Jane Eyre Fairy Tales u6a9

Gionti/AP English

Fairy Tales and Jane Eyre The story line of Jane Eyre contains many similarities to several wellknown fairy tales. As we read the novel, it is important to have a solid understanding of these tales. Directions: For this assignment, you will research four fairy tales, making a chart containing the information. This chart will help with your analysis of how these allusions contribute to plot, theme and characterization in the novel. Make a chart with information about the following fairy tales: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Cinderella (Reference the Grimm’s Brothers version) Sleeping Beauty Bluebeard Beauty and the Beast Little Red Riding Hood

In your chart, include the following information:    

Characters Basic plot summary (in your own words – about 150 of them) Key symbols or items in the story Themes of the work

The chart is due with your chart based on How to Read Lit Like a Professor, when we finish the novel. Do not just copy a plot summary from an online source. As this is an AP class, you should be reading the original fairy tales and write your summary for there. The stories are all widely available online.

Gionti/AP English

Fairy Tales and Jane Eyre: Comparison Chart Fairy tale

Fairy tale brief summary

Where fairy tale is seen in Jane Eyre (provide specific evidence)

Cinderella (Grimm Brothers’ Version)

Cinderella lives with her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella slaves away until one day, a king chooses her to be his bride.

Jane also does not have parents and lived with her aunt and cousins who happen to be cruel too.

Sleeping Beauty

A princess is placed in a curse where she will die before her 16th birthday. A counter-curse is placed for which the princess must be kissed by her true love.

Bessie can be seen as the 12th fairy who cares for Helen, the princess. Mr. Rochester can be seen as Prince Charming and his estate can be seen as the castle in Jane Eyre.

Bluebeard

A wealthy royal has had many different wives, but no one knows what happened to them until his new wife reveals that he had murdered all of his former wives and placed them in the basement.

The allusion to Bluebeard can be seen when Bertha escapes from being locked up by Mr. Rochester.

Why does Bronte allude to this fairy tale? What does this tell us about the character(s) and perhaps the purpose of the work overall? Bronte used this allusion to Cinderella to foreshadow that Jane will find happiness like how Cinderella did. This allusion shows that Jane Eyre has been influenced by many major works.

Bronte used the allusion of Sleeping Beauty and the princess’s curse to show that anything is possible with perseverance. Jane was able to defeat the Victorian class system with the help of her loved ones and a lot of perseverance. The purpose of this allusion is to emphasize the feminist ideas of Jane Eyre. It shows that women were too complacent to men during the Victorian era and did not strive for independence.

Gionti/AP English Beauty and the Beast

Little Red Riding Hood

A merchant asks his daughters what they want from his business trip. The daughters want materialistic objects except for one, who asks for her father to return safely. The merchant cuts a rose from a garden for one of his daughter, but a beast appears and punishes him to death for stealing. He makes a deal with the beast and the daughters are allowed to live with the beast. One of the daughter is magically able to turn the beast into a prince with her true affection. Little Red Riding Hood was on her way to her grandmother’s house when a rogue ninja wolf beat her to her grandmother’s house, jailed her grandmother, and wore her clothes. The wolf tried eating Little Red Riding Hood but with the help of some woodcutters, they defeated the wolf.

Mr. Rochester asks Jane if he is handsome, but Jane frankly answers that he is not. However, physical appearances become irrelevant later in the story when Jane is able to solidify a ionate relationship with Mr. Rochester.

This allusion shows that true love is not always about the appearance of someone. Non-conflicting personalities is more important for a good relationship. Mr. Rochester was not even handsome to Jane, and he even becomes even uglier later in the story when he loses his fingers and hand in the fire, but Jane had always been attracted to him from the start.

Bronte directly refers to the wolf when Jane talks back to Mr. Brocklehurst at Lowood, “What a great nose! And what a mouth! And what large, prominent teeth!” This direct allusion is used to show that Mr. Brocklehurst will be of no help to Jane anywhere in the story.

Personally, I felt that this reference was trivial to the plot development of Jane Eyre. It served to provide a comic relief during Jane’s gloomy time at Lowood as a child.

Gionti/AP English

Why does Bronte allude to so many fairy tales in her novel? Consider what Foster said in How to Read Literature Like a Professor in your response.

Bronte alluded to these fairy tales to emphasize the Victorian attitude toward women and economic status. These inclusions require the reader to have a decent knowledge of tales, but does not necessarily take away meaning from the story without the knowledge. They also provide flashes of comic relief in the ever-so gloomy life of Jane Eyre.