Scarier Than Fiction

Scarier Than Fiction: How the Supernatural Elements of Jane Eyre Build Up To a Terrifying Reality, and to What End

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ENTIRE NOVEL AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Have you ever felt like you were being watched? We know the scene all too well. Alone, with only silence as a companion. Night has fallen. All the windows are latched and doors locked tightly. Yet, there is a pervading sense of being observed by some unknown force. Someone, or something, is watching our every move. 

Thank goodness I'm writing this during the daytime. (Credit: www.cracked.com)

Terrible horror movie clichés aside, there is something frightening in the unknown, in the unexplainable. There are few things quite as unsettling as a mystery that cannot be solved. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, like many novels of the time, is riddled with supernatural elements and unearthed secrets that make the heroine and reader itch. We know something is not right in Thornfield, but what horrors will we face? Demons? Goblins? Or something worse? As we come to find out, products of the natural world can scare us in ways those of the supernatural simply cannot. Nothing we can dream up can compare with reality.

When Jane arrives at the estate, things seem normal enough. Mrs. Fairfax in no way seems suspicious, and while the exterior of the manse seems a bit forbidding with all the shadows (it being nighttime and all), the interior is, as described by Jane, “cozy and agreeable.” At this point, neither Jane nor we as readers feel there is anything to fear of Thornfield. That is, until Jane hears disconcerting, eerie laughter sounding through the house. We know from previous experiences that Jane tends to exaggerate and become frightened by such things as this (as we recall from the “red room” incident earlier), but even I was troubled by this event. Not knowing enough about Mrs. Fairfax’s character, I was not willing to accept anything she said at face-value, especially something as strange as this. She claims Grace Poole is to blame for the laughter and merely tells her to quiet down. What reason does anyone have for laughing in such a disturbing way? As we find out later, it is a person without reason that is the one responsible for and capable of such a bizarre outburst (and for many other bizarre occurrences).

Things really begin to get suspicious when an unexplained fire nearly claims Mr. Rochester’s life one night. The servants all brush it off as an accident, saying that he simply left a candle un-snuffed, but Jane knows better. Mr. Rochester seems to confirm that Grace Poole is indeed responsible, since he asked about eerie laughter (which Jane heard before the fire) and she told him she thought it to be Mrs. Poole. What does not make sense to her, however, is why a murderess should still live with them. Our suspicions are further roused by the fact that Mr. Rochester wants Jane to keep quiet about what she knows. Why would he willingly put himself at risk? What does he know that has yet to be disclosed to us?

One of the most painful moments in the book is the incident involving Richard Mason, a man who arrives after the other guests in Thornfield and almost loses his life there. The uncertainty surrounding the incident is unbearable for us readers, who know something evil is afoot, but not in what form it resides. A scream for help awakens Jane and awakens our curiosity. Mr. Rochester assures everyone a servant just had a nightmare, but as usual, we know better. We get a little closure this time, at least able to see what has happened: Mason has been stabbed and bitten by whom we can only presume to be Grace Poole. Mr. Rochester again tells Jane to keep quiet about the matter, not allowing her even to speak to Mason while she waits up with him for the rest of the night, staunching the blood and trying to keep him alive. 

Richard Mason (right) being attended to by Carter (left) and observed by Jane (center) after the attack. (Credit: www.google.com)

Supernatural aspects in books are effective for the very reason that they can materialize as anything. Books are not restrained by the rules of the real world, and so it is very possible that the unknown force causing problems in Thornfield is a vampire, goblin, or whatever else you can imagine. This is one of the wonders of fiction. For this reason, it is more terrifying for the so-called supernatural occurrences to be anything but—reality is scary without monsters. It can really happen, which is why the discovery of Bertha Mason is almost enough to make you double-check your doors and windows. Madness is real, capable of contorting people just like us into almost non-human beings, and it still exists today.

Of Bertha Mason, this is the description we are given:

“In the deep shade, at the farther end of the room, a figure ran backwards and forwards. What it was, whether beast or human being, one could not, at first sight tell: it grovelled, seemingly, on all fours; it snatched and growled like some strange wild animal: but it was covered with clothing, and a quantity of dark, grizzled hair, wild as a mane, hid its head and face.” (380)

Bertha obviously doesn't like to be kept waiting either. They're both a little on the crazy side, too. (Credit: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mefwv6Qts81r66m5v.gif) 

If that is not enough incentive to check under your bed at night, I don’t know what is. Bertha is scary because she’s unpredictable, capable of violence, and willing to commit it. More beast than woman, she is a danger to all who encounter her. It is any wonder Jane escaped with a torn veil when Bertha could have torn out her throat. Evil manifests itself in this madwoman whom Mr. Rochester locked away, hoping to conceal from the world. Even when subdued, she is still a threat to what we as readers should crave most: our heroine’s happiness.

Death is probably the highest thing on the list of things that scare us. A close second, I would dare venture, is the inability to obtain happiness. Humans go to great lengths to make themselves happy, willing to do unbelievable things to achieve it. There is a true sense of hopelessness when happiness eludes us and when we know the obstacle standing in our way is insurmountable. In this case, there is no way Jane can marry Rochester while he is still wed to Bertha, no matter how mad she may be. We ache for her, fearing she may never be wed to the man she loves, unconsciously fearing we will not be happy by the time we reach the final page. 

Me after Jane and Rochester don't get married. (Credit: www.google.com)

Jane Eyre is a masterpiece in its ability to evoke raw emotions in us by pitting us against our true foe in this world: reality. We have nothing to fear of monsters, but of other people and what they are capable of. Throughout the novel, Jane comes face to face with so many individuals, fellow human beings, that cause her great anguish and keep her from pursuing happiness. In that way, the novel is timeless. We could all come into contact with people who can decide whether we will live or die at the pull of a trigger, or whether we will be happy or crushed at the acceptance or refusal of a wedding proposal. The supernatural elements and secrets weaved throughout the story build up to a shocking revelation, leading us up the stairs to the third floor of Thornfield where we meet what anyone would fear: something that could happen to any one of us.     

~Justine Camacho

Still not convinced reality is scary? Allow me to direct you here: http://www.cracked.com /article_19503_7-creepy-urban-legends-that-happen-to-be-true-part-521.html

Enjoy!