you want to focus on is how Jane Eyre sees Mrs. Fairfax when she first starts working as a governess in Mr. Rochester's household, okay? So she realizes Mrs. Fairfax also follows the same kind of principles in terms of class and she really looks up to Mr. Rochester, okay? So remember that Mrs. Fairfax has been working for Mr. Rochester as well as Jane Eyre, who's a governess, they're both working class, okay? And Jane Eyre realizes that Mrs. Rochester follows what is expected of working class people. She looks up to people like Mr. Rochester, puts them on a pedestal, looks up to them and thinks that they're amazing because they're upper class. And this is illustrated in the following quotation. The good lady evidently belongs to this class, Ellipsis. Mr. Rochester and her eyes are gentlemen. So here of course we can see that Mrs. Fairfax really elevates Mr. Rochester to this position as her social superior, okay? And Jane Eyre kind of sees her as belonging to this class of working class people who really worship and put on a pedestal upper class people, okay? Again, during Victorian, in the Victorian era, in Victorian society, people who were working class in many ways saw the upper class as somehow superior to them, as somehow morally better than them, somehow socially better than them, okay? And what Jane Eyre's noticing is that Mrs. Fairfax holds these opinions too. The word love analysis you want to focus on for this is firstly the notion of class, which is mentioned and it's an abstract noun, and also the assonance of E in Rochester as well as her eyes and gentlemen, and finally the adjective gentleman, which of course denotes a certain class of man during the Victorian era. This was a rich man who was considered to be a Victorian gentleman. There were upper class, they dressed in a certain way, for example, they'd wear a top hat, long tailcoats and so on, okay? So Mr. Rochester belonged to this elite group of people. However, Mrs. Fairfax also really looked up to men like Mr. Rochester, okay? The next quotation, which adds into the theme of class is when Jane, so she is starting to really consider, even if she's falling in love with Mr. Rochester, this is before she realizes that he also is in love with her, but as she's falling in love with him and he has disappeared as he used to on the weekend and he's gone away and she can't stop thinking about him, however, she's trying to remind herself they're not the same social class, so she cannot afford to fall in love with him and she tells herself, he's not of your order, keep to your class, okay? So here, what she is trying to remind herself is, Jane, your governance, your working class, you're not the same as Mr. Rochester, he is on a pedestal and you are beneath him and any kind of relationship is forbidden and it's impossible, okay? So she's trying to remind herself of this because she really is falling in love with him but she doesn't want to because she knows that society will never accept this. The one love analysis you want to focus on is firstly, the repetition of the possessive pronoun, your, okay? So he's not of your order, your class. Also, you want to focus on the adjective, class, okay? So this notion of Jane working class people being of a certain class, of a certain almost racial group that's different to upper class people and finally, Jane talks to herself in an imperative sentence. Remember, an imperative sentence is a sentence that issues a command. She tells herself, stop falling in love with Mr. Rochester, keep to your class, okay? And this imperative sentence, again, reflects how many Victorian people, especially upper class Victorian people, would probably tell a working class person, no, you can never marry an upper class person, keep to your class, okay? So again, what this is illustrating is the social, the stark social divides that existed between the upper classes, middle classes and working classes, okay? They just never mixed. The next quotation, which ties in to class, of course, this is tying in back to Mr. Rochester marrying or the prospect of him marrying Blanche in Grimm because she was of a similar social status. Jane Eyre believes he was going to marry her ellipsis, her rank and connections suited him. And of course here, the word of analysis you want to focus on is the repetition of the third person pronoun, her. And again, what this is illustrating is this notion of class being very important because also with class, somebody when they marry someone, especially of a higher social class, they have a higher social rank, but also they have good social connections, okay? And this is something that Jane Eyre believes is really important to Mr. Rochester, but then she later realizes that he doesn't really value it as much as she thought he did, okay? The next quotation, so now this is Mr. Rochester showing actually he thinks differently, whilst a lot of upper class people would have probably married someone like Miss Ingrim, so Blanche Ingrim, they probably would have followed what was expected of them. Mr. Rochester sees things differently, okay? So first, if you see this, and this is foreshadowed, once Jane Eyre saves his life, okay? So this is when Bertha Mason we later discover is the one that sets a fire in his room, however she saves his life, okay? And he is so happy that she does, but also he sees, he starts showing that he sees Jane Eyre in a different light, okay? He doesn't see her in terms of class, he sees her for the person that she is. And Mr. Rochester states, you have saved my life, I have a pleasure in owing you so immensely, okay? Now the word of the nurses you want to focus on here is firstly the verb saved, okay? Again, this illustrates that Jane Eyre actually is unique just because she's working class doesn't necessarily mean she is lower than Mr. Rochester, actually she's on that had the power to save him, okay? And also the fact that Mr. Rochester feels an immense debt, okay, and of course this is hyperbole over exaggeration. And here we can see that Mr. Rochester, just like how Jane Eyre's mom went against her class and still married a poor clergyman, Mr. Rochester is beginning to consider marrying Jane Eyre, he's falling in love with her, okay, in spite of their social differences. The final quotation again, this is tying into how Mr. Rochester, we get the sense that he will ignore these social boundaries and these class boundaries between him and Jane Eyre, he states, I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you. And so this is when he's talking to Jane Eyre, he's basically saying, I have a really different feeling when I talk to you, a different sensation. And of course, what this is illustrating is that he sees Jane for the person that she is not so much for the class that she belongs to, okay. And here he wants to go and, you know, go beyond the social class divisions that exist between him and Jane Eyre. And of course he does ultimately do so and proposes to marry her, okay. Now the one of the analysis you want to focus on is precisely the repetition of the first person pronoun I, okay, it's repeated. And of course, rather actually it's not repeated, there's a contrast in pronouns between the first person pronoun I, this is to do with Mr. Rochester, versus when he is referring to Jane Eyre using the pronoun U, okay. So here of course there's just position and pronouns, illustrates that they are different people, of course they also belong to different classes, but Mr. Rochester sees that as not something that should keep them separate, but they can reconcile it, and this only makes Jane more intriguing as a person to him. Also you want to focus on the adjective queer, this idea that he has a queer feeling, a strange feeling about Jane Eyre again. What this is hinting and foreshadowing is that he will probably fall in love with her and he's gonna ignore these class divisions, okay. So that's really it when it comes to the theme of class in Jane Eyre. Thanks so much for listening.