This definitions covers Key Terms within Jane Eyre (character) for GCSE English Literature. Revise Jane Eyre (character) in Jane Eyre for GCSE English Literature with 12 exam-style questions and 18 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 9 of 15 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
📖 Key Terms
- Protagonist
- The central character of a narrative. Jane is both protagonist and first-person narrator — unusual for a female character in 1847.
- Autodiegetic narrator
- A narrator who is also the main character of the story they are telling. Jane is both observer and subject.
- Rhetoric
- The use of language to persuade. Jane's speeches to Rochester and St John use rhetorical questions, anaphora, and logic.
- Moral agency
- The capacity to make independent ethical choices. Brontë builds Jane as a character with full moral agency — she makes choices others tell her not to make.
- Foil
- A character whose contrasting qualities highlight another's. Helen Burns (passive) and Bertha Mason (uncontrolled) are Jane's foils.
- Governess
- An educated woman employed to teach children in a private household. In 1840s England, governesses occupied an unstable social position — too educated for servants, too poor for ladies.
Practice questions for Jane Eyre (character)
In which situation does Jane deliver her 'equal soul' declaration — 'Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?'
Explain how Brontë uses the metaphor in 'I am no bird; and no net ensnares me' to present Jane's character.