The Red Room In Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

What makes a haunted house 'scary?' Is it the mystery, the unknown suspense of what is inside? Is it the feeling people have when inside that environment? These characteristics of being in this setting are known are known as the gothic elements, which are the factors contributing to the eerie scenery. Similar to a haunted house, the red room from chapter two of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is seen as a spooky setting, causing people to feel anxiety and fear while inside. The characteristics and mysteries the red room holds as well as Jane's severe distress throughout the scenery are the gothic elements that significantly contribute to the spooky atmosphere of the setting. The element of a mysterious, suspenseful atmosphere is enhanced through the red room's overwhelming use of the color red, as well as being the place of Mr. Reed's death. As the red room's characteristics are being described, Jane states, "A bed supported on massive pillars of mahogany, hung
Reed's death. While Jane explains Mr. Reed's significance to the red room, she describes, "...her deceased husband; and those last words lies the secret of the red-room, the spell which kept it so lonely in spite of its grandeur. Mr. Reed had been dead nine years: it was in this chamber he breathed his last; here he lay in state; hence his coffin was borne by the under-taker's men, and since that day, a sense of dreary consecration had guarded it from from frequent intrusion," (Brontë 31). Mr. Reed's death in the room conjures up a fear of the unknown, as well as a feeling of his presence in the room. The death is a characteristic of the room's past, creating a sense of uncertainty and fear as well as enhancing the eerie mood of the setting. Through its pure red characteristics, as well as the past death that lingers in the room, the frightfulness of the red room is significantly