Jane Eyre, Chapter XX quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What wakes Jane at the beginning of Chapter 20?

   • The smell of burning curtains drifting in from the gallery
   • Mr. Rochester tapping softly at her bedroom door
   • A savage, shrilly scream echoing through Thornfield Hall
   • Correct answer: The full moonlight shining through her uncurtained window

   Jane had forgotten to draw her curtain, so the full, bright moon roused her just before the terrifying shriek rang out.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What excuse does Rochester give the houseguests for the disturbance?

   • He says an overturned candle started a fire in an upper bedroom
   • Correct answer: He says a servant had a nightmare and took a fit with fright
   • He says Pilot broke loose and alarmed the household
   • He says burglars entered, and the servants frightened them away

   Rochester dismisses the incident as "a mere rehearsal of Much Ado about Nothing" and blames it on an excitable, nervous servant.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Which guest seizes Rochester's arm when he first appears in the gallery with a candle?

   • Correct answer: Miss Ingram
   • Amy Eshton
   • Jane Eyre
   • Mrs. Fairfax

   When Rochester advanced with a candle, "One of the ladies ran to him directly; she seized his arm: it was Miss Ingram."

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4. 4

   Question 4. What items does Rochester ask Jane to fetch from her room before entering the third-storey room?

   • A shirt and neck-handkerchief
   • A candle and a warm blanket
   • Correct answer: A sponge and volatile salts
   • A phial and a little glass

   Rochester specifically asks for a sponge and volatile (smelling) salts to use in treating the wounded Mason.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does the surgeon Carter determine that Mason's wounds were not inflicted by a knife alone?

   • Correct answer: He finds teeth marks—the flesh is torn as well as cut
   • He finds a broken piece of glass in the wound
   • Rochester explains what happened before Carter examines Mason
   • Mason tells him before the examination

   Carter discovers that "The flesh on the shoulder is torn as well as cut. This wound was not done with a knife: there have been teeth here!"

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6. 6

   Question 6. What city does Rochester mention when telling Mason to forget about his attacker?

   • Kingston
   • Port of Spain
   • Correct answer: Spanish Town
   • Port Royal

   Rochester tells Mason, "when you get back to Spanish Town, you may think of her as dead and buried." Spanish Town, Jamaica, is connected to Rochester's secret past.

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7. 7

   Question 7. In his hypothetical scenario in the garden, what does Rochester call the obstacle standing between the man and happiness?

   • A religious commandment that his conscience upholds
   • Correct answer: An obstacle of custom—a mere conventional impediment
   • A family obligation to his father and brother
   • A legal prohibition that the law would enforce

   Rochester carefully frames the impediment as conventional rather than legal or moral, asking Jane if the man is "justified in overleaping an obstacle of custom—a mere conventional impediment."

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • Rochester tells the guests that Mason departed early in the morning before they awoke.

     Happened

     At the end of the chapter, Rochester tells Dent and Lynn, "Mason got the start of you all this morning; he was gone before sunrise: I rose at four to see him off."

   • Jane speaks to Mason during the vigil despite Rochester's orders to remain silent.

     Didn't happen

     Jane obeys Rochester's strict command. She does not speak to Mason during the vigil, and Mason also remains silent aside from groans.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does the word "inextricable" mean as used in the sentence "the confusion was inextricable"?

   • Impossible to explain or account for
   • Extremely loud and deafening to the ear
   • Easily sorted out and quickly put right
   • Correct answer: Impossible to disentangle or sort out

   "Inextricable" means impossible to untangle, escape from, or solve. The confusion among the houseguests was so complete it could not be sorted out.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "charlatan" mean when Rochester says he got his cordial from "an Italian charlatan"?

    • Correct answer: A person falsely claiming special knowledge; a fraud
    • A traveling peddler selling remedies and trinkets
    • A skilled chemist who mixes medicines and cordials
    • A respected physician with years of genuine medical training

    A charlatan is a quack or fraud who pretends to have expertise they do not possess. Rochester dismisses the Italian seller as disreputable while still valuing the cordial itself.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "alacrity" mean as used in the phrase "no neat-handed alacrity"?

    • Alarm or a sudden, nervous fright
    • Correct answer: Brisk and cheerful readiness
    • Careful, exact precision
    • Reluctance or slow hesitation

    Alacrity means eager, cheerful willingness to act. Rochester is saying Jane serves him with lively readiness when the task is morally right.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What metaphor does Rochester use to describe his life when speaking with Jane in the garden?

    • A shepherd's pet lamb abandoned beside a wolf's den
    • A storm-tossed vessel drifting without compass or rudder
    • Correct answer: Standing on a crater-crust which may crack and spue fire any day
    • Walking alone through a dark forest without a lantern

    Rochester compares his existence to standing on a volcano, conveying the constant threat that his secret could erupt and destroy everything at any moment.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What religious artwork does Jane observe in the room where she tends Mason?

    • A painting of the Garden of Eden, with Satan disguised as a serpent
    • An antique tapestry of the Crucifixion, hung round the walls of the chamber
    • A stained-glass window showing the Last Supper, with Judas set apart from the rest
    • Correct answer: A cabinet with twelve panels bearing the heads of the twelve apostles, topped by an ebon crucifix

    Jane describes a great cabinet "whose front, divided into twelve panels, bore, in grim design, the heads of the twelve apostles" with an "ebon crucifix and a dying Christ" above them.

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