Introducing Jane: The Power of the Opening

Abstract

In this article, Kimberley Pager is dedicated to the question »how is Jane's character built from the first page of the novel?«. To answer, a stylistic approach is used to analyse the extract closely and focuses on three powerful elements, all of which contribute to Jane's characterisation: the use of pathetic fallacy, iconicity, and other characters' point of view. It is argued that those implicit elements contribute to readers' first impression of Jane whilst rendering Brontë's style unique and aesthetic.