First things first. I do not think Jane Eyre is an utterly
melodramatic novel. It is more the Victorian emphasis on emotions or feelings that
charges the text of the novel with certain elements of
melodrama.
The stereotypical aspects of the various stages
of Jane's life from her state of bondage in Gateshead hall, her sevre oppression in the
school where she is sent in the Lowood episode--all have melodramatic colourings. The
way the characters are built with contrasting patterns as in Jane and Helen in Lowood
have melodramatic aspects. The moment of Helen's death and Jane's presence alongside her
and the incarceration within the red room earlier in Gateshead Hall are pertinent
examples.
The Gothic experience in Thornfield Hall,
especially the violent colour symbolism associated with Bertha, the sequence of Bertha's
death and the burning of Thornfield Hall, Rochester's disability are still melodramatic
markers in the novel.
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