Lady Jane Lynke

At the beginning of the short story Lady Jane Lynke is described “as a daughter of another branch, to which an earldom and considerable possession had accured” (p. 594). She is thirty-five years old and has many sisters. Nevertheless, her parents provided her a moderately, sufficiently life. Before she inherited Bells, she had lived in London lodgings and had an active, independent and decided life. She travelled frequently to tropical lands, and she spent studious summers in countries such as Spain and Italy. While being there she authored two or three short books about cities she visited.

The first time she goes to Bells, she is not allowed to enter the house, because Mr. Jones says: “no one is allowed to visit the house” (p. 597). After arriving at Bells Lady Jane Lynke does not feel at all comfortable. She has the feeling that she does not belong there and she wishes that she had not come alone. At this point, a change in her behavior emerges since she was used to being very independent. She compares Bells to the other places she had been before and she describes them as easy and accessible. During the story Lady Jane feels afraid. Although Bells belongs to her, she is very unconfident about how to handle Mrs. Clemm, the housekeeper. She even obeys Mrs. Clemm and the unknown Mr. Jones and never does anything they have forbidden. After her first encounter with Mr. Jones, she gets more frightened, so her friend Stramer stays with her in Bells. Mrs. Clemm tells Lady Jane that she cannot see Mr. Jones because he is ill and so she believes her.

Later in the story Lady Jane becomes stronger. For the first time she stays her ground when Mrs. Clemm sends away the locksmith. After all the reasons which Mrs. Clemm gave to not be able to open the archives door, she stays strong and exclaims her desire to break open the door. It’s the first time that Lady Jane does what she wants. This could be interpreted as her reclaiming her self-confidence. The second time when she fights back is when she faces Mrs. Clemm in the blue parlour room in the end of the story. “The two women stood for an instant measuring each other with level eyes; then the housekeepers were slowly lowered.” (p. 611) [1].

The name Jane has its roots in the Hebrew language and means “blessed by god” or “gods present”. This divine protection can be seen throughout the story as she comes into the house that is haunted by a ghost and even though she doesn't know how dangerous it is, she never gets hurt by Mr. Jones [2].

[1] Lewis, Richard Warrington Baldwin (1968): The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton – Volume 2. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

[2] “Jane Namensbedeutung”, Elterngeld.de.

https://www.elterngeld.de/jane/#gref (20.03.2019)