Essay About Jane Eyre And Recurrent Image

Jane Eyre – Analysis of Nature
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Jane Eyre – Analysis of Nature
Charlotte Bronte makes use of nature imagery throughout “Jane
Eyre,” and comments on both the human relationship with the outdoors
and human nature. The Oxford Reference Dictionary defines “nature” as
“1. the phenomena of the physical world as a whole . . . 2. a things
essential qualities; a persons or animals innate character . . . 4.
vital force, functions, or needs.” We will see how “Jane Eyre”
comments on all of these.
Several natural themes run through the novel, one of which is the
image of a stormy sea. After Jane saves Rochesters life, she gives us
the following metaphor of their relationship: “Till morning dawned I
was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea . . . I thought sometimes I
saw beyond its wild waters a shore . . . now and then a freshening
gale, wakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly towards the bourne:
but . . . a counteracting breeze blew off land, and continually drove
me back.” The gale is all the forces that prevent Janes union with
Rochester. Later, Brontл, whether it be intentional or not, conjures
up the image of a buoyant sea when Rochester says of Jane: “Your
habitual expression in those days, Jane, was . . . not buoyant.” In
fact, it is this buoyancy of Janes relationship with Rochester that
keeps Jane afloat at her time of crisis in the heath:
“Why do I struggle to retain a valueless life? Because I know, or
believe, Mr. Rochester is living.”
Another recurrent image is Brontлs treatment of Birds. We first
witness Janes fascination when she reads Bewicks History of British
Birds as a child. She reads of “death-white realms” and “the solitary
rocks and promontories” of sea-fowl. We quickly see how Jane
identifies with the bird. For her it is a form of escape, the idea of
flying above the toils of every day life. Several times the narrator
talks of feeding birds crumbs. Perhaps Brontл is telling us that this
idea of escape is no more than a fantasy-one cannot escape when one
must return for basic sustenance. The link between Jane and birds is
strengthened by the way Brontл adumbrates poor nutrition at Lowood
through a bird who is described as “a little hungry robin.”
Brontл brings the buoyant sea theme and the bird theme together in
the passage describing the first painting of Janes that Rochester
examines. This painting depicts a turbulent sea with a sunken ship,
and on the mast perches a cormorant with a gold bracelet in its mouth,
apparently taken from a drowning body. While the imagery is perhaps
too imprecise to afford an exact interpretation, a possible
explanation can be derived from the context of previous treatments of
these themes. The sea is surely a metaphor for Rochester and Janes
relationship, as we have already seen. Rochester is often described as
a “dark” and dangerous man, which fits the likeness of a cormorant; it
is therefore likely that Brontл sees him as the sea bird. As we shall
see later, Jane goes through a sort of symbolic death,