Jane Eyre and Much Ado about Nothing Essay

Charlotte Bronte’s novel, â€Å"Jane Eyre† and William Shakespeare’s play, â€Å"Much Ado about Nothing†, both focus on the themes of love; â€Å"Jane Eyre† was written in 1851, the Victorian era whereas â€Å"Much Ado about Nothing† was written in 1599, the Elizabethan era. Although there may be over hundreds of years between them, both texts exhibit the ways the difficulties of love can be explored. Both texts imply that there will be difficulties as the relationships are established. Charlotte Bronte presents a flourishing relationship between Jane and Mr Rochester; this is evident when Mr Rochester says ‘â€Å"My cherished preserver good night! Strange energy was in his voice. Strange fire in his look. ’ Charlotte Bronte uses passionate language to display the development of love between Jane and Mr Rochester. The word â€Å"cherished† underlines Mr Rochester genuine and tender feelings towards her. Charlotte Bronte has also used the word â€Å"fire† to describe the look in Mr Rochester’s eyes, Bronte has deliberately used this metaphor to symbolise the growing passion, developing between Jane and him. By this point, readers begin to feel and see the developing passion between Mr Rochester and Jane. Bronte gradually establishes the growing passion between the two, as within the ideologies of the Victorian era, Mr Rochester would have been expected to marry someone of his own social class; due to this Bronte challenges the Victorian reader to consider marriage outside a particular social class. Although, Bronte also uses actions instead of dialogue between Jane and Mr Rochester to portray their love and trust developing as well as highlighting the barrier of their opposing social classes, Bronte writes â€Å"But he still retained my hand and I could not free it†. By having Mr Rochester retain Jane’s hand in a simple manner, Charlotte Bronte creates a gradual tension between Jane and Mr Rochester to emphasise Mr Rochester accepting Jane as an equal, regardless of their social barrier. Bronte’s use of language and her short sentence in this quote allows readers to engage in the moment. Bronte achieves this by writing in first person to convey Jane’s internal monologue to the readers in order to allow them to feel pity and sympathy towards Jane later on in the novel. Bronte has also used tender language to portray the simplicity of the hand shake, the word â€Å"retained† highlights the use of Bronte’s use of tender language as the word does not imply force or hurt in anyway, instead the action portrays Mr Rochester’s affection towards Jane. Bronte has disguised Mr Rochester’s respect towards Jane in the form of a handshake to allow the intensity to grow within the two characters; through this Bronte illustrates the trust between Mr Rochester and Jane as well as emphasising on the growing passion between them being confined into a simple handshake. Charlotte Bronte conveys the difficulties of love at the beginning of Mr Rochester and Jane’s relationship by emphasising on their social barrier. However, unlike â€Å"Jane Eyre† William Shakespeare has illustrated a contrasting relationship with very little development between Hero and Claudio that has been merely based upon aesthetics and lust instead of love and trust. When Claudio first notices Hero in Act 1, Scene 1, he says â€Å"Can the world buy such a jewel†. William Shakespeare used metaphorical language in order to present Claudio’s attraction towards Hero. William Shakespeare has compared Hero to a jewel, something that is precious and aesthetically pleasing to the eye to highlight the contrast between the extreme lack of development in their relationship as it’s based on lust rather than love, in comparison to the relationship of Jane and Mr Rochester’s. For readers, it is evident that there is very little experience in Hero and Claudio’s relationship as they are both extreme youthful characters. However, a jewel is also an object, which foreshadows Claudio’s treatment towards Hero further on in the play. In contrast to â€Å"Jane Eyre†, William Shakespeare develops Hero and Claudio’s relationship on nothing but attraction and lust, which highlights the trouble ahead. â€Å"In mine eye, she is the sweetest lady ever I looked on. † Again this really highlights the attraction Claudio has for Hero is purely the result of, first, physical beauty and, second, the desire to marry a noble and virtuous woman. While Claudio can’t be faulted for desiring such qualities in a wife, it is telling that he is ready to marry her after only this first meeting and that he goes to Leonato, not Hero herself, to purpose marriage. This makes the audience doubt the relationship between Claudio and Hero as it’s based only on attraction. Similarly between both texts they both introduce antagonistic characters that pose problems and difficulties to the development of the relationships. Charlotte Bronte develops Jane and Mr Rochester’s relationship slowly, which may make readers doubt the relationship, foreshadowing the trouble ahead. Bronte uses the technique of pathetic fallacy to highlight trouble unravelling further on in the novel. â€Å"The great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard had been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away†. This quote ends the chapter of Jane and Mr Rochester’s proposal. Bronte used nature several times in the novel to underline the approval or disapproval of a situation. In this scene, as soon as Jane accepts Mr Rochester’s proposal, a bolt of lightning strikes the chestnut tree causing it to split in half, representing the trouble that lies ahead for Jane and Mr Rochester; as well as symbolising their hearts metaphorically â€Å"splitting† into two. Charlotte Bronte uses a series of events to foreshadow the upcoming chaos within the novel. Bronte uses the tearing of Jane’s veil to symbolise the upcoming heart break that soon tears her heart in two. Bronte uses Bertha to present clues to Jane by the events in the novel such as the fire and the tearing of the veil. The tension builds as the novel draws closer to the wedding of Jane and Mr Rochester, this allows readers to adapt to the conspiracy that is about to up rise following the wedding, the quote â€Å"I rose. There were no groomsmen, no bridesmaids, no relatives to wait for or marshal; none but Mr Rochester and I. Mrs Fairfax stood in the hall as we passed. I would fain have spoken to her, but my hand was held by a grasp of iron. † Charlotte Bronte presents a tense atmosphere across to readers to exhibit on the darkness of the novel. For a wedding day, there’s an extreme distinction in emotion compared to a normal wedding. Bronte gets across an emotion of numbness from Jane, as it’s supposed to be the happiest day of her life but there was no one present as the wedding apart from Mr Rochester and herself. Bronte uses a range of language techniques to intensify the tension and peculiar atmosphere around Jane’s wedding, Bronte uses semi colons to create shorter and sharper sentences to exhibit Jane’s feelings when she notices the lack of a turn out, although this ends up leading to a bigamy wedding. Bronte has introduced Bertha as an antagonistic character in order to feature the horror within the story to have a big impact on Victorian readers, as Bertha’s existence is unknown to Jane and the audience. This leads to a bigamy wedding between Mr Rochester and Jane; this affects the Victorian reader because during the Victorian era this matter would have been extremely controversial. During the Victorian era, Jane would have been seen as a â€Å"fallen women† if she were to go ahead with the marriage between Mr Rochester and herself, this was seen as being sinful and illegal. However, today Jane would not have been penalised over a decision like this. This allows readers to have a range of opinions on the decision that Jane is left with. Bronte uses contrast to highlight the distinction between Jane and Bertha in order to allow readers to accept Mr Rochester’s justification into why he allowed this event to happen. Bronte writes, â€Å"This young girl who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon. I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout†, Bronte underlines the very obvious distinctions between Jane and Bertha by having Mr Rochester compare them. Charlotte Bronte uses words such as â€Å"grave and quiet† to describe Jane in order to portray her as an innocent young girl who has had the mis-fortune to have been caught up in a bigamy wedding. Against Bronte’s use of innocent language to portray Jane she then presents Bertha by using a strong descriptive language to emphasise on the idea that Bertha is the complete opposite of Jane. Bronte uses the words â€Å"hell†, â€Å"demon† and â€Å"fierce† to describe Bertha in order to allow readers to understand that Bertha is almost a monster. This has a big impact on Mr Rochester as he is left with a decision to make. Although readers have lost respect for Mr Rochester’s character by this point, from the quote we almost feel pity for him as the revelation of Bertha is not only a big shock to Jane but it’s also a big shock to Mr Rochester. Unlike Bronte, Shakespeare presents Don Johns plans through more of a comedic purpose whereas Bronte presents her antagonistic character through a theme of horror. Shakespeare presents Don John’s plans by using the theme of deception and technique of dramatic irony to tear Claudio and Hero apart. In which the audience are put in a powerful position over the characters, as we are made aware of the events that are about to up rise. Don John presents himself as a pure villain throughout the play; Shakespeare deliberately had Don John to admit to his evil nature when he is introduced to the play, â€Å"I am a plain dealing villain, I cannot hide what I am† Shakespeare presents Don John like this to allow the audience to accept his evil nature, in a way this quote clarifies Don John as the meddling character. However, unlike Jane Eyre, Shakespeare uses the technique of dramatic irony to alert the audience of Don Johns plans to interfere between Hero and Claudio’s inexperienced relationship before either Claudio or Hero are aware. Through the deception that Don John is about to cause, Shakespeare creates tension and dread for the audience as we are aware that Hero is the innocent victim amongst all of this. However, when Don John’s plans fail the comedic side of the play is revealed as it portrays him as a foolish character. The difficulties of love can lead to victims of love in which both texts result in awful weddings. Jane and Mr Rochester’s wedding ends with the revelation of Bertha, Mrs Rochester, at this point of the novel the theme of deception is revealed which tears Mr Rochester and Jane apart, this was symbolised earlier on in the novel as the tearing of Jane’s veil. Charlotte Bronte uses Bertha as the impediment of Mr Rochester’s and Jane’s relationship throughout the novel. Bronte writes â€Å"It simply consists in the existence of a previous marriage. Mr Rochester has a wife now living. † Charlotte Bronte’s use of short sentences in this quote emphasises the harshness the reality of Bertha’s revelation had on Mr Rochester and Jane. The short sentences have a shocking effect on readers as it’s simple and severe. The Victorian readers may feel relieved in the sense that it means Jane would not be marrying Mr Rochester. However, the modern day reader would feel pity for Jane as her wedding day should be the happiest day of her life but instead her wedding has turned into a bigamy wedding. However, in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ the shaming of Hero and the theme of deception is seen as Claudio’s lack of trust, jealousy and male pride. Shakespeare writes â€Å"Not to be married, Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton† similarly this quote has a shocking effect on readers as the use of punctuation highlights the clarification of Claudio not wanting to marry Hero which relates back to the very weak foundation on which their relationship was based on. Both texts show that, although there are lesson to be learned, the difficulties of love can be overcome. Jane runs away from Mr Rochester in result of her relationship falling apart due to her bigamy wedding. She fights a constant battle between her heart and head. However, she attempts to fight her natural instinct and nearly ends up marrying St. John but soon accepts that she has to be true to herself in the end. Charlotte Bronte writes â€Å"The waters came into my soul; I sank in deep mire: I felt no standing; I came into deep waters; the floods overflowed me†. Bronte creates imagery through this quote to portray Jane drowning in her sadness and confusion. Readers feel great pity for Jane. However, readers are satisfied as Mr Rochester does get punished for his brutal actions further on in the novel.