Pleas name the literary techniques used in this quote (Jane Eyre) She played: her execution was brilliant; she sang: her voice was fine; she...

The above quote is taken from Chapter 17 of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and the pronoun of “she” refers to Blanche Ingram, a beautiful socialite from the old Victorian aristocracy who wants to marry Mr. Rochester. In the novel, Blanche serves as a foil to Jane because Blanche is arrogant and self-entitled, using her physical beauty to draw the attention of Mr. Rochester.  Conversely, Jane is described as a kind, compassionate soul who attracts...

The above quote is taken from Chapter 17 of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and the pronoun of “she” refers to Blanche Ingram, a beautiful socialite from the old Victorian aristocracy who wants to marry Mr. Rochester. In the novel, Blanche serves as a foil to Jane because Blanche is arrogant and self-entitled, using her physical beauty to draw the attention of Mr. Rochester.  Conversely, Jane is described as a kind, compassionate soul who attracts Mr. Rochester through her humility and inner beauty. The two women are perceived as foils because they illuminate the contrasting sides of their individual personalities. Thus, on a surface level, this quote elucidates the foil because it sets up the contrast between Jane and Blanche by naming Blanche’s talents. 

On a deeper level, there are other literary devices present.  First and foremost, the quote demonstrates an anaphora, which is the deliberate repetition of words or word order at the beginning of each phrase or sentence. In the quote, the anaphora is the repetition of “She played,” “she sang,” and “she talked.”  Further, the anaphora is an extension of parallelism, which is a literary device that uses repeating words in a certain pattern or rhythm to provide emphasis or juxtaposition.  In the example, “She played: her execution was brilliant; she sang: her voice was fine;” is parallelism because each side of the semi colon follows the same syntactical pattern. The excerpt also contains descriptive imagery because Bronte describes the sound of Blanche’s voice as being fine, fluent and with a “good accent.”  Finally, the diction, which is the specific word choice of a given text, is significant in this quote because this except is from Jane’s point of view as she describes Blanche and compares the beautiful socialite to herself.  Thus, the word choice of “brilliant,” “fine,” and “good accent,” are very telling in how Jane perceives Blanche as a fellow woman competing for Rochester’s heart.