Lesson video

Hello everyone.

Welcome to our next lesson of "Jane Eyre." In today's lesson, a mysterious stranger from Rochester's past arrives at Thornfield Hall.

And in a terrifying incident, someone is stabbed.

Things are going to get quite scary today, so let's begin.

The texts we're about to read contain some frightening and disturbing descriptions.

Some people may be sensitive to this content.

If that applies to you, you may want to do the rest of this lesson with a trusted adult nearby who can support.

For today's lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, and a pen.

If you do not have this equipment, press the pause button on your video now, go and collect these equipment and then we will begin our lesson.

Let's begin with a recap from our last lesson.

Why is Jane worried about Blanche Ingram's presence at Thornfield? You have four options.

Option one, Blanche Ingram is more attractive than Jane.

Option two, Blanche Ingram is more rich than Jane.

Option three, Rochester may decide to marry Blanche Ingram or option four, Blanche Ingram is more confident than Jane.

Press the pause button on your video now, and tell the screen the right answer.

I will now tell you the right answer which is of course, option three.

Jane is worried about Blanche Ingram's presence at Thornfield, because she is worried that Rochester may decide to marry her.

Right, so this is what Jane's greatly worried about.

Jane loves Rochester, but she's worried that Rochester will choose to marry Blanche Ingram instead.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, some of you may have chosen one of the other options.

You may have chosen option one, Blanche Ingram is more attractive than Jane.

That is true, but that's not why Jane is worried.

Jane is worried that Blanche Ingram is going to steal Rochester's heart.

Some of you may have chosen option two, Blanche Ingram is more rich than Jane, that is also true but that's not why Jane's worried.

Jane is worried that Rochester will choose Blanche Ingram rather than her.

And some of you may have chosen option four, Blanche Ingram is more confident than Jane.

That again seems to be true, but once again, that's not why Jane is worried.

Jane is worried that Rochester will choose to marry this woman rather than choosing to spend his life with Jane.

Okay, well done if you got that right.

Let me now tell you my plan for today's lesson.

First of all, we're going to revise the mysteries around Mr. Rochester.

Then we're going to read our extract, and after that, we're going to think about this question.

How does Bronte create tension in this extract? So let's begin with revising the mysteries around Mr. Rochester.

Throughout this novel so far, Bronte has suggested that this character has many dark secrets.

First of all, it's clear that he regrets some of his behaviour in the past.

We don't know what sort of behaviour this is, but it's clear that Rochester feels great guilt for some of the things that he has done in his past.

Secondly, it's clear that Rochester still suffers from painful memories of the past.

There's some things that have happened to him that still gives Rochester a lot of pain in the present.

Rochester has also avoided Thornfield for a long time.

Again, we don't know why, he likes the way that this building looks, but it's clear that some things happened at Thornfield which has made Rochester dislike spending time at this building.

And next of all, Rochester continues to employ Grace Poole as a servant even though she apparently set his bed on fire.

This is rather mysterious too.

You would expect that Rochester would fire his servant if she really did try to murder him in this way.

As you can see, Bronte has presented Rochester as a very mysterious character throughout this story so far.

It's clear that this troubled gentleman has many dark secrets.

Okay, let's now play true or false.

Number one, the reader knows what terrible things Rochester has done in his past.

Two, some of Rochester's memories still seem to cause him sadness.

Three, Rochester avoids Thornfield Hall because he does not like the look of the building.

Four, it is surprising that Rochester does not fire Grace Poole from her job.

Okay, press that pause button on your video now, go through these four sentences, telling the screen whether each is true or false.

Off you go.

Right, I'll now give you the right answers.

Number one is false.

The reader does not know what terrible things Rochester has done in his past.

While we are aware that Rochester has done some evil things, we do not know what these might be.

Two is true.

Some of Rochester's memories do seem to still cause him sadness.

It's clear that Rochester is still haunted by his past.

And three is false.

Rochester does not avoid Thornfield Hall because he does not like the look of the building, he avoids Thornfield Hall because it's clear that he has some very unpleasant memories of this place.

And four is true.

It is surprising that Rochester does not fire Grace Poole from her job because according to Mr. Rochester, Grace Poole attempted to set his bed on fire.

Okay, well done if you got those right.

Let's now get ready to read our extract.

Now at the beginning of our extract, a mysterious man named Mr. Mason arrives at Thornfield Hall.

Mr. Mason comes from the West Indies.

Here's a map of the world with the West Indies labelled, let's zoom in a bit.

This is West Indies here, it's otherwise sometimes known as the Caribbean.

These islands that are between North America and South America.

So this is where Mr. Mason comes from.

At the beginning of this extract, Jane Eyre goes to see Mr. Rochester to tell him that Mr. Mason has arrived at Thornfield Hall.

Mr. Rochester is rather surprised by this news.

Let's read.

This is what Jane says.

"'I had better not stay long sir, it must be near 11 o'clock.

Oh, are you aware Mr. Rochester, that a stranger has arrived here since you left this morning?' 'A stranger? No, who can it be? I expected no one, is he gone?' 'No, he said he had known you long and that he could take the liberty of installing himself here till you returned.

' 'The devil he did.

Did he give his name?' 'His name is Mason, sir, and he comes from the West Indies from Spanish Town in Jamaica I think.

' Mr. Rochester was standing near me.

He had taken my hand as if to lead me to a chair.

As I spoke, he gave my wrists a convulsive grip.

The smile on his lips froze.

Apparently, a spasm caught his breath." So this description of Rochester's reaction to the news that Mr. Mason has arrived at Thornfield is rather interesting.

Rochester gives Jane's wrist a really tight, convulsive grip.

His smile freezes on his lips, and a spasm catches his breath.

So suddenly he seems rather out of breath right with this news.

It's clear that Rochester is rather disturbed and shocked by this news about Mr. Mason's arrival.

"'Mason, the West Indies?' He said, in the tone of one might fancy, a speaking automaton to enounce its single words.

'Mason, the West Indies.

' He reiterated.

And he went over the syllables three times, growing in the intervals of speaking whiter than ashes.

He hardly seemed to know what he was doing.

'Do you feel ill sir?' I inquired.

'Jane, I've got a blow.

I've got a blow Jane.

' He staggered.

'Oh, lean on me sir.

' 'Jane, you offered me your shoulder once before.

Let me have it now.

' 'Yes, sir, yes, and my arm.

' He sat down and made me sit beside him.

Holding my hand in both his own, he chafed it, gazing on me, at the same time with the most troubled and dreary look, 'My little friend.

' Said he, 'I wish I were in a quiet island with only you and trouble, and danger, and hideous recollections and memories removed from me.

'" So these words are once again very interesting.

As Rochester processes this news that Mr. Mason has arrived at his house, he is described as being whiter than ashes.

So his face has grown very, very pale.

It's clear that he's very disturbed by this news.

And he repeats these words over and over again.

Mason, the West Indies.

Now you may soon learn that Mr. Rochester actually used to live in the West Indies.

So maybe Rochester knows Mr. Mason from the time of his life in which he was living in the West Indies.

It's clear that Mr. Rochester remembers this man from his past.

And here we really get a clear reflection of Rochester's love for Jane.

As he's very disturbed by this news, he looks at Jane and he says, "If only I were in a quiet island only with you." Rochester recognises that he could experience happiness and peace if there was only him and Jane that existed in the world alone.

And he says that with only Jane and nobody else, an island to themselves, all these hideous recollections and memories would be removed from me.

So it's been implied here that Rochester remembers Mr. Mason from his past, right? And Mr. Mason reminds Mr. Rochester about some very unpleasant memories from his past.

Let's continue to read.

So as you can see, Mr. Mason is a very mysterious man.

Now, Mr. Mason stays at Thornfield Hall this very night.

And Jane, before she goes to bed, looks outside of the night sky.

And everything seems rather peaceful.

"I had forgotten to draw my curtain, which I usually did, and also to let down my window-blind.

The consequence was that when the moon which was full and bright, for the night was fine, came in her course to that space in the sky opposite my casement and looked in at me through the unveiled window panes, her glorious gaze roused me.

Awaking in the dead of night, I opened my eyes on her disc.

Silver-white, and crystal clear.

It was beautiful, but too solemn.

I have rose, and stretched my arm to draw the curtain.

Good God, what a cry! The night, its silence, its rest, was rent in twain by a savage, a sharp, a shrilly sound that run forth from end to end of Thornfield Hall.

My pulse stopped, my heart stood still, my stretched arm was paralysed.

The cry died and was not renewed.

It came out of the third storey, for it passed overhead.

And overhead.

Yes, in the room just above my chamber ceiling.

I now heard a struggle, a deadly one.

It seemed from the noise and a half-smothered voice shouted, 'Help, help, help.

' Three times rapidly.

'Oh, will no one come?' It cried, and then while the staggering and stumping went on wildly, I distinguished through plank and plaster.

'Rochester, Rochester, For God's sake come.

' A chamber door opened.

Someone ran or rushed along the gallery.

Another step stumped on the flooring above and something fell.

And there was silence.

I had put on some clothes, though horror shook all my limbs.

I issued from my apartment.

The sleepers were all aroused.

Ejaculations, terrified murmurs sounded in every room.

Door after door unclosed.

One looked out, another looked out.

The gallery filled.

Gentlemen and ladies alike, had quitted their beds.

And 'Oh, what is it?' 'Who is hurt?' 'What has happened?' 'Fetch a light.

' 'Is it fire?' 'Are there robbers?' 'Where shall we run?' Was demanded confusedly on all hands.

But for the moonlight they would have been in complete darkness.

They ran to and fro, they crowded together.

Some sobbed, some stumbled.

The confusion was inextricable.

And the door of the end of the gallery opened.

And Mr. Rochester advanced with a candle.

He had just descended from the upper storey, and dangerous he looked.

His black eyes darted sparks.

Calming himself by an effort he added, 'A servant has had the nightmare, that is all.

She's an excitable, nervous person.

She construed her dream into an apparition or something of that sort.

No doubt and has taken a fit with fright.

Now then, I must see you all back into your rooms, for till the house is settled, she cannot be looked after.

'" So with this news, everybody goes back to their rooms. But Mr. Rochester asks Jane to stay with him.

Once they are alone, Rochester says these words, "I want you." Rochester said.

"Come this way, take your time and make no noise." I wonder what Rochester is going to show Jane.

"I saw a room I remembered to have seen before.

The day Mrs. Fairfax showed me over the house, it was hung with tapestry, but the tapestry was now looped up in one part and there was a door apparent, which had been concealed.

This door was open.

A light shone out of the room within.

I heard thence a snarling, snatching sound, almost like a dog quarrelling.

Mr. Rochester, putting down his candle, said to me, 'Wait a minute.

' And he went forward to the inner apartment.

A shout of laughter greeted his entrance.

Noisy at first and terminating in Grace Poole's own goblin, ha ha ha.

She then was there.

He made some sort of arrangement without speaking, though I heard a low voice address him.

He came out and closed the door behind him.

'Here, Jane.

' He said.

And I walked round to the other side of a large bed, which with its drawn curtains, concealed the considerable portion of the chamber.

An easy chair was near the bed-head.

A man sat in it, dressed with the exception of his coat.

He was still.

His head leant back.

His eyes were closed.

Mr. Rochester held the curtain over him.

I recognised in his pale and seemingly lifeless face, the stranger, Mason.

I saw too, that his linen on one side, and one arm, was almost soaked in blood." So Mr. Mason has clearly been attacked by this strange woman who we think might be Grace Poole.

Mr. Rochester, and Jane now treat Mr. Mason's wounds.

"Here then I was in the third storey, fastened into one of its mystic cells, night around me.

A pale and bloody spectacle under my eyes and hands, a murderess hardly separated from me by a single door.

Yes, that was appalling.

The rest I could bear.

But I shuttered at the thoughts of Grace Poole bursting out upon me.

Amidst all this, I had to listen as well as watch, to listen for the movements of a wild beast or the fiend in yonder side's den.

Then my own thoughts worried me.

What crime was this, that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion, and could neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner.

What mystery that broke out now in fire, and now in blood at the deadest hours of night? What creature was it that mastered an ordinary's woman's face and shape, uttered the voice, now of a mocking demon, and anon of a carrion-seeking bird of prey?" Now, Mr. Mason now is covered in blood, but he wakes up and he explains to Rochester and Jane the attack that he has suffered.

"'She stabbed and bit me.

' Mr. Mason, murmured.

'She worried and attacked me like a tigress.

When Rochester got the knife from her, she sucked the blood.

She said she'd drain my heart.

' I saw Mr. Rochester shudder.

A singularly marked expression of disgust, horror, hatred, warped his countenance almost to distortion, but he only said, 'Come, be silent, Richard, and never mind her gibberish.

And don't repeat it.

'" So Jane and Rochester successfully managed to stop Mr. Mason from bleeding.

And Mr. Mason goes to sleep.

And Jane then has a conversation with Rochester.

Jane asks Rochester, whether he will fire Grace Poole after it's so clear that Grace Poole has attacked Mr. Mason? Rochester though, says that he will continue to employ Grace Poole as his servant.

Okay, let's now test your understanding about the main things that happened in our extract.

I'll first of all explain, I'll first of all summarise what's just happened.

First of all, a man from the West Indies named Mr. Mason arrives at Thornfield Hall.

After this, Rochester is very nervous to hear that Mr. Mason is at Thornfield.

Later that night, Mr. Mason is attacked and stabbed.

Jane believes that Grace Poole is the culprit, and Rochester still refuses to fire Grace Poole from her job.

Press the pause button on your video now, read through those four points, and then we will test your memory.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now test your memory.

Go through these four sentences and tell the screen the full sentences including the words in blank.

Off you go.

Right, let's now take a look at the right answers.

Number one, a man from the West Indies named Mr. Mason arrives at Thornfield Hall.

Two, Rochester is very nervous to hear that Mr. Mason is at Thornfield.

Three, later that night, Mr. Mason is attacked and stubbed.

Jane believes that Grace Poole is the culprit.

And four, Rochester still refuses to fire Grace Poole from her job.

Well done if you got those right.

Let's now test your understanding of this extract.

Which of these statements is true? Option one, Jane watches Grace Poole attack Mr. Mason.

Option two, Mr. Mason says that he was attacked by Grace Poole.

Option three, Mr. Mason does not state who attacks him.

Jane assumes this is Grace Poole.

Or option four, Grace Poole claims that she attacked Mr. Mason.

Press the pause button on your video now, and tell the screen the right answer.

Off you go.

I will now tell you the right answer, which is option three.

Mr. Mason does not actually state who attacks him and Jane assumes this is Grace Poole.

We must remember that Jane did not watch Grace Poole commit this crime.

Jane assumes that Grace Poole attacked Mr. Mason.

Well done if you got that right, you may have chosen though, option one, that Jane watches Grace Poole attack Mr. Mason, that's not quite true.

Instead, Mr. Mason describes how he was attacked.

And we do not know whether this was Grace Poole.

Mr. Mason does not say.

Some of you may have chosen option two, Mr. Mason says he was attacked by Grace Poole.

Again, that's not true.

Mr. Mason doesn't actually tell us who attacked him.

And some of you may have chosen option four, that Grace Poole claims that she attacked Mr. Mason.

Again, that's not true.

Okay, let's now have a think about how Bronte creates tension in this extract.

I think the first way that Bronte makes this extract really tense is through her use of unanswered questions.

She raises lots of questions for us as the reader, and provides very few answers.

I mean, first of all, we've got this man Mr. Mason, who arrives at Thornfield Hall.

We don't really know who he is, and we do not know why he's actually at Thornfield Hall.

Next of all, we've got this question, why is Rochester shocked when he hears that Mr. Mason is there to see him? We can assume that Rochester knows Mr. Mason from his past, but we don't know anything else.

What does Mr. Mason remind Rochester of? How does Mr. Rochester know this man? We also don't know why Rochester doesn't fire Grace Poole after she apparently stabs Mr. Mason.

You would assume that Rochester would fire the servant if she really did attack this guest of the house.

And finally, we've got this question, is Grace Poole really Mr. Mason's attacker? This servant, she always seems to be very calm and rather normal, could this servant really be the craze maniac that Jane heard just behind that door? So as you can see, we have lots of unanswered questions and very, very few clues or answers provided by Bronte.

This creates a sense of mystery in the extract.

And once again adds to our sense that something very evil is happening at Thornfield Hall.

Okay, press the pause button on your video now, and take some notes on these ideas.

Off you go.

Now I think the next way that Bronte creates a tense atmosphere in this extract is through her really frightening descriptions of Mr. Mason's attacker.

First of all, she uses language that seems to connect Mr. Mason's attacker with a supernatural.

She describes how this attacker has goblin laughter.

So she's using a sort of fantastical language here to describe how this attacker's manic laughter is similar to one of these supernatural monsters.

It's similar to the sort of horrible laughter that a very evil goblin might make.

And then we've got this quite weird description here from Mr. Mason.

He says that "She sucked the blood, she said she'd drained my heart." And I'd suggest that Bronte is basically comparing this attacker to a vampire here.

A vampire is another supernatural creature.

They never die and they sustain their life through sucking human blood from their victims. And so Bronte not only compares this attacker to a goblin, it's also been compared to a vampire here as well.

You could say that this is an example of Gothic imagery here.

Bronte's been inspired in her descriptions by all sorts of different Gothic stories and there's different sort of horrible monsters that are contained in these stories.

So that's the first way that this attacker, the descriptions of this attacker seemed to be really frightening.

This attacker is connected to the supernatural.

The second way that this attacker is made to seem very frightening is through Bronte's use of animalistic language.

Now, if you describe someone as being animalistic, your suggesting that they are like a wild animal.

They have qualities or characteristics that are not so much like a human, but more like an animal.

And that's certainly how this attacker is described.

Mason says that she bit him like a tigress.

A tigress is a female tiger.

So this is a simile here.

And this simile conveys the ferocity and the violence of this attack.

Mr. Mason doesn't so much describe being attacked by a woman, it's more like being attacked by some sort of savage tiger.

So this really conveys how frightening and violent and wild, this attacker seems. She also snarls from her locked room and bangs the door.

Some of you might have dogs at home and sometimes when your dogs are angry, they might snarl.

A wild animal tends to snarl to ward off, and the animals might attack.

And this description of this lady snarling, once again, seems to be describing her as if she's some sort of wild animal getting ready to devour its prey.

Great.

So press the pause button on your video now, and take some notes on these ideas.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now do some writing.

How does Bronte create tension in this extract? So you're going to write two paragraphs today.

This is going to be the first sentence that you write for paragraph one.

Bronte firstly creates tension through raising many unanswered questions for her readers.

You've then got these key words and phrases that you can use to help you write paragraph one.

After you've finished paragraph one, you're going to move to paragraph two.

Paragraph two will begin with this sentence here.

Bronte secondly creates tension through her terrifying descriptions of Mr. Mason's attacker.

And you've got some key words and phrases.

Also a few quotations that you can use to help you write this paragraph here.

Press the pause button on your video now, and complete these two paragraphs in your book or on your page.

Off you go.

Let's now take a look at two exemplar paragraphs.

Here's our acceptable answer to this question.

Bronte firstly creates tension through raising many unanswered questions for her readers.

Mr. Mason arrives at Thornfield to see Mr. Rochester, but it is not clear why.

Mr. Rochester seems to be shocked and nervous by the news that Mr. Mason has come to see him.

It seems that Mr. Rochester probably knew Mr. Mason from his past.

Maybe Rochester has an unpleasant memory connected with Mr. Mason.

Bronte thus creates tension by not revealing the solutions to these mysteries to her readers.

Bronte secondly creates tension through her terrifying descriptions of Mr. Mason's attacker.

There seems to be something supernatural about this woman.

She laughs like a goblin.

This is very scary.

Mr. Mason also says that, "She sucked the blood.

She said she'd drain my blood." These words suggest that this attacker is like a vampire.

This person also seems to be animalistic.

Mr. Mason says that she attacked him like a tigress.

This demonstrates that she was violent and wild, because a tigress is a dangerous animal.

Okay, so that is your acceptable answer.

You might have read through those two paragraphs there, and decided there's something there that you want to take, in order to improve your answers.

If you would like to improve your paragraphs, press the pause button on your video now and improve your paragraphs.

Off you go.

Okay, let's now take a look at our good answer.

How does Bronte create tension in this extract? Bronte firstly creates tension through raising many unanswered questions for her readers.

The mysterious Mr. Mason arrives at Thornfield with no notice and no understandable motive.

Rochester seems to be greatly perplexed by the arrival of his enigmatic guest.

Bronte may be hinting that this troubled gentlemen has a history of Mr. Mason, perhaps in the West Indies.

It is clear that Mr. Mason's appearance awakens terrifying ghosts from Rochester's past, but the writer teases her readers through hinting towards such possibilities while providing no clear answers.

Rochester and Mr. Mason both remain shrouded in mystery.

Bronte secondly creates tension through her terrifying descriptions of Mr. Mason's attacker.

The writer uses fantastical language to describe this maniac's bizarre goblin laughter.

Such language makes Mr. Mason's attackers seem both sinister and unearthly.

Indeed, Bronte also connects this lady to a vampire through Mason's gruesome description of his attacker trying to suck his blood.

This is no mere human being.

Indeed, the writer hints that this violent individual has lost all of her humanity.

She is described in animalistic language.

She attacks Mr. Mason, like a tigress and snarls outside the door like a wild animal preparing to devour its prey.

Most terrifying of all, Bronte keeps the identity of this woman obscured to the reader.

We do not know whether to trust Jane's assumption that Grace Poole is the deplorable creature behind this terrible crime.

If you've seen some things in those two paragraphs there, that you'd like to use yourself, press the pause button on your video now, and improve your work.

Off you go.

Okay, so here's the credits for today's lesson.

Well, that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Well done for all of your hard work.

Join us in our next lesson when Rochester decides who he will marry.

Will he choose Jane Eyre, the love of his life, or will he choose to marry the rich and the beautiful, Blanche Ingram? I will see you next time.

And before you go, make sure you complete the end-of-lesson quiz.

I'll see you next time.