Thematic Statements
In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, Jane struggles to find a balance between moral duty and earthly pleasure through her rejection of religious norms and uncontrollable passion.
Through Jane Eyre, trials in Gateshead, Lowood and Thornfield highlight Jane’s quest to find romantic love and a sense to be valued as an individual without sacrificing herself in the process.
In Charlotte Bronte’s Victorian novel Jane Eyre, Jane challenges societal norms through her denial to base her value on differences in social and economic rank.
Through Jane Eyre, trials in Gateshead, Lowood and Thornfield highlight Jane’s quest to find romantic love and a sense to be valued as an individual without sacrificing herself in the process.
In Charlotte Bronte’s Victorian novel Jane Eyre, Jane challenges societal norms through her denial to base her value on differences in social and economic rank.
Symbols and Motifs
The Red Room -
The color red connects with blood and can represent anger, pain, and intense passion. Jane is locked in the Red Room after she gets in a fight with John Reed. The Red Room can represent a metaphoric womb where she is forced to stay until she becomes obedient under the care of Mrs.Reed. In addition, the idea of blood linking to a young woman represents a coming-of-age scenario. The color red also links with imagery of hell and the pain that accompanies it. Jane sees a ghost in the Red Room that might be her uncle’s ghost - the Red Room could show her anger in regards to being orphaned and losing one of the only known family member’s to care about her. Jane is sent her in a time of intense anger and passion towards Mrs.Reed and her treatment of Jane due to her class status. This links in with the thematic statement of how Jane challenges societal normalities through her denial to base her values on differences between social and economic rank.
Fire -
Fire represents intense passion and emotion (also following a red motif..) Mr.Rochester is described as having a fiery personality at times. When Bertha escapes for the first time, she sets Mr.Rochester’s bed on fire and Jane saves him. Later, Bertha sets Thornfield Hall completely on fire and kills herself while blinding Mr.Rochester. Jane later “glances into the candle-lit face of Bertha” when she meets her face to face before her wedding, and “the fiery eyes glared upon [her]: she thrust up her candle close to [her] face, and extinguished it under [her] eyes” (311). Fire represents pivotal changes, such as Rochester going blind and changing his attitude along with Jane discovering Rochester’s ominous secret.
Natural Imagery Representation
Throughout the novel, nature parallels the plotline and makes a statement about what’s going on. When Jane arrives at Lowood, she comments on how all the flowers and trees are in bloom - this aligns with the idea that the young women at Lowood are maturing at springtime. Another instance of this is when Jane leaves Rochester, she notices the blooming flowers which parallels her love for Rochester. In addition, the Chestnut Tree plays a role as well. Jane and Rochester confess their love for one another under the chestnut tree. When they become engaged, it gets hit by lightning. This mimics the path they later follow in which Jane leaves for an extended period of time, but they later come back together with a strong root system and unite as a couple even though the tree has been significantly damaged.
Food -
A food motif follows Jane throughout the novel. At one point where Rochester brings over upper class people, Jane has to go downstairs and take bread for her and Adele. A loss of food seems to accompany her struggles - when she’s at Lowood school, they were fed cold meat and morsels of bread. When Jane left Rochester, she finds food when she sees a little girl throwing porridge into a pig trough. A bread motif follows and hints at a religious undertone to those scenes.
Religion -
As stated above, there’s bread throughout the novel which links in with Christianity and the idea of bread as a form of sacrifice and form of unity. Helen Burns is often seen as a Christ figure along with some other debatable characters, and she speaks often of dying and her philosophy on the topic. St.John leaves for missionary work. Jane Eyre can be thought of as baptised after scenes where she’s had a change of heart and she comes in contact with water. Throughout the novel, religion is heavily present.
The color red connects with blood and can represent anger, pain, and intense passion. Jane is locked in the Red Room after she gets in a fight with John Reed. The Red Room can represent a metaphoric womb where she is forced to stay until she becomes obedient under the care of Mrs.Reed. In addition, the idea of blood linking to a young woman represents a coming-of-age scenario. The color red also links with imagery of hell and the pain that accompanies it. Jane sees a ghost in the Red Room that might be her uncle’s ghost - the Red Room could show her anger in regards to being orphaned and losing one of the only known family member’s to care about her. Jane is sent her in a time of intense anger and passion towards Mrs.Reed and her treatment of Jane due to her class status. This links in with the thematic statement of how Jane challenges societal normalities through her denial to base her values on differences between social and economic rank.
Fire -
Fire represents intense passion and emotion (also following a red motif..) Mr.Rochester is described as having a fiery personality at times. When Bertha escapes for the first time, she sets Mr.Rochester’s bed on fire and Jane saves him. Later, Bertha sets Thornfield Hall completely on fire and kills herself while blinding Mr.Rochester. Jane later “glances into the candle-lit face of Bertha” when she meets her face to face before her wedding, and “the fiery eyes glared upon [her]: she thrust up her candle close to [her] face, and extinguished it under [her] eyes” (311). Fire represents pivotal changes, such as Rochester going blind and changing his attitude along with Jane discovering Rochester’s ominous secret.
Natural Imagery Representation
Throughout the novel, nature parallels the plotline and makes a statement about what’s going on. When Jane arrives at Lowood, she comments on how all the flowers and trees are in bloom - this aligns with the idea that the young women at Lowood are maturing at springtime. Another instance of this is when Jane leaves Rochester, she notices the blooming flowers which parallels her love for Rochester. In addition, the Chestnut Tree plays a role as well. Jane and Rochester confess their love for one another under the chestnut tree. When they become engaged, it gets hit by lightning. This mimics the path they later follow in which Jane leaves for an extended period of time, but they later come back together with a strong root system and unite as a couple even though the tree has been significantly damaged.
Food -
A food motif follows Jane throughout the novel. At one point where Rochester brings over upper class people, Jane has to go downstairs and take bread for her and Adele. A loss of food seems to accompany her struggles - when she’s at Lowood school, they were fed cold meat and morsels of bread. When Jane left Rochester, she finds food when she sees a little girl throwing porridge into a pig trough. A bread motif follows and hints at a religious undertone to those scenes.
Religion -
As stated above, there’s bread throughout the novel which links in with Christianity and the idea of bread as a form of sacrifice and form of unity. Helen Burns is often seen as a Christ figure along with some other debatable characters, and she speaks often of dying and her philosophy on the topic. St.John leaves for missionary work. Jane Eyre can be thought of as baptised after scenes where she’s had a change of heart and she comes in contact with water. Throughout the novel, religion is heavily present.