Mystery and Suspense George Fleischer

What means does Charlotte Bronte employ to create mystery and suspense in Jane Eyre?

Mystery and suspense in Bronte's novel Jane Eyre provides a crucial element to the reader's interpretation of the novel, allowing Bronte to subtly aid the reader in foreboding coming events. Bronte successfully creates mystery and suspense in her novel through the use of both features of plot and narrative techniques. Bronte's features of plot which allow her to create mystery and suspense are the esoteric nature of Grace Poole, the visit of the fortune teller at Thornfield, and the fire in Rochester's bedroom and the subsequent mystery of what is in the attic. Bronte's narrative techniques are the use of literary symbolism and dreams, both of which are used to convey a Gothic and supernatural setting. Through the use of these literary devices, Jane Eyre becomes both cabbalistic and prophetic.

Bronte's character Grace Poole is surrounded by an obscure haze from the reader's first introduction to her, an effective device used in order to create a mysterious atmosphere in the novel. Jane first learns of the occult Grace Poole upon hearing her laugh upon being shown the attic by Mrs Fairfax. Bronte first creates an ambience of mystery through the...