Charades and disguises

The construction of the game of charades is important for a number of reasons. Jane declines to be a part of the game when asked, "In my ignorance I did not understand the term charades" but more importantly she is excluded by the party playing charades. Lady Ingram tells the gentleman, "she seems too stupid for any game of the sort". Once again, she becomes the spectator, observing people from a distance. Her exclusion from the game of charades comes at a time when her feelings for Mr Rochester are at their peak, "I had learnt to love Mr Rochester, I could not unlove him." She feels hopeless and agitated especially with Blanche Ingram's presence at Thornfield, who she thinks is going to be Mr Rochester's bride. Marriage, brides and imprisonment remain recurring themes during the whole game. Mr Rochester sits with his "clenched hands resting on his knees", "to his wrists were attached fetters". The concept of a prisoner at once applies to Jane's situation, especially when it is followed by a marriage scene where Blanche acts as Mr Rochester's bride. She feels imprisoned by her social and economic status that automatically exclude her from Rochester's list of potential brides. Blanche, on the other hand, is also pretty, which Jane is not. On the other hand, the prisoner scene is also reflective of Rochester's own situation with regards to his marriage with Bertha -- a marriage that he has to hide from everyone. The "begrimed face, the disordered dress... the desperate and scowling countenance, the rough, bristling hair... when he moved, a chain clanked." This description creates an ominous atmosphere, a certain sort of gloom. The chains and fetters represent the legal shackles that bind Rochester to Bertha and prevent him from remarrying.
The last game of charade, "Bridewell" itself is very symbolic. Bridewell was a mental asylum operated with Bethelam Hospital to correct the behaviour of women who were sexual deviants. In this scene, while on one level, Bertha is the female who is imprisoned and who is "intemperate and unchaste" and needs to be corrected, Jane becomes the symbolic Bridewell prisoner. For she feels her love for Mr Rochester is 'forbidden' because of her social and financial status and she cannot "unlove him now" but she must because as according to her, she is in no place to fall in love with Rochester. Her sense of exclusion is heightened by her own actions during this scene. For example, during the second game of charades, she immediately recognises the show as Eliezer and Rebecca but she chooses to remain silent for she has been called "too stupid" for this game.