The Two Janes: Jane Eyre and the Narrative Problem in Chapter 23

Abstract

Throughout Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë distinguishes between Jane Eyre as a first-person narrator who lends her voice to the narrative, and Jane’s remembered self, whose actions, thoughts and feelings are the narrative focus. Although Charlotte Brontë’s distinction between these two Janes affects the narrative structure and representation of character throughout the novel, in Chapter 23 Charlotte Brontë exploits the knowledge gap between her narrator-Jane and the remembered self. Examining Charlotte Brontë’s manipulation of this gap, this paper considers Charlotte Brontë’s deliberate development of a dubious narrative authority and its implications for the interpretation of the novel.