Jane Eyre

Uncle Jerry discusses Jane Eyre at length in connection with The Madwoman in the Attic. He highlights two characters: the literal mad woman (Mr. Rochester's wife trapped in the attic) and Jane herself, whose character is subversive as a small, homely heroine who cuts across social norms. The trapping of a woman in the attic rather than treating her is directly thematically parallel to the song's treatment of how women are labeled mad and confined.

“One single thread of gold tied me to you”

The song's central image, two people tied together by a thread no one else can see, comes straight from Jane Eyre, where Rochester describes a string knotted under his ribs and fastened to a matching one in Jane. The same rib-and-string figure surfaces again in Peter.

“Got a long list of ex-lovers They'll tell you I'm insane”

Angela & Uncle Jerry draw a thematic parallel between Blank Space and Jane Eyre. Uncle Jerry notes that Jane Eyre says 'I'm short, I'm plain, but I have agency too, I have power too,' and connects this to Taylor Swift embracing the 'insane' label in Blank Space. He argues that Taylor, like Jane Eyre, is criticised for asserting female power and self-determination, and that she is 'in some way the mad woman in the attic.' Charlotte Brontë was criticised for some of Jane's attitude, and Uncle Jerry sees Taylor receiving similar criticism.

“she said she was trying, Peter, was she lying? My ribs get the feeling she did”

Community readers trace "My ribs get the feeling she did" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, where Rochester speaks of a string somewhere under his left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in Jane. The same Brontë image underlies the thread Taylor draws in invisible string, so even as the goddess of timing is exposed as false, the rib still holds a buried cord of connection.