Jane Eyre, Chapter XXIII quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What season and occasion mark the setting of Chapter 23?

   • Correct answer: Midsummer Eve at Thornfield
   • An autumn evening at Lowood
   • A spring morning at Thornfield
   • Christmas Eve at Gateshead

   The chapter opens on Midsummer Eve during a spell of gorgeous summer weather at Thornfield Hall.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Where does Rochester tell Jane she will work after leaving Thornfield?

   • Lowood School, as a teacher once again
   • Correct answer: Bitternutt Lodge in Connaught, Ireland
   • Madeira, with her uncle John Eyre
   • Ingram Park, twenty miles from Thornfield

   Rochester says he has found her a position teaching the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O'Gall at Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland.

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3. 3

   Question 3. How did Rochester test Blanche Ingram's true feelings for him?

   • He openly courted the governess to provoke Blanche's jealousy
   • He asked Blanche and her mother to stay at Thornfield for a month
   • Correct answer: He spread a rumor that his fortune was much smaller than believed
   • He announced that Adele would be sent to a distant boarding school

   Rochester caused a rumor to reach Blanche that his fortune was not a third of what was supposed. Both she and her mother turned cold, proving her interest was purely financial.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Jane compare the necessity of leaving Rochester to?

   • An ensnared, frantic bird
   • A voyage across the ocean
   • Burial among inferior minds
   • Correct answer: The necessity of death

   Jane says: "it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you for ever. I see the necessity of departure; and it is like looking on the necessity of death."

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5. 5

   Question 5. What metaphor does Rochester use to describe his connection to Jane?

   • A wild frantic bird rending its own plumage in desperation
   • The sea as a barrier separating England from Ireland
   • An iron chain uniting two prisoners in a single dungeon
   • Correct answer: A string knotted under his left ribs tied to a similar string in Jane

   Rochester describes "a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame."

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Rochester say when he proposes to Jane?

   • "You are the only woman I have ever truly loved in all my life."
   • Correct answer: "My bride is here, because my equal is here, and my likeness."
   • "Without you beside me, Thornfield would be utterly unbearable."
   • "Your spirit has conquered mine completely, and I am yours to command."

   Rochester declares: "My bride is here, because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?"

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7. 7

   Question 7. Who sees Rochester kissing Jane in the hall at the end of the chapter?

   • Correct answer: Mrs. Fairfax
   • Blanche Ingram
   • Adele
   • Grace Poole

   Mrs. Fairfax emerges from her room and witnesses Rochester kissing Jane repeatedly. She stands "pale, grave, and amazed."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What literary device does Bronte primarily use when the storm erupts after the proposal?

   • Epistolary form
   • Unreliable narrator
   • Correct answer: Pathetic fallacy
   • Understatement

   Pathetic fallacy is the attribution of human emotions to nature. The violent storm and lightning-struck tree mirror the turmoil and foreshadow the destruction awaiting Jane and Rochester's engagement.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • Jane voluntarily tells Rochester she loves him before he proposes.

     Happened

     Yes. Overcome with grief at the prospect of leaving, Jane passionately declares her feelings, saying she loves Thornfield because she has known Rochester there, and that the barrier between them is "from you, sir."

   • Rochester admits to Jane that he is already legally married.

     Didn't happen

     No. Although Rochester proposes and Jane accepts, he does not reveal his existing marriage to Bertha Mason in this chapter. His whispered "God pardon me!" hints at his secret, but the truth is not revealed until later.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "automaton" mean as Jane uses it in her famous speech?

    • A servant legally bound to work for a master
    • A person of humble birth and low social standing
    • Correct answer: A mechanical device or person who acts without feeling
    • A self-governing individual acting by independent will

    Jane asks: "Do you think I am an automaton?--a machine without feelings?" An automaton is a mechanical device that imitates human action, and Jane uses it to reject the idea that she is unfeeling.

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11. 11

    Question 11. In context, what does "expiate" mean when Rochester says "It will expiate at God's tribunal"?

    • Correct answer: To make amends or atone for wrongdoing
    • To celebrate or commemorate with ceremony
    • To discuss a subject at considerable length
    • To expire, die, or come to an end

    Rochester says "It will expiate at God's tribunal," meaning he believes his actions will serve as atonement before God. This reflects his guilty conscience about the secret he is hiding.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "incredulous" mean when the narrator says Jane was "still incredulous"?

    • Physically exhausted and trembling
    • Easily persuaded; too ready to believe
    • Furious, resentful, and indignant
    • Correct answer: Unwilling or unable to believe something

    "Still I did not answer, and still I writhed myself from his grasp: for I was still incredulous." Incredulous means unable to believe something -- Jane cannot believe Rochester genuinely wants to marry her.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does Adele tell Jane the morning after the proposal?

    • That Blanche Ingram and her mother have unexpectedly arrived
    • Correct answer: That the great horse-chestnut tree was struck by lightning and split in half
    • That Mrs. Fairfax is disappointed and upset about the engagement
    • That a moth from the West Indies has been found in the orchard

    Little Adele runs in to tell Jane that the great horse-chestnut at the bottom of the orchard has been struck by lightning in the night, and half of it split away.

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