Point of View

The point of view of the novel is complex and constantly shifting. In “Part One,” Jane narrates the story in first-person present. From her perspective, we are introduced to the world of Thornfield Estates and the handsome widow Eddie, whose wife Bea has tragically been killed in a boating accident. In “Part Two,” the perspective switches to Bea, but she does not narrate in first-person present like Jane. Instead, she writes in a “diary,” which is really just an old novel she is writing over with a pen she found hidden in the back of a drawer in the panic room. In the diary entries, Bea writes that Eddie killed Blanche and locked her in the panic room. These diary entries are matched with italicized third-person narrations by a seemingly objective narrator who presents scenes from Bea’s life prior to the murder.

The perspective...